You know you're at CMU When...

When you find someone's bed, couple of laptops, sandals and books that don't belong to you in YOUR office...

When you play soccer in near freezing conditions and beat your seniors in a friendly (5-4)...

When you paint the tricolor on the CMU Fence during your first week at school...

When most people at a free dinner are Indians who barely managed to put on a jacket before coming...


When Google employees start embracing Microsoft...


When you play cricket on the night before the Embedded Systems finals just so that you feel somewhat confident in your first open book exam...


When you watch the class lecture online on the evening before the exam as opposed to getting out of bed early in the morning - thrice a week, 14 weeks in a row...


When you dodge the sniper bullets at 2 AM in the morning (What really happened: A severe rainstorm broke the window behind me and a whole piece of glass came crashing down a second after I managed to escape from my seat!!)...

When you become an expert in sleeping on the chair...



Or next to the garbage can, for days together...


When the morning newspaper reads: "Brad Moore, a senior finishing his degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, takes a rest from his final projects on the lawn at Carnegie Mellon University yesterday."...

When you see comic strips which remind you of your plight (this is Photoshoped (not by me!) - the original cartoon strip read IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) instead of CMU - but it's funny as hell nonetheless)...

When you don't know what waits for you after this life...

(Feel free to point to more such resources - I shall be happy to add them here)

The UGLY Husband: Your Secret to a Successful Marriage

A study conducted at the University of Tennessee claims that women should wed a man who is uglier than them if they want a happy marriage.They rated 82 newlywed couples on their looks then got them to talk about their problems. The couples' discussions were filmed in order to measure how emotionally supportive they were of each other.

Study leader Professor Jim McNulty said: "Men who were more attractive than their partner had a tendency to offer less emotional and practical support to their wives. But men who were less attractive than their wives demonstrated a tendency to be more likely to offer support. Evolutionary perspectives can help explain why men's attractiveness appeared to be more detrimental than beneficial to marriage. Attractive men have available to them more short-term mating opportunities. This may make them less satisfied and less committed to the marital relationship." He said women are less choosy about what their men look like, as long as they are able to help them reproduce. (Source here)

I cannot help but think of two things after hearing about this study on CNN this afternoon:

1. Why do researchers spend so much time and money on studying a subject like this? I guess the motivation stems from the high divorce rate in this country. Why can't they simply ask Indians (who have statistically the highest number of 'happy marriages'). Anyone remembers the saying - "Langoor ke mooh meh angoor" - why would the langoor go for other fruits when his own angoor is both JUICY and FREE?
   
2. If any hot chick is reading this - hey, I am VERY VERY average looking (and by definition, the best for you!!). I can assure you that I am overweight, will be bald by the time I turn 30 and am still in the single market. Email me or leave a comment. (As a side thought, as a service to society, I am wondering if I should start hitting on really hot chicks. You know, a happy marriage is the fabric of a "content" society :D).
   

Darn, some of my male friends are soooooo not good looking - I feel jealous!! God, are you listening?

How to Prepare Bhang ki Thandai

Holi is the festival of colors. It is also a time when enthusiasts prepare Bhang ki Thandai- a drink popular in many parts of North India which is made by mixing bhang with thandai, a cold drink prepared with a mixture of almonds, spices, milk and sugar.

During my days at BIT Mesra, our hostel cook Shivaji had once prepared buckets full of Bhang ki Thandai for a selected group. By virtue of having a room in the infamous 'Baba lobby', I had access to copious amounts of the drink. It was during this experience that I was introduced to the intoxicating drink for the first time. The last thing I recall after downing a few glasses is sitting on my bed and watching my wall clock indefinitely. It was 10 minutes before my Compiler Design mid term that a friend, banging on my door, was able to wake me up in time. I sprinted in my night T shirt, shorts and flip flops to the exam room only to be greeted by classmates with an amused look. I got an A in the subject.

Last evening I, along with a few bored friends, tried reliving in Northern Virginia, what it felt to consume the relished drink back home. Friends, great Bhang Thandai, poker and lots of sweets - the best Holi I have had since leaving India - and that too without any color. At 3 AM in the morning, I could vouch that theories about uncontrolled laughter after consuming Bhang might be true.

Wiki has this to say:
"It is also believed to help freshen the intellect and give alertness to the body and gaiety to the mind."

Umm..I am not sure if I agree with the last part though :D. For enthusiasts who might be interested in recreating the perfect blend, here is the recipe I used (we used 8 times the poppy seeds than is recommended in the recipe below and surprisingly none of us was drunk...(hick)..TRUST ME!). The preparation is not all that hard - alternatively, you just have to give me a ring! :-)

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Bhaang is prepared by grounding the buds and leaves of Cannabis using a mortar and pestle into a green paste. It is mixed with milk, ghee, and spices to prepare a nutritious, refreshing drink known as Thandai, which is intoxicating in nature.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 liter - Water
• 1 1/2 cups - Sugar
• 1 cup - Milk
• 1 tbsp - Almonds
• 1 tbsp - Watermelon/Cantaloupe seeds (dried and skinned)
• 1/2 tbsp - Poppy seeds
  
• 1/2 tbsp - Aniseed
• 1/2 tsp - Cardamom powder
• 1 tsp - Peppercorns (whole)
• 1/4 cup - Dried or fresh rose petals (Gulkand variety)

Method:

• Soak sugar in 1/2 liter of water and all other dry ingredients in 2 cups of water for at least 2 hours.
• Grind all soaked ingredients (not sugar) to a very fine paste.
• Mix remaining water to the paste and strain it using a strong muslin strainer to extract the liquid into a vessel until the residue becomes dry.
• Add milk and sugar to the extracted liquid.
• Mix the cardamom powder in the milk.
• Chill for an hour of two before serving.
• Makes about 8 glasses.

