He does it once again!

Oh GODD!! Wat an experience. Just back after "Endhiran". Whatttttteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy movie! I'm not gonna spoil anything for the ones that've not watched the movie. But THALAIVAR totallyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy rocks!
Thalaivar as the human is demure.. has none of the usual out-of-the-world moves.. yet he is stylish. But as machine, he just rocks. In the second half, he is the personification of rousssssssss in its PURESTTTTT and FULLEST form! Shankar absolutellyy lets Thalaivar work his charm.. He rocks with his dialogue delivery and style. Version '2.0' simpllyyyyy stunning! AMAZINGGGGGG!
$30 for the ticket. First Day First Show. SOOO Worth everything! Completeee paisa vasool. Goose bumps. Fulllaaaa arichu pochu! :)

Thalaivaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! What would we do without you??!!

P.S: My mouth's gone sore after all the frenzied whistling! Hail Thalaivar! :)

"Dr."

:)
It's such a surreal feeling. It just doesn't sink in. It's soo hard to believe that it's happened and even harder to believe that it's probably gonna change your life forever. For me, my life feels just the same at this moment. In my head, I just think that it's not such a big deal..I felt I was more nervous, better prepared and FAR more excited when I completed my Qualifiers! But over 100 congratulatory notes in a few hours does make you feel special and reminds you of all the goodness in the world!
I feel extremeellllyy grateful to God for everything. Went and gave my thanks to the Dearest in Pomona. Lovee him.. Grown absolutelly attached since my first trip in Jan 2008.
And the evening I spent with my friends here in NJ. Laughed sooo hard that one of us really fell off the chair. :) (For a change, it wasn't me!)
A BEAUTIFUL day. Overwhelmingly grateful for everything and everyone. Thanks for this moment, for the people, for being there, for every Singlee thing.

First Author :)

And finally here is the first one as First Author. More coming soon. Keep going!

Right Ho!

Just finished - "Right Ho, Jeeves".. audio book and the actual book in parts owing to the lack of time to read the full textual book. Loveeeee, Loveeee, LOVED it. Hilarious to the very end.
Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (P.G. Wodehouse) is one of those authors whose stories don't have much of a plot. They seem the quintessential masala that's seemingly familiar to many a Desi and Pardesi alike. But what's amaazingg about his books is his choice of words.. the language he uses. His typical Brit wit and humor can really make your day, while actually improving your vocab.
The stories of the wild combination of Bertie Wooster and the perfect gentleman's gentleman Jeeves make a really good read. If you are new to Wodehouse, then this might be a great place to start.

Thank God for Project Gutenberg, which has a great collection of Wodehouse's works.. and Audio books!

Since my last post, my opinion about audio books has changed a lot! They give you perfectt company when you are working on editing figures for a paper, drawing stuff, compiling data, driving alone on a long drive, cooking.. or even when you need someone to read out to you at night.. like those perfect bed time stories for kids! It's a great experience. And for those that don't like to read or don't really read books, audio books work great. Plug in your ipod and listen on. Right Ho, then!

PS: This book goes in my list of favourites. Lovedd it so very much :)

The Audio Book Experience

Listening to my first audio book - "Eat, Pray, Love" it is. Reallyy liking the book and the author's voice so far. It is quite an amazing experience to listen to someone read out to you... especially when its the author herself.
But I must say, it's definitely not easy to multi-task while doing this. I usually listen to music while I work.. but no, listening to an audio book is not the same. It's FAR more absorbing than music.. mebbe bcos I'm listening to it for the first time. You can't just hear the book.. u've got to listen.. and well that wont go very well when you are "working"!

Am done with 6 chapters of the book. I think I'll enjoy the book till the end. Have heard mixed reviews though.. some say the ending of the book is not even half as good as the beginning.. Let's see.

