~~ Being Thankful ~~

Its 12am in the night, I was scrolling through my hundreds of unread emails with plethora of deals for this week. I gave a thought and after selecting the unread emails and moving them to trash, suddenly I felt like writing something. Yeah, doesn't seem like a regular day. As Thanksgiving is approaching here in US, people are gearing up for the festival. While many natives here are getting ready for this festive occasion, cooking turkey and having some great time with family and friends; many are busy making shopping list to strike off on black friday. Yes, its that time of the year. I am no exception, as always, I also have a list. I mean, I anyways have a shopping list always ready the entire year, but this is THE occasion. hehe .. jokes apart .. (actually that is true also).. anyways....
Thanksgiving isn't a festival I celebrated ever since I was a kid. I grew up in India, celebrating Holi, Diwali, Dusshera and many more with great excitement. I think festivals are meant to give us a break from our monotonous life and have some great time with our near and dear ones.So yeah, .. after knowing about so many festivals people celebrate, Thanksgiving is one, I really liked. I liked the idea of it. I am not sure about how it came into existence and if it is related to particular religion or not. May be I can ask Google :). I just wanted to pour some thoughts, just like that.
In this demanding life, everybody is busy in their own world. We are so occupied with our daily lives to achieve something in life and may be that's the reason, we do not find enough time to look around and show our gratitude. I think it makes sense to have a day especially meant for it. A day for being thankful to God, thankful to parents, thankful to family, friends, teachers and even thankful to enemies.
On this thanksgiving, I want to say that I am grateful to few ( read 'many') things in my life.
I am thankful to God and for the synergy that we have, it keeps me going.
Thanks to my parents  for the life that they gave me, supporting me all the time and for raising me like this.
To my two beautiful and wonderful sisters, who always backed me up and encouraged me all the time.
Love and thanks to my cute little nephews and nieces, who make me feel loved, every time I talk to them in their kiddy accent.
To the people in my extended family, who influenced me in one way or the other.
Not to say, being thankful to my wonderful friends. I want to say it to all of them that I am so happy to have you in my life. I am glad that our paths crossed at some point of time. I hope our paths cross again soon :)
... ( Gosh .. I am getting carried away .. I am not sure that I am/was a good friend but I tried anyways.)
Okay.. I also want to say thank you to my teachers ( I do not say this usually but I really am... ) I am thankful to all the inspiring teachers who taught me so many lessons from high school to grad school, some from the books and some from life.
And last but not the least, I am thankful to the love of my life. Thanks for being there for me. You are the person I can always look upto :)

Its good to make a point to thank people around us. If somebody says thank you to me, I feel really really good. I feel that I was able to do something for them. Also, it inspires me to do some more good things in life. In a similar manner, if we say thank you to others it will definitely make them feel good about themselves. So, people.... go on .. and be grateful, say THANK YOU, it wont hurt at all .. i can guarantee ~ Happy Thanksgiving~
Oh, btw how can i forget, thanks to the readers too :)

Luv,
#Neetu

~~Change of Seasons~~

Hello everyone, so I am back to the blog after a long long long gap. I was too busy in the last semester, so no time for writing. Reasonable excuse :) (grin)... Needless to say, summer fun has already begun. 6 months of winter is a long enough time to make you look like a crazy person during summer time, where you want to enjoy each and everything from picnic, hiking, pools, parks, vacations, water fun, adventures, outings, long drives, fun in sun etc etc.

Here is a little peek from my vacation: 

I was off for a week long vacation in California. Well California is a sunshine state so I guess, no better place to get the feel of summer. Luckily, it was not too hot there, rather very pleasant. The trip was fun in the sense, that it was not just sight seeing in San Diego, LA and SFO rather met a couple of old friends, which is always great, ate some nice food, roamed around a lot, caught into SFO traffic :D hiked in Yosemite. I met my old friend AD in SFO after almost 3 years, and no doubt it was fun. AD gave a tour of SFO with all the history about places and introduced me to mini doughnuts and Laline :)
I love my friends and thanks to God for giving me such wonderful people around.

