Soccer in no mans land

 

I find this picture very intriguing. Some might find it strange that we went all the way to Death Valley and played soccer *. In the middle of nowhere with nobody else around. This picture involves my life. And it involves a strange thing. So I put this up in a blog called my life and other strange things. Enough said!

* It was always football to me until I moved to USA and football meant something else. Something that had very little kicking of the ball with the foot. Something that involved a ball that is not round. Strange.

the tea kettle junction

in the middle of nowhere

in inyo county

in death valley

in california

is this intriguing sign-post

laden with kettles old and new

silver, black, blue and pink too

some big some small

some short some tall

mountains all around

joshua trees abound

dusty dirt track, the ground

in the middle of nowhere we found

the tea kettle junction

tea kettle junction

what is your function??

Sand Avalanche

sand avalanche : Movement of large masses of sand down a dune face when the angle of repose is exceeded or when the dune is disturbed.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003


A fortnight ago friends and I were at Eureka sand dunes near Death Valley. We had an awesome time climbing up the structure made up of innumerable ridges and valleys. To climb up, you have to walk on edge of a ridge, which usually gives way to a deep crest on either side. One side of the ridge is steeper that the other and the sand is a loose on this side.

Some places the ridges were so steep that the sand dune seemed unstable - as though a light wind or a slight earthquake tremor could bring the whole structure down. In certain places we could push a little sand down from the top and watch as a mini avalanche was created! We spent some time playing around and making sand rivers.

We heard trembling at a certain point on the dunes.. we thought the sound could be from an earthquake or a power station nearby. We dont know what what made the sound, but who knows.. it just might have been a sand avalanche!

Beautiful Niagara

Two faces of the Fall. Rainbow. Ahhh..... Seeing Niagara Falls close up is something I enjoyed immensely. Looking at the torrent of water gushing down, you can help being in awe of such natural beauty.

Home Sweet Home

To travel half way across the world, return after a year
and feel like everything happened just yesterday

To eat like a king who has everything in the world lined up for him

To sleep like a simple man who has nothing in the world to worry about

To see with delight how people have changed
and how people have not changed

To realize with surprise how I have changed and remained the same

To return back home

Only so much

Its 1.00 am in the night
All my roomies are still up alright
But for keyboard strokes and mouse clicks, the air is quiet

Such is the fate of people in grad school
Let it not for one second fool
You into thinking all's well and cool

Its bloody cold, sometimes its quite hot too
In this silly place Purdue
The weather can be irritating like nose goo
About this theres only so much you can do.

Fall colours

A beautiful day in Purdue

Been a month

Its been around a month since I arrived at Purdue. So many things have happened in so less a time. The ability of humans in general (and me in particular)to adapt to surrounding environments constantly surprises me. In just a few days things have started to turn from the extraordinary to the routine. Im no longer overwhelmed by the different sights, sounds and smells (or the lack of them by Indian standards) around me.

You cant help being inspired by the professors and the research happening in this place. You begin to realize how much more there is to learn. By learn I mean really learn.. and not "get good grades" or "pass an exam" and the like. The teaching in class (for most part) makes you think. Which is good.

Not being in contact with people back home is like a dull persistent body ache. You can talk on the phone or chat online, but there's never a good time to say goodbye. Some things will just take some getting used to, I guess.

Of course as a grad student you have no time. There is always something important to do right away. And more often than not (at least in the beginning of the semester) the tasks are very interesting. Very difficult and time consuming, but interesting nevertheless. This is one of those rare occurrences when I don't feel guilty of spending time writing a blog.

More to come later. Fervently hope I get the time (and the clear conscience) to blog again!

First Impressions

I came to the US on 1st August 2009. To New York in fact. These are my three first impressions of Unites States :

1) Where are the people, people??
Coming from India, you are used to having people around. Physically I mean. Be it small villages or big cities we all sort of stick to each other. I found exactly the opposite in US. There are hardly any people around you. When I was told that JFK is one of the busiest of airports, I expected to see loads and loads of people . Somewhat like what we see in Railway stations in India. There was nothing of that sort. I was half afraid I got down at the wrong airport. On the drive back from the airport to Mangalas' home I didn't see a SINGLE pedestrian walk on NY streets for around 20 minutes. This really freaked me out. Theres this underlying concept of personal space here. Maybe this might explain the no people concept:
Population density of India: 349/km2
Population density of US : 31/km2

2) Loads of Infrastructure.
The buildings, the malls, the roads, the vehicles are all a sight to behold. All structures here are massive and as automated as possible. A lot of technology goes into all kinds of contraptions used to make living very independant. This is something in which India is regrettably very far behind. Here even the homeless have access to basic humane facilities.

3) Auto Fanatics paradise.
Big red trucks.Not big,HUGE. Every kind of car imaginable. Every make of car heard of and many unheard of. Roaring gangs of Harley Davidson's. Convertibles cruising in morning sunlight. This country worships automobiles. Without them everything here would grind to a halt.