We landed in Chennai earlier today. Its humid but not too hot and apparently been raining heavily but not today! The Jet Airways experience was more than what we had expected and their entertainment and service were well worth the price. Even better was the off-season timing so the flights were not as packed as it could have been so many folks got to sleep in economy just as they would in business class. Flying with Rishi went ok and once landed, he is taken over by family *grandparents. So until we leave, there won’t much debate on who will pick him up when he is cranky. But then, after we return, we have would have to start all over again!

Flipping through the TV this afternoon made me wonder about how the media is growing so heavily here. Man, there is more channels than any sane person could ever ask for. Was wondering who consumes all of this but seems this Lintas Media report indicates more channels to come.

Its an odd feeling every time I visit India : I don’t belong here, yet some of me wants or feels like it does.

The long hiatus is over and I now have an MBA from NYU Stern. No more excuses to not blog! At least, I can’t sleep at night peacefully with any other excuse!

I have been thinking about the emotional reaction to having a business school degree now and the 2.5 years of ordeal going to Manhattan twice a week, the hours and hours of reading and case writing, working with hundreds of great students and world-class professors and finally, a spectacular commencement at RadioCity hall. It does feel unreal at times, that it is done and over!

My father sent a note of appreciation : “[you are] really fortunate to get this higher education in New York University. Nenachukooda pakkallai. GOD IS GREAT”. Nenachukooda pakkallai means, never even thought such a thing was possible.

I agree, from where we were as a family 12 years to where we are…I am happy for what we got and for what I had even 3 years ago. I have not thought about doing an mba, let alone in the US and let alone in the No.1 part-time program in the country. yet here I am writing this. This only proves to me what I already strongly believe : “If you put your mind & heart, anything is possible!!!” Credit goes to two individuals : Mohan Tavaroth, who really pushed me off the cliff when I was questioning my abilities to do it three years ago. The larger credit goes to Harini. She has been trooper all along and has gone through much pains due to lack of my attention and help at family front. The delayed price of which is coming in 3 weeks from now! our little boy! Timing of it couldn’t have been better thanks to Almighty!

It may sound like a big deal? is it?

It sure is. To paraphrase what I have learnt from my readings : “Pain and Joy aren’t comparative; A person’s pain or joy is just as big as anyone else’s pain or joy, regardless of the reasons or context”.

With that, I am starting to blog again! I am honored & thankful for your continued readership support for my blog.

Arun Vaidhyanathan, who is now on vacation in India, has arranged for a private screening of all his short films in Chennai. If anyone living in chennai is interested in watching his short films and/or to meet him, here is the logistics from him.

Screening of my short films

Thanks a lot.
Love,Arun Vaidyanathan [Arun's Tamil Blog]

fyi, Harini and myself helped Arun a bit in the making of his latest movie, Stinking Cigar. [Click the link to watch the movie online!]

I am getting 500 comments a day. I wish I could be proud of it. Damn it. I am sick of it. Sick of deleting texas hold’em poker comments everyday. I will shoot this b’s (up their a’s) who stay up all night write this spammers.

From Today, I am unceremoniously discontinuing the feature to add comments. Those who post comments know me already so feel free to drop an email if you felt like appreciating me.

The entire New Jersey was in a state of emergency. “People should stay home, no driving”. Thanks to the uninterrupted power supply a lot of us are alive today!

The scene around looks like a christmas fairy tale location. The blistering storm is still out there and scares us at times with its ghostly roar around the windows and doors. Snow ploughs and cleaners are still cleaning up streets and highways, but I am guess they are fighting a losing battle. It will be days before the state gets back to normal. The snow gets dirty and ugly in a day or two wont be a pleasure looking at. Through the glass all this looks exotic until you realize that mondays arent meant to head out! Real life begins 7am tomorrow. (rather 6.30 for me since i have to clean up the drive way before i can pull out)

We went out this morning to experience the effect.

[Fun begins early tomorrow getting this poor thing out!]

[You cant give a face like that and still play in snow!]

[There must be other ways to measure the snow fall!]

