Christmas time in the city.

Season's greetings to the readers of my blog. I hope you had a holy and joyous Christmas. This was my first Christmas away from home. I missed my family and my village. But thanks to the Altmans who had me over for Christmas, I didn't really feel alone. I had a chance to celebrate Christmas the American way.

The preparations and fun start weeks before Christmas day. The church marks the four Sunday's before Christmas as Advent Sundays. Advent is time when we prepare ourselves spiritually for Christmas. I went to Ben's house on the Saturday preceding the third Sunday of Advent. They had the lighting of the candles on the Advent wreath followed by prayers and dinner.

Then there is the tradition of carol singing. I joined the Newman Center Young Adults group for a night of caroling. And what a contrast it was to carol singing in Goa. Here we went to people's home in cars rather than on foot as a group. People gave us cookies and other treats and even beer as compared to money back home. The homes were informed well in advance about our arrival in contrast to caroling in Goa where kids sing loudly in front of homes till someone shows up. But the spirit is the same, to spread the joy of Christmas. And I am sure our visit meant a lot to senior citizens living alone. One gentleman said he didn't feel it was Christmas until we came caroling to his house. For one 98 year old lady it was the 1st time someone had come to sing carols at her home. It refreshed memories for the old people. I love Christmas carols. All the carols that talk about snow and winter stuff make so much sense here! You should definitely listen to O' Come All Ye Faithful performed by Celtic Woman

I like the festive look that comes with Christmas. The homes, shops and streets are decorated and well lit. You hear Carols in shops and on radio stations. Stores are stacked with Christmas gifts and decorations. I think Christmas has become so commercialized, loud and bright that some people have forgotten that Christ was born in a quiet humble manger. So it was good to be out of the city for Christmas.

Soon it was Christmas eve. I was at Ben's house. We decorated the tree and put some lights. We had a delicious traditional Christmas eve dinner prepared by Ben's mom. The table was lit by the Christmas candle. And it was snowing outside. It was truly amazing! We went for a midnight service at a church in Chaska. We celebrated the birth of Jesus one more time. Joy to the world, the Lord has come!


Christmas day was spent at Mrs. Altman's parent's house. It was a traditional Christmas celebration with a family get together for lunch, opening of gifts and games. The wonderful day was capped by a wonderful movie, 'It's a Wonderful Life'. Its a classic movie and a must watch around Christmas time.

'Something about Christmas time, makes me wish it was Christmas everyday' goes the song by Bryan Adams. Looking forward to the next Christmas. 362 days to go...

Happy new year 2010!

The tale of two cities, the capital and the big apple

After more than three months in the beautiful and quiet Minneapolis, it was time to visit arguably two of the most famous cities of the US, Washington DC and New York City. A couple of days in each city was more than enough to get a feel of life in the two cities. So here is the tale of two cities.

I arrived in Washington on a cold Thursday morning. I stepped out of the bus and was greeted by, well, no one. The streets were deserted and eerily quiet. For a moment, we thought there was a curfew for some reason. There was no one around to even ask where our hotel was located. We entered a subway station and the platforms were completely deserted. I guess this was Thanksgiving afternoon effect.

We visited the capitol, only to be told that it was closed. There were few other tourists there, mostly Indians who I guess,like us, don't celebrate Thanksgiving. We walked around the main streets. This was the Capital! Of the world literally! The Washington Monument and the War Memorials are quite spectacular at night. So is the Lincoln monument. I like Lincoln's style. Really overflows with attitude. I must emulate him. There are tons of museums around. We only visited the Air and Space Museum. It is a must visit for aero enthusiasts. You can also see the White house from a distance. It would have been great if Manmohan Singh at invited us for dinner. Not a mistake. He was there that night at Obama's Thanksgiving dinner. I didn't have the audacity of hope to get an invite from Obama.

