Auli - Rishikesh - An Unexpected Journey - III

Day 3
We woke up in our hotel at Joshimath. Piyush D the hobbit who had been handed the responsible for destroying the ring was sick and weak. We got lots of Real juice and ate some alloo paratha at the local stalls. From local sources and the low room rent we got to know that the number of tourists has fallen drastically due to the Uttarakhand floods last year. This had caused much reduction in fares and rents. The snow capped peaks could be seen from Joshimath in the cheerful morning. Piyush D and Arpan bravely took the 'helm' of the bikes and guided the fellowship towards Auli about 16 kms from there. The road to Auli was good and fenced at most of the places. Also it was mostly inhabited and the climate was cool, keeping us fresh and spirited for new adventures. Actually perhaps only I felt spirited, the other members of the fellowship - Arpan J whose wrist has become sore due to constant pressure during bike handling and Piyush D was sickened. Perhaps the ring was taking its toll in him. 



We reached Auli resort at mayb 10AM. First we roamed around the army stations where we took pictures of cows and fields and anything neat and clean. Then near the resort we hired a guide similar to Golum to lead us for trekking where we had secretly intended to destroy the ring in the fire of doom. The Golum like guide brought a twist in our story and instead of snatching the powerful ring, ripped us instead charging us 700. Anyways we left our bikes behind and undertook our journey towards the snow capped mountains, panting and gasping for breath as we climbed. The lower region were overgrown with grass, but it gets covered with snow during winters and skiing competitions were organised there. The South Asian Winter Games 2011 were conducted at Auli. We saw the world's highest artificial lake on our way. We saw sheep, mules, tourists riding the mules and pastures. The landscape varied a lot - walking on the gentle and cheerful green pastures as in Shire being grazed by tender sheep huddled and contrasted by cold rugged ice capped mountains in the distance, then we reached the woods with tall straight trees of the cold country with the grounds inundated with fallen brown leaves and twigs interrupted by infrequent patches of ice breaking the monotonicity.  We passed some tents where people had camped and small streams trickling down from some hidden melted ice. We dragged on and stopped to have some lembas bread like aaloo paratha we had brought along with us.   

We carried on our climb over grasslands marked by patches of ice and reached the top region where mules were grazing and long stretches of ice covered ground magnified the beauty of the scene. Piyush D tired and barely walking reached a spot where locals had gathered around a fire to keep themselves warm. And there was the ring dropped and destroyed in the fire of doom. We walked up and down the hillocks, slipping occasionally on the melted snow and clicked lots of pictures. We saw people going further ahead for long duration camps and treks. Then we trotted back along with the Golum like trek guide. The retreat was lot easier due to downhill slope. Besides the ring no longer troubled our hobbit hearts and lightened us. We waited for the eagles but they did not show up.


We reached back to our hotel at Joshimath, packed our luggages, had a light lunch and started back at about 2 30 PM. In between it started raining and we had to stop about 3 times at small shelters to avoid slipping and poor visibilty. We reached Pipalkoti in the late evening and decided we could not go any further that day. We took a decent room, quite cheap, and rested. We had hot tea and round cream rolls like stuff which did not had any cream and succeeded in avoiding speeding swirling vehicles trying to play road rash with us. We slept peacefully after a very fruitful day.

Beginning the journey from Shire scene 

Rest in the woods

Celebrating !!

Before 

After killing the "watcher of the water" 

That feeling after the ring has been destroyed!

Auli - Rishikesh - An Unexpected Journey - II

Day 2
Auli is 263 kms from Rishikesh and the road has been opened not long ago, after being washed away during the catastrophe of Uttranchal. Next morning on the 4th May we woke early and arranged for two bikes - an avenger and a Pulsar 220. Our expedition began at 7 am from Rishikesh along NH 58 going at a brisk pace to get used to the bike. Just like The Lord of The Rings involved some walking, some running, and then more walking and more running and more and more walking and running our trip mostly consisted of biking and sitting and a lot of biking and me sitting on the backseat like Gimli, son of Gloin sitting uncomfortably on horse back along with Legolas.