Back to topic: (might be a lil boring :P but please read)
West coast has the constant weather all around the year, one of the reasons why so many companies have their business headquarters there. Its sunshine all the time. Some find the sun a little harsh though. However, I feel it must be lil boring for people since there is no major change of seasons they could see in their everyday lives. Of course good part of that thing is that its fun all year around, not to worry about wrapping yourself in 4-5 layers before going out. My end of story is that, I like the change of weather, something I can feel it and see it....(contd)

(Off the topic: I love nature and is always amazed with its power, I feel sometimes lost into it if I am in such surroundings like a big waterfall, tall trees, sound of river, lush green grass, plants, mountains, sunrise, sunsets and the list is endless)

...the fall could be seen on the trees with changing colors between orange, red, brown, yellow and then shedding off. The winter comes with snow and of course the chill. I love the first snow and the first morning where I wake up and see outside my window and its all white(so pure) with snow flakes twirling and dancing. I literally go mad, just running outside with my camera and clicking every nook and corner. After a month, it becomes monotonous though. Its not my fault, thats the human nature, tends to get bored very easily :) .Well... Spring breaks that monotonicity and blossoms starts, tulip season begins, and suddenly trees are colored into white, purple, pink and red. The chill is little weighed down and thats when you know summer is impending. Then..crazy summer starts,  you can see the change with kids in the parks, people running/walking/jogging on the sidewalks, pools are open, days are long (very long) and less time for being lazy. Also, I meet people more often compared to winters. In other words, I am socially more active during summers :) hehe.

Furthermore, there is a long list of things-to-do for summers, already started striking off things from it, writing is one of those. Days are flying. In two months, Fall session starts until then its fun in sun time!!

Thanks for reading.

#Neetu

Photo: Nevada Falls, CA

~~Just a Note~~

Dear blog,

It's been a long time since I wrote something. It's not that I am missing on things, but not finding time to share them with you and everyone else. Lots of things went on and off, in past few months. The semester is pretty hectic this time. People say spring semester is always tiring and seems very long. No one knows the reason behind. May be its the cold weather, that makes u feel sluggish most of the time or the short day when it's dark only by 4pm. Whatever, I am just waiting for this semester to get over soon.Btw, I am just a month away from summer break and some fun :)

Will be back soon with some musings.

Luv
#Neetu

~~ Is Hope good or bad ~~

Wish you all a very Happy New Year. Its still not too late to wish :) HOPE you all have a great year ahead. 

HOPE. What a wonderful feeling. I have always been astonished at this human tendency to have a hope for everything. I would be surprised to know if there is a person on this planet, who has never hoped for anything. 

Few days back, when I was watching director Ang Lee's movie 'Life of Pi', this thought fascinated me more, how even a little bit of hope is enough for the survival of a being. The protagonist Pi, after losing his entire family in the ship wreckage and stranded on a boat for some 200+ days with a tiger, maintained hope to reach the shore. He did everything he could, to stay alive, whether it was eating fish for survival, in spite of him being a vegetarian or, to confront the wild tiger, Richard Parker. There are many other aspects to this story too like fear, faith, the differences between man and beast and so on, but my focus was more on hope. It was that little hope, that gave him the courage to do everything he did. The hope to stay alive, the hope to reach the shore, the hope to get help in the middle of the vast ocean and hope to get back to his normal life. On a side note, I liked the name, Richard Parker, what a royal name for a Bengal tiger. :)

When talking about movies, how can I forget another favorite one, The Shawshank Redemption, the story of hope. Andy and Red spent a lot of time together in the jail. From the very start they clicked to each other and became very good friends but they differed a lot in their thoughts about hope. While Red was not hopeful at all, Andy explains him that Hope is something inside, that the prison could never take. I love these two quotes from the movie, which beautifully explain Andy and Red's perception of hope.

