The last few hours...

As few hours are left for my flight departure, I cant believe that I opened my own blog page after almost 2.5 months, was I so busy!!! In a way, YES!! Time just flew off being in India... Its again time that I leave my home to set up a new one on the other part of this small globe called Earth.. US calls!!

I wonder how I spent my days here. so fast that I feel I could not even get a glimpse of my stay :-( Its all over. More responsibilities and back to work what I call Running a Hurdles Race. It was great meeting all the friends n family. Am sure I will keep thinking what all I missed and going to miss.

New challenges, workplace with entirely different health care system, people n friends are waiting for me. My world is going to change drastically. CHANGE, something that is CONSTANT in life!!! I believe, whatever happens, happens for a reason and leads to a better time ahead. After doing so much for a dream like position, I hope that I live up to the expectations of life. HOPE, something that is never to be lost.

DREAMS of yesterday... Achievements of today... Memories of tomorrow...!

I wish I could control time :-)

My hometown... Iowa City!

A year back, I came to Iowa City as a stranger! It was a year of rollercoaster rides with steep ups n downs now n then.... A wonderful opportunity to stay together with dear ones... Being here, I gained important things for future... I lost a couple of precious things of past... Now leaving it makes me feel so sad...IOWA CITY, I can call it my hometown of United States I guess... Its the place where I had one of the most important turning point of my life. Thanks IC, I luv U n shall never forget you!!! I do hope to step here once again....

Luv this song!!

PS: Dedicated to Boo!!! :-)

Influence...!!! Is this you?

Its been almost a year, precisely 330 days, since I came to United States!! I still remember the day I started my jouney with lots of goals and dreams to be achieved. The jouney so far has been quite successful by myself climbing one more step in life to see new challenges and phases of life ahead. Now I am all set to return to India, My Motherland!!! The place I call home!! Am coming....:-) Only to leave you again after a while :-(

The American breakfast, light and dry, to be specific, Cornflakes, milk, Sandwiches have made me almost to forget the delicious n heavy Idli, Vada, Dosa n others... Slurrrp....Ahhh, just the names make my mouth water and my mind drown in to memories! Now even the thought of having them makes me get a weird stomach feel!!

The habit of driving around a car, for everything the needs a transportation, a basic necessity in US has made me so lazy that I am thinking how to get from Airport to home in India!!! I cant believe myself that I am going to book a car all for myself. I used to love to travel by the passenger trains and BMTC buses [Indian Ishtyllle!!!]. Whoa... BMTC, priorly called BTS [humored often as "Bittre Tirga Sigalla" in Kannada (If you leave it now, you wont get it again)] is really the best awesome experience you can ever have! Running and falling off in an attempt to catch the bus/get off the bus!! So much rush inside the bus as if everybody is clinging on to the other, get a seat yourself, nobody is courteous enough to leave a seat, conductor walking through the crowd shouting at them... Well, many more merits to it :-)

The Internet, US will come to a halt if its not there!! which I used to use only once in a month or so has become a 24x7 necessity for life!! Nothing really works for me if I am not connected. Phew, I had never imagined myself to become like this :-(

Above all, the worst, I am so worried that I have started to convert the currency in reverse order.... Initially, its USD to INR... a cup of coffee, Initially I was like 4 USD, I mean 200 rupees!!! Initially, I shouted, "Man 200 bucks for a coffee, are these people mad!!!" Now its INR to USD :( Ticket from Bangalore to Shimoga, 150 rupees, I mean 3 Dollar approx!!Now I tell, "Come on...you must be kidding...its so damn cheap"!!!
Now I realise that, 'THE WAY WE EARN IS THE WAY WE SPEND'

Is this what they call influence of western lifestyle!?! Feels funny... I still think its a normal process, right? Proud to be an Indian & live my dreams feeling American:-)

My Valentine..... I luvz you!

Around three years ago, on a rainy day the roads in Bangalore were filled water. If I exactly remember, people were telling it was very auspicious. Especially there was a huge crowd at every jewellery shop. It was Akshaya Tritiya, an auspicious day according to Hindu Culture. They tell that whatever you begin on that day will multiply exponentially in your life. I see people buying gold, vehicles, starting new business etc etc...

The rain couldn hamper the entusiasm of the public. I was riding on the pilion seat with my friend, completely drenched. Water was trickling across my spectacles, making my already poor vision even poor. But there was a sparkle which caught my attention. I SAW Her... Instantly struck by the Cupid! I patted on my friend's back hard to stop the bike. He was confused and breaks applied brought the bike to a creaking halt. There she was, the most beautiful one I had ever seen. Dressed in black, she was standing out among her friends taking shelter from the rain in a shop. I ordered my friend to park the bike, he cursed me for all unplanned decisions.