We stopped at few scenic locations and snapped pictures for our facebook, twitter, linkedin, goodreads, google+, hi5, tumblr, pinterest, flickr, instagram and another 100 accounts. We were skeptical about the climate but it was quite cool in the morning hours. We came across lots of camps along the Ganges where people camped, went rafting, relaxed and played on the clean white sands. The river Ganges followed us as we rode cautiously upto Devprayag. Devprayag is the confluence of rivers Bhagirathi and Alaknanda meet in two contrasting colours. The confluence is called Ganga hence forth. The road at Devaprayag is in quite terrible condition.                                                                                                                                                                                                   Having spent a lot of time in Kanpur and Jharkhand I don't generally fuss about potholes with roads in them but i think it is worthy of mention when the road is barely wide for a truck and, in poor condition and there are is a fully loaded truck honking at your neck from below with the river roaring and effervescing wrathfully in the gorge a few feet to your right. We passed Srinagar and reached Rudraprayag - the confluence of rivers Mandakini and Bhagirathi. The famous man eating tiger of Rudraprayag written by Jim Corbett lived here. 

Intially we had the mountain wall as our guardian angel to our left and vehicles overtook us on the right keeping us away from the devil cliff and the river. Later we were riding on the edge of road overviewing the gorge on the left and big and medium vehicles constantly pushed us to the very edge while overtaking us. I especially disliked the part when the road ahead of us suddenly went missing having succumbed to some landslide in the past and we had to bend around the "Stairway to Heaven" to stay on our mission. Halfway through the ride I had made my mind that if Piyush D brings me back alive I treat him heavily. 

We passed Karanprayag where some more rivers "not so muchj in our geography books" met. We traversed through a multitude of sceneries scraped out of tourism books or places we dream of - sometimes a long road canopied with trees on each side with a cloudy sky and mountains looming in the distance with no sign of sun and cool winds blowing in solitude and silence or sometimes a slanting wall of mountain on one side, a long stretch of road and terraced farms in the valley below with tiny huts scattered here and there in the fields unaware and untroubled of the worries of the world or being sandwiched sometimes two parallel grey rocky mountains, jagged with numerous piercing edges and sharp points without an inch of greenery on it obscuring any trace of outside world from our view.

We had our lunch at Chamoli. The last stretch of journey was unforgettable. The roads were wide but had gone crazy ascending to insane heights and the scenery was outrageously thrilling and dangerous. The chain of steep mountain walls devoid of vegetation and so much grey and rocky as if refuting any trace of life anywhere, only roads going berserk reaching absurd heights in a run from one hill to other, twisting and climbing and falling in the gloom of lost sunlight. It had grown evening and we hardly met any vehicles. Knowing that there were no shelters in next 20 or 30 kilometers we climbed and fell stoically and with haste. The steepness constrained us to a speed of 25kph and the motorcycles were sweetly piercing the quietude of the hills with rumbling engine sound. 


We were loosing daylight and we got an impression of distance between km stones incrementing . Just when we used to feel that we had been riding a long time since the last kilometer post and must have come a long way from it we were met with the reality that only a single km has been covered. It started drizzling and winds blew coldly, piercing our chest. We dared not stop and take out warmer clothes in our desperation to reach Joshimath the nearest shelter. Shivering and shaken we crossed the signboards welcoming us to Joshimath. The mere sign of shelters and human settlements melted our frozen spirits and we were relieved to be in the town enclosed in a ring of human cheerfulness, chaotic yet appearing musical the sound of humanly hustle, the magical street lights, the sounds of vehicular engines and the warmth of companionship of those whom we knew not but appeared so dear. 
It was 7 Pm. We took a hobbit-room with comfortabe beds but unlike hobbits we forgot to eat. Except that I woke at midnight and had a secret mid-night meal.  A hard day ride deserves a good meal. Auli is only about 11kms from Joshimath.

