The Big Day!!

After couple of years of relentless work, several sleepless nights (many of them due to submissions or final exams) and countless moments of anxiety the odyssey of my masters degree was complete.....and on December 12^th 2008 I became a part of Graduating Class of 2008!

When daunted by my inexhaustible thesis.... I would envisage my graduation day hoping that it would motivate me to go on! {Those of you who have read my “lonely to home(ly)” post would know how eagerly I was awaiting this day! } As the “big day” approached that anticipation continued to intensify and I imagined that day to be spectacular with me floating somewhere around cloud 9!!

But history stands witness to the fact.... any such eagerly awaited event.... anything with oodles of expectations is bound to be.... for lack of a better word.... a “flop”! That would explain why it took me 5 whole days to construct (notice my use of “civil engineering” vocabulary... just a testament to the fact that I now have masters degree in it!) this post!

I just wanted to be sure that I did feel that it was “no big deal” and reflect on its reasons.....“Why so??” Most probably because I messed up in the middle... almost quit and unwillingly completed it! But just so that my I myself hear it too.... it was a “BIG DAMN DEAL”!!!! J

None the less.... walking down the slope of the spirits arena (in the oversized black coat) to the backstage.... I did feel a sense of euphoria! After a very longgggggg hour’s wait we were escorted to the main arena with cameras pointing at our faces (awkward awkward) as all the graduates walked in!! McCain was there. He was introduced to the crowd preceded by an impressive speech (by our chancellor) to a standing ovation!... McCain I believe was called because our rival school (TAMU!) had “The President of the United States” as their chief guest! However I must add.... McCain gave a real nice speech.....most of which I did not sleep through (no pun intended... I was very tired for some reason and kept dosing off even in the backstage area... so if I was awake through a speech.... it must be good!)

After what seemed like forever.... we were handed our degrees after we shook hands with atleast 10 people who were on the graduation committee.... and there I had a revelation... if I am congratulated 10 times in a row I do feel like saying “Enough already”!! .... B.O.R.I.N.G!

The only person I was glad to see was my professor Dr. Morse... she was there too and her congratulations meant more than all other people put together!

Inspite of all this day was “Purrrfect”! I wore my graduation dress (which I had bought last month and had hoped it wouldn’t be too cold so that I could wear it) and we dined at the Maharaja- the only Indian restaurant in Lubbock। Also we had the legendary ‘photo session’ as we paraded around the campus in our ridiculously oversized gowns! We also threw our caps but did not manage to catch it.... all owing to my appalling hand-eye co-ordination... I am dreadful in all games requiring a good hand-eye co-ordination॥ eg। Basketball, gold and billiards!

Also...spent lotta time catching up with old friends before saying final adios to Lubbock!

Diwali at Lubbock

Carol of lights is a festival at Texas Tech University that marks the beginning of the holiday season. Ever since the tradition began in 1959, hundreds of students gather all around the memorial circle to celebrate this festival and marvel at the 25000 light bulbs illuminating the engineering key, the seal entrance and the science quadrangle all the way to the Student Union Building. The sight is simply delightful. The only thing contrary to the lights is the bitter cold which you have to endure if you are bold enough to participate in the actual festival. Carol of lights is like having diwali in Lubbock!

No lights are allowed after dark until 9 pm in all the buildings facing the areas listed above. The gallant gather at the science quadrangle to brave the cold as they patiently wait for the singing to start. The carols are preceded by marching of all Tech mascots (Red raider and the masked raider- was a girl again this time!) who parade to the lit arena with their “guns up” (bordering on pretentious). The singing finally starts and the area is filled with wonderful music.... its sheer pleasure to see professionals at work. After the last carol is sung, some important person (couldn’t care less to know who he was... by that time I was frozen and almost ready to go home without seeing the legendary lights) switched on the lights.... suddenly the entire arena was filled with thousands of lights (had Googled earlier to find the exact number!) which were greeted by a series of “Wooooooooooooooooooows”!

Amazing......... the X-mas spirit starts real early at Tech। The colossal X-mas tree standing tall behind the university seal is all lit up too.

Carol of Lights is celebrated on the first Friday of December each year so that all the students have a chance to take part in the fun. A week later... the campus looks desolate and if it wasn’t for the B-E-A-UTIFUL constructions, it sure would have looked like a ghost town! Besides all the dried grass makes it look so very morose. The only thing to beautify it is the snow.... then our campus looks pretty again!!!

Romeo and Juliet with the happily ever after tag!

