Whacky or what?

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Hitler Rug - Whacky or plain creepy?

The Second Fall

Fall colours at UB North Campus - This is what keeps me going!

Obsession with Niagara continues

This was my 6th visit to the Niagara Falls since I've been in the US - just a little over a year. Each one has been quite different from the others. Each time with different company. The only constant thing is my obsession with the river.

This visit marks the end of a glorious summer... a few of the best 4 months of my life... a summer that started out with anticipation, leading to trepidation, merriment, care-free-ness, joy and sheer bliss - a second childhood.

Summer's ended. But does everything end here? Hope not...

Surviving?

I just read this article about Henrietta Lacks who's cells have survived for decades after her death and is apparently extensively used in laboratories to this day.

Set me thinking... What does it really mean to be alive? Is it sufficient if your cells survive? After all, physically, aren't we made up of an assorted array of cells?

Summer of 2008

The changing seasons have brought about a change in perspective. Never imagined one's mood could be so dependent on weather.

Blurring of Borders - The blue skies and the blue seas
(View from aircraft, enroute Chicago - Buffalo)

Here's to the Summer of 2008!!

Guess ?

Hoarding in Pondicherry (2-Jun-2008)

So what...?

Lake LaSalle, North Campus, Buffalo, NY

So what if I'm all the way across the globe from where I was less than a year ago? The things I like haven't changed one bit. So what if I dont have a bike to ride anymore? I have a lake right on campus. So what if I can't get the thrill of riding without a helmet? The cool breeze ruffles my hair and follows me everywhere on campus. So what if I cant do the things I was so used to doing back home? The forbidden pleasures are the norm out here. So what if I can't meet the people I grew up with? The people here are the ones who're building their lives with me.

Am I displaced? Do I miss home? Do I think this is better? I don't know. How can you possibly compare two complementary scenarios?

Dwiteeya Vigna

From the time of my oldest memories, I remember Anna telling me about "Dwiteeya Vigna".

It is nice and fun to do something the first time round. It's doing it the second time that takes the most effort. Effort in terms of motivation to repeat it the second time; also in terms of seeing it through to completion the second time. If you do manage to get through the second time, further repetitions come easier.

How very true!

I am no workaholic. I am rather the happy-go-lucky kinds that will do something only for the pleasure of doing it. If something doesn't seem interesting enough or pose enough of a challenge to me, I wont consider doing it even the first time. If I have done something once, there's no fun in doing it a second time round. I'd rather try something new.

But somethings have gotta be seen through to completion. And that's what's keeping me going for now.

Getting my first degree - I didn't have a choice. Had to do it. Did it. To try to get a second - that required 'some' work - to let go of a life where I had it all and land myself into a godforsaken place, eternally at war with the whims of nature. Can't complain about that - I chose this way of life. In hindsight... whatever was I thinking!

Now, it's time for dwiteeya vigna all over again. I just wanna get through this semester. The next one is going to be nice and easy (at least, I'm hoping it will be) and I don't see a fourth on the horizon - may not be one after all.

It's interesting to note that everyone I know or have heard of are complaining about their second semester. What are the odds that every opinion you hear from persons known and unknown coincide? You'd expect that there's someone who has had a different experience. I'm waiting to hear from that someone. The expectation of this random variable tending to zero is Zero.

Niagara Falls

Fall 2007

I miss Fall already!