I honestly think "READING" the book is better.. (although I'm enjoying this first time audio book experience). Mebbe bcos while you read, you let your OWN imagination emote! You are not confined by another person's tone and voice, in the emotions you associate with the words. Mebbe im not describing it well enough.. It's a different feeling altogether to visually be able to read something and imagine it.
But on the other hand, listening to the book does have its advantages.. with practice perhaps I could start multi-tasking while listening to it... Also, listening is a lot faster than reading, I think. Ya ofcourse, needless to say, the pace at which I read books (amidst all the work that I have to get done) is pretty dismal..

I really hope I can get done with this book soon. I wanna watch the movie this weekend. Stars my fav heroine.

PS: Justt listened to the book on the way back home! Awesome combination..a good audio book and a nice drive on the road! Woww :)

Ahaaa!

Finally! The AHA (American Heart Association- Scientific Sessions) results are out. AHA's Scientific Sessions is the annual International convention for cardiologists and cardiovascular Researchers. This year all 3 of my abstracts have been accepted. I'm happy about that. A good improvement over the years..
AHA 2008 - 1 oral
AHA 2009 - 2 posters
AHA 2010 - 3 accepted: 2 oral and 1 poster

November in Chicago! It's gonna be aweffullyy cold.. not looking forward to that. But still, its Chicago! :)

My views on a Review

Just finished writing my first ever review paper for a journal. Oh God.. I never realized writing a review will be soooo very difficult. It's SO MUCH MORE harder than writing your own research paper.
When you write a review, you have to read pretty much all the papers and be absolutely up-to-date with the literature. Usually if you read just one paper in a particular topic, then you are very likely to paraphrase/plagiarize what's written in it. And since that's a STRICTT NO-NO and considered highly unethical by the scientific community, you must read multiple papers in the topic just to broaden your perspective and to give you a clear understanding of the subject and matter. And then when you sit down to write after reading everything, you are so lost and confused that you need to start re-reading again! I had this problem a LOT. So for several days, I was glued to my laptop for hours at a stretch. And at the end of 4-5 hours of paper chasing and reading (and of course multi-tasking off and on.. ahem!)..I could finally write for less than a half hour before packing up for the day!
I always thought writing your own research paper was harder, especially when you have to make sense and beautifully package all those years of good and junk data! But this experience proved me wrong.
I'm satisfied with the outcome... mebbe because I haven't heard the prof's verdict and seen those red marks yet!! but still, a pretty tuff first-time experience its been for me!

LibraryThing

Found this pretty cool site called LibraryThing. Easily lets me add books and also create widgets. So now I have these neat looking widgets to show off the books I have read/have been reading! :D It's really cool.. instead of a boring list that I have.. somewhere at the end of this page!
I don't quite know the difference between Shelfari and this one, but I found this more easier to use (mebbe because I haven't really spent so much time in Shelfari).

Created a new widget called Fantasy Junkie as a toast to my love for the genre. I realized more than 80% of the books I've read are all about wizards, sorcerers, witches, vampires, knights, dragons and amazing fictitious lands. It's not that I hate realism.. but fantasy for some reason keeps me more glued in. I find it fun to read. Keeps my imagination alive and kicking!

Want to read more once I finish up with all this dreadful writing, which I know I should be getting back to.. Write away!

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Just got done with "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Everybody seems to be reading it. You board a flight or take a subway, you'll find atleast 2-3 people reading this book or another in the "Millenium series" by the late Stieg Larsson.

My 2 cents: A very dark book that deals with sex related crimes in Sweden. I found the first 300 pages of the book a little too long and too much of a drag, except for the characterizations of Ms. Lisbeth Salander. Just when you think you can imagine her character, the author brings in new twists to her attitude towards life and people, which keeps the first half of the book a little interesting. But the last 300 pages is really fast paced. Totally "unputdownable". Reminds you a lott of "The silence of the lambs"...

Ok.. I'm not gonna say more, because I don't want to spoil it for those of you who haven't read it. But if you don't mind a dark book, then you can try reading it. I must warn you that in parts it is really bewildering and does punch your perplexes!!

