Tonight in the popular TV show, Heroes, one of the character remarks "What is the name of Gandhi's burial grounds ?" while solving a crossword puzzle. Another character quips back "Kanyakumari !" and the puzzle was solved correctly ! Come on guys !! Are you out of your minds ? How can someone get such a huge fact wrong ? The strongest leader the world ever had, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was cremated and the place is referred to as Rajghat, which is in the capital city of New Delhi, in India. Kanyakumari is the southern most coastal city of India where one can see three water bodies at the same time; Indian ocean, Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. These two places are thousands of kilometers apart and have nothing in common !

21 years ago, 329 people were murdered by brutal terrorists in the bombing of Air India flight# 182 off the coast of Ireland. Flight# 182 was bound to New Delhi from Toronto & Montreal. After 21 years the Canadian authorites have re-opened a public enquiry to find out the 'real' culprits and punish them. One would wonder why such a delay took place in a developed nation such as Canada. However, its better late than never.

My heart goes out to the family of the victims and crew of MV Laurentian Forest, a commercial ship which was the first at scene for rescue operations. The crew members were also victims of terrorism as they are still haunted by the happenings of that fateful day.

This post comes very late...almost a month later than it was supposed to be, but here it is. I visited my alma mater when I was back in Dehradun a month ago in August. Some of the pics are here. Just one of the few things that makes me super-nostalgic and makes me want to go back home at that instant !

The new junior block


The temperature in hell is 32F today ! Yes, the horse shoe is gone !!!


Good old SJA !


The good old carefree days of innocene and fun !!!

Made a small trip to my workplace. Will be starting at Cognos from 5th September. Looking forward to it !

I havent blogged for about a month now. I can blame that partly on heavy school work and partly on my whirldwind, 2 week India trip. Lots of things have happened since then and life has taken a huge turn, I dont know for the good or for the bad.

More about the India trip. Was in India from 7th August till 23rd August. Met my family, loved ones and a few friends. By the time it sunk in that I was in motherland, I was already sitting in Air Canada flight# 879, heading back to Canada. Short trip, and as much as i want, maybe my last trip to motherland for a very very long time now.

Coming back to Canada, I had to pack all my stuff and move to Ottawa for a 4 month internship with Cognos Inc. Today was my first day in Ottawa. A totally new city with not a single friend or family member...whoa ! New experience !! Now I know how it feels to be totally alone...yes, it feels very lonely ! I must say that I am fortunate to have a very friendly landlord and he is an awesome guy.

I am looking forward to starting work on 5th September with Cognos. For my friends who read my blog, my email still stays the same so you can always drop me a line and my phone number has changed, which can be found as my MSN nick.

Update: Some pictures from my India trip.

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We drive on the good side !

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The Dehradun valley...so beautiful !

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Himalayas from the terrace of my house

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The Sivalik range...also known as the lesser Himalayas

Sometimes you just gotta stand up for your rights. One of my sixth semester courses is being taught by a completely useless professors (yes, I am not gonna name him, but you all who study with me know who he is). His marker turns out to be an even bigger moron. So he marked one of my quizzes and deducts marks for no reason when it was a perfect quiz and i deserved a 100%. After much hunting around, I get hold of him and explain to him that my answers are perfect and i DESERVE 100% marks. Very casually, chewing an apple, he goes through my quiz for 5 minutes and mumbles something and finally says "Ok, i wil give you full marks." The damn guy had no arguements whatsoever to justify his actions. I am sure he must have done something similar in marking my previous quizzes but it was about time i stood up and asked for something i deserved. That 1.5 out of 20 i gained is very trivial and will probably account for a 0.54% increase in my final grade, but what matters is that I was wronged (and most of the students are suffering that course just like me) but someone ought to stand up and say something.

I havent blogged for a very long time becasue of extreme pressure due to studies. Final exams starting on 1st August and then I make a short and sweet 2 week trip to Motherland. Can't wait for that...its a special trip this time, for reasons that are very obvious for those who know me .

See you all on the other side of the exams.

We all have a fear of losing something in our lives. In all these years, I have met people, different kinds of people. Some fear losing their money, some fear losing their reputation. Some fear gaining weight and some fear losing grades. Some fear losing their fame and some hold their love very close to their life. Everyone fears losing their life.

What do I fear ? Having lost most of the above sometime or the other, I fear losing hope. Hope, something on which the human civillization has survived for thousands of years.

Taking some time off from studies and having fun the good old way...

So here i am sitting, far away from civilisation and my loved ones, celebrating v-day and my b-day....well, if having a nap qualifies as a celebration. Never had I thought that I would ever land up somewhere in rural Nova Scotia. I still remember my earliest birthdays and the birthday parties at school and home. Sometimes, it all seems so unreal...all those years in Lucknow and Dehradun seem to be a distant haze now.

This past weekend were the birthdays of two very special people in my life. Times like these i wish i was at home, to celebrate the best of times with my nearest and dearest ones. Probably one of the biggest hurdles for humans to overcome is physical distance. Technology has let us see and talk to other people over thousands of miles, but it does not let us feel the emotions and the touch. No technology can substitute for a hug or a kiss.

Apart from that, it was also my buddy Jen's birthday on friday. Didn't do much over the weekend since all my friends were busy studying for their exams. Looking forward to the next weekend when i have to attend a religious ceremony and i will get to see some of my buddies.