Guest Column (III)

(In continuation of the previous tradition of guest articles (1 and 2) on my blog, here is the next in the series from another special friend)

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When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it. – The Alchemist

Never give up ever or the World will screw you forever – Me

Not sure how to start this story of someone I know. Someone who I thought I knew, but someone who became clearer to me as I spent more time with him. It’s so easy to give up when things are not going your way. There are times when one doesn’t understand why it’s happening to him/her. There will come a time when one would rather give up than continue. That’s what you would do when companies you want don’t call you. It’s a feeling you may get when all but 2 are yet to have interviews on campus. And the second last one keeps you as an alternate and only 1 is left! (Not to mention you don’t get a final slot from the alternate!)

That’s when one starts doubting his abilities. He needed a motivator so he called a friend, a mentor maybe; someone who could motivate him. One talk is all he needed. He never blamed anyone for his failures. He analyzed every single of his interviews to find the minutest flaw which he could improve. Soon he realized he had a great strength. A strength which he feels many don’t have…. To be able to accept his own weakness. Only when you know your weakness can you move forward to achieve what you want because only then can you improve.

But at times, even such things don’t help! A near perfect interview which ended like ‘I would like you to work in my group’ may still result in a 3 month wait for the next round! Incompetent HR or change of HR resulting in your candidature case getting virtually lost can also result in a long wait. What makes it worse is when other avenues also result in a negative result. There is not much you can do but to keep improving. To give every avenue your best shot. To forget that all around you have got what they want, to not even think about how many others have; but to be focused. Easier said than done? He didn’t feel so. He had a great motivator behind him. Or maybe he is just emotionally too disconnected that such things don’t affect him. But there was this sense of challenge. This realization that it’s not just Operating Systems, Computer Network, Distributed Systems which will help him later in life! It’s something much more than that. A feeling which sometimes people forget, but something they should always keep in mind or they haven’t gained much from their education experience!!

Suddenly one day he got the next round call. And the next day… the job. He had done it! He had not lost his confidence after all those failures because he believed in his ability. Even though he had faced many obstacles, he kept trying hard every single time at every avenue he was showed. He had learnt perseverance, persistence and lots more!! What’s in your hand can be improved, if you can accept your flaws and well, maybe if you have a good mentor! All you need is direction and self belief.

What he will always remember is that he proved to everyone that if you want something really badly, you will get it!! Of course for that you really need to know what you want ;). But once you do, the universe will conspire in helping you get it!

The Weekend Drive

When Abhilash and I started from Virginia for North Carolina last Friday afternoon, hardly did either of us know what lay ahead of us. For the very first time in my life, I thought of my weatherman room mate who keeps me ahead of nature's idiosyncrasies. Our weekend of surprising Manu completely stumped us that stormy afternoon.

We drove through 6 hours of torrential rain storm. A storm so harsh and huge that it stretched from Georgia to Maine and dumped 21 inches of snow in Ohio (a record). Just so that this sentence has more credibility, I have never ever driven at close of 80 mph in such horrible conditions. Visibility was reduced to a less than 20 yards - which at our speed meant close to a second of travel before smashing in to the back bumper of the car in front of us. My PDA said there would be rain - just not how much.

During the weekend of drive I observed:

• 7 accidents- In one of the worse crashes, a SUV was completely crushed and was stuck in between branches of a tree down the incline on the side of I-85. The driver, soaked in blood, could stand on his feet. I was not sure if there was someone inside the crushed piece of metal.
• Harsh weather - One should always make it a point to check driving conditions before making any trip more than 100 miles. It was a pain driving 400 miles for 7 hours with close of zero visibility.
  
• Great weather- Driving through a southern state on a Sunday afternoon with bright sunlight can be mesmerizing. Bring in Kishore da with a sprinkling of Punjabi songs and the 6 hours seem to vanish in the air.
• Great roads and landscaping- North Carolina has beautiful flora lined up on both sides of I 85. With spring setting in the next couple of weeks, its only going to get better. Oh, and they have a huge portion of the highway with a 70 mph speed limit. No cops and that means you cruise at 80.
• Richmond downtown- One of the oldest city in the country, I have promised myself to go visit the Civil war town one of these summer weekends. While on I-95, one can look at red old buildings towering over flyovers near the Potomac river bank.
  
• Road - Over 900 miles (~1450 km) of it. That is a little more than the distance between New Delhi and Mumbai.

Finally, seeing the surprise and happiness on my friend's face was all worth it - just that his face and belly are becoming progressively rounded of late. Blame it on the beer, Manu?

Indian Cricket Team - Winners Down Under?

That's what happens when the average age of the team is 24. Now there is another reason why they say Sachin is the grand daddy of the team.