Graduation and some fun :)

This weekend, we flew down to Ann Arbor, MI because AB and his sis J were getting their graduation degrees. We reach Detroit (A2 does not have an airport, believe it or not. A US town does not have an airport!!) and rent a car from there onto A2. Meet an excited J and talk until late night (actually until I heard AB's snores).

It was a good morning in terms of weather (US is SO obsessed with weather reports, I say!), and it seemed like we brought great weather to a cold and windy A2! So, off we set, the three of us to quickly go on a round of the famous (or one of the Big 10, as they call it here) University of Michigan or U of M (constantly heard as UFM). I was shown the North campus which is where life happens (or not ;)) according to a workaholic J, while AB sniggered and argued that it was Central campus that was full of life (You see, his department was there). After this regular argument and my astonished face which saw an impeccably green and scenic campus. Looking at the place, I figured I could not have possibly studied here, but I may have had a romantic liasion or two ;) (Okay, Ma! I was kidding :P), what with the serene Lake Huron speckled with the ever sporty, active American students on the canoe and some, well, lots running around the lake. (I would not have done this either..hmm...maybe leisurely walks around the lake holding hands..hmm...err..kidding again Ma! :P)

Well, to get down to brass tacks, AB resided right NEXT to Lake Huron, and decided to show it off to a city bred, snob like me who stayed in a smog filled Hyderabad and was proud of it. Yes, 'was.' Sigh, I wish I lived somewhere like that! Then, we went on to meet his colleagues at the Department, and his advisor. We were treated to a sumptuous pizza lunch and were given a surprise vacation, a gift to AB from his advisor on graduating. Some people are genuinely nice :) I'm thinking beaches, what about you?

Then we went on to go home and rest. Later in the evening, we attacked the Briarwood Mall (J loves malls, so I was told, and so I believed after the mall experience with her) and then had a surprisingly tasty dinner at a Thai restuarant recommended by J. You see, I am not a great fan of Thai food. But this restaurant made me one :) Previously, we attended a graduation ceremony where all the Masters students like J walked together, as a group onto the stage while only Doctoral students' names were called. AB went on to receive his degree while the rest of us cheered at him!

The next day, we had another graduation ceremony lined up. This was the actual University one, with all the graduating students, be it Undergrads, Masters or Doctoral students participating in it. They marched from a fixed venue onto a place called the Diag within the University campus. Apparently, there is a huge Michigan logo (which is a maize yellow M emblazoned in blue) on the area of the Diag. The story goes that if any students steps on this logo, they are sure to fail or not clear their first exam! What an irony, I thought, that the graduation ceremony was held there!

This ceremony had some eminent UFM alumni being awarded honorary Doctoral degrees. The list included Bob Woodruff. I remember reading about him when he started talking of his experiences at the Iraq war. Though his speech was quite funny and kept the audience attentive (well, he is not a newsman for nothing!), I found it evocative too. His experience of the war and the returning soldiers, very like him, trying to recover, trying to figure out what next, left me in a hollow state. It did not help that I remembered a scene from the movie "All the President's Men" where a lawyer Donald Segretti accused of being the Head Co-ordinator of the 'Let's sabotage the Democrat campaign' as part of the whole Nixon Re-election Committee's activities says something in the lines of coming back from the war (the Vietnam war) and being desperate for direction in life and career, leave alone any concrete job. And he decided to take on this job (being the Head Co-ordinator) because someone offered him this, and not because he really wanted to. I know this seems very insignificant and very vague in terms of effects of the war. But it surely set me thinking. What happens to those who returned from the Iraq war? I see posters in the airport and every other public place about how we will not forget these brave men or those bumper stickers on the cars of the soldiers' family and friends. It hurts. Its sickening. I want to shake all these people and say, stop doing this to yourself. Do not believe in the government propaganda. Come off it, I say. Iraq war is a sham. Sigh, I wish I could just stand and tell the whole world and make everyone believe this. Like I do. I'm no big shot political strategist or a social critic, but if I know what is happening is wrong, then I believe every Tom, Dick and Harry does.

Back to all the fun we had (somehow we always do, don't we, irrespective of what is happening around us. I guess that is how we all live), we attended a small reception party hosted for all the new graduates and us, specially, thanks to being newly-wed and all that :). Met more people, heard more Chemistry (corrected by AB as Macromolecular Science and Engineering) ideas thrown about, probably saw some more future possible Nobel prize winners (not that it is enough to have 2 of them at home!) :) Yes, it was enlightening. I did not understand anything, but knew most of it was important and more than that, it was all a discussion which was so passionate. Each one, passionate about those polymers, ions, and other such words :)

Oh, we also went to his little charming, very German town called Frankenmuth. They mostly have fudge shops here, small museums sort of places, with very European artefacts or small antique kind of stuff to sell. We saw fudge being made, bought some. Yes, some of it was not chocolate thanks to AB, but most of it was thanks to me and J! Yay! We also went to this place called A- Maze-N Mirror which was a maze full of mirrors. We had to find our way to a coloured waterfall kinda looking mirror. Of course, we found it quite fast, butg could not manage to do the same backwards!

