Why I miss Chennai

This was a note I had written on FB not so long ago.

Sigh! How much I miss Chennai! Everytime I read the note/blog it brings back so many memories... I am a big foodie, so there are a lot of references to restaurants and local eateries... after all... it's the food and the cuisine that define a place.

1. Marina Beach

2. Coffee Day at Adyar (yes... I used to go all the way till Adyar to hang out with my friends... almost everyday)

3. Ewart School (I can at the least ride by school any time I feel like I miss it)

4. Sree Mithai

5. Beach Bajji

6. Calling friends was only a local call (now i have to think of country codes before calling my friends...)

7. my very own kinetic honda

8. Driving/riding on the left side of the road (like the rest of the world)

9. Absolutely no necessity for me to eat my own cooking

10. Family and cousins

11. Neighbours (sometimes a little too intrusive)

12. Pondy bazaar shopping

13. Landmark

14. Sathyam Theater

15. Narasu's and Leo Coffee

16. Kolam in front of almost every single house

17. Yellow autos and their outrageous non-functioning meters

18. Bargaining at any store for pretty much anything

19. Sunday special brunch (more of a family thing)

20. Kapaleeshwarar kovil (i am pretty religious)

21. Fruit Shop on Greams road ( and Kilpauk and Besant Nagar... and sometimes Spencer's) which leads me to...

22. Spencer's Plaza

23. Citi Center

24. INOX (Those 10 rupee tickets for the movies were god-sent when bunking college!!! )

25. College (though not really chennai... it was pretty close to it)

26. British Council Library

27. Mount Road

28. Elliots Beach

29. My street dog (he'd ALWAYS wag his tail at me and wait for me to play with him)

30. Deepavali

31. Pongal

32. Super colourful kolams the night before Pongal

33. Paati (Yes, she deserves a special mention apart from mentioning family)

34. FRIENDS

35. The traffic (although it is CRAZY, it gives u a sense of accomplishment every time you maneuver through the traffic and get to ur destination)

36. Just Casuals :) (I used to buy my PJs from there)

37. Mummy Daddy (for all u from Kilpauk/anna nagar... u know what I'm talking about)

38. Hot Breads

39. Sweet Chariot

40. T Nagar

41. Ethiraj Canteen

42. Barista

43. Milky Way

44. Anjappar... Ponnusamy... and the likes

45. Fountain Plaza

46. Pantheon Road street shopping

47. Local Train transport

48. Moore market second hand book shopping

49. Higginbothams

50. Anna Nagar

51. Huge Billboards everywhere

52. Cathedral Road... to the beach (I always liked that drive/ride)

53. Thamizh everywhere (this is a very important reason)

54. It's where my two thalaivars live... Rajnikanth and Kamal Hassan!!!! :D

55. Neem trees (I haven't seen them in this part of the country. I am sure there are neem trees in other parts of India, but Neem trees remind me of Chennai, my house in particular and I end up missing it)

56. Murugan Idli Shop

57. mango bite

58. Mangoes in summer

59. Malli poo (I absolutely hate the smell of it... but I miss the poo now)

60. Sugarcane juice

And most important of all...

Chennai is home... the only one I've ever known!

After a long time...

So... It's been a while since my last post. I was just reading what I'd written there and I must say it is not as horrible as I thought it would be! I am pleased. I have wanted to get down to writing more SO often in the last few months. But lately, the need to write has taken over. So here goes.

I now work at this wonderful research center that was described by a top scientist as the 'Mecca of Cancer Research'! I wake up every morning, excited at the thought of going to the lab and learning (discovering) something new. And I learn something new every single day! That feels really good!

My friends and family live close. That works just wonderful for me as I am just honing my cooking skills now. Friends and family willingly play guinea pigs all the time (I don't quite think they have a choice on that).
I've got a few baking and decent cooking episodes to boast off for now. The latest feather to the chef's hat was when one of my Italian friends asked me for a recipe for paal payasam. I was elated and filled with pride that somebody thought I could be trusted. :D

There is so much random reading happening in my life right now, I think I might actually be getting back on the reading track.

