A window to my world ...

Not that its any different day for me, but well its always worth a mention. I guess this day holds a lot of excitement for the college-goers, teens, just engaged or freshly wed couples. Else I really doubt, from my perspective that there are many Indians who really celebrate this day. Well, couples who generally are too busy may find a good way to reconnect on this day but for the aam-aadmi and the common junta like us, its another day, in passing. Except for the moral policing guys --remember the Pink-Chaddi campaign --hahaha.These self proclaimed guardians of our culture must be really waiting for this day to get out, bash up some innocent teenagers and get some media coverage. Or the shopkeepers for which any festival is a money making venture! :) ! Well reading my own post reaffirms the fact that age makes us cynical.. In any case Happy Valentines to everyone! Its been almost 4 yrs of mrg and touch-wood its lovely to be in a beautiful relationship. So To love! Cheers ! --D

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” - Mark Twain

Have to pen this! We have been having these special food-festival weekends together with our Indian friends whom we met at the university and who love making food and are really good at it. 2 weeks ago we had the Pasta day where we had 3 kinds of Pasta for lunch at our place. The weekend after that we had the Paratha day and the day before yesterday we had Dosa day (Rava Dosa, Plain Dosa, Masala Dosa and Cucumber Dosa) !!! The next weekend is a south indian breakfast item day! With poha upma,sabudana khichdi, and shavige bhaath (may be idlis and wadas but we have done that many times already). We are planning to have an all rice day :) spread over two weekends. More later .. -D

About finally submitting the paper! Getting my residence card .. And the super unhealthy cannelloni with spinach and loads of ricotta cheese ... which i ate ... yummy! Too bad the university residence apartment doesnt provide an oven ..

Got the FCT grant. So am happieeee!!! And so some decisions have been taken for me! I hope I can make most of it! Definetly the best news on the career front since I have landed in Porto... Am so thrilled!

2010 had its share of ups and downs... Had some really wonderful days and some extremely bad ones.. Well, thats whats life about! Well am looking forward to a happy year ahead!!

Loved both the versions : The original one by Keith Whitley and the one by Ronan Keating. "When You Say Nothing At All" It's amazing How you can speak Right to my heart Without saying a word, You can light up the dark Try as I may I could never explain What I hear when You don't say a thing The smile on your face Lets me know That you need me There's a truth In your eyes Saying you'll never leave me The touch of your hand says You'll catch me Whenever I fall You say it best When you say Nothing at all All day long I can hear people Talking out loud But when you hold me near You drown out the crowd Try as they may They could never define What's been said Between your Heart and mine The smile on your face Lets me know That you need me There's a truth In your eyes Saying you'll never leave me The touch of your hand says You'll catch me Whenever I fall You say it best When you say Nothing at all

The lights are off ... And the blinds are down ... Like a gothic lane ... In an abandoned town ... Some few known faces I can see here and there The same bored feeling, I'm sure they share :) Hey all u ppl on a fest, hope u're having some fun On your way back here do bring in some sun And all the noise and talk thats missing out here That keep the lab alive and so very dear!

The theory looks fine, The data looks crazy, When i sit to code it its all so hazy ... About caches and misses and instructions and code Need to write a paper ..Gosh Iḿ so bored! But such is life ..some days are good On a lazy afternoon like this, work i should .. With no mails and no fb updates to read, in the last 10 mins this is what i did!!!

There is pleasure in the pathless woods, There is a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar: I love not man the less, but Nature more, From these our interviews, in which I steal From all I may be, or have been before, To mingle with the Universe, and feel What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal. LORD BYRON

Finally found some drink that i liked! I dislike tea and coffee and that meant no way to take breaks ! :( ... Although i always hang around ..but its not so nice when u dont have a cup in hand .. So all these days i was trying to find something nice .. So i found it ..A fruity herbal non-teaish non-milky tea! Aha!

  Feels good to write this blog.After a long time went for a nice long trek. Last month we visited Guimaraes and really loved it. Also we met one Senhor who organizes "walking tours" as he calls it. He was kind enough to take our email id and invited us to a trek with a group of 15 other people. This place is his ancestoral property up in the Penha mountains and it was very pretty. We also visited his friend's estate which had a small strawberry farm and a vineyard. Am looking forward to September and a visit to the Douro valley for the grape picking season! :)

An exam on Monday,Tuesday ,Wednesday !! The ppl at univ keep asking us to work on the courses. The ppl in the lab want us to stay focussed on the research (courses dont matter they say) VxWorks drives me crazy --installing itself is such a pain as of now. The hard disk crashed this morning. I did a back up some days back ,but dont know what is lost.. Am running after the IT guys here since afternoon. My 3rd wedding anniversary!! :) And its still wednesday . I dont know if want the days to run faster coz then there are more deadlines.I dont know whether they shud be slower --coz i want the weekend to come by soon . Thats life! Jeena isika naam hai ... --D

"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions." -Oliver Wendell Holmes

I hate sending out weekly status reports.Am i ever going to get rid of them ? Every job, every place I go I need to send them. Is there someone on this planet who likes sending them ? Do let me know.

Well, Last night i had to make something for dinner and was too bored to prepare either rice or roti. G was not in a mood to eat Upma for dinner :) .. I thought lets make some instant dosa. And i got really naughty at it... The ingredients : 1. 2 spoons rice flour 2. 2 spoons rava 3. 2 spoons besan flour 4. Mustard sauce :) lying in the fridge :). 5. 1/2 a cup Tomato puree 6. Pesto sauce which i use for pasta :) 7. Oregano 8. Salt and chilli powder 9. 1 cup of yogurt 10. Coconut powder :) 11. Added some finely chopped onions ... Mix all this and add water to get the right consistency and spread it out :) .. It tasted awesome!!!! And G was happy too -- I asked him to guess the ingredients...Well he couldnt :) .. Cooking is creative and fun !!! This morning i made rava idlis ,which came out really nice and the recipe is from my fav site : www.aayisrecipes.com With my own version of groundnut-coconut chutney !!!

I think that we must have neutral (is that the right word ??) feelings for some ppl in our life. (Like towards your advisors and managers). Makes life easy that way. I wish i can develop that attitude ..Will try hard.

I have a meeting at 3.00 pm .Dont know how it will go coz i dont have anything much to report about. I dont want to think abt it and so i think i"ll blog. Hey i turned 30 some days back ..The good old 20s are gone ... 30,married ,no kids and havent acheived much in life either. Dont know where all this is going . Nothing really much to talk abt. And hey i am not at all sad or extra reflective as i write this. I am still ready to take on life and maybe things will get better for me! The good side --Great friends a good life partner,i dont work in a company,am still studying and am going to see a lot of new places and meet new friends! I dont owe anybody anything financially,not enough money to save,so wont try saving , just enough to enjoy and travel! Stopped thinking too much about the future--- u cant think beyond 6 months --u never know where life will take you ! So dont plan too much ! By planning too much in advance you may be killing out other interesting unforeseen chances i...