Some more pics:

For once diverting from LOTR here is a pic inspired by Motorcycle Diaries by Che Guevara:

Auli Rishikesh - An Unexpected Journey - I

On 30th April four of us from IIT Kanpur Mathematics department decided to have a little farewell trip and on the 1st May I was there standing in the tatkal line at IIT K reservation counter along with Piyush D who was motivating me to stay strong. It was "mera pehla pehla tatkal ticket" from Kanpur Central to Haridwar. Also behind the scene of action were other members of the fellowship - Arpan Jain on the irctc website and Piyush Vyas sleeping comfortably in his hobbit bed.

Next day on 2nd we boarded Sangam Link express. We played 29. I mean the other three played 29 and I played "put random card on the deck". We reached Haridwar and took a passenger train from there to Rishikesh taking us less than 40 minutes. We had our brunch at Haridwar where decent cheap food is available. The hotels are mostly crowded on weekends but we took an auto to a hotel in close proximity to the station. We got a double bed room for 4 people and were charged 600 rs for it. We inquired about rafting and adventure activities in Rishikesh and left the hotel at 4 for rafting. 

We reached Muni ki Reti and talked to an agency conducting river rafting. They put us on a jeep and it took us to one of the starting point destination of rafting - Brahmapuri. We paid Rs 1000 for 4 people for 12 km rafting. Rishikesh was not as hot as we had seen on the internet. And by hot I mean the temperature hot. The road to Brahmapuri was in good condition and ran along the Ganges flowing below in the gorge. 

Reaching the spot we took a narrow trail on foot to the sandy banks of river. We waited on the sands enjoying the serene views of Ganges, watching other rafters flow past us who took the more thrilling 18 km rafting track. The sands were clean and whitish. It was a beautiful scene with us on one side and river separating us from the mountains on the other bank and sun rays peeping stealthily through the hills and falling on the glittering sands. After our raft was brought we boarded the raft along with another family. We had two people with us who instructed us, had equipped us with a life jacket, oars and a helmet. We sat tightly, holding our oars and rowing furiously and stopping according to the instruction of our guides. Before coming to the each series of rapids the guides used to announce its name and scare an aunty who was already terrified since the moment she had set her foot on the raft. One of the rapids were called "Double Trouble". The rapids were thrilling and it gave us a sensation that we were riding a four wheeler on Indian roadways. 

In the midst we had stopped and disembarked from our raft to the shore where Maggi and beverages were being sold. It was like one of the scenes of Lord of The Rings in which the fellowship stopped at the shores of River Anduin from there narrow boats and rested. None of us four got killed there. Clearly none of us was attacked by orcs or anything lethal but there was one instance when a lady tried to sell us a plate of maggi for 40 bucks. At places where the water was calm the raft slowed down and the guides asked us to jump into the waters. Cautiously we placed our feet in water and with our hands grabbing the raft ropes slowly hopped in the cold water. There was no current and it felt perfectly safe. We laid back on our backs on the water and watched the ram jhula pass over our head as we drifted in the cold and silent waters on the cool evening with the temple lights looming on the edge. It was probably the most tranquil and pacific moment I have ever felt. Our rafting ended at Muni ki reti in late evening. 

With this ended our day 1 of the tour. Here is another picture of us going through the Anduin like Ganges river with the : 

How it actually was:



 How we felt it!!

In Your Dreams

February

I had a weird dream yesternight. I was supposed to go somewhere with some friends. We took our seats and after sometime we got stuck on a railway crossing. I guessed that the railway crossing was closed to let a train pass but then I realized that we were on the train. Then a man on scooter beside my window shouted from outside the window that there was a traffic jam ahead. One of my friends screamed that our train was on road instead of tracks. We chided the rail driver for taking the roads instead of tracks. The driver did something and soon we were moving ahead on the road among herds of cows. 

I don't like cows very much. They are oblivious to all the important agendas of the country like elections, traffic, hunger. One of the cows of our milk man was very fussy. My mum fed her rotis in the morning. If somehow the roti was served on ground or fell to ground she did not accept it and swayed her head away from the cow. A calf was born to her. The calf learnt fussiness from the cow too. Stupid cows. One day i tried to annoy the fussy cow family by bringing the roti upto the cow, purposely soiling it and then throwing it to a street dog. Must have hurt? stupid cows! they should thank Lord that they are not in US else they were being eaten with the same roti at KFC- Kentucky Fried Cows.

