Miles To Go Before I Sleep

after reading so many lists at My50.com & 43things.com and host of other sites.. I have come up with my list of things that i wish (thinking of wishing... ) to do in my life-time.. please note that some things (i think all) may not be humanly or even Godly possible... but then if wishes were horses.. the list is no apparent order though.. even my life/priorities are no longer in order though..

#1 Learn Guitar
#2 Visit Kailash Mansarover
#3 Have A Comet/Asteroid Named After Me
#4 Write A Book & Get It Published
#5 Learn To Eat By Chopsticks
#6 Travel On Foot-steps Of Marco Polo Along Fabled Silk-route
#7 Have A House With Luxiourous Swimming Pool & Fully Stocked Bar
#8 Smoke A Original Havana Cigar
#9 Buy A Really Good Telescope
#10 Make A Rock Band & Cut An Album
#11 Meet Bob Dylan In-Person
#12 Be At Pink Floyd's Concert
#13 Have A Great English Movies DVD Library
#14 Visit Tibet & Israel Someday
#15 Set My Foot On Antartica/Greenland
#16 To Be Abandoned On A Barren Island
#20 To Become A Foreign Policy Expert
#21 Fight In Bloody Valleys Of Kashmir
#22 Do My Part For Making India Great
#23 Make A Killing In Stock Market One Day
#24 Own An Island & A Yatch
#25 Cook Good Food
#26 Re-forest A Barren Patch Of Land
#27 Own A Non-Fossil Fuel Vehicle
#28 See Aliens And E.T. And U.F.O.
#29 Set Up A Renewable Energy Company
#30 Learn How To Fly A Airplane
#31 Cover WWIII As A War Correspondent
#32 Be Somebody Like Warren Buffet
#33 Play The Role Of Forrest Gump
#34 Understand All Of Quantum Physics
#35 Kick George W. Bush A**
#36 Know What I Have Done Wrong In My Whole Life
#37 Dive Down To The Depths Of Ocean Trench
#38 Catch & Cook A Fish All By Myself
#39 Travelling Around The World In Hot-Air Ballon
#40 Find A Dinosaur Fossil
#41 Visit Siachen Glacier
#42 Have A Time Machine Contructed And Visit The Past & The Future
#43 Own A Tiger As A Pet
#44 Own The Passport Of Every Country
#45 Have A Robot (Something Like The One In Movie A.I.)

I would be great if in my life i could even manage to get into double digits with this list..

Question Of The Day : Why does two 'desis' never talk on the lift.. or in the store.. or on the metro.. or for that matter anywhere.. ?

~For Whom The Bells Toll~

View From My Office Window

This is the view from my office window.. doesn't it look great.. it doesn't feel like working once you are here..



we are here on the Cambridge side ( in case you don't know.. Cambridge is the home town of america's two best universities.. the Harvard and MIT ) on the other side of the river Charles is Boston ( one of america's oldest cities and famous for Boston Tea party ... if anybody remembers the class VIII History chapter on American Revolution... ) it looks awesome.. well just AWESOME...

~Take It Easy~

View From My Apartment Window

its a beautiful morning out here in Boston and the view from my eleventh floor apartment is one obscured by the clouds... and you are already feeling a little cold (its just august summer here.. the tough winter blizzards are long way off.. ) in the light T-shirt and the pajamas.. i wonder why it rains always on weekends... maybe it rains anytime here... and in this effortless morning... you could see the distant higher ground... it looks same as from my home in doon.. except that the mountains are bit closer here.. and scores of people jogging around fully loaded with iPod and a water bottle.. ( people jog any time here...even during the mid-noon... ) and in immediate neighborhood you could hear the hustle-bustle of the high traffic of Route 93 i guess ( its some number.. ! ) and the occasional yet frequent siren of police cars.. the police station is nearby.. so they are usually nearby to buzz all the way.. and from the apartment window.. i could see lot number of american homes that have masted their star-spangled banner over the rooftops or on balconies.. an occasional "support our troops " banner... i must say americans love their country... they really do... and i think post-9/11.. post-Afghanistan and iraq.. post -hurricane katrina.. post-outsourcing ( and the subsequent loss of jobs to india/china ) the feeling the america is invincible has all been but lost.. its no longer the macho approach.. no longer take 'em all and smoke 'em all... its no more of an interventionist.. but more of inward-looking.. of not "why-not" but "why"... as we approach 9/11 and katrina anniversary... this feeling is all reflected in the media... maybe its the best approach for america but not for the lone superpower of the world.. after all iran is different from dafur... north korea is different from horn of africa... but seeing it from an eyes of an average american... the idea of troops heading somewhere in god-forsaken lands just shudders them.. it should.. nearly 3000 american troops have died fighting for a cause as alien as iraq.. not counting the countless iraqis and the insurmountable misery they are in right now... but the administration out here likes battle-cry.. it likes belligerent iran.. it wants a more ominous intelligence warnings.. it wants more red and orange level alerts... maybe it works for it.. it often does.. not only here but everywhere.. it works in india as well... maybe he (George W. Bush... who else.. uuh. ? ) would like the next "mission accomplished" jingoism even before the war starts... ( people might say why 'am i writing it on america when troops back home are fighting on every domestic frontier possible... its a good question.. and you may or may not agree with my answer.. we don't need to justify why we are fighting in kashmir.. it would be an insult to the fallen men.. we have a mission to fight for.. and god forbid.. if we ever fail in it.. for my blood boils when i see young bright men.. heading for that killing fields of valley.. for all these brave men have seen my doon.. they have spent there some best years (IMA) in there.. and i tell you they are among the best of the lot.. they really are.. ) you know politicians are same everywhere... back home the politician is out there to be brought cheap... while here they are out there selling cheap.. its just the way you look at it.. two sides of the same coin...

