A trip to San Francisco...

San Francisco is undoubetly one of the most beautiful cities of the US. The place has a exquisite charm none other than any other city in this country. In an instant you will feel as if you are in Italy (NorthBeach), the next instant in China(ChinaTown) and then just pass a tunnel and there you will be in the middle of numerous tall buildings characteristic of US (Union Square)...that's the kind of experience and diversity you can get in SFO. Apart from the ups and downs which you see on the roads there are many places in SFO to hang out. Golden Gate bridge is perhaps the most pouplar of all. Just stroll pas this brige to experience why it is so popular. Sit in the surrounding parks and you will get a re-juventating feeling. That's the charisma of this place. Once in SFO, one just can not miss Fisherman's Wharf and the Piers. Pier-39 where you can get seafood so delicious that you can just not stop getting amazed, Pier-41 from where you get the Ferry to "THE ROCK" or Alcataraz. This historical building of SFO is now a national monument. The audio tour picturesquely decribes the condition of the prisoners just a few years ago. Just a few miles away from SFO is Muir Woods where a small trek can take you right in the middle of a jungle, surrounded by 250 years old tall redwood trees. It is a sure treat for all the nature lovers. But yes, parking can be a problem so plan well and reach in time. On the way back from Muir Woods one should never miss the oppurtunity to stop by the town of Sausalito. This quaint town is so pretty that you just can't stop falling in love with it. In the background you get to see all the wonders of SFO - Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Bridge, Alcataraz and SFO downtown - all together at the same time!!
In case you have a couple of days in the bay area, I would recommend a visit to the Wine Country - Napa Valley. This is a heaven for Wine lovers and for non wine drinkers a place to taste some quality wines (a nice place to start ;-). There is a wine train which passes through the valley and is one of the good ways to see the complete valley. The other surrounding cities like San Jose also boast of some good hangout places. Santana Row in San Jose is one such place. Well, there are just so many things to explore in the bay area...I would say that I was able to mention not even half the places to see and things to do in bay area...the others - Monterey bay, Mystery Point, Presidio, Trams, Musuems, Geysers, Theme Parks etc. etc. (the list can go on!!) are few others places of interest...After visiting this beautiful place I can only say - if you get a chance to experience Bay Area...DO NOT MISS IT!!

Snow in Scottsdale..

It was a cool saturday morning. 10'o clock and I was busy sleeping enjoying my extended weekend sleep. Woke up at 11 and checked my voicemail."Abe saale so raha hai...yaha Scottsdale me snowfall ho raha hai" ..were the words I heard. Snowfall in a desert!! At a place where temperatures soar to 120F in summers!! It was something I could not believe. It took a few moments to actually believe that I was out of my sleep and the voicemessage was for real... and I called back A (the caller)...who was busy clicking snaps of the snowfall then... I went out to our parking lot and could see the snow covered mountains...what a sight it was...no-one could have believed that we were in a desert...That gave us a reason to cheer that day, people thronged to the spot (where it had snowed the max) to click snaps and touch the snow...all happy and elated...some made snowmans and kept on their cars and drove around the town...Well sometimes small things can do wonders to your spirit...and this was certainly one of them....

A personal e-mail....

Here is a extract of a mail I just wrote to one of my well wishers...some interesting bits of my mind gets reflected in here and hence here I post it....
Disclaimer : [Some portions of the mail have been removed.. :-)]

Well Phd is althogether a different ball game. A field which has got a commodity which is very rare in today's world and that is 'respect'. With whatever limited exposure I have, my view is that doing a doctorate is in real terms the actual pursuit of knowledge. Once you have this asset, the dividends would automatically follow..

[some personal stuff...]

There is a revolution coming in India. I have so many friends here who are all aiming high. Global B School, Global exposure, Global Networking...blah blah. Yesterday itself can you believe I talked to my friends (on google talk) - all spread acroos the globe - Singapore, UK, Germany, India and US! It was really amazing to catch people all at different locations...different time zones. All doing great work and all aiming higher! So that's the kind of impact I think globalization is having on us...We are no more a subdued lot, happy with whatever we get. I think we are coming ahead of everyone and trying to shape things. We fight and fight till we don't succeed....I believe its for good....

Well, just spoke a piece of my mind...hope did not bored you :-)

Regards.

An evening with Dream Theater...

We reached the Dodge Theater (Phoenix) well in time... in fact much before time with the expectation that we would experience a rocking atmosphere before the concert...'An Evening with Dream Theater'. The show tickets had been booked a month in advance and we all waited and waited for the evening..which was finally there. Parked the car...had a free shot of an energy drink (don't remember the name!...of course we wouldn't have tried it if it was not free :-) and headed straight towards the entrance. It was a little disappointment to see the atmoshpehere as not one that we had expected. People were waiting in a queue to be let into the theatre. I would call that the atmosphere looked like the one that is present before a movie...people waiting to get inside the movie hall...The only confirmation that it was indeed a dream theater concert was people wearing all sorts of dream theater attire which I would say was amazing!
Soon the gates opened and we were let inside the hall. 10 mins wait and then the lights dimmed and moments later there was some sound from the speakers.... "Thud Thud..." you could make out...it was none other than Mike Portnoy on the drums!!
The crowd was on its feet all ready to welcome the band..the curtains were raised and there they were..."DREAM THEATER" - James LaBrie , John Myung, John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess and Mike Portnoy
They were celebrating 20 years of DT music and were on a world tour. Phoenix was the first performance in US.

It was a roller coaster ride from there...they played something from everything (some song from every album)...all in all the experience was great and an unforgettable one...

Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it...

Well...that's my new mail signature. I read this line somewhere and actually got quite influenced by it. It is no doubt a beautiful sentence.
Our reaction to what happens in our lives leads us to base our decisions which would decide what happens next in our lives. Complicated...think again. Well, the reaction to a particular event in our life is very important. One must react to every event that is occuring in a balanced way. Think of the pros and cons and then decide what to do next. Jumping to conclusions or taking rash decisions would not do good. Patience is the key.
You do not have control of the 10% that has happened but eeacting to life events in a intelligent way would make the 90% of the life much better and more enjoyable....so guys....next time of something not so pleasant happens to you...just say - "Well, that's just 10% the 90% is still in my hands"