I believe that the best thing anyone can offer is “love”...... that is unadulterated, unchecked and immeasurable! Someone wise once said (Rather quoted in some cheesy book that I had read) that it was the only way to love someone completely.... you might get hurt but it was worth the risk! A hindi movie quoted on similar lines that.... every person should fall in love atleast once in their lifetime... as love makes one a truly wonderful being! I find it Funny... that books and movies still stick to their Neanderthal teachings inspite of tragic episodes of “Romeo and Juliet”! One might think that even the authors and script writers learn from the past and try to evolve.... but guess there always are exceptions.

Do not get me wrong I DO believe in the unconditionality clause of love but also wonder.... isn’t it high time we as human beings do something for our evolution? Is it enough that we can know walk erect and have learned to use our “opposable thumbs”?

Yes... such ancient thought processes annoy me.... I mean I still am a romantic person who adores gifts and the other things that come with the package.. but my brain craves for some things other than rotting in a relationship and losing your identity in that process!

Hence I am particularly happy when I come across a conceptually modern love story... like for example “Socha Na Tha”. I rediscovered this romantic comedy. It is fun and sweet and not to intense. That’s the recipe to not only a good movie but also to a healthy relationship! When I saw Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takia... I wished Romeo and Juliet had run away too... the scene on the balcony where she (A. Takia) waits for him is what prompted me to draw similarities between the two stories. That’s why I like to refer to Socha Na Tha as today’s Romeo and Juliet with a happily ever after tag! That’s how its supposed to be right??... that’s what our first books (fairy tales) told us to expect from life.... struggle to achieve whats most important in life such that you can live happily ever after... after that!!

From 'Lonely' to "Home"(ly)!

I came to Texas to pursue a master’s degree and spent two and half years achieving it! In December 2008, 2 + years of my hard work will be summed up in two letters at the end of my name =>

Poorva Narsapur M.S.!

I wonder what I will feel walking down the “United Spirits Arena” wearing the black robe and cap (that symbolize a judge...God forbid... I am the most biased human being ever who can be emotionally blackmailed easily.... that will end the concept of “aandha kannon”....giggles)!

Ironically the “hindi movies” (that almost never show anything remotely “real”) too depict the graduation ceremony in a similar fashion which predictably has always caught my fancy। Hence ever since I enrolled in the graduate school I have been awaiting the graduation day! To walk the walk and throw the cap high up in the air.... watch it as it swivels and jump up to catch it in mid air!

Sadly after my graduate date was extended by 6 months... I had almost lost interest in the commencement ceremony. Thankfully a surprise visit to the Spirits Arena reminded me of what I had been waiting for.... to get photographed in the over sized gown!!

Neither had I thought that I would be sad about leaving Lubbock! I had always imagined relief to be etched on my mind when I said my final goodbyes to flat, sunny, dusty, “hard watered” and lonely Lubbock!

On Monday the 17^th of November I visited all my professors and said goodbyes! Then I spent an hour touring Texas Tech trying to fix all the wonderful images of the campus on my mind! I have grown insanely proud of Texas Tech in these 2 years. It has a wonderful campus which is almost as large as a miniature city! The Tech football team too made us Red Raiders proud and we can actually mock longhorns (after 4 long years!)। The first American football game I saw was on campus. Our band was stunning and our players well prepared! I think my proudest moment was when the “masked raider” galloped across the stadium on her horse (yep it was a “she” this time... for those who are unfamiliar with this concept... a masked raider is another mascot of Tech who wears black and rides a horse at the beginning of each home game and some others as well... they alternately chose a girl and a boy to ride the horse!)

After spending 2 and half years in Lubbock..............I now call Lubbock home! Initially when I came here, I could not wrap my head around the deserted place which was seen as a group of circular farmlands from the airplane! I was afraid of walking on the desolate streets which were the opposite of the streets in Mumbai.

Not too different was the scorching heat that tanned all of us black (IT was August!)। To make matters worse, the dry weather peeled away our skin, the hard water messed with our hair and the cuisine made my life difficult as a vegetarian। But as time passed I started appreciating the peace and quiet and the wide expanse of nothingness! The hard water began to taste like bottled water and the heat toned down as winter approached! I began cooking better and discovered restaurants serving decent vegetarian food comprising of something other than fries and salad! All these things made Lubbock tolerable but I still called Bombay home. As the year passed I began to get used to the arid Lubbock and things started getting very familiar! I knew people and the shop keepers and made more friends! I learnt to optimize on the limited resources I had and the quality of living improved. This is where I learnt to be completely independent, learnt to trust no one while being amiable to all... this is where got my first job!

I started identifying with the slow paced life of Lubbock which was very different from where I grew up ! And then one day when it was time for me to move away.... I found there were tears in my eyes... just like when I was leaving Bombay! Bombay will always remain extremely special to me and no other place can take its place.... however I have now started calling Lubbock home because this is where I learnt some of the most difficult lessons in my life... thus this too is a place where I grew up!