My life at the lab is filled with so many episodes that would make this blog uber interesting!!! :)

A couple of my friends getting into the blogging groove gave me the final push to get started. Let's see how long I can keep this going.

I must say random writing with no real definite plan in mind is fun... and very liberating!

that was then... this is NOW!

hmmm... So much has changed since that first craptastic blog! For starters... my cute li'l DNA have started behaving themselves and been giving some awesome results! One of which took me to Mexico almost!!! :D

My prof has loosened his hold over me and has let me take a whole month off!!!! So am all "YIPPPPEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!" all the time these days! There are very few things that can get me low these days!

That was the bright side of things... on the ... darker side(?!)... I have ended up losing one very good friend... I wish we could see eye to eye on a few issues and get bak together... time will tell... (sigh! i so do miss her!!!!... but she comes with a package that I don't like and don't get along with...)

My life has changed... since the last blog... I have grown. Better or worse?! Hell! It's my blog... obviously for the better!

I act like am not... but deep down... am a geek! I see the Physics... Chemistry and Biology in everything! I have to analyze... I just have to! Call me boring... I say... U jst not my type! (that's a lot more diplomatic and sounds better!)

I feel and kinda know, that am FINALLY understanding what standing up for oneself means... and also comprehending the consequences of it! Hurts sometimes... (talking abt the friend here...) but u can only do as much as u can...

The BIG question in my head is... y am i stuck with writing blogs abt myself rather than abt 'guy-gurl' issues or... 'movies in B(K, T)ollywood' or... 'Ballroom dances' that we know u haven't been to! well... the above mentioned are things that i talk about to people who care to listen... and what I write is stuff that I DO NOT talk about to people even if they did care to listen... Bitchy???! I would prefer Introvert...

The nice man who pays wants me at work... so till the next blog (bordering on narcissism...)... take care all!

My first blog!

Let's see... I am so frustrated with everything happening around me that I needed a let out that wouldn't really bother anyone... so here I am...
*WARNING*: I love long sentences...

I am an eternal optimist who believes "If anything can go wrong, it will!" ... Murphy's laws... I guess that makes me sound an eternal pessimist... but then again I truly truly believe that if you put in enough effort there is nothing that cannot be done! So that kinda sums up how I work.

Am in the US of A... the land where dreams come true! Honestly, it doesn't feel too different than home ... Chennai, India. The people I meet are different, the places I go to are different, the experiences are different. But that's it. The people are the same... hardworking... same expectations of life... This has led me to conclude that people at large are the same world over! Everybody's looking for a friendly face in everybody. People... think that's something for a completely different blog!

Let's not lose focus here... my complaints on life...

Am doing my Masters in the US... and Life sux! I work for a prof who is into nanotechnology. I sometimes wonder of he knows what he wants out of the whole thing! Then I realise, maybe it's me who hasn't quite grasped it all.
My prof... a nice guy... a nice person. But he won't let me go home for a decent period of time and that's bugging the life out of me! Doesn't he realise, that even if he did force me to stay here longer, my performance would be below zero b'cause I would be sulking so!? I am yet to convince him on that. I am just too scared thinking he will ask me to take a walk and not come back!!!

My experiments aren't doing much to support me either. They just won't work the way they are supposed to! Or maybe it's me! I am trying my best to prove that the fault is not at my end... no thanks to anyone on this.

I am bored of going to the lab everyday and returning back with absolutely no results. One thing stays constant though, that my prof doesn't think too much of me. That has not really changed for over 6 months now.
I seem to be right in every experiment that I come up with... to prove my assumptions wrong. To prove myself right... I haven't gotten a single experiment yet!!! (sulk!)

I am pissed. With the world at large! That's me today... at this moment.

I go out of my lab and see a squirrel, a bird, a hornet, my favorite janitor or technician and am all happy and spritely again! Doesn't take too much to get my spirit down... but on the bright side it doesn't take much to get my spirits soaring high again!!!! :)