I had read a novel The Maze in school-days. In the novel a boy wakes up and tells his parents during breakfast of his dreams involving trains. The boy's father said that they should not let him watch television more since it is affecting his mind. The boy protested and said it can't be because of the television because their TV was black n white while his dreams were all colourful.

Valentine's week. I celebrated the proposal day with lots of wing mates and lots of fresh lime soda, veg platter, cream of mushroom, kashmiri naan and pineapple raita. Next day also we kept the memories of the Chocolate day alive with lesser wingies at pizza hut with crown pizza, pasta like stuff, berry vanilla shake, lots of lemonade. Best valentine week ever!!

Then I reluctantly went to a movie- Hasee to Phasee. I was surprised that I did not hate the movie. The actress Parineeti was like lady Michael Scofield of Prison Break. She could fix everything and knew everything. Though the movie makers showed that she knew lots of medicines and chemicals because she was a Chemical Engineer. Stupid.

I like dreams. Dreams are exciting, mysterious, intriguing. If only I can have some way to simulate them I would open a company and make a huge fortune. It would overtake any other form of entertainment. The boys would want to dream their fantasies with pretty girls. The girls would dream marrying those guys. The Congress leaders would fantasize being in Uncle Scrooge's treasure heap. Who would want to watch movies or read novels watching the protagonist when they themselves can be it? Roti, kapda, makaan and dreams. It would be a revolution. The courses offered in colleges would change to Dream Management, Dream Programming, Dream Analysis, Dream Architecture. We will sell .dream files to lazy people who can't dream their own dream. The current gaming industry would be doomed. People won't go on dream- dates. Drugs would not be bought to escape from reality. It would really slow the world. The people would only work enough to make the bare money needed for surviving and dreaming. Christopher Nolan is such a genius.

I made a joke. Here it goes.This will fit perfectly in cyanide and happiness cartoons.

Guy- Hey! Wanna come to my room and get naughty? 
Girl- In your dreams
Guy(happily)-okay!yay!

Caution-Sudden digression from the discussion ahead.

Once when I was in class 5 or something like that a science fair was being organized in our school. I was keen on making one project from a book but it required various shaped mirrors. Unable to find anything close to it I thought of cutting my own mirrors. 
Me-Can you give me a big diamond with pointed edge. This big so that I can properly hold it in my palm?
Mum-What for?
Me- I need some mirrors to be cut. Diamonds are good abrasives.
Mum-Go to the general stores and get sugar, turmeric, etc. Also get some blah blah blah.

India lost an eminent scientist that day in me as I took my steps towards the store.

Into the Wild

The first month of this new year has come to an end. It has been a fruitful one month comprising of treats, cycling trips, movies,reading risk management, watching Ranchi Rhinos play glorious hockey. 

One weekend we were basking out in the sun in the the corridor of our hostel wing and someone said-"lets go to Bithur near the Ganges". I was surprised because I expected: "abe tu badh mai aa rha hun" and "bahut khana kha liya hai, rest ki jarurat hai" . Instead 7 of us got our 7 cycles, went to Bithur took pictures of buffaloes, monkeys, Sushil Gora my wingy who posed for weird matrimonial type pictures,an incomplete useless bridge, then cycled through dark road having lot of potholes and no light and reached back 7 in number. 

This was the weekend during which we pissed off our wingy Akshat Singhal by cancelling our trip to his home in New Delhi. Apparently he got annoyed and threw his alloo bhujiya outside his door. As soon as he went someone ate the alloo bhujiya and I still can't figure out who ate it.