While Red says, "Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane." 

Andy's view is "Hope is a good thing, may be the best of things, and no good thing ever dies."

Red thought it could drive him insane thats why he never hoped for anything, until he was influenced by Andy. What Andy did, was because of that little hope he had. It made him get rid of the prison, which he never deserved and live a free life. Also, Andy changed Red and how in the end, Red also becomes hopeful and gets a new idea of life. He too starts hoping. I second Andy, that hope never dies. It dwells in every person and make them move forward in life. 

Hmm, I understand that movies are fictional most of the times, but they are someone's imagination. Sometimes we could relate to them and sometimes not at all. These are two stories which are focused on human emotions. May be the background is not the same in our real lives but the feeling is the same. If we see in the real world, everyone's life is bumpy, no one has a smooth ride. Many wrong things happen in life, like people losing their jobs in the shadow of economic crisis, losing homes in a flood, loss of loved ones, loss due to terrorism and war, and many more which, we couldn't even imagine, but still lives go on, with a hope that things will be fine and there is a better tomorrow. There is always a Sunrise after a sunset.

Thinking on those similar lines, why hope is always good. I have always heard people hoping for good things like I hope you get well soon; Hope I pass in my exam; I hope this year I get a promotion;  I hope you have a safe flight; I hope my family is doing good; I hope this journey is successful; I hope my project finishes right in time; and many many more hopes. Have you ever wondered, that why no one hopes that things go wrong, rather they hope for best or at least good?

There are some questions popping in my mind right now. Is this a feeling that keeps us moving and working towards our goals and in a way gives us a reason to live? Is hope a necessity, in order to live? Is there any relation between being hopeful and being optimistic?  Are there only optimistic people who hope and others with negative emotions don't?  My idea is that there could be two set of people one who hope for good and one who doesn't have hope at all (though it is rare). So logically, does that mean hope is always good and never bad. Either it is there or it is absent.

I would love to hear some more thoughts. Please comment, what's your take on it. I too have a HOPE that, whosoever reads it, leaves a line about their idea of hope :) 

Luv

#Neetu

PS: After writing this post, I realised that, I have used the word 'hope' a lot. But I don't want to change it now. I like this word :) 

Other than this, the winter break went fine. I had to work a little but then there was time to relax, cook, read and last but not the least, a weekend trip to Las Vegas. yay. It was fun. Keep reading guys. Signing off for now. Btw, they say winter break is over but winter is not over yet.  Its -16 C outside when I am writing this and lake is still frozen. I went for a walk on the lake last weekend. People were camping with the fishing gear. Classes have already begun and so is the new fun along with it. Again, thanks for reading.

~~ Back after a while ~&~ the Grad school ~~

Finally exams are over and the fall semester came to an end...Sigh !!

I was missing my blog so badly, but really there was no scope for me to find time for it. It was actually taxing. Overall, I had sort of mixed feeling towards this whole study thing. It was stressful but still I felt happy about doing all the hard work. This post dedicated to my grad school. Oh btw, college is also called school here :)

I know I told in my last post, that I should write about being in a grad school and at this time of year it seems so obvious. My exams are over and I feel like sharing my experience as of now. Before doing that, I want to say, thank you to Prof Stern, for all the support and motivation. In case he is reading this, I want to tell him, he is the coolest boss I ever had. Working with him is another experience, I would want to tell. When he told me, he was following my blog.... I was so glad to hear and nervous at the same time...lol. That’s another story. Gosh! sometimes I have this mind flooded with talking points. I guess, I have become more talkative in the recent past. And now that I realized, I am getting distracted, so coming back to the point, which is the grad school. I will try my best, not to bore people, but in case you are, I wont take the responsibility..haha.

