Travel Advisory

Never ever ever ever travel Greyhound. You are guaranteed to be
1) Cold
2) Very Late
3) All those things that come from being cold and late e.g. irritable, sleep deprived etc etc.
Why am I ranting like this?
I took this greyhound from Champaign Illinois to Rochester, New York with connections at Chicago and Cleveland.
1) The bus to Chicago got delayed. I missed my 8:45PM connection to Cleveland.
2) I got a 2:30 AM connection to Cleveland. This thing breaks down in the middle of the highway in the dead of the might in the middle of a freezing snowstorm.The drive dude HAD to turn off the engine and the heating. Which meant that the occupants were freezing for the better part of the night. Then our man gets it up to a gas station where yours truly had to wait for another 3 hours for a replacement bus.
Final Result: 12 hours late, Cold, Tired and Ranting

Memories...

Today I got an email from my tennis team partner in IIT telling me about inter-IIT. It's next week in IIT-Madras. It's coming here after 4 years. It was here the year before I joined IIT and it is back the year after I leave!
All of a sudden I am getting back all kinds of memories- this is the first time in a long time that I am not playing in inter-IIT. Memories of endless practice session in the sun, getting up bleary eyed on my Kinetic and running to the insti-courts,coming back dead and having those naps you can have only when you are dead, traveling in the train to the host IIT, staying in the hostel, cheering the other teams, having strat sessions, sitting back after the game and lazing around with friends...endless list of things..some of the happiest moments of my time in IIT. Arrgghh..you know what..if someone gave me an offer to chuck all this crap and rewind time and get back to IIT. I will take it!

Minnessota Trip and More

I spent thanksgiving week in Minn. with KP. Jigar had also come along. We had a great time- went to a basketball game, went to a riverdance show, watched Veer Zara the new SRK movie and more. It was good to get away from all the work and come back refreshed. I also saw a good amount of snow. The first since I came to the US. Well, now its back to work.I cant wait for the 18th. Thats when the semester end. I plan to go to NY to spend a week with Arrvindh. We plan to make a 'university tour' of NY. Rent out a car and drive around basically. Then,I leave for India on the 25th. It's going to be good to be back home- no worries, no work, no cooking, no taking care of myself, friends, family of course..I can go on forever!

The IBM T42-One Amazing Laptop

The IBM T42 is the best laptop I have ever come across. I bought a 15" version with1.8 Ghz, 80GB , 512 MB RAM . It has a fingerprint reader which replaces any kind of log on screen. The reader works pretty well too! The screen is good. It has a 64MB ATI Radeon Graphics Card. It's light, about 5.7 lbs. That's way lighter than other models with the same config. Sony's starts at 7lbs! It's fast. The HDD runs at 7200 RPM which makes large programs load quickly. The frame seems sturdy and capable of putting up with hard use.
The only downside is that it's expensive. Costed about 2800$. It didnt matter for me because I was buying it for my dad and his company would be paying for it. It would be possible to get a toned down version for about 1800$. Maybe less. But it would still be a couple of hundred dollars more expensive than comparable configs from other vendors. But, I feel its worth it.

Emotional Skills 110

Getting angry/sarcastic/bitter is pointless.
a) It helps in no way to make the situation better.
b) You cause a lot of damage to yourself and to those around you.
c) It makes you feel good. So, you might say why not lose your temper. But, you are getting cheated here. You stop thinking about the damage you cause after your high. Now you need to repair the original situation and the damage you did when you lost it. More work.
=>Either solve the situation or accept it.

'Life In General'

'Life in General' has now become a little depressing. Mainly because I dont seem to be doing anything apart from sitting in the lab and sitting at home. I really should be going out and doing stuff. But it's get dark at 5! And, yes it's also cold and wet!
Can't wait to take my Thanksgiving break! Get out of the system for a week. When I return, it's just going to be a couple of weeks before I take a flight back home! Don't need to - cook, worry about food, worry about money, worry about anything actually!