I initially wanted to read the other 2 books in the series as soon as I finished this, but now I think I'll take a break after this one.. get back to fantasy a little bit.. or read a witty Wodehouse and then get back to the others in this series.
And so the next one in my book-shelf is "Wicked: Witch and curse" by Nancy Holder.

Bring on the color!

Yeayy! Finally added some color to my blog. It still doesn't look as fancy as a whole lot of other blogs I've seen. But at least it's not as boring as it was previously.. atleast visually. Content wise.. ahem..no comments on that.

Oh and ya.. my second paper has been accepted. Came back with revisions from the journal! So yeay!

And the date of the final encore has been set - September 17. The stage is getting ready.. its my turn next.

The new way to spend 20 bucks...

The new way to pamper myself for 20 bucks!
Wine red with peach flowers! Lovvvingg it!

.. Free from everything.. :)

When I saw him the last time I went to his place, I couldn't ask for anything. His magnificence..the feeling of a peaceful yet authoritative control over everything earthly and otherwise just made me shut up. All I could do was be meek and then in awe..and remember all the good times we've shared. I just couldn't get myself to ask for this and that.. or to demand reasons for anything. All I could do was be at ease..just gape, drop everything and turn back in full contentment. Not a worry or care in the world.

I love the fact that I've had these hallowed niches in most places I go to (his willing). In Chennai, there's more than one to name. And I can never leave the city without meeting these best friends of mine. They've been there with me through my thick and thin, while in fact putting me through the thick and thin. In Pilani, it was a school in Chirawa. And now its here in Pomona. Over the past 2 years, I have become soo attached.. I'm almost possessive of the place.I cant think of being in town and not visiting. I love the relationships I've shared with all of them and I absolutely yearn for more.

I was just listening to "Zindagi.. Kya kami rah gayi" and was reminded of the feeling that I got last saturday. A feeling of pure contentment that EVERYTHING in the world is Perfect. That I'm not short of anything in life. Enda kurayume illa. A feeling of pure joy and bliss.

The Forbidden Question

While you are a PhD student, you hate to be asked "So when are you done?" That is THE most forbidden question. It's obviously hard enough to not know what you are doing, and to work in what seems an aimless manner towards a really distant goal.. and with that when someone comes and asks you THE question, you either feel like killing them or yourself!
For me, thankfully that is not the forbidden question now. It's changed to "What's next?" I'm in the process of figuring out what to do with the 5 years of work and degree.. and I keep realizing that I'm either too over qualified, or unfortunately under qualified!! Mebbe its just Murphy's law at its very best! Nobody ever wants a PhD! It's either BS/MS or PhD + 2-3 or sometimes even 5-9 years of post-doc experience! Holyyyy crap!
A recent confrontation with Mommy Dearest reminded me of how much its gonna take for me (and for her...) to continue down this path of science and research. I guess the challenges never end and its only getting tougher and tougher. In a whisk, the 5 year stint seems to be coming to an end.. and while I'm supposed to be happy and thrilled, the forbidden question is acting like the pin which bursts the bubble even before u let yourself be in a bubble of happiness!! Its keeping my reality under check. A devil's advocate of sorts. I know its only a matter of time.. a few months mebbe, before I find a new haven for myself and figure the answer to the forbidden question. Until then, I guess the best way for me to deal with it is to simply surrender and wait for Her to show me what to do with my life. She has guided me so far.. She will take care of this too! I have the faith. That is my answer for now.

Miles to go..

Its my first time as a first author. My adenovirus. My mouse. My paper. Just got my first ever reviewer's comments.

"ACCEPT
This is an outstanding manuscript from a leading figure in the field of molecular cardiology. (words of praise for my Guru!).. The manuscript is carefully written and the conclusions reached by the authors are supported by high quality extremely convincing data. We have no suggestions for improvement."

Will post the link to the paper soon after it gets published!

Thankyou Dear God for giving me a Guru like no other.. and for everything else!

Belated birthday!