Before deciding on going to school, many ideas came to my mind, like why should I go for it, would I be able to do it, or whether it would be worth it or not, whether I should work or study. Well, the monstrous and monotonous questions, like what do I want to do in life, where do I want to see myself 3-4 years down the line, etc. were in line too. My close ones, used to ask me, why do u want to go for a grad school and I just knew one thing. I wanted to go one step ahead in life and get more knowledge and exposure to a totally new world.

Stepping into school after a 4-year leap was not easy at first place but I gelled in just couple of days, without much effort. Met a lot of nice and lovely people from my country and from other countries too. Suddenly, I was so busy with homework, classes and work that I even forgot that I was studying again after 4 years. It was fun in a different sort of way, which I enjoyed. Sitting in a diverse class discussing Routing protocols felt good. It wasn't boring at all. Doing group studies, discussing problems and then working on them was exciting.

This school was very different from my undergrad college. Even though its very flexible in terms of courses I can choose, or what research area I want to work on or what major I want to graduate in, there are few regulations that everyone has to take care of. One of the important ones is that universities are against plagiarism and is considered as a crime. For those, who are wondering what Plagiarism is- it is the act of copying someone else's work. There are strong rules for it; one can even be deported if caught for plagiarism. It’s fair and ethically correct. In case, one wants to copy or rephrase, citation becomes necessary. So has to be careful even while doing the homework !!

Initial two months passed by with just the classes, homework, mid terms and work and then came the last one month of this semester. I wasn't expecting it to be very relaxing but it also didn't turn out to be calm either. It was a wearing month, all in for the term projects and papers. While working late nights for many days, coffee was the only companion. I am a tea person but the required caffeine to keep me wide awake could only be harnessed from hot coffee. So yeah, 2am, 3am coffee breaks were usual on all those days. Thinking of which, I remember the first day of orientation, whenever I used to tell people working at the university, I have classes to attend and few of them are very late in the evening after a gap of around 7 hours, the very next thing I used to hear in an American accent was 'Oh you need a lot of caffeine for that' and I thought 'why so, I will be fine'. America runs on coffee. I realized the importance of that sentence when I used to be all drained out for a couple of classes in the evening, so yes, you guessed right. I started taking cappuccinos, before those classes. Sounds like a drug to me.. lol. Its a bad addiction or, in good words, a medicine to keep your senses open. Well, I got over it as soon as the work pressure was gone. So, good for me.

One interesting thing, I wanted to share, that used to happen during my exam days. When I was bored of reading research papers, I used to scribble some weirdo lines on papers and was planning for what are the things I have to do after this semester is over. Foresightedness, u know. Haha.. even I was amazed at those thoughts. I was missing things I love to do in free time. I wanted to roam around, cook some new delicacies, do shopping, travel, read, pamper myself and do nothing for a while. Yeah, I actually missed all of this. Things were getting piled up and holidays were nearing. So, what happens in winter break wont stay with me, I should share after its over.

I know I worked a lot for my projects. There were ups and downs. On one hand, there was a day when I wanted to read, think about it and work more. While on the other hand, there were days when I wanted to just finish it off without giving much attention. I was pretty capricious though, changing minds so frequently. Whatever, I submitted my paper, gave my presentation, prof gave good comments, good grades and I was all elated. So it was worth putting all those efforts. I was so happy with what I did, all on my own. There is so much of self-learning there and no spoon feeding. Even though it was just a small part of the entire thing, it gave me a new level of self-confidence. Actually, a bit proud feeling from inside. Now I feel like a fully upgraded newer version of myself.

Hmm, it’s a long way to go, before I say, "finally it’s done" and "I graduated with flying colors". But I am looking forward to the real life learning, other than just the courses. My feelings have changed from what they were, before going to the school. Now I feel that 'Grad school is much more than just getting ahead in life'. A lot to learn about yourself and what you are capable of.

And to those who have reached till this line, appreciate your patience :). Thanks for reading.

Luv

#Neetu