The next day we visited the Capitol. We got a free guided tour of inside the building for free despite being non US citizens. Isn't that awesome? It was great to walk the corridors of power surrounded by walls richly decorated with carvings and frescoes. The opulence around was slightly overwhelming. It is a place steeped in history and abounding with legends and tales. We also spent sometime in Georgetown. Its a lovely part of town that still retains the Old European feel. Cobblestone sidewalks, small stone facade buildings and dining places serving cuisines of virtually every European country.

Next up was the Big Apple, NYC! I had seen NYC only on the small screen of my laptop. Two of my favorite sitcoms, Friends and HIMYM are set in NYC. Finally it was NYC in person! You can see the glitz and glamor all around. Brightly lit shops and buildings, limousines and overdressed people paint a glamorous picture. The sidewalks are filled with motley crowd of people from every corner of the world. And new york reminded me a lot of India. You have street food, road side vendors selling everything from 'Rolex watches' to books to gum, cycle rickshaws (yes, I swear!), insane cab drivers jumping lanes and honking away to glory. You can cross the streets anywhere anytime. You have street entertainers. And on one occasion, there was a band playing inside a store! And to top it all, people are generally rude. All this is a far cry from Minneapolis, where everyone is nice and everything is orderly.

So whats there in New york besides a Starbucks on every street? You have times square which is just an intersection of two streets surrounded by bright billboards and filled with loads of tourists taking pictures. Then there is the empire state building which was once the worlds tallest building. The view of the city from the top is worth the 1 hour wait and $20 fee. Then there is the iconic statue of liberty. It was the symbol of the free world for the politically and financially oppressed Europeans of the early 1900s. You should also visit the museum on the nearby Ellis island. About 40% of the American population trace their ancestors to Ellis island immigration office.


Any trip to NYC will not be complete without a bit of shopping. I had the chance to shop in the world's biggest store. It covers an entire block and is 8 stories high! You have a mind boggling number of options of any thing. And when you are in a store this big, it can be a nightmare. But then most of it is covered with stuff for the ladies. I don't know why they need so many clothes when they strive to wear little. Anyways every shopaholic should refrain from entering these stores with their credit/debit cards. I mean you don't let loose a drunkard in a wine cellar. Besides Macy's I also shopped at the Apple store. Yup, an Apple from the Big Apple. Okay I got the cheapest item available. And I guess I was the only guy who goes for black Friday shopping and buys the one thing in the entire store that doesn't have any discount!

So that was the Tale of two cities. It was a hectic vacation. I needed a few days in Minneapolis to rejuvenate me. Thank you Vaibhav for being the guide for the entire trip!

In pursuit of The Way, The Truth and The Life.

It is a general perception among non-believers that religious people have 'loose screws' somewhere and are wasting their lives by leading boring lives. I beg to differ. The Catholic group at the University is an amazing fun filled group. I see the true joy in their lives. It is a joy which feeds on the eternal source, Jesus. I pursued material things to keep me happy. I went on trips, I hung out with friends, I wanted to be cool.[:D] But I knew something was missing. Not that these things are bad, but at the end of any event I would feel low and look forward to the next dose of entertainment to give me that high. I was restless. But now I am at peace. I am happy to have found true eternal happiness in God. I wanna learn more about God, how amazing He is, about the awesome things He has in store for those who love Him.

So what do I know about Him? God is love. Plain and simple. God loves us and we must love him. Through love we have a living relationship with God. Sadly, this relationship is broken by sin. But Jesus Christ has died for our sins and saved us. We have to believe in this, repent for our past sins and lead a new life with Christ at the center. All three are important. The first is about faith. We have to believe that Christ is our savior. He has bridged the chasm that separated God from humanity.

The second step is repentance. Repentance begins by acknowledgment of sins. We are human, we are weak, we are fallible. But we have to accept our mistakes and be sorry for our failures. We have to express our sincere regrets for our misdeeds and vow to do our best to lead better lives. We must ask God for forgiveness and he will definitely forgive us because we are his children. This sequence is beautifully pictured in the parable The Prodigal Son.