I just realized my blog turned 4 years old and I'm 40 days late in acknowledging it! I'm only 73 posts old though. I may not have blogged as much as I wished to.. but this space has been an integral part of my life for the past 4 years.. its seen my ups and downs as a grad student and been a part of the choices I've made in my personal life! It started off as a hobby and has taken shape into a nice online journal. It's a whole lot of fun when you write for yourself.. especially when you read what you've written several years down the lane! I've been enjoying every bit of it.
More rejoicing will happen when I reach the 100th post! :)

Cheers to life!

I've finally officially become an Elite one pass member of my favorite airline! It's something I've always wanted to be and now when I am "elite" enough, I'm lovinngggg it! :D
Continental has also been appreciating all my travelling by upgrading my seats to first class in some of the flights! And life has definitely been such a bliss! There's good food (and free alcohol.. fyi to all u alcohol lovers). You get to board the flight first. Drinks are served to you even before the flight takes off. They take care of your jackets for you. Seats are wider, recline better and there's plentty of space for yourself and a nice big handbag! :)It's absolutelllyy amazing treatment! Food is topnotch especially in a cross country flight. It's a 3 course dinner and they treat you like the way u'd be treated in "fine dining" restaurant! All in all, Business/First class treatment is something you got to experience especially if you travel quite often!
Aha.. the small things in life that make it so muchh more better! :)

Been meeting people and bragging a lot about my lab.. especially my Guru! I've been getting several chances to realize how really lucky I am to get a mentor like him.. someone as committed and as dedicated as he is despite the fact that he is really well established. Truly inspiring. I've been making a mental note of all this.. so I can really talk about him when I get to the acknowledgements section in THE presentation! And when I reflect upon how much I've learned over the last 3-4 years just by observing him, I realize he's been a great inspiration in my life!

A big Thankuu to all of the Gods above for everything and everyone that make my life meaningful! Cheers to life!

To be or not to be..

And there are strong followers and then there is a group of bloggers who are anti-followers. They want to provide relief and healing to those who doubt the credibility of the organization that has such a cult following.
I of course have my own doubts about the whole thing, like I've mentioned here many times before. And more often than not, it suits me fine to just stay away. Because for me SK almost always got me angry and bugged rather than calming me down and bringing tranquility.
But when I look at my close other's life.. its changed for the best.. not just better. She has a sense of calmness and an ability to accept everything like no other. And while I admire that with respect and reverence, I still have my own doubts.
There IS always the BUT for me when it comes to the organization. The economics of it has ALWAYS baffled me.. and in fact made me remarkably agonized. I just never get it. So big an organization should never be charging people through their noses for what they are offering. My respect for it would have sky rocketed if it had been really people's wallet friendly! But apparently not. When asked about why its soo unaffordable..even for students..(what about students without funding).. the teachers did not have a credible answer. They claimed that people don't respect what is cheap/free. My head spun when I heard that. Again.. Pomona has pampered me WAY too much! But seriously.. that's the best you can say??? And I read somewhere that the founder himself was asked the same thing, to which his witty Holiness retorted saying.. If you want it free, go to prison... its free in prison! And I was annoyed like no other!
Yet his AG does make sense. I like it .. all the more 'cos it's free!
And so while I do "follow" his blog at times.. I am also contemplating "following" the rebellion's Inc. I don't know whether to call it confusion or hypocrisy :(
But I guess I need a bit of both.. the words of wisdom and the question-ability!! But whatever it is.. after my mom's words to me.." Ninda stuthi pannadhey", I'm thinking I should just watch both sides and take only that which seems sensible and which satisfies my temperament. And I guess most of you who are not tooo into in the cult, but have experienced it will be like me!

Travel woes..