FESTIVAL OF RED

Once there was a festival of Red,

To which there came

The reds of all the earth and skies..........

The perfumed redness of a soft rosebud,

The mystic redness of a funeral flame,

And the sad redness of the rabbit’s eye,

The redness of a sunset colored peak,

The live sweet redness of a baby’s cheek,

The hard rich redness of a parrot’s beak,

The redness of a warm fruit within a wood,

The redness in the eyeballs of a dove,

The lonely redness of a heart in love.

But when the festival of red began,

Outside a raving outcast, redness stood.

It was the redness of the rage of man!

-UNKNOWN!

Note: This was my favorite peom as a child! Finally found it and would like to share it with ‘yall’!

Something about dancing

I like dancing and think it’s a wonderful form of art...be it salsa or bharatnatyam.

I have learnt classical dancing for more than four years and have to thank my dad for that. He forced me to go to dance classes when I was in school. I have had 3 teachers in all of which the first one was my favourite one. She had the kindest and sweetest soul of all. I used to love learning from her because I think she guessed I was there only because papa wanted me to and did not judge me for it....she accounted for my mixture of lack of earnest interest in dancing and my not wanting disappoint to papa. So she taught me when I was in the mood and the rest of the times she let me sit and watch. Gradually I begin to join the dance sessions more and more with budding interest! I was all of seven then and adored her। Then the worst happened, she died of cancer. That was the first time I dealt with the idea of death but surprisingly it was not frightening. I think I was stronger as a child!

After her death, I lost whatever little interest I had for dancing। To make matters worse the new teacher who replaced her was not so understanding and did not like my apparent lack of interest in dancing. She did not agree with my attempts to learn dancing for my father’s sake and was pretty harsh. She even enforced a dress code in my least favorite color which did not help with her popularity (in my views)!

Thankfully we moved in a couple of years and I was relived as our new place was far away from the dance school. I thought that it would bring an end to my dancing sessions! But papa did not give up, he found me a new dance teacher. This new one was very much like my first teacher and I starting enjoying our lessons. We developed a rapport and my interest in dancing returned! That’s when I realized I had the sense of rhythm and dancing was not half bad!

Unfortunately she got married and moved to another state which brought another end to my dancing lessons! Afterwards, I was buried in 12^th grade examinations and engineering years which left little time for anything else.

Now that I look back, I am really glad I took classes. I think it was my rebellious trait (as I was forced to learn it) that prevented me from enjoying dancing in my earlier years! For the record my dad is the sweetest soul on earth and he seldom asks me to do anything. So when he does.... there is no other way about it for me!

From what I learn from my new roommate, dancing is frowned upon by some groups but in our society, dancing (bharatnatyam) is considered a form of pooja (worship). And I am really glad I had a chance to learn it!

Every year the Maharashtra Board of Tourism organizes the Elephanta festival of dance and music. I visited one such festival with papa. Elephanta island is a 30 minute boat ride from The Gateway of India. The program was on a full moon night which made the whole thing even more wonderful. The ambience was that of some stage set in the 16^th century. The Shiva idol forming the center of the stage was beautifully illuminated and almost stole the entire show! We were seated on the ground on “gaddis” and round cushions and the whole place was decorated with lanterns, rangolis and diyas. It had the grandeur of the "महल" of the olden days! This trip was probably the most memorable of all my excursions and I will always cherish it. For more information visit:

http://www.mumbai.org.uk/elephanta-festival.html

The only negative thing about the place is that it has to be approached via sea which mandates a boat ride. Ordinarily I adore the sea, however I am prone to sea sickness and can become a tad bit uneasy!

I plan to pursue dancing again someday and perform the “arrangetram”! That sure will bring a smile to my dad’s face which will be reward enough! Till then what I do is watch and admire Madhuri’s performances and also some parts of nach baliye!

The week that was!!!

Last week was a very important one for all Americans. A new commander in chief was elected who will have to hold answers to challenging problems of the war and the current financial predicament. So the whole country voted and watched as they counted the votes. Many of them prayed for an able leader who will take the reins of government and be the messiah for today’s America.

Not being a citizen I have little say in who should have won the post of the potentially most powerful man in the world, but I do hope that he is effective and finds a way to make peace with the Middle East and end the war without jeopardizing the safety and position of this country. I am a little ashamed to say that I am not too well informed about the middle east situation as it does not directly affect my life....but the way I see it... .at the end of the day people are dying both Americans and those in the Middle East. So if there was a magical way to fix this colossal problem I pray that the new president finds it.