And the third part is leading the new life. We have to trust God with our lives and our future. God is our father. He loves us and wants us to live a full and happy life. He has good things in store for us. To quote from the scripture, Jesus says, (Matthew 7:11) "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" And when we believe in God, it’s not about us anymore. It’s about others. Greed for power and wealth, the root causes of the world’s miseries, will vanish.But leading a new life will be tough. We can’t fight temptations by ourselves. We need God’s grace and all we need to do to get it is to ask God. And we can be sure God will never test us beyond our limits. And when we are doing this because we love God, Christian life is no longer a set of rules and regulations. I am sure we are ready to do anything for the people we truly love. And that makes Christian life so easy!

I thank SPO, especially Jimmy for taking me to the Fan Into Flame retreat. The focus of the retreat was to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ and to fan into flame the embers of our faith. People think being religious is an inborn thing. It isn’t. We have to cultivate our relationship with God. He is knocking on the door and we need to open it. He extends his hand to us, we have to accept it.

I ask you then, what good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:36) It is your life, what are you going to do it?


Ref: Fan into Flame Retreat booklet and the Bible!
Picture credits:
1)http://media.photobucket.com/image/god%20love/heavenboundiwillbe/GodIsLoveEverlasting.jpg
2)http://www.kaldu.org/MarBawaiWritings/The-Prodigal-Son-01.jpg
3)http://www.biblebigpicture.com/Image/Jesus%20Knock%20on%20Door.jpg

Some blah-blah and bling-bling about nothing in particular!

A few stray thoughts about graduate life. So what is the aim of graduate life? One of my courses makes me feel quite useless. The more I sit in that class, the stronger the urge to jump of a bridge gets. The prof speaks in English, yet it sounds like Greek. Maybe that’s because he uses so many Greek alphabets in his material. The home works are burdensome. But they teach us to think individually as a group or collectively as individuals. Sometimes the solutions to problems are so mathematically involved that you forget what the question was in the first place. A math joke to lighten the mood. Did you know that 3 out of 4 Indians make up 75% of the Indian population?

Grad life teaches you time management. But I could have taken T.I.M.E. classes in India itself instead of coming so far. Grad life teaches you to appreciate the carefree undergrad life, when we had all the time in the world to do nothing. Now when we have one extra hour due to the daylight saving practice, all of us get excited. Grad life teaches you to go to places with free food. Free food implies monetary and time savings. I have also rediscovered the convenience of writing with a pencil. I can’t remember when was the last time I used pencils so extensively. I am so glad I rediscovered the pencil. Makes my assignments much neater.

Yet another stray thought about the importance of the Law of Diminishing Returns. It is best explained through a graph. It is clearly seen that you will get about 75-80% of the desired output within the first 50% of the total effort. And the remaining 20% of output is obtained from the remaining 50% of required effort. Clearly the second 50% is a waste. I have applied this rule to two things. First, to my homework assignments. Attempting and formulating the problem fetches you most of the points. While spending hours over complex algebra hardly gets you any additional points. So it’s best to stop when you feel you will get a certain minimum number of points. The same goes with fitness. I see people slogging it out in the gym for that perfect physique. I feel that 50% of the effort would be sufficient for a decent physique and you would be spared the mental and physical agony of the remaining 50%. Talking about the gym, my exercise sessions have been a serious blow to my ego, which by the way is as big as the entire outdoors! Girls run faster and longer than me! There was time when I used to look down at people less fit than me. How dramatically the tables turn! I don’t fare any better with strength training either. I am the only guy who goes anywhere close to the light weight dumbbells! I console myself thinking that others are fools to be working so hard on their physique when my level of fitness should be fine for all. Yeah I have that ‘I know best’ attitude!

