"Be the change you want to see in the world"

I just found one of my favorite songs on youtube "Vaishnav Janato Tene Kahiyeji"... apparently, it used to be one of Gandhi's favorites too.



I don't understand the lyrics - they're in Gujrati- but my understanding is that the song talks about the best kind of qualities in a man, the kind of qualities that bring him closer to being God-like. But the music is phenomenal. The kind that finds its way straight to your heart. A totally bizarre comparison would be to the the Beatles' 'Let it be' - which has the same soothing effect on me when I'm troubled or sad.

I actually survived this week. Came out battered and bruised, but still standing. And with a will to be in better shape next time.

Had to sacrifice climbing today for a TBP event. But at least it was worth it. I'm glad I made the decision to pledge - otherwise, I'd have slowly stagnated in my own little thankless world.

While I was talking to Aditi today, she said something remarkable...that sometimes, when she talks to other people about important matters, she learns so much about how much change every individual is capable of making in the world. And that she pities the people we could have become, but didn't.

I'm realizing that now - this semester is like a new awakening...and it's nice to go back to being un-lazy and a little more hard-working. I think my brain atrophied in Cincinnati . . . and there's definitely something missing in life when learning stops. I'm beginning to understand what the whole deal with the quest for knowledge is.

And just being conscious of who I am, what I can do, and what I've become - is an encouraging thought. I think I'm really hard on myself most of the time. Things could have been so much worse.

2:49 am

I definitely had my most embarrassing moment today. The only consolation is that there was only one eyewitness. :-/

My thirst for knowledge is back apparently. After... hm... 2 long years.

Week-ness

Summary of last week:

-Achieved 91.67% of previously mentioned climbing route. Progress is slow. And painful. But at least it’s progress.

-Bombed Struc D test. Made silly mistakes which, if they had been punishable by law, would’ve kept me in prison for life, simultaneously sentencing me to relentless beatings, torture, and starvation.

-“Celebrated” the birth of the Aeronion with friends on the 20^th of February, by going to Amy’s. The gathering was great, but the cause wasn’t given the attention it deserved; I suppose some things are better enjoyed alone. Like Dairy Milk chocolate.

-Watched ‘Across the Universe’ – a musical with Beatles' songs. It was better than awesome. It’s amazing how some songs can affect you in ways only living things can... they can break your heart, make you smile, cry, or fall in love.

-Actually got some school work done on a Friday night. For which I definitely deserve an Oscar. Or a Nobel Prize. (I always thought their categories were ridiculously limited). Slept early. Woke up with the usual Saturday-morning headache.

-Accompanied friends to San Antonio – the trip didn’t turn out exactly as I’d hoped, but at least I got some really interesting history lessons out of it during the car-ride back, and got to catch up with an old friend on the phone when I decided to be anti-social and abandoned friends who were dancing to terrible music in a club called the Mad Dog. I had a genuine case of Dancer’s Block.

-Culinary catastrophe this afternoon again. I think my luck oscillates between good food and bad; and the saying ‘better luck NEXT time’ may actually apply.

Cooking and callouses

Thursday's compressibles test was a fiasco. Taking (and bombing) a test after 8.5 months isn't good for anybody's health.

Rock-climbing yesterday was marvellous. I'm finally getting callouses on my fingers - always a good sign. And the goodness is starting to show - I finished 75% of a route I'd been struggling with for the past couple of weeks. There's a group of rock-climbers that's always present whenever I go - they sound like physics grad students - and usually have lots of interesting conversations about their professors, post-doc-ing, their papers, girls etc - the standard guy-talk.
They were discussing pick-up lines yesterday. Two of their favorites were:
1. Are you a parking ticket? Because you have 'Fine' written all over you!
2. Are you tired? Because you've been running around in my mind all day!

Despite knowing that they were overused and obviously the kind that would never work, I laughed (my sense of humor going haywire probably had something to do with hanging horizontally 9 feet in the air).

Another achievement: I made dal yesterday (for the 2nd time in my life - the first time was an expected calamity) - which amazingly tasted fine. The rice wasn't bad either. All in all, I had the best meal in a long long time (since I returned to Austin in any case). I'm beginning to realize that cooking is a trial-and-luck-and-what-kind-of-a-mood-you're-in process. I still don't have a recipe for anything - I just add and subtract ingredients at random.

Got a chance to listen to live music last night at La Tazza Fresca - it was awesome. The singer had a good voice that carried, although he sang some rather forgettable songs (except the one at the very end). I think I need to go to more live music events.

Nazar, according to statistics, is doing really well. Yay. I just wish I had more time. And more ideas. And no struc D test breathing down my neck.

At least I have my callouses to cheer me up.

An Engineer's Rant - Part I, Vol I, Section I

I'm surprised I haven't done this before.

I think they need to re-write the US News: Top Colleges magazine, or similar prospective student manuals. (I realize, from all my wonderful writing/communication classes, that 'they' is a vague pronoun reference, but I don't really care in my present state of mind). Events such as 'introduce a girl to engineering day' or 'You @UT' need to be changed, to include a real-world section of 'what it's really like'. Sleep deprivation and anxiety attacks need to be part of the student job description. Zoning out during lectures, staring for hours at homework that only pretends it is in english, but is really in hebrew and latin and alien-tongue, and making optimistic plans of finishing work and failing over and over again, and being optimistic again, should also be added. And then, I will say that life for engineering students is fairly unfair.

Test on Thursday, three assignments due in the next 33 hours, only 27% of which I have completed so far, a brand-new article for Nazar due on Saturday, painful paperwork to get about $1000 plus of my money back from thieves masquerading as health and bookstore companies due soon, and a structurally-sound death by dynamics test on Tuesday. So MUCH to look forward to. (If engineers were to ever make their own ice-cream line, "Death by Dynamics" should definitely be a flavor. I think it will be swirly and red and brown -possibly a combination of cherry and chocolate. Urgh. )

Reality bytes

I've always prided myself on being a realist.

But what do you do when reality starts playing tricks on you? What do you do??

Weekend musings

Late night homework session. Hurrah.

Went to a "chocolate festival" at Central Market today. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a gimmick of the worst kind - the sampling was limited to 5 booths. Bah. On the bright side though, I got to visit (and drag Sang and Ammar to) my favorite tree in Austin. I should probably give it a name. I think I'll call it ... The Tree.

While standing in line at Central Market, Ammar and I started explaining the concept of Indian Standard Time to Sang. The geograpic significance, and the fact that being punctual in that part of the world is not only a sin, but it is actually stupid. The guy behind us, who looked like the typical Austinite - the kind that 'keep Austin weird' - was listening in, and after I was done explaining, leaned in, and said "I play chess with a guy from Delhi sometimes...the next time I see him, I'll tell him that. If I lose, I'll say..'The game doesn't start for another hour!' "

Udit's farewell/post-graduation gift was 'Quidditch Through the Ages'. Sleep deprivation prevented me from borrowing it from him before he left. I'll probably regret that for the rest of my life.

Difficult times draw near...I can almost smell the stress. I think my sister, who is taking the mother of all medical school finals right now, is radiating stress waves from the other side of the world.

Nazar - A South Asian Perspective

So the Nazar team came through and published the 2nd edition of its online newsletter last night. It's probably quite impressive.
I take that back - it's probably very impressive. (I say 'probably' because I have yet to find the time to read it)

My contribution: this Book Review

Ah - well. Not my best work, but it's a start. All I can say is that serious writing is harder than waking up at 6 in the morning.

I'm glad all the time spent on this book morphed into something else - I started reading this book when I was 15, finished when I was 22.