The whole town was very cute, very European. There was a cheese shop too, where we sampled crackers and some amazing cheese until we saw the sign to sample just once. Well, the three of us made a meal out of that shop ;) J also bought some cheese fondue which she slyly slipped into my bag while I was packing. Thanks J. Am sure it will work for what you wanted it to work for, though, may I say that we do not need it right now, but will surely think about it if ever, we need it, say, 20 years from now ;) But, thanks again! We also visited the world's largest Christmas store, Bronners which was simply AMAZING. I wished I celebrated Christmas with the fervour of Christians when I saw that shop! :) Very very beautiful.

Well, I'd love to settle down in A2 because it is a small town, a University town with all the charms of a big city, but is not one yet. And J, this post is for you and to all those people who think sisters-in-law are mean people :) You are not.

Bring-aways from A2, thanks mostly to J:

-some great fudge (equally divided between our eating at the fudge place to eating at J's place and leaving some there and bringing some here, thanks to J)
- well shaped eyebrows. Thanks J, yes? :)
- Loads of pictures where I looked good thanks to neck straight, chin down, and that smile ;)
- Stories to remember
-Some chemistry knowledge
-A good friend, yes, J?

How to ...: Wiki

I simply had to post this though I have quite a few other drafts lying around! As goes the usual routine, I opened Google and it opened to an 'unsigned in' IGoogle page. There is a 'How to' section on this page. There is some interesting stuff like : How to make American cheesecake, or, sometimes, how to make paper at home kinda stuff, which could be fairly interesting and useful to people who are looking for it. I usually do not pay attention to it, because even if it is useful, I'm too lazy to how to anything! I'd rather do what I know ( or don't do at all!) since it will save time, energy and give me more time to catch up on sleep. But this time, as I waited for my page to load, my eyes fell upon this particular How to activity! Guess what?

Well, read it here. If all of us could do what has been spoken about here as effortlessly as shown, then the world would have been a better place to live in, and I would not be as irritating as I'm ;)

Of the candles, how to snuff them out and a global Ikea!

What with being the newly-wed couple, apart from trying to learn to cook and clean and be housewifely, atleast for a short while, there are pressures of 'setting up' your home. So, everyone calls asking 'Veedella set aacha?' and I go, err. well, hmm.. AB was living alone for quite sometime in this house before I came in (to make it a home, meaning, lived in and messy! - LOL) So, since we've been very ill ever since we got married ( Ahem!), we are finally setting up our 'home' now. After a month of our marriage. (Yes, after this point, you can try remember the date and leave best wishes comments too)

So, our favorite place to shop is Ikea. Guess why. Because buying furniture in Ikea means we can build something meaningful together. The togetherness, the teamwork that goes in assembling an Ikea piece of furniture makes the marriage so strong. Ya, right! Ikea is cheap and will not send you gaping at your CC bill the coming month. That is the reason why we go to Ikea. (Actually, I love Ikeaish stores. The colours, the variety, the marketing efforts, the set-up and yes, the building and the carpentry that Ikea gives an opportunity for, totally excites me and not AB!) Ya, as I was saying, our first Ikea purchase was a white dresser, a very pretty one and a cheap one, I must admit. This one took quite some assembling and a lot of effort. From AB. (I do not want to lie!) Then, he swore never to step into Ikea. But again, temptation called Adam and Eve and we ended up needing a TV stand and we bought one from Ikea! This ,we assembled together and all that. I stood and watched while he assembled it for 3 days! Finally, my husband thanks to him being a Madrasi had this brainwave that I'm going to share now.

What if Ikea opens a store in Chennai? Well, for one, we'd not go to Ikea without checking Rahu Kaalam and Yamagandam :P So, the assembling headache is half cured rightaway. We can find good quality, cheap stuff immediately in Ikea because we followed the Rahu Kaalam rules! And then, when it comes to assembling, you should set up a 'muhurtham' for it. Choose a time that is not Rahu Kaalam or Yamagandam, and is compatible with your stars and there you go, your assembling is full of togetherness and teamwork and happiness and all that jazz. Imagine those madisaar maamis setting up Ikeas with their maamas! Or, those diamond nose studs glistening as the maamis bend over to hit that nail at the right spot and the maamas in their veshtis and their typically checked shirts, the veebudi on their foreheads. Oh, we could even do a small Puja of the merchandise with some Naivedyam (milk and bananas will do!) and some 'mani-adichifying' and an arati ( after all, its an addition to the house, errr..home!) So much fun, so much togetherness and all that. Sigh, assembling Ikea furniture in the US seems so boring in comparison now :(

