Looking back

I got my first US visa 6 years back on July 1, 1999. I still remember that day. I went to US consulate with all the papers with my uncle. They didn't have appointment procedure back then. So we went around 7 AM and they started letting people in by 8 AM. I got in by 8:50 or so and after about 3-4 hours I came out with visa granted. The first thing that was on my mind when I got out was hunger! I ate veggi grilled sandwitch at what-I-considered to be high price Rs. 40/-.
(It was pretty big too, as I couldn't finish it then inspite very hungry).

Six years! Wow...time flew just like that..or at least that is what I think. A major part of that time was spent in earning what I thought would make me happy -- was my dream. Yes, I got my Ph.D. I knew all along that Ph.D. doesn't give all answers, but it makes one realize how many questions remain. (sort of open ended problems). I recall talking to my friend Manisha who had started her Ph.D. before me when I said: 'Doing research is like solving a jigsaw puzzle. You are collecting all pieces and then see if they fit together and whether you can see the picture'. Well, it was a simple analogy. I do think that as I stumbled upon different challenges as part of my doctoral work, I was doing the same thing -- rather unknowingly.

Now, I wonder, isn't our life the same? We are trying to unravel one pattern a day at a time. We don't know what lies ahead of us, we at times have regrets about what happened in the past, we are also happy about some memories and we live on. Collecting a pattern at a time. Living the puzzle itself. And one hopes that at the end of this journey one will have a perfect picture.
Hm...sounds very poetic (yeah, theoretical!).

If you truly live each and every moment of life, won't you see the picture is perfect everytime?

Jidda

Deva

Meelan

Viyog

Tuze ahe tujapashee

Khant

Chinta

Prabhu-kripa

Manache shlok (message to my mind)

Living

We live as if we are never going to die
We die as if we never lived

Just a thought that came to my mind today .... more blogging on this later...

Kashmir

This poem was the result of my heartfelt feelings when I saw the photograph of a small girl on the front cover of Times of India (June 1998, I think). I wish I could get that photograph to post here...

You are the only solution....

Good Morning...

Goodbye, Jack!

Jack Kilby died yesterday after briefly being ill with cancer. http://www.ti.com/corp/docs/kilbyctr/jackstclair.shtml
He was 81.

Well, as one of the TI's (Texas Instruments) 75th Anniversary posters goes: 'You probably don't know Jack, but you know his work'. He invented Integrated Circuit (IC) or chips. Surely you have seen or known chips or ICs. They are omnipresent -- almost every electronic gadget you come across has at least one of them. The car you drive probably has a dozen of them. The cell phone you use has at least one. Your iPod has it. Your TV has hundreds of them. Your electronic wristwatch depends on it. You use these amazing piece of electronic without even knowing it.
If you are curious what an IC is and how it is constructed, you can read about it here:http://www.appliedmaterials.com/HTMAC/ or http://research.cs.tamu.edu/eda/people/sagar/how-to-make-a-chip.pdf

Jack invented IC when he was a new employee at TI and didn't have enough vacation. He definitely didn't realize the tremendous impact he was going to make in the world. Isn't that true with any great research. Every great thing is started small.

My work is on testing ICs to ensure they work as required when they are put in system. In a sense, if it were not for Jack, I probably wouldn't be doing what I am doing. So, thanks to Jack, we have so many wonderful electronic things to help us, to entertain us, to amuse us.

Goodbye, Jack and thanks for everything. The world owes you a lot for what you have accomplished.

Can you imagine that?

Natalee Holloway goes on a trip to celebrate her graduation to Aruba and disappears. What a sad story! My heart goes out to the family who is literally living on the edge. I was thinking about this news and realized that it is impossible to imagine what Natalee's mother must be going through. Think of this: your child has disappeard, in a foreign country when all you know is she was just having fun. You don't know the outcome. You hope for the best and prepare for the worst -- but your mind is always swinging. You don't know what to expect. The suspects don't cooperate and you don't know who to trust.

I think this is the worst nightmare a mother can have. When a soldier dies on a battlefield and the news is conveyed to mother, she at least knows the reality. In this case, Natalee's mother (like all others) does not not even know the reality. Living in real life without being able to know the reality -- what can be harder than this?

I just pray that Natalee is found unharmed and her family recovers from the whole trauma.

So what is the etiquette?

Sometimes I am very confused about etiquette and how one is supposed to respond/react. This happened in restroom today. I was attending Nature's call and next to me was a gentleman doing the same. Before we had finished our task, another gentleman (let's call him Bob) entered the restroom and said 'Hi Bill'. (Apparently, the person standing next to me was Bill.) Now first of all, I don't understand why Bob had to say Hi/Hello while Bill was concentrating on an important task. What was Bill's duty here? Should he turn back to say who is saying 'Hi'? (How embarrassing!). Couldn't Bob wait for a few minutes for Bill to finish? Interestingly, they didn't talk after Bob said 'Hi' and Bill, rather unwillingly, responded back saying 'Hm..'. So this was not a way to initiate dialog.

First of all, I don't think restroom is by any means a place to socialize. If you are seeing someone after a long while, wouldn't it be polite to wait either before or after attending Nature's call and have a small chat outside the restroom? Secondly, I think it is utterly rude to say Hi to someone from the back when you know that that person is not in a position to turn back to maintain eye contact with you.

Is it only me thinking this or there are someone thinking alike? Let me know :)