For a person in the West coast of the USA, if he/she were to fly across the country to the other coast on a Friday or some other weekday, its not such a big deal. You just take a red-eye flight. Life is soo simple. You can finish your work in peace and there's no rush to wind up everything before leaving work. Get into the flight lateee in the night and get here by early morning!
On the other hand, for a east coast vaasi like me to fly across on a weekday.. Oh God.. its such a hassle. Why is it that the last flights for the day are at 5:55 or 6:30 pm?? Or at the most by 6:55 pm?? If you have to catch a 6:30 flight, then ideally you need to get out of work by around 4:30 or 5:00.. beat the 5 pm traffic and drive down to the airport. And in a lot of work places 4:30 or 5 pm is an unearthly hour to leave. Everyones still working and you are really quite conspicuous when you leave early!
Seriously why can't there be flights after 8-9 pm from the East to the West? A 6 hour non-stop flight will still reach there by 11 or 12 am right? It's really not all that late! Beats me totally.
Flight mis-planning I say! The "Westerners" get to work in peace as much and as long as they want to and yet have a relaxed travel. But not us.. we haveta compromise on work hours if we want to travel. Not fair at all!

Nothing to name it..

And SO I've finished the Ponniyin Selvan (P.S) Saga! Wowww what a series! :) Simplyyy Amazing. I really wish I was able to read Tamizh as fluently as english so I could read the original. Someday I will really try to read it and take it in one alphabet at a time. The author Kalki Krishnamurthy is GOD! A raconteur beyond comparison! I love the way he portrays his characters especially the real heroes of the book..A witty and mischievous Vandiyadevan, and a sly and clever Azhwarkadiyan Nambi! My life since last September has been revolving around these guys and their doings! And I've loved every word I ever read. I personally think writing a story based out of real characters in history is really difficult, especially if you want the ending of your story to be consistent with reality. (Otherwise you could play around with the ending like Tarantino did in Inglourious Basterds). You have very limited space to let your imagination run in terms of character portrayal and the story line. Yet Kalki Krishnamurthy has done a fannnntastic job in spinning the yarn which is why I think P.S is really great.
Try and read it if you are somebody that likes Raja-Rani stories! :)

With that.. I'm back to fantasy genre.. Farsala trilogy it is! Just started reading it.. Sounds a LOT like Tamora Pierce's Alanna.. Let's see.

And as for the other things in life.. the year's begun well! Thank You Dearest for that. Lots of travel happening...I'm getting to put more 'X's in my USA travelogue and I'm happy about that too. Plenty of reasons to be thankful and plenty more to surrender. More about that when the time's right!

I wonder why there's that streak in me.. rebelliousness. I can't accept somethings and be at peace with it. It goes in cycles.. that of acceptance and rebellion.. acceptance and rebellion. Some how I seem to have a problem somewhere. I'm just not able to accept him entirely. Mebbe its his doing as well.. but whatever. My two ears prop up.. I get defensive.. I charge like an angry bull. Yet when I hear him speak.. I tend to just shut up and think its true. I definitely think hes knowledgable.. his way of simplifying the complexities of life and teach u how to live is fabulous. But stilll... no.. I cant get to that extent of passionate following. I dont have a problem with it..and actually the funny thing is nobody does.. but its just me in my head trying to discern it..WHY? WHY can i not do it? Why can I not see it? I HATEEEE the fact that its soo business like! What do I say.. Pomona has pampered me a LOT. (Mebbe my faiths lie there entirely. And its a natural sense of possessiveness, defensivenes.. watever!) I also know that the things I'm involved in are free.. It doesn't pinch my wallet any more. But still I have that irritation..there's still that itch to find fault with them.. to blame them for making me spend a fortune. I know I can make good use of it. But when I want to.. the rebellion starts off. I hear them talk and Oh God.. my mind goes blank. I'm like I can't take it any more..and I feel like running away from the spot. Yet I agree that it has helped me.. his words have been a boon when I needed it. I diligently did take notes..and well now.. I'm looking forward to tomorrow when I can start off again. But.. there are still those But's.. which I wonder will ever go away. Probably the but's are supposed to remain so. And funnily enough mebbe all my life I am supposed to be following it and actually looking forward to it.. but not be able to admit it. Butttt NOOOOO..

ok seriously Im gonna let this war of thots continue in my head and carry on with other activities of my life!