What else have I been up to? Well, I experienced my first American holiday, Halloween. The pumpkin carving experience was cool. But the costume party was even better. But first, the costume shopping experience. When I went shopping, I was shocked by the prices and variety. I couldn’t understand how people could spend $100 and above for Halloween costumes. I tried to find the cheapest one and it took me 30min to find it in the enormous store. Thus, I saw all the other accessories and make up kits that go with the costumes. It was overwhelming. Coming to the party, it was a lot of fun. The assortment of characters in one room was a feast to the eyes. There were star wars’ characters, queens, Elvis, old ladies etc etc. The costumes, accessories and make up were complimented by some talented acting. It was an amazing experience.

Then there was the homecoming parade. Another American tradition I guess. Luckily I got to be part of it through CFACT. It is quite a feeling to wave to crowds lining the streets through the sun roof of a SUV. I felt like a celebrity. The whole thing was over within minutes. But I had had my 15 minutes of fame by then. Yay! Then there was Oktoberfest in the Mech Dept. Free beer and free food attracted many students and profs. The HOD was the center of attraction in his traditional German costume. It was time of merriment. We could talk to profs about stuff besides research. Talking about booze, I went for a religious meeting in a pub here. Not that Christianity encourages drinking, it is just that drinking is not considered bad as long as it is well within limits. Sadly many college students don’t know what the limits are.

And I have had my first haircut. A novel and expensive affair. Back home in India, my barber knew exactly what I wanted and I merely had to sit on the chair and he would get to work. Here the hairdresser first measured my hair length in inches at various places on my head and then asked me how much do I want to cut. I gave a vague answer like short at the sides and back and a little longer on the top. She didn’t seem satisfied and asked me again. I replied by telling her to do whatever she felt was best. Then she asked me something which I didn’t follow. I again told her to do what she felt was best. In the end I was quite happy with what ‘she thought was best’.

Congratulations if you managed to reach this far in reading my blah blah. You are now a certified fan of blah blah. I hope to come up with more blah blah in the near future. Till then its goodbye from my side.

Snow is falling, all around me!

This past weekend I experienced my first snow fall. Yeah it’s early, even for the ice box state of the US. Most of the residents were annoyed because ‘bad weather’ had come so early this year. Well, I being a newbie here was overjoyed to see the white powdery stuff all around. This was the first time I had seen snow! It was amazing. This post is for all the readers who have never seen snow. I hope I can give a good description so can experience it vicariously.

First of all, it’s beautiful beyond words. Everything except for the streets is white. It is even better when the sun comes out. And since the leaves haven’t yet fallen off, a lot more snow collects on them which makes the scene prettier. The fall colors and snow make an awesome combination. The snow is like a fine powder that falls slowly through the air. You can dust it off yourself and I like to shake myself like a dog while doing so! :D It’s is soft and quiet. Calming and relaxing, unlike rain which can be noisy and forceful. Supposedly snow absorbs other sound too and makes for a more peaceful setting.

The snow is soft and falls slowly because the terminal velocity of snowflakes is low. But you can compress it in your hands to make snow balls and throw at each other. Or you could make a snowman or build a snow fort. The lazier people can make snow angels! Well I didn’t do much of the above things as the snow was a little slushy cause of the high temperatures of 1-2 degrees Celsius. I have a long to-do list for the winter. Besides the snowman, fort and angels, I wanna try my hand, or legs rather, at skiing, skating, snow shoeing, and broomball. My friends have promised to take me out to indulge in all the winter fun I want. I hope I can bear the brutal cold though, which brings me to the winter clothing.

I have purchased headgear, mufflers, scarves, a coat, woolen pullovers, gloves, woolen socks etc. Thank you Ben, for taking me winter shopping! It’s a bit of a pain to wear all these things before going outside. I guess I will get used to it. Growing up in Goa hasn’t really prepared me for this, but I know I am going to have a great time! I can’t wait for Christmas, to see a snowy Christmas, to see what we sing in carols and print on cards. I have to look up for Santa’s email id and ask him for a white Christmas!