I was supposed to meet up with my friends at their place around 8.30 am in the morning to strike out skiing from our things to do list. I woke up late around 7.45-8am on a Saturday morning and hurried myself to get ready and left my place at 8.30am. I called up my friends to let them know I will be late by 30mins as usual.. but realised they jus woke up and hit myself in the head for getting up early. After a 30 mins drive, I ended up at their place and did our mornig duties (cheking e-mails, drinking coffee.. etc etc... ) and headed for our destination Big bear lake.. it was a 90 mile drive from my friends place and reached at the top around 12.30pm.. as usual all the vista points were occupied by desis taking pictures.. I had 2 layers of clothes and a hooded jacket and another jacket on top of it...after we signed up for our skiing lessons.. I had to go back to the car as it was too 'hot" and had to take off my hooded jackets...
We started our 2 hr beginner's lesson. After falling on my back three times during the lesson.. the instructor decided its time for us to head to the slope... We had to hop on and off a ski lift to get to the top of the ski slope.. I let two of my friends on the first ski lift so i get to travel with the instructor and another girl in the next one... as soon as we started to get down off the ski lift.. I recorded my first fall on the slope along with the girl ..had to get myself up since 10 of them went to take care of the girl... As soon as i started my initial descent of the slope, I saw two of my friends who went off earlier down in the snow and since I was headed in their direction I had to make myself fall to avoid collision. after cursing them out, I was cruising in my skis and saw another desi travelling on his behind and not on ski's, after I helped him to get up, he said "I am from Orange county, this is my first time. I fell like 20 times already and started to leave" and I was wondering how can any1 fall 20 times.. and figured out why , when the guy looked back and asked " do u know how to stop". I started my descent after praying for him and when I realised i was going too fast I had to fall down on my own to avoid a hard landing..that was my third fall on my first trip down the slope..
As I was sitting on the snow wondering whether to get up or not.. I saw my friends on the ski lift urging me to join them for round 2...finally I did get on the skilift for my round 2, this time everything went on smooth and felt happy that I didnt have to fall on the snow again..but god had other plans, he had one snowboarder fall right in front of me.. to avoid him I had to fall again.. tats my 4th fall on the slope, sevent one including the classes.. As I was about to get up, I saw my friends on the skilift again asking me to join in for the third round.. but b4 I culd get up, I heard a guy shout out the ski-lift is closed.. God bless him.. So I jus laid bak on the snow waiting for my friends to finish the run and join me.. and slowly made my way down the slope. we took only eight snaps which was gr8 insult to us as we generally take a minimum of 80-100 pics wherever we go... we gave back our ski rentals and had a coffee at starbucks and headed on our way bak home..
We made a pit stop at Dosa Place and had our dinner since all the falls made me hungry, came bak home and didnt get from my bed and couch for the next 2 days.... but the important thing u get to know from all this is u have hamstrings and Triceps and it will hurt for the next 2 days after u go skiing.

Sweet Victory..
It was just another Saturday morning.. figured its gonna be the same as the other fall Saturdays watch football n watch more football and go out in the evening.... little did I know it will be one of the most intense, exciting day... it was also the day where the TX Tech Red Raiders face against the Marooned colored shirt guys... .
As a friend of mine is from the Marooned school.. we both decided to watch the game at the bar.. even though the A&M So.Cal's club, I decided to go along with it. I parked my car and got into the bar.. there were like 20-25 A&M guys sitting around there and I was the only one with my TTU cap and Shirt..
By the time I reached there.. my friends drank a whole pitcher ordered their pizzas, ate their appetizers.. without me .. I asked the waitress to get me some beer and got my spicy chicken sandwich..
The Game:
First Quarter:
We had to wait for a while to watch our game coz one of the blowout games shown in that channel didn't end... so we had to wait for 20-30 mins for the game b4 we could catch ours.. by the time the game popped up on the screen the score was already 10-7 TTU
Second quarter:
We scored a TD at the start of the second quarter and was just relaxing since we had the lead while A&M students were rooting for their team. while everything was said and done.. we had a 10 pt lead (24-14) heading into the half.....
Third quarter:
The 3rd quarter was kinda slow and I wanted it to be tat way... the more time runs out the less time the Aggies have to get into the game. They managed to crawled their way back and ended up scoring a field goal shrinking the lead to a touchdown..