My Work

I am posting after a long time. Its more because I had not much to write. Been pretty busy with my work and otherwise just lazing around. Not really been into anything 'cool' as such. Or atleast something someone will want to read about.
On a more serious note, I shall write a bit about my work. Now, I have shifted to Computational Biology. As people have started sequencing genes on a massive scale the question of effectively analyzing the data comes into the picture. I am currently working on 2 topics-
1) Phylogenetic Trees- Ways to construct the evolutionary tree of a bunch of sequences.
2) Microarray Data Analyses- There are now ways to analyze how the genes of an organism produce RNA and finally proteins under a wide number of conditions very efficeintly. Analysis of this data can help understand similarities between different types of genes.
I need to know some amount of molecular biology. I plan to take courses in the coming semesters. Once I understand the problem, it boils down to math, mostly statistical modeling and a mix of graph theory and algorithms.
The work is fun as the final result of whatever I do has potential to be relevant scientifically. I kind of never liked Computer Science, I just liked the math. This looks an ideal alternative for me, as I work in pure science without actually working in pure science. I havent been so excited about what I do, since my JEE days when I used to love my maths, physics and chemistry. Now, I am learning biology, something I dont know much about but which I find fascinating.

Webpage

Well I have created my homepage on the UIUC website. Here it is-
http://netfiles.uiuc.edu/aramani2/www/frame.html

Social Skills 110

If you dont know what to say, say nothing.
Corollary: Silence is golden.
Modification: Don't way something that you wouldn't normally say or wouldnt want someone to remember that you said.

The whole 10 miles (of 26.2 actually)!!

Well people, this weekend I ran the Chicago Marathon, well partially atleast,the last 10 miles of 26.2 .It was an experience of a lifetime. Mindblowing crowd- 40,000 people ran and a million spectators, there were bands playing every mile or so and the route went around all the parts of chicago- downtown, latina quarter, italian quarter, each quarter there were people playing the local music. There were people dressed as hens, superman- you name it. I was 'pacing' one of the other runners who was really tired. So, I wasnt really going too fast, took about 2 hours to do it. The winner did 26.2 miles in 2 hours 6 mintues.

How did all this come to be? Well, there is a charity here called Asha. Volunteers from Asha run marathons every year to raise money. This year, I volunteered to help them out with cheering and water. I ended up pacing one of other runners. In hindsight, I should have run the full distance, had no idea that
1) I could actually run 10 miles
2)Running for 2+ hours can actually be so much fun

Random Notes

I dont fell great today- too much work, too many deadlines, and a couple of other things dont really that make me feel too happy.

Shark Tale-Amazing movie. A must see. Features the voices of Will Smith, Robert de Niro, Martin Scorcese, Angelina Jolie etc. etc. Great fun.

Relationship Ramblings - Why do people act the way they do? Sometimes people do things that seem to have no apparant connection or correlation with anything you can put a finger on. Even they dont realize the consequences- everyone loses including themselves. Why? Are people intinsically somewhat unstable? How do you deal with it?

Perfumes- I bought a new perfume- Aqua di Gio. Amazing. Recommend all who want to buy a perfume to but it.

I have a round of deadlines coming next week! Need to get them finished!

Work,work, work..work work..

The last of couple of weeks have been rough. A continous stream of assigments and deadlines. Unlike in IIT, where most of the studying is done for the exam, here almost every course has some kind of deadline or the other to meet every week- homework, programming etc. etc. I am also doing some work for 'free', uncredited in a different field I am interested in because it wouldnt be nice to work outright on one field when your advisor is paying you to work in another (his field), but then I am thinking of shifting fields.
1. Sunday- Gotta meet Prof A on Monday. Read read.
2. Monday-Meet Prof A. Whew. Relax. What am I going to do about funding next semester? Will I be able to shift cleanly? What if *some paranoid thoughts*???
3. Tuesday-Ohh..I have a homework deadline for Thursday. Start. Hell, I dont know anything about the assignment.*make a half hearted attempt*
4.Wednesday- I have to do the assigment. *do homework* And I have to submit it tomorrow! And a programming assignment is due Friday. *start on programming assignment*
5.Thursday- Good. The homework is out of the way. Complete programming!
6.Friday- Good. The programming is out of the way. *another bunch of deadlines are out* :( :(. But I am going to take today off.
7.Saturday- Shopping. Groceries. Clothes. Bank. Call home. *i need to get started on reading for Prof A*. And I need to show some progress!
8. Goto 1.

Swing/Salsa/Dandiya/Bhangra Dancing

The Case:
Last couple of days been trying my luck at dancing- Swing , Salsa and Bhangra. Needless to say I sucked. Swing- signed up for classes. Salsa- went to the introductory class for free. And Bhangra becuase there was an event by the Indian Students Association. Well, classes are a decent amount of fun - a new experience. They touch you the steps in slow motion, and then they put on a beat and you are supposed to repeat it. The tough part is when they pair you up and you have to dance with a partner. It's pretty stupid if while doing something you suddenly hang in the air because you forgot what you were supposed to do next - sometimes your partner is a reasonably experienced dancer who is in the introductory course simply because she is learning a new dance and she is like 'swish swish swish' :(.