I am hoping some of few are waiting for us write about our trip to puerto rico ever since i raved about it before leaving NJ. The reason I started with ‘I am hoping…’ is becoz we are indeed writing one heck of a long travelogue from this wonderful experience of visiting a foreign country

what foreign? yes, its a US colony, but really a in and out latin american country, outside of the main airport and few miles from city center, pretty much 9 out of 10 dont know a word in english!.

ok, save all those experiences for the post to come. we have been chiming in together to make one long good blog about the trip, so just bear with us for a day or two.

At the coast of the tampa bay in the city of clearwater and in the sand key beaches, I am enjoying the sparkling florida sun and the crystal clear blues of the atlantic ocean. Its such a big difference to have driven to the newark airport with a winter jackets and gloves on and then enjoying the waters here with beach shorts and sandals. The past day and half has been terrific with lots of fun activities, the best of which is the surprise pirate cruise last night. With lots of beers, drinks, food and beaten up music, I enjoyed it thoroughly. We had our pirate eye caps and gold and sliver jewellery ( of course fake! ) around our shoulders ( and drunk ), dancing out of rythm for every rock, can you imagine the noise and imbalance in the ship.

Today, we are heading out to the water ski and some fun sports on the beach, see you soon

just got a few minutes left over from thsi hectic weekend. We visited a neighbour on saturday night who had invited us for Navarathri Kolu. We had a chance to get to know a few of the indians around this community. Today, we spent all morning at the Hindu temple helping out the Ahobila Mutt folks with Dolotsavam.

As a sweet surprise, I met a very old friend of mine Srihari. he and I started working together at L-Cube chennai right after college and we were roommate for a year. He hasnt changed a bit, he was a veera vaishanavan then insisting on doing his daily poojas not giving a damn about the fun we make. He used to recite vishnu sahasra namah from 5-7Am, while we, the other roomates were all in our wonder lands dreaming about kate winslet ( we must have been to Titatic the previous night!). And then all of us will be off to L-Cube at 9 AM and start coding in VC++!

This afternoon we had a surprise baby shower for another good friend of ours Archita and Neel. Again we had a wonderful oppurtunity to meet with few other folks around this area. Our social network is building up fast

Back just a few hours ago, packing stuff up for my early morning flight to tampa for a work related conference and harin to catch a bus to Cornell at Ithaca to spend a couple of days with our cousin Susi, who used to be one of our early dedicated readers!. Until then…

we wish we were out somewhere in new england for a visual retreat of fall colors. But nope, here I am, going nowhere. The winter cold has already beaten up the fall season. New Jersey is not a great place to see some eyecatching foilage but very interestingly though, two trees, on either side right infront of our house, has peaked out so impeccably. This has added a subtle charm to our circle with everyone eyeing our two trees against the backdrop of more blunt green ones. [Our community consists of circles of houses with about 25 houses per circle.]. We should perhaps capture it for I am not sure if it will happen so often.

The days are getting shorter and nights are longer [This is simple reason for the change in colors of leaves…not enough Chlorophyl?). Nights have been bearable so far, but as November starts, we will start refferring to it as ‘Freezing’. For those who havent been thru this, it might look exotic. But believe me, Hot Hot Summer is by far better than Freezing Winter. Ask anyone who has stayed inside the heated car longer than she should on a winter night. Perhaps, New Jersey isnt that bad, but Michigan, where I lived for almost 5 years, gets worst. Practically, outdoor life shuts down for about 5-6 months, something commonly referred to as hibernation. This is when the private gyms lower their prices begging for customers, while movie rentals and beer sales go up!

I used to get carried during my early years in america by winter & snow. Most of what we get in this part of the country will infact be ice, go to Colorado for real and original flaky powdery snow. To enjoy a classic winter, hit the mile high city of Denver where you can visit some of world-renowned winter resorts. Snow on the roads melts down the very next morning leaving no trace of an overnight snow fall [not sure how, but its true).

So as winter sneaks, something I am looking forward to is my snowboarding season! There is not a whole lot of skiiing areas out here, but between PA and NY, there is a handful of good resorts that we could go to. I remember early this year in Jan or feb, how I forced harini to taking lessons on snowboarding. But I try not to remember the next few weeks that she was cursing me with her pain