BOOKS AT MY REACH

Got books from the library today... Hmmm ! got to read them all...

HOME SICKNESS

CHASED BY INSECURITY AND FEAR

The moment I shifted to my new apartment yesterday, I had a feeling of insecurity and a pinch of fear. In the afternoon, I attended a career seminar to learn about the effective job search strategies and then, I was sitting in front of the computer during the rest of the day. I was puzzled and lost . . . Just before sleep, I tried to figure out whats happening to me. Then, I thought this may be called "Home sickness". . . Thats what I guess~

NOW, CHARGED UP

Today morning - Wondering how to get rid of homesickness, I happened to browse through the articles in my own website and read the article "A Call to the Youth of India - Swami Vivekananda". This article charged me with boldness and courage, and gave the motivation to face the world, just on time when I needed it. . . You too can read the article at http://ktaneer.tripod.com/coolpersonalsite/id4.html .

NEIGHBOURS COME CLOSER

Hey... an interesting news that I read at MSNBC news reported from space.com...
Aug. 26 - As if executing a cosmic air kiss, Earth and Mars came as close as they desire in Wednesday's wee hours during a historical event that has captivated the attention of skywatchers around the globe. The two planets will be separated by 34,646,418 miles at 5:51 a.m. ET.

EXPERIMENTING AT THE KITCHEN

My experimenting with cooking starts tommorow. Got to wait and see how it works. I now wanted to follow the American belief -"Convenience is the tastiest dish of all". I may start off with simple dishes... and continue the same strategy for atleast a week...

WANA GO HOME AFTER WORK???

Want to go home after work ? ? ? The answer is obviously YES from all of us. Then, why the hell do most of the people don't return to the homeland once they are done with their purpose (work) at abroad. I really appreciate and admire the ones returning to the mother-country once their target or purpose is achieved. This speaks abt the spirits and values of one-self...~

DONT MISS THIS...

I just came across a very interesting site - a personal site of a person named Summit Gupta: http://www.cecs.uci.edu/~sumitg/ Dont miss checking it out... especially the India Links section and his essays...

IT'S HOBBY TIME

Can collection of items keep your time going interesting?? YES~ It does make time exciting at all moments of life. I once collected stamps and coins of different countries… My fascination for coins have started again. I am now in collecting the American quarter dollor coins. Each 1/4 dollor coin has a representation of 1 of the 50 states in US and its interesting in collecting them.... help me out if u have any.

I also wana have a click at some cool photo shots and place them into my pool of photo collection. Its also nice to be send greetings on special occasions to everyone possible. This habit itself can be a hobby to me….

COUCHES FOR FREE

I got my couches free from Popsi anni's friend, who was shifting off to a new house. Thanks to her… Today, I rented a U-haul to shift the couches to my appartment at Waterview Pkwy. The transport is a little expensive ofcourse ~ Hmmm.. I need not worry abt getting the couches anymore…

MY LEARNING STARTS

My classes have started and I initiated my preparations for my next class straight away… The first 4 chapters of "Advanced Concepts of OS" is my target to be completed before Tuesday.

ON MY WAY TO JAVA

The time to learn Java has come. I was instructed to do my project work for the course "Software Architecture and Design" using coding in Java. I just have an overview about Java programming as of now, and I must be able to pick up the whole thing soon…

SEEDLESS WATER-MELONS

I love water melons, but for the seeds. We brought home a water-melon, and my anni chopped it without delay to store it in the fridge. After I had my dinner, she handed me a bowl of water-melon slices. To my surprise, I found no seeds and then I came to know that seedless water-melons which also retain their usual sweetness are available here in US. How good it would be if these are available in India. My parents and my sis could have had it tooooo…

THE STARTER FOR MY MASTER’S

It was an interesting day today as I had my first day of classes for my MS coursework. The class rooms here are highly equipped and I could find a totally different ambience than the ones in India. There are monitors, a projector, electric plug-in facilities in front of each seating, push-back chairs, and highly decorated interiors.

The prof stepped in sharp at the right time, distributed a paper in which the details about the course schedule, course content, grading system and the list of books to be referred are printed. The One and half hours from then just vanished…I had my second course after a break of 1hr 45minutes, and I found it interesting too…

RED SIGNAL FOR IDLENESS

It was a pleasure to have had the rare opportunity of being jobless, without responsibility and spending time idly for the last 3 months (May'03 to July'03). The 3 months of idleness comes to an end today, with classes beginning to mark the start of my academic life at US.

THE CHILDISH ME

Had great fun with Vinieth, playing childish games, watching cartoons and I infact found myself like a kid. No other work for today…… had a tasty sweet bun for breakfast, biryani for lunch and Idiayappam for dinner…. Nice nap in the afternoon and TV watching for some time… and I eventually never felt bored~

MONEY-BACK POLICY

HEY... The good thing here is that the vendors give prior importance to the customer satisfaction. There is a money back policy on all products at all shops, provided the customer has the proof of purchase (bill/receipt) and given off before the last day of return. This is very impressive … isn't it?

THE PLANNER

Hey… I got myself a UTD planner for the academic year 2003-'04. I felt it's important that I schedule my work and plan my academic year to make the best use of my college days. I kinda go lazy to spare time for planning my things out. But now, its time to get more organized…

REGISTRATION

Registration for the courses is done soon after the CS advising session got over and a major decision is made for this sem. Now, I jus need to excel in them …

ASSEMBLING IT !