The Verdict:
Understandably, I cannot dance because I havent danced before. But its fun and something I want to learn to do. You live once man! Learn how to dance!

Theme Song:
At first I was afraid.
I was petrified.
I kept thinking I could never live
--snazzy music--
I grew strong.
I learned how to get along.
--more snazzy music--
I will survive.
I know I'll be alive.
I've got all my life to live.
I will survive.
I will survive.
-- strong snazzier end--

What is GLBT?

Saturday evening. Jigar and I decide to try out swing dancing at the Illini Union Ballroom. The Illini Union is this stylish 1800's building, the centerpiece of the campus. It pretty much looks like a hotel - posh wooden floors, huge laether sofas etc. etc. . Well this a a place for campus gatherings as well.
So we are walking and come across this event with the following sign-
line 1. GLBT Gathering!!
line 2 Boy meets Boy
line 3 Girl meets Girl
line 4 Boy meets Girl
line 5 Come and have fun!! Free food and free music!!
Well to 2 poor gradautes this is like reaching the lost city of Atlantis where unbounded happiness is supposed to abound in plenty.
Line 1- Yeah wateva who cares
Line 2- Hmm..not so exciting..but maybe I can make some friends.
Line 3- Yeah wateva..I am not a girl
Line 4- HMMM..that DOES sound interesting....very interesting.
Line 5- What free food??? and free live music??? This is heaven on earth. Something must be wrong.
Well something WAS wrong.
GLBT= Gay Lesbians Bisexuals and Trisexuals
(I still wanted to go in and eat the free food. But Jigar would have none of it!!)

Le grand plan pour an meilleur personalite. An petit ami? Ha ha. Il est impossible.

1)Dance- Alternatives include swing dancing, salsa dancing, modern dancing. I can take a course on campus or join a club
+ you know why ;). haven't i mentioned that people usually dance in pairs.
- well, i have never danced before you see. unless you count random uncoodinated attempts.
comments- its never too late.
2) Theatre- Introduction to Acting 1. Looks interesting.
+I can act a bit.
3) Speech Communication - Intro. to interpersonal communication
+ looks interesting. INTERPERSONAL communction.
- might be bookish.
Comments- Also public speaking and other allied courses.
4) Leadership course-
+ Might be something like 3 but better.
+ Career benefits
- Might be a little boring.

The US of A - First week in Champaign - Random Notes

This updates the end of my first weeks here.
Some notes about YUU YESS YAAYY
1) Everything is big. If it isnt big its huge.
2) There are cars everywhere. Vishnu is going to spasm in the US.
3) Food is expensive. Gadgets are cheap.
Over the last few days I have been subjected to Jigarization- irritating analysis of every little thing from TV programs to Food to Courses. For those who don't know Jigar is my room mate here in UIUC. Vasanth ( my other room mate) and Jigar have also joined in the effort to 'bleed' me for information and fundaes and other data. In the night we have a 'discussion' which is basically mutual interoggation and vaitharuchal kottifying and bitching about how bad svce was and how unfair life is.heh.
Life is peaceful. Good food, nice department and things are pretty smooth here. I have a desi in my research group. Along with me a Korean and a Chinese have joined the group. Haven't got my desk yet. Hopefully I will be all settled in a couple of days. Then I can be online more often.
My Prof looks pretty good- well funded, good to work with and not too inrusive. That's pretty important because there are some Profs that expect that expect there students to sit in the lab all the time whether there is work to be done or not. How painful can that be??
In the process of choosing my courses- should I take easy or tough courses? should I take things in my field and specialise or take in different fields to see whats what? should i do a phd or a ms? lots of questions and not so many answers. Hopefully a lot of these questions will clear up over the next few weeks.

Relationship Ramblings 2.0

Getting angry is like doing drugs, you feel all powerful for a few moments, but that's just to trick you into the ruin that soon follows. Being egotistical is also the same trap.
A good way to reduce anger is to understand people and situations, and deal with them effectively rather than bursting out and losing control. Getting angry doesnt really help you solve the situation and you are going to feel better only if the situation is better.

Goa- Bonjourno Senors!

Well, the first thing that strikes you about this place is that's it's unlike anything you have ever seen in India- green and lush with beaches right by the western ghats . Lots of firangs all over the place. Many in the adventure mode- no shirt, dirty half pant , chappals and of course the backpack. Exploring the exotic,untamed lands of L'Inde .
So I arrived this afternoon on the Chennai-Vasco Express.Waited at the Vasco da Gama station for my dