Mumbai Local Trains...

The other day, I was on my way to Edison from Philadelphia. The plan was to take the 6:00 local to Trenton and take the connecting NJTransit from there to Edison. As the local was entering the 30th street station, I was reminded of waiting at Dadar station for the 6.35 Dadar Borivali local. As soon as the Trenton local started, I was back at Dadar station comparing and contrasting the two journeys. The similarity between the two ended as soon as the train entered the station. There was no commotion to enter the train. Disembarking passengers first got down. Then everyone took their own sweet time to board it. And though the platform appeared crowded, every one got a place to sit. Of course, there is no way comparing a crowd of 200 people (estimating on the higher side) to the 2000 people waiting to board the Dadar Borivali local.

Much as the journey on the SEPTA local was comfortable, it still lacked the charm of traveling in the peak hours on any of Mumbai's local trains. Mumbai locals are a world in themselves. If you catch the same train regularly, then you get a group of people who become your friends over time. When I was in Somaiya, I had three group of friends. Somaiya friends, train friends and other friends. Travel on the 9.01 Goregaon local and you will have a group of people who will sing bhajans and distribute prasad to the entire compartment. Once this train reaches Churchgate, everyone goes towards their own destination. But in the train, its like a one big family. I am really lucky that I got a chance to travel by Mumbai local trains every day for six years during my Jr College and Engineering days.

Just as Statue of Liberty defines New York and the Golden Gate Bridge defines San Fransisco, its the local trains of Mumbai that define the city. Many people claim that the Bandra Worli Sea Link is a monument representing Mumbai. Many others also say that its the Gateway of India, but if any thing defines Mumbai aptly, its the local trains which have become an integral part to the millions of people who use it. MUMBAI LOCAL TRAINS rock...

Sachin Tendulkar - Bas balla hi kaafi hai

The first time I remember watching him bat was in the 1992 World Cup in Australia. As a 6 year old, I was just getting addicted to cricket and I was lucky that the first cricketing hero I had was Sachin Tendulkar. And now, as he completes 20 years in international cricket, I really salute him. And his achievements are not just restricted to the cricket field. I cant recollect any other celebrity who has spent 20 years in public eye without one controversy. He knows only one way of replying back to his critics. Let the bat do the talking. This is why, I really feel good to call him my role model. 15th of November will always be an important date in both our lives. Its my birthday and its the same date 4 years later that Sachin first played against Pakistan.

Over the past 17 years, I have seen many knocks of Sachin. Here are some of my favorite test innings
1. 155* vs Australia at Chennai, 1998.
India were trailing Australia on the first innings. Sachin had perished to Warne quite cheaply in the first innings trying an expansive shot. So the pressure was on him. He responded by hitting 155 of just 191 balls. The reason why I rate this innings quite high was not only the high rate of scoring, but he made Warne look like a fool. The image of Warne bowling round the wicket and Sachin cross hitting him for six to midwicket boundary will always remain in my mind.

2. 155 vs South Africa, Bloemfontien 2001.
This was the first time we saw him playing the cut shot above the wicket keeper and the slip cordon. South African pacemen had blown the Indian top order apart and it was left to Sachin and Sehwag to give the Indian innings some respect. Sachin's counter attack left the Proteas with no choice but to accept their fate. India lost that match after horrible performance in the second innings.

3. 76 and 65 vs Australia, Mumbai 2001.
I still remember Tony Greig's comment while Sachin was batting in the first innings. First there is Sachin Tendulkar, then there is day light and then there are the rest. What I liked the best about this innings was his incredible straight hitting. He hit Fleming for four boundries straight down the wicket. Till he was at the wicket, it looked like it would be a close match. But he got out and the Indian team collapsed like a deck of cards.

4. 136 vs Pakistan, Chennai 1999.
A year after Operation Warne Thrashing, Sachin was back in Chennai. India needed 271 in the fourth innings to win the test. Sachin was suffering from back pain the entire test match. With a painful back, he still scored 136 runs of the highest quality. Its a big shame that the last 3 Indian wickets couldnt score 17 runs between them. Their failure has prevented this innings to be one of the greatest the game has ever seen.

5. 169 vs South Africa, Cape Town 1997.
India again were in big big trouble when Sachin and Azhar made batting look very very easy during their partnership. Sachin looked all set for a double century when he fell to a once in a life time catch by Adam Bacher. It took that brilliance to get him out. Allan Donald came fuming in and Sachin just hit nonchalantly for four through the covers. Simply an amazing innings. His best as captain of the Indian team.

I missed some of his early centuries as I was too young then. But from what I hear, the one at Old Trafford as well as Perth and Johannesburg should definitely feature in this list.

Happy Diwali

Wishing every one a Happy and Prosperous Diwali and a wonderful new year.

The great history quiz

After getting a good score in PCM in class XIIth, I decided to go for engineering. The admission process had its share of dramas and finally after multiple stay orders and judgments from all courts going up to the Supreme Court (yes, only the President was spared from giving his opinion on the admissions issue), the classes started. Due to late starting, the first semester was more like a first quarter and got over within three months. It was time to get the journals graded. Among the subjects we had was a subject called Computer Programming 1. Now, I hate programming and hence this course was going to be a tough one. Of course, with the help of good friends in the batch, I did manage to complete all the programs. So it was with great satisfaction of having completed all the programs that I made my way to Prof. Pandey for grading my journal. He looks at the first program and mentions to me that there are lot of errors in the flow chart. The flow chart that I had drawn was not tallying with my program. I need to correct it before I get it checked. Off I go for correcting it. I return back and he finds some more errors in the same flowchart. So again I get apprehended for my mistakes and am told to make the corrections once again. Making the necessary changes once again, I head to him for grading. This time, I am quite confident that I am right. Boom...he checks it and lets me know that the mistakes have infact increased this time. "Yeh tum kaise manage kar sakte ho. Har time kuch naye galtiyaan laate ho". By now, I am quite worried and the thought does come to my mind of having no grade in CP1. After making some more changes, I head to him for the fourth time for grading the same program. This time, I get lucky. There is one more student ahead of me sailing in the same boat. This student is from the same native place in Uttar Pradesh as Pandeyji. Pandeyji asks him some questions about the historical significance of Lucknow. Being next in line, I am asked for my opinion on it. Since I have a good knowledge of Indian history, I am able to answer it. What happens next is a quiz on Indian history. Mr. Pandey asks me questions from history and for every five correct answers that I give, I get a program checked without any questions on it. Soon, I have managed to not only get my entire journal graded without any mistakes pointed out, but I have also got A+ in CP1 (or should it be history 101?). After getting my journal graded, I ask Sandeep to have a look at my programs and flowcharts and let me know my mistakes. There are a whole bunch of them and no Professor would have given me even a B+ for that. But I guess I was lucky. Since then, I have got plenty of journals graded, but it was never as fun as the CP1 with Pandeyji...

First class in the United States

After completing my B.E., I decided to follow the M.S. option. I gave my GRE in my 7th Semester and finished the application stage towards the end of that semester. The 8th semester saw the admits and the rejects coming out. It was in this term that I decided to opt for Drexel University. This university was located in downtown Philadelphia and had a good Telecommunications program. I finished the visa interview in June and in the month of September, I found myself in Philadelphia. Our term started on the 24th of September 2007 and I was eagerly waiting for this day. I was having a class on the first day itself. It was going to be DSP lecture by Dr. Walsh. All excited about it, I made my way to the class. I used to think that I was quite well versed in DSP. After the first lecture, I knew I was completely wrong.
So the first lecture starts and I am finding it very difficult to comprehend what Dr. Walsh is talking about. May be I was not that used to the accent, but I just couldn’t understand a thing what he was speaking. Sagar was sitting next to me and once or twice, I thought of asking him whether Dr. Walsh was speaking in some new language that I was not aware of. It was a weird situation where I knew something about the discussion, but I just couldn’t understand what the prof was speaking. This was a lecture I will never forget.
Fortunately by the next class, I had some exposure to people speaking fast in American accent. I could manage to understand what Dr. Walsh was saying. I managed to do decently in his course and ended up with an A-. It was certainly a relief to get through his class, especially after the experience in the first class. My first class in the United States is something I will always remember.

Mr. Professor kumar, a typical professor in an engineering college

This is a poem which was composed by me and Alhad during a lecture in our third year of engineering. KBC 2 was about to be released that time and there was lot of excitement about it. All the channels regularly ran promos of it. There was another promotional spoof making the rounds at that time. It can be found at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQCKHtt3wl8
The tune of that song as well as the other promotional ads is the inspiration behind this work. Hope you like it. Please leave comments/brickbats...



Yeh hai Mr. Professor kumar,
Bachpan se inko tha padhai se pyar,

Badi mehnat se mili inko engineering me admission,
Char saal ke badle lage aath saal for graduation,

Twelth me mara tha inhone bade style se ninety,
Engineering me inhe lage bahut saare KT,

Bahut niraash the, baar baar yaad aati thi nani,
par professor kumar ne kabhi haar nahi maani,

One day, while recollecting his technical knowledge,
Unke dost ne unhe pucha,
Kabhi professor ban ne ka socha,

Professor kumar bade soch me pade,
engineering college me ek professor bane,

Fir professor banke inhone dhoom machayi,
Har lecture me pucha, woh nahi aayi??,

engineering ke funde ko ulta ghumaya,
answer nahi aaya to student ko khopche me bulaya,

aaj bhi yeh, aaj bhi yeh karte hai dil se sikhane ka prayas,
bachchon ka hota hai future bada satyanash,

jinhone sikhe inse engineering ke funde,
exam me mile bahut saare ande,

par jinhone prefer kiya classes lagana,
exam me mila bhaiyya, umeed se dugna...

Two years on...

September 1st will always remain a special day for me. Its not only my grandfather's birthday, but also on this day in 2007, I had started and reached US for my MS. Its an interesting coincidence that I spent 1st September this year in India. As I look behind at these two happening years, I do realize that they have overall been two lovely and fun filled years.

I have learnt a lot in the last two years. This learning is not just restricted to the academic field, but also has served as a learning program for living and enjoying life. There have been lots of good incidences which I have thoroughly enjoyed. I have also learnt a lot from the not so good incidences. I have made some terrific friends over the last two years. And most importantly, I have learnt to live independently.

As I look behind at these two years, they give me confidence that I will easily be able to pull off the next three to four years as a PhD student...