Hey… let me tell u in brief how the education system works here at UTD… There are nearly 40 courses offered by the CS dept. We need to prepare a schedule of 11 courses which spreads for a span of 4 semesters (ideal). So eventually, we assemble the coursework and the syllabus for Masters Program based on our interests…

IN THEIR HEART...

Tonight, I spoke to my parents, grand parents, my uncle, aunt, my little brother and my sisters living in India. I felt contented on speaking to everyone at home, and had a warm feeling of being in the heart of all my dear ones.

MY BROTHER -> MY GUIDE

Today was a great day… experiencing a mix of entertainment, shopping, relaxation, and a discussion on career aspects. In the evening, we went to a splendid picnic spot named "Founders Park" near the Dallas Fortfurt airport. Here, planes are landing and taking off without any obstacles to disturb my view, and I could get a pic of the entire airport at a glance. We stayed here for a few hours, relaxed ourselves and I got plenty of suggestions from my brother about my academics. This was very useful and motivative… & I felt a sense for gratitude for him. He is certainly my guide to enable me have a successful career…

THE JOURNEY OF SEVERAL MILES STARTS WITH A SINGLE STEP

Today, I had my orientation session from 9.00 AM to 5.00 in the evening, and it marked my starting point to my Academic life at UTD. It was well organized and it gave me a lot of info about the general procedures at UTD & the US customs, and facilitated me to meet several new students (most of them are either from Bombay or Hyderabad).

They also provided us with free breakfast and lunch. The American kind of food is funny, but stuffy. It comprises a lot of fresh or semi-baked vegetables, fruits, baked corn, pizzas, bread sticks, veg-fried rice, stuffed capsicums and glasses of Coke. I had a campus tour soon after the orientation session got over.

When I came home, Rajesh anna had just arrived from Deteroit. He had his shower and we all went to the MALL (the biggest one in Dallas). It was interesting…. I had a big cone ice-cream, which was delicious. I never happened to have such a kind of ice cream in India and then, I had the burger on our way back home.

THE SMALL GREAT PLACE

I called up my parents and spoke to them for nearly 10 - 15 minutes by phone. I felt very happy talking to them and felt like meeting all and have fun with them. Anyway, 10 months is not very far off before I meet them. The university is good and people there are very friendly. It's a small university in terms of area, but a great place to study in. There are T.T tables, swimming pool, a gym and a big library, TV room, and many more. I liked it….

All the formalities including registration for the classes can be done only after the orientation session on 15th Aug. Until then, I am just knowing people, professors and the university.

THE DREAM-LAND BEFORE MY EYES

I got my on-campus apartment reserved today and I was lucky enough to get it immediately without having to wait for it.

Soon after we (Rajesh anna, anni, Vineith and I) had our lunch, we went shopping and then to the grocery stores, pizza Hut and the famous Coffee shop in Dallas. They are no different than in Madras (Chennai). Just as I finished eating my last slice of pizza, I got a call from my friend Ajjit - a student in Texas A & M University.

Here in US (Dallas), the roads are too good to describe. The traffic is less and driving ought to be a pleasure. Everything is calm and lifestyle is so casual that I felt very nice about. Life at US is really a pleasure to feel and convenient to handle as a student… Don't know yet about the professional life here ~

REACHING OUT FOR A DIAMOND . . .

REACHING OUT FOR A DIAMOND

For the first time in my life, I've got to take up a different path, a different vision and a different living from those of my parents. My feelings at this point are substantial as they are burdened with the three heavy stones of responsibility, insecurity and loneliness. I got blessing from my grand-parents, my parents and then my uncle & aunts, and then said a big BYE BYE to all of them… Now my journey to life starts.

I got my immigration checked, and then I stepped onto an escalator which took me higher and gently away from my dear ones. I could see my mother weeping and shaking her hands firmly. I felt very senti about that and also realized my deep love and passion for my beloved ones there...

As the escalator took me higher, I felt that I was going to a higher pedestal of life and to achieve a greater purpose. Once I got seated in the plane, I became more enthu to make my career dazzle like a diamond. I realized that my purpose of departing to US is to snatch the diamond-like career, get on top of the world, and finally come back and bring glory to the motherland….

THE VERY VERY RICH

Hey… my 22-hour flight journey to US gave me ample time to relax, recall the most cheerful and enjoyable moments of my life, and read books. For the first 2 hours of my journey, I was struggling to go to sleep and simultaneously recalling few of the great moments of my life… Many came to my mind ~

Then on reaching Frankfurt, I had to catch up with a connecting flight and hence I reported to the appropriate gate, where I found a friend of mine traveling to Dallas. On boarding the flight to Dallas, I took in hand a book titled "THE VERY VERY RICH", by Steve Mariotti & Mike Caslin. It gave an illustrated profile of America's best known Entrepreneurs and describes what it takes to make it as an entrepreneur. The profiles of Jeff Bezos, Henry Ford and Thomas Burrell gave me an encouraging spirit to make my mark in the history of entrepreneurs. . . ! Do U know the message that I got from that book..?????

"GET ON TOP OF THE WORLD"… This is the message from my father, and this is eventually the message unspoken by all the entrepreneurs of the world. But, each of them had their own style of expressing their success story.

LANDING AT DALLAS

I had a comfortable travel and things were simple and easy to deal with. My father's friend's son (I call him Rajesh anna) came to pick me up from the airport. We went to his house and very soon, I started having a feel of staying in my own brother's home. The kid - Vineith is a playful and a very interesting person to spend time with, and anni is a very kind woman. I instantly became one in their family and had my time going great….!