Then there came another weekend during which I was supposed to go on a 58 km bicycling trip around Kanpur through buffalo tracks and mustard fields on an almost stolen bicycle without brakes with set of people (say A) but ended up on a 75 km cycling trip to Nawabganj on good expensive bicycle with gears and not broken brakes with another set of people (say B). http://unnao.nic.in/nawabganjbirds/index.html  

It is supposed to be a bird sanctuary but the only region where we could spot the birds was the website. We did see some crows, white birds, monkeys and hell of rural people who exclaimed "oohs" and "aaahs" and "race wali saaikal" on seeing the cycle with gears. When I stopped for air check in the tubes the cycle repairmen became so obsessed with the cycle that I felt he might pay me back for giving him a once in lifetime opportunity to handle the cycle. On our way we stopped at a dhabha for breakfast, people gathered around the cycles and started changing gears. While returning we took lift on a truck. In the city a bike raced past me. After few seconds he braked hard and maintained his bike on my side. 

The man (in UP tone) -" bhaiya ji aap log race kr rhe hain ?"
Me-"naah no race"
The man- "to bhaiya ji ye cycle se kha ja rhe hain"
Me-"IIT ja rhe. Lucknow se".
The Man (shocked)- " Lucknow se? kab se chale aa rhe hain?"
Me-" subah IIT se nikle the. Lucknow jaa kr wapas aa rhe hain."
The man was speechless. I grinned.

Hockey India League has started. Ranchi Rhinos lost the first match. I supported them ardently in the next 2 matches and they won both. Rhino Salute! 
Rhinos are the defending champions and have star player Birendra Lakra from Jharkhand.
https://www.facebook.com/TheIndianHockeyLeague/posts/330151200426978

I am fairly surprised why the people are criticising AAP. At the worst it is resorting to unconventional means for getting things done. Do people prefer the Congress rule? Do they want a dignified govt assisting scams and poor governance rather than someone trying to change things? 

My room has is becoming so full of unread financial express and Business Standard day after day that when I use the newspaper for keeping peels of oranges I now consider 4-5 rupee well spent on the paper.

Latest weekend I cycled with 2 wingies to a dhabha on NH2. I am still baffled why I agreed to cycle 22 km overall for a visit to a Deepu Chauhan dhabha which did not even give free salad. I like free salad and tend to tip places offering free salad and no service tax.

Lastly I express my happiness at India being sacrificed at the altars of New Zealand. It is high time we develop some sharpness in bowling and learn to play on foreign pitches. Despertely waiting for getting mauled in test too. Though the Indian test side should do bit better given the good batting line up.

The Beginning of the End-II

We went for our 1st wing treat of the last semester at Tycoon restaurant or maybe Dhuaan- can't actually say where because 5 of 12 were sitting in one place and rest at the others. This really pissed my wingie Anant 'Panda'. Watch this to know about unhappy pandas.https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=never+say+no+to+a+panda&sm=3
 At Tycoon I drank so much fruit punch (only after paying some fruit punch tax to panda ) that my veins and arteries must have fruit punch flowing in them instead of blood. In fact when I was shaving some day after the treat and cut myself I was half expecting fruit punch to flow out. I ate the main course and then said I can't eat more. Then the desserts came and I said that I just want to taste the chocolate mudpie. After some time I had eaten as much desserts as much I had eaten in the main course. 

The wing interaction has dropped considerably after placements.

On a typical day before placement:

Enter h mid (my wing) in Hostel IX
Scene: first room: H 201- Gaurav Gupta room is open 
You can hear some people discussing a puzzle from techinterview. In the room opposite Kushagra is doing extra puzzles and extra coding and extra quant problems. 

Outside Bhole is saying - "abe ye mera strength sun le...sayad thoda ajeeb lage...I a- am a g-g-good speaker- er- an- and I have g-got good communication skills from -er nuk-er-dram club and -er performing nukkads". 

Moving ahead jingling sounds of coins can be heard as Harshit attempts to make some extra bucks from poker website. Akshat is unbothered  and is solving astronomy problems.

Wait till midnight

Enter Bhole in my room
Bhole- Abe weakness nai mil rhi hai meri ek. Koi apni weakness de de ek.
Me- Abe yaar, kal bi ek weakness di thi maine. Tum log meri saari weakness le loge. 
Bhole- Are yaar bata na, kaun sa hm same company me baithne wale hain?
Me(reluctantly)- kk...ye kaisa hai... sometimes I take too many jobs wanting to do them out of enthusiasm...blah blah..
Bhole- hmmm...ye likh leta hu....acha wo news padha Raghuram Rajan ka...bata usme kya kya hua tha...
Me-hmmm padha tha kuch....blah blah... abe ye cv dekh ... kuch pooch...abe is wale POR se mat poochna...isme challenges sochna baaki hai...iske challenges and first intern chor kr kuch bi pooch...
Bhole- hmm so tell me Why do you want us? blah blah....

As the conversation goes Enters Pranav the motu
Pranav(looking in the mirror and adjusting his few hairs left)- ye failure thik hai ki I wanted to...blah blah...but could only blah blah....
Me- abe ye failure nai hai..ye to carelessness hai...isko aisa modify krte hai....you did this...blah blah...ab better failure hai
Pranav-hmm ab chap gya....ab mere 2 failures ho gye hain

Some1 shouts in the darkness-Abe koi GD karega kya??

During all this, several doors open several times, several people come out to discuss several puzzles and go back into several rooms..in superfast motion like in several movies

After everyone is placed

Enter H mid
Gaurav gupta's room closed-sound of FIFA coming, Kushagra laughing to punches of FRIENDS TV series. All other rooms closed. 

The only things unchanged: Jingling sounds of coins can still be heard as Harshit attempts to make some extra bucks from poker website. Akshat is still unbothered and is solving astronomy problems.

Wait till midnight
Pranav comes out (occasionally a stray dog also comes out after a nap)
Pranav(still looking in the mirror and adjusting his few hairs left)- canteen chalega?
Me-naah
Exit Pranav

You must realize the importance of placement when you know Kushagra  got time to watch the friends tv series finally after 9 semesters at IIT K. FRIENDS production team would have felt honoured to know this. 

Last week I watched a documentary on youtube about Venice. Venice is sinking. I liked Venice. Not so much now. I watched some other documentaries on jelly fish, octopus, Paris' sewage system, Iceland, Norway, etc. I found one jelly fish which is immortal. http://www.boredpanda.com/turritopsis-nutricula-immortal-jellyfish/ Also octopuses are very intelligent and quick learners. I watched one octopus open a lid of his prison glass jar on a ship, run on the deck and jump into the ocean. And it was not animation.

I was having casual conversation with one friend of mine and it evolved into a bragging contest out of nowhere. I told the friend that I had seen Zaheer, Gambhir, Harbhajan during India vs SL test match at Kanpur. The friend told me about having seen Katrina Kaif from nearby. I dealt the killer blow saying that I had seen Dhoni before 99% of Ranchi had heard his name. I had gone to watch Bihar vs Karnataka in Ranchi probably when I was in class 4 or maybe 5. 
Actually I had the habit of reading the scorecard of Bihar in newspaper those days and always found 1 player making some quick runs...and he did not score much but consistently scored 30s and 40s. And this way I knew Dhoni's name. Dhoni was keeping the stumps while I was watching. Karnataka won. A journalist for a magazine called taapman patna was sitting beside me trying to gather some info about the match. I asked him so many questions that he finally took a sit several rows away from me. 

 This semester I had take a course - International Business Management. I thought even if I screwed and learnt only 1 out of 3 terms-international or business or management it would be still useful for my career . My Business management professor extended a 80 min class to 100 minutes and all he achieved in this was forming 16 groups for future presentations and deciding the class seating arrangement. My patience was failing. I finally caved in when he says at the end he had not got time for attendance so please have patience. I went home and immediately dropped the course and took another - Spintronics and quantum transport application to Semiconductor Devices. Its more technical, there is no attendance and the proff is cool -he comes to the class wearing 2 woollen caps...he comes wearing a woollen cap opens it and there is another beneath it! 

The Beginning of The End

So this new and hopefully the final semester of my 5 year program at IIT Kanpur has begun. I have been trying to get a perfect and delicate combination of courses to achieve the right mix of wisdom, ease in life and good grades. I attended this Finite Element Method class and immediately realized within 5 minutes that ee humse na ho payega. The proff wrote bizzare partial differential equations on the board and read preface of a book. After one hour the professor asks us if we understood anything? There is some silence and some people say- NO. The professor hears it perfectly and says - "k..then lets proceed further".

It reminds of  my behavior after a maths lecture in 1st sem. In 1st semester I was attending my first lecture of MTH 101 sitting beside my room mate Anurag Kumar Singh the guy who once was a die hard fan of the Twilight movie. Anyways as the class proceeded I became quite disheartened and after the lecture:

Me-"F**k we missed our 1st lecture at IIT Kanpur."

Roomie-"What are you saying? This was the first class."

Me (confused)-"Dude we were sitting in the wrong lecture room."

Roomie-"Hey most of these were freshers are sitting here. It was the right room".

Me(baffled)-"Were we supposed to study something before coming to campus ? F**k... I did not know about anything we had to study before coming here. Did they send some syllabus to study before coming for lectures?"

Roomie-"What is wrong with you?"

Me- "Wrong ? What was happening in that lecture? It was the Chernobyl of Mathematics. How is everyone so fu****g calm?"

Now even if the proff says in my lecture-"...and so using this simple Pythagoras theorem we can prove the Riemann Hypothesis...This has been left as an exercise..." I would hardly bat an eye. Same calm face like an experienced cards player. 

Let me tell you about my wingy Yogesh Kumar Soniwal's episode in Taiwan where he had gone for about 10 days in a Maths winter conference. I am only doing him this favour because he brought me a toothbrush, a comb and lots of chocolates looking like fish food we put in the aquarium at home. He met a lot of people who knew only two words of English-"No English". Once he entered an Indian restaurant in Taipei and tried to order something in English. The waiter interrupted him and said - "No English". Yogesh had to randomly select a dish in menu from all the menus written in Taiwan's Chinese or whatever language they spoke. Once while walking on the road Yogesh met a man on the bike. The man told him something the gist of which is-" My bike has broken down here in middle of the road. I don't know anyone here and I urgently need this much money to reach home. I was going from this blah place to this blah place. My family is expecting me  because blah blah."

After the man had spoken for about 7-8 minutes Yogesh appears calm, stares at the man and says- "No English". 

So It's festive season- last few days of December. One of my uncles call  me one random day. I was surprised and happy that finally some relative remembers was calling me to see how am I doing. I was less happy and less surprised when he told me to write an essay on "Importance of Sports and games in daily life" in about 250-300 words. My cousin sister is probably punishing me. I wanted to say- "hey i am in IIT now- final year- I do only cool things...i do not write essays !" but I did not. So i celebrated my new year eve writing-"Sports and games are very important for us in our daily life. They keep us fit and healthy. They offer us a change from the monotonous life.....blah blah..."

Besides this I also completed watching a documentary on South Pacific ocean on new year eve. I found this really cool spider which lives on Hawaii- the happy face spider. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theridion_grallator

Also I watched about this ship Essex hit by a whale in the Pacific. This inspired the novel Moby Dick. The survivors ultimately resorted to cannibalism. It is a painful story.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essex_(whaleship)

I completed the TV series -Breaking Bad. The third season is too good. The characters Saul Goodman, Jesse Pinkman and Walter White are nicely evolved. Can you imagine the contrast in transformation of Walter White and transformation of Shah Rukh Khan in Rab ne bana di jodi ?
A movie I must recommend is The Terminal starring Tom Hanks. Comedy. 

Also I think I have finally decided my ultimate future goal. I want to be a halwaai...I think I would have a cool sweets shop. Finally after studying Topology, Real Analysis, Linear programming, Regression blah blah and doing intern in Algorithmic trading and getting a software job I really am excited about this sweets shop as a career. There are so many sweets I want to have with the right amount of crunchiness, smell, sweetness, texture, additives, dryness, inside fillings, etc  but can't seem to find them in market.