~Hey You~

In The Land Of Americana

It has been two weeks since i have arrived in U.S... in this land of yankees... in the eastern heartland of america.. the land which the immigrants made... and in these two long weeks learning the ways of an average american... ( 'am not turning american any time soon... ) i have realized that the America is way way different than the rest of world ( or may be i haven't seen rest of world.. so its much much different from india anyways... ) am getting used to takeaway lunches.. on the dishwasher and onDemand TV... on huge convenience stores.. on dime & cents... on not paying for the newspaper.. on climbing on the stairs even though the escalator is moving... it will take time to settle down.. by that time its time to head home... :) but yes.. life is fast here.. very fast... and everything is disposable here... always ready to consume and always ready to throw... and its highly mechanized and digitized... and yes beer is cheaper than distilled water... and energy costs are dead cheap.. traffic sense is civilized... and people in general are helpful and responsive... but then this sense of self-assurance allows fatigue to creep in very fast... you get bored very easily... nothing holds your frame of mind for long... and in just two weeks.... doing home to office and back home.. it seems like i have been doing it for ages... maybe i should get used to living alone in lands distant.... following the great american dream....

~Should I Stay Or Should I Go~

Eye On The Space

i was reading Time.com's Eye On Science and found this interesting NASA mission that they have put up in the skies above us.... Its called GRACE aka. Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment.

The GRACE mission will have two identical spacecrafts flying about 220 kilometers apart in a polar orbit 500 kilometers above the Earth. it will map the Earth's gravity fields by making accurate measurements of the distance between the two satellites, using GPS and a microwave ranging system. The gravity variations that GRACE will study include: changes due to surface and deep currents in the ocean; runoff and ground water storage on land masses; exchanges between ice sheets or glaciers and the oceans; and variations of mass within the Earth... (This will be crucial when you will consider the mass difference that will happen due to the speeding up of melting of the polar ice caps.. such information will provide an undeniable evidence to the rejectionists that Global Warming is for real.... )

GRACE will obtain a gravity field map by looking at how the Earth's mass varies from place to place on the surface as the twin satellites pass over.Since the Earth has varied topographic features such as mountains, valleys, and underground caverns, the mass is not evenly distributed around the globe and different physical features can be distinguished. The lumps observed in the Earth's gravity field result from this uneven distribution of mass on the Earth's surface and GRACE will map these perturbations with unprecedented accuracy.Here's an example of how it works. The two GRACE satellites are traveling in space, both 500 kilometers above the earth. As the front satellite approaches an area of higher gravity, it will be pulled toward the area of higher gravity and speed up. This increases the distance betweenthe two satellites. As the satellites straddle the area of higher gravity, the front satellite will slow down and the trailing satellite will speed up. As the trailing satellite passes the area of higher gravity, it will slow down and the lead satellite will not be affected. As the satellites move around the Earth, the speeding up and slowing down of the satellites will allow scientists to measure the distance between the two satellites, and, therefore, map the earth's gravity field.

You can read full artice relating to GRACE MISSION and its objectives at the GRACE webpage

~These Boots Are Made For Walking~

The House Divided

The ceasefire have started between warring factions in this latest conflict in the Middle-East... but i doubt if the guns will be silent for long... all across the asian heartland this same scenario is being repeated on all frontiers... The asia of today looks pretty much the same as the europe at the beginning of the 20th century... with so many fault lines.. so many vested interest.. and so easy pressure-points.. and it has been only after two World Wars that the fight for peace in europe was settled for once and for all.. maybe the costs made war in europe an unfeasible option... but no one can deny the fact that the two wars settled all the disputes relating to territorial claims, ethnic and commercial and egoistic interests of not only german but the ottoman or hasburgs.. and after the second world war europe has seen a lull uptill the balkans civil war.. (not including the rivalry of cold war.. ) today asia is pretty much the same.. the conflict in middle east festers on with deadly portents.. the house of sauds is a risky proposition.. iraq is on brink on civil war.. iran and syria the new axis-of-evil.. afghanistan and pakistan back on the brink of chaos... the former CIS economies are the crucible of muslim fundamentalism and weak democracies ( plus the russian involvement.. ) The less said about the india and its immediate neighborhood, the better... meanwhile the world watches uneasily as the might of china rises both economically and militarily... while japan espouses are more aggressive foreign and defense policy... north korea is one loose cannon that can blow any day... taiwan..sparty islands... meanwhile external factors keep building up.. trade imbalances for one... the rising thirst for crude oil... america proposal on missile defense, on ringing-up china... rise of muslim fundamentalism... doesn't this fractured continent looks like one that will mend itself only after one big pyrrhic win...

~Teach Your Children Well~