As we walked into the shop, I never took my eyes off her. What a creation she was! With so perfect features, in no time I decided that I want us to be together. Her face was as clear as water, Her black dress was complementing her beauty. There were many of her friends standing beside her, but she was the only one who drew my attention. I even saw her dad standing beside her, but I dared enough to go and speak to him. I introduced myself to him, and expressed my interest in her. He told me that he is the shop owner and he would like to meet me in the evening when he will be free enough.

I decided to wait in the shop and as the clock ticked by, I was more and more mesmerised by her. I asked my friend to pick me up later. It was almost an hour later when all the customers were gone and her dad called me up. He called her and introduced me to her. After a few minutes of knowing her qualities, I donot know from where I got the courage and proposed her. People were right, it was indeed an auspicious day! She agreed.... There were no bounds to my happiness, I was going crazy. Her dad agreed for our relationship and told that she will be my complete responsibility, we accepted each other.

Since then, we have never spent even a single day without seeing each other. She is the only person in my life who has stood beside me and supported me in all paths of life. Of course, whenever we fight, she gets angry, she stops speaking to me. But we cannot live without meeting each other daily. I know how to pamper her, get her back to talking terms. She has always been with me wherever I went, India or US, giving me the best company I could have got for myself. I feel blessed to have her & her support which has helped me strive through hard stressful days of life. Without her, I couldn have reached the position I am today or will be tomorrow. I thank her for being with me, MY LOVE... and MY VALENTINE since 3 years... She is MY LAPTOP:-)

PS: Thanks to my friend in Charlotte. It was during our online chatting that I realised who is my VALENTINE!!! Happy Valentine's day to one & all...

Friends help... always!

The above snap reached me through a forward mail with "Snap of the year" in subject line. The caption given was "Freindship and Love defined in single photo".

No doubt that the photo is something phenomenal.

The theme in the photo has been bread and butter of 90% of Indian film industry as well as 55% of Hollywood. Hardly you can find movies or novels without love or friendship. They make the evergreen disciplines of interest.

The friend in top can be analyzed in two ways:

One, he is helping his friend to express and reach his love!
Two, he is trying his best to protect his frient from FALLing in love!

Whatever the situations are, a true friend is always a well wisher in all circumstances and situations :-)

Thanks to my friend in Chennai who sent this to me. Also to those friends who have always been in a responsible top postion as in the photo in my life :) I am still analysing their actions...he he he...

PS: The photo is not mine and belongs to the person who clicked it!

Burj Khalifa - Nothing less than a dream!

Burj Khalifa (Arabic: برج خليفة‎ "Khalifa Tower"), formerly known as Burj Dubai, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 828 m (2,717 ft). Construction began on 21 September 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed on 1 October 2009. The building officially opened on 4 January 2010.The building is part of the 2 km2 (490-acre) flagship development called Downtown Burj Khalifa at the "First Interchange" along Sheikh Zayed Road, near Dubai's main business district.

The tower's architecture and engineering were performed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill of Chicago. Adrian Smith, who worked with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill until 2006, was the chief architect, and Bill Baker was the chief structural engineer for the project. The primary contractor was Samsung C&T of South Korea, who also built the Taipei 101 and Petronas Twin Towers.Major subcontractors included Belgian group Besix and Arabtec from the UAE. Turner Construction Company was chosen as the construction project manager. Under UAE law, the Contractor and the Engineer of Record are jointly and severally liable for the performance of Burj Khalifa. Therefore, by adoption of SOM's design and by being appointed as Architect and Engineer of Record, Hyder Consulting was legally the Design Consultant for the tower.

The total cost for the Burj Khalifa project was about US$1.5 billion; and for the entire new "Downtown Dubai", US$20 billion. Mohamed Ali Alabbar, the Chairman of Emaar Properties, speaking at the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat 8th World Congress, said in March 2009 that the price of office space at Burj Khalifa had reached US$4,000 per sq ft (over US$43,000 per m2) and that the Armani Residences, also in Burj Khalifa, were selling for US$3,500 per sq ft (over US$37,500 per m2). The completion of the tower coincided with a worldwide economic slump and overbuilding, causing it to be described as "the latest ... in [a] string of monuments to architectural vacancy."






















PS: The above is an excerpt from Wikipedia and the pictures of the interior are from Dailybite.com which were sent to me by an email. Thank you!