Oh, I have to tell this. We were generally looking around for stuff to decorate our home with/in. Like vases, decorative show pieces. You know what I mean? I saw this unique item at the Target Store. It was exquisitely shaped, very curvy, and in brass with some embellishments, and a small umbrella-like or a lamp shade kind of a top, and that too, in a pale colour to add to the effect and it was fairly short, and could be held in the hand or just hung over a wall. It was cheaply priced. Somewhere between $7-$10 for such a beautifully crafted piece (otherwise $7-$10 is fairly expensive ok?) I took it off the shelf and looked at it with reverence and felt it and wanted to immediately own it. I showed it to my husband who got equally curious and thought, finally, maybe, I was showing him something good! Well, we almost took it until we read the sign that described the product. A candle snuffer. I do not think I've ever laughed as much as I did that day! This country takes laziness and use of appliances to a new level with the candle snuffer. Do you really need a brass appliance/instrument/whatever to snuff out a candle? Whatever happened to the good ol' blowing and the cheeky singing of 'Happy Bday' with every candle you blow out? Sigh, sometimes, I wonder!

So, this was a fairly hilarious weekend, what with the Ikea assembling and the whole Ikea in Chennai imagination which totally set us off and we swore to ourselves that we will do the whole Naivedyam-puja thing for the next lucky Ikea product to be brought home! And the candle snuffer for a country where power cuts are fairly rare. Or, was it for those romantic dinners when you snuff out the candle and proceed to do other things..hmm...maybe... :P

Anna Ruby Falls!

Finally, AB and I moved out of the house last weekend. We went to a waterfall near Atlanta, which is also a National Recreation Center, certified by the US Government called the Anna Ruby Falls. This falls is in Helen, Georgia. While the waterfall itself is fairly pretty, I liked the whole 0.4 mile walk upto the waterfall. We left at a leisurely 11 AM or so, blame it on late wake up time on a Sunday, and the traffic on the I-75 route (Ya, I must be the first person to complain of traffic in the US!) We reached there in an hour, parked the car and went on this 0.4 mile walk. It was scenic and full of informational boards about the Native American inhabitants who seemed to have lived in the nearby woods/forests.

Last time when I was in the US with Uma, a colleague, she visited her cousins in Atlanta and I remember her talking to me about the Native American influences/culture/heritage in and around Atlanta. She, of course, went to the Stony Mountains, a Mecca sort of a place for Native American enthusiasts. I somehow found a lot of similarities between the Native Americans and us, Indians. The informational boards spoke of their culture of protecting the forests, the medicinal plants, their effort to care for the flora and fauna around them, something which ancient Indians always did. We did not take too many pictures of those signs, but I do have a picture of a sign that talks of how trees from this area created business for sawmills around the area!

The first picture shows an informational sign talking about a 'once treeless' area, and the second picture shows the bikers ;) and the last picture shows the horse carriage at Helen, Georgia. (I'm sorry for the pathetic pictures. I'm not much of a photographer!)

The drive was super fun, and we saw a lot of bikers on their Harley Davidsons, as seen in the pictures. I'd love to do that someday too! The route was scenic and the city/town of Helen is very German. They had these water devices, horse carriages, those very German/European bakeries, the architecture, the whole atmosphere was so small-townish and there was a really nice feeling about the whole thing. While we did not stop at this very touristy town, it is certainly a worthwhile destination! Here are some more pics of Helen and the scenic route to Anna Ruby Falls.

The waterfalls!

Yaaron :)

As I sit cribbing and grumbling, I saw Priyankoo's scrap in my Orkut scrapbook. Ya, Orkut and Facebook, much against my better judgement help me live, and not just survive in this big, bad world. I went on to check his profile and read his blog. Err..okay it is in Assamese. But guess what I found!

I'm totally kicked and in tears, and I actually jumped around my small apartment after watching this one, like a million times! I understand every single frame, every single moment, every single feeling, every single line, every single word in this song and video, and hey, it means so much to me. No one who has not been here will understand what I feel. drag. on. fly. or. not, I know you do, and thanks for being there, listening to me, entertaining me and not dismissing my drivel.

Nobody dare dismiss us eh? ;)

Hmm...

Its time for one of those hmm...moments. I know I was fairly happy when I wrote my last post and felt all nice about going domestic. I cooked everyday, cleaned, and all that jazz. I no longer enjoy it. Not because I'm not actually a domestic person, but because I need to have other stuff to do. And I do not. I sleep in late, do not wake up in time to see my husband go to work, who has been super nice and supportive about this, I admit. I wake up, spend some time online, talk to some friends, be cheerful, catch some movies, long for the noise and chaos of a known crowd, known city, known surroundings, and eat something, figure out what next until 5 PM when, finally, my husband comes home, and we go driving or when we talk. I talk, he listens and holds and tells me how good I'm and how proud he is of me. Sigh.

I know this shall pass, and it is just a phase, and I also know that I knew this was going to happen for a short while if not forever, well, hopefully. But, really. I feel this is going to go on forever. I have lost confidence in my abilities, in my sense of ambition, in myself, in many ways.
Well, I will just have to stick on and go on until I figure out what I want to do, I guess.
Peace. Amen.