4th quarter:
As we headed into the 4th quarter with a clad of Aggie's surrounding me.. I started to realise what I was getting myself into... tension was rising up... and finally the Aggie's scored a TD. Our lead was gone so was my beer.. I decided to turn away from the TV for a while, since I couldn't bear to watch the game anymore.... dug into my spicy sandwich..
For some weird reason for the past two reasons, our team always wanted to test our hearts.. with two minutes left in the game, the Aggies came back and took a 3-point lead..
one minute passed by .. I heard a huge roar from the Aggie crowd... as the officials on the field ruled one of the passes as interception... I got out of my chair threw my cap on the floor in disgust... but as a god sent the main official uttered the words "The play is being reviewed".. I scampered towards the Aggie crowd and watch the replays over and over again and when the official came back n ruled the pass was incomplete.. the entire crowd went silent... and the relieved "yes" from me filled the bar.. with less than 26 seconds... and 36 more yards to go... a chop kick for our kicker... there it was .. one of the magical throws u can ever find.. The throw from our QB with a trajectory of a rainbow..ending in the hands of our WR over the outstretched hands of the defender for the score... I stood from my chair ran towards the TV.. pushing the chairs down on my way and with arms raised towards the sky... with no care about the people watching me .. looked at the replay knew it was good... I started to walk towards my table with a huge relief.. sat back on my chair..
Jus to see the look on my friend and the Aggie fans after the TD.....It was priceless..

It was a nice sunny sunday afternoon. I headed out to Little India (artesia) to meet couple of friends for some lunch and to get myself some groceries. After having our spicy thali at Tirupathi Bhimas, I started out for Pioneer Cash n Carry.... as I was trying to figure out wat to buy.. A voice came from behind n greeted me.. this is how the conversation went..
Voice: "have we met before"
Me: I dont think so
Voice: where are u from
Me: Whittier, previously lived in TX. U?
Voice: Norwalk,CA
Me: well, nice to meet you.
Voice: same here. so what do u do..
Me: I work as a engineer around here.
Voice: Can I have your ph. number, maybe we can talk sometime.
STUPID Me: sure, here you go.. feel free to call .
Couple of days go by, and my phone rings...
Voice: Hello, we met at Artesia the other day..
Me: yeah I remember.
Voice: what are you doing for the weekend
Me: Dont know yet
Voice: I am having a meeting this weekend. Y dont u join in?, its a e-commerce meeting and there r ppl of diff fields and also with opportunity to work on different projects.
Me: click. ( hung up my phone)

Its because of ppl like these, u lose the interest or get scared to talk to Indians on the street anymore.. even if sum1 genuine person wanna talk to you, u feel like they r from the dreaded Quikstar gang and avoid them. Hopefully someday ppl will realise and change so that Indians could interact with other indians as usual.

Learning from my past, when I went to the Pioneer cash n carry last weekend this is wat happened:
Voice: Do i know you?
Me: Nope
Voice: do u work here
Me: yes, but I am kinda in a hurry, hope to see u some other time.
Voice: ok, can I have your phone number
Me: I dont have a cell phone (had to switch off my cell phone when he had his back turned to me so it doesnt ring off during the conversation).
Voice: how abt land line
Me: I am moving next week, so shifted my phone already.
Voice: how about ur office number
Me: I dont give it for personal uses, u can have my e-mail if u want to contact me.
Voice: oh ok, i will have it. I work in e-commerce... have u heard abt "MC DONALD"
Me: I ran out as fast as I could...
hopefully someday they will realise how they r causing a bad rap to all Indians around.. and stop this bullshit..

Nyabagam Varude..
when i went to India earlier this yr, saw few things tat I did b4 and thought I could reflect on how I felt abt them now......gone are the good old days.. where u can stop by a tea shop, have some tea, grab some bhajjis, play cricket on the streets, chase behind a girl, happy school life.. and the list goes on...
As i was walkin bak home from shopping across the street , saw few kids playing cricket in the middle of the street. It reminded me of how we used to play cricket in a narrow street with no fear abt the traffic coming at us and terrorizing ppl walkin along the street and above all it was amazing to see how fast a person can run when a ball enters into some1's house or breaks a window.. its a wonder how within one second around eleven ppl run synchornise and disappear without any1 telling them to run..where we made all those silly rules .. current, no current, one pitch catch, one pitch one hand, one pitch two hand, underarms, wall catch, all reals, only off side runs, full toss over the wall is out( only in our rules can a sixer be considered out) causing major controversies whether catching a ball fallin off a tree should be treated as wall catch..... and with innovations like drawin three lines on sintex tank, or three sticks or two bricks for wickets..thinking calling a strike in baseball is tuff, try calling it out when a ball goes over the two bricks.. but the game also showed how much u trusted ur friends.. when the umpire was some1 from the batting team and we never doubted him of course other than the usual quarrels when it is a runout..

after annachi gave me the stuffs i wanted .. started to head bak home.. As I was waitin to cross the street to head bak into home and looked up at the traffic, never in my life I was so scared to cross the street... I was amazed how much skills I had in negotiating hte traffic and walking across the street..

after crossing the street I walked thru a house where a girl used to live b4 on whom I had my eyes set on early during my school days.. I probably walked thru her street ever day more than she did.. jus hoping to get one good look at her.. sometimes dragging my friends to walk with me.. my kadhal vaganam tvs 50 probably stopped at her place automatically even when i didnt want it to .. upgrading to a super splendor after i entered into college , the first street it passed b4 goin to the temple was hers... as time faded away so did she..but u can always count on ur friends to find u another girl.. its jus wonderful to see how much effect it can have when ur friends shout out ur name when a girl passes u by...

neways..when I was about to reach home, I saw few high school students walk out of their tution classes..ah tution.... I always wondered y I paid that much tution fees for phy, chem n math.. trying to book urself earlier in 11'th std to join johnson, xavier.. but after all the hassels all we did was end up at bogenvilla park... as time went by and we headed into coll nuthing much changed.. instead of tution it was datamatix for GRE prepartion and instead of bogenvilla park it became beasant nagar beach.....

AfterI finally reached home couple of friends called me up to go grab somethin to eat.. so I kick started my bike, grazing thru the traffic, I remember the days when I used to ride my bak in rain thinking of myself as barrichelo riding a f1 car in the rain.. squeezing by two lorries. Dont think I can ride my bike like tat anymore. I always wondered whether i would honk at some1 in India traffic after I head bak home from US.. it was amazing to see how many fingers never let go off the horn..

after hanging out with my friends at the beach and grabbing somethign to eat.. I was bak at home eating all those goodies my mom made for me..u kinda realise tat the food items tat u didnt want to eat b4 looks liked heaven after u eat ur own cooking...

As i was eating .. I heard my house calling bell ring so I had to walk out, saw a kid around 10 yrs old.. saw his legs shakin n fearing the worst asked him wat happened.. staring down and the kid said "uncle.. ball ullae vizhundidchi edutukatuma, tirumba adika maten"... uncle?? damn I am old but gave him the ball bak. He took it from me with a grin and I realised to see the smile bak on his face after he got the ball is worth breaking a glass window :)

Is it worth it..
I still remember the day I first boarded my flight to Texas (TX) , US, hoping to graduate and find a nice dollar paying job in 2001, lil did i realise what I was getting into..

The first couple of months passed by with the usual things any grad student goes thru.. homesickness, entering the kitchen to cook other than to find something to eat, going to each department at school trying to get a research or grad assistantship, figuring out the different calling cards to call back home, trying to go out to different restaurants for dinner and getting better with 50 times multiplication table converting every cent or dollar to rupees..

As the days rolled by, I saw myself changing to US lifestyle.. playing basketball, going to saturday nite college football games, tennis, hanging out at bars, clubs and doing something for the "weekend".

Dec'03 came up, I finally walked out of my school with a grad degree after two long years.. and prepared myself to hear that three lettered dreadful word "job".

As I moved from Texas to California, lil did I know I was all alone in the world looking for a job.. without knowing where to turn to, passing out resumes like fliers to each and every one that I came across and prowling thru different jobsites like monster and hotjobs applying for thousands of jobs everyday hoping to get a response from atleast one... I finally got a job with a manufacturing company.. worked hard during the first three months 'probation' to satisfy the 'boss' just to receive a e-mail from HR to meet her up and walked out the same way I went in from a place where I thought my future was with 500 ppl walking with me coz of restructuring.

How life changes in a matter of hrs. Even though that was a hard hit to take, I realised tat I dont have time to sit bak and dwell on wat happened. I had to scramble around to find a new job or go bak to school to maintain my 'visa'. With a stroke of luck, I ended up in a job tat I am working to date..

August 2006, two yrs on the job , lil did it change from the day I landed on US.. still not a day goes by without thinking of home..figuring out the different calling cards or use of Interent phone, trying to go out to different restaurants for dinner and getting better with 50 times multiplication table converting every cent or dollar to rupees ...

So again is it worth going thru all this so u can end up where u started fiver years ago?

aint no tommorow without yesterday...

It was a hot day in dry lubbock... with high winds blowing across the school with me safely inside the library working.. there she was.. with her curly hair swayin with the wind and the wind following every single step of her trying to get her attention. I dont blame the wind as any1 who saw her would do the same... I still rem the smile she gave me when she walked in.. not a day went by during that summer that our eyes didnt meet. finally I took the courage to talk to her.. she was with her friend and her bro preparing for the exams.. all i wanted to do is ask for her number but didnt have the courage to do it.. decided to wait for one more day, wait for her to be alone. the following day was the final day of the summer... I never been happy to see the sun. I woke up.. stood b4 the mirror practised my lines .. got dressed up.. with a spray of perfume.. I walked to the library, clocked in with my id, and clipped the id to my shirt.. and was staring down at the entrance. with clock winding down and my heart beat racing wild.. but..she never came in. not a day goes by without me thinking of her.. wonder what would have happened if she did come in. would she have said yes? or would she have said the dreadful no? but for the past 2 years I always wonder what could have happened if she had said yes without my heart thinking otherwise.
There have been many girls that came across in my life.. but y do my heart yearn for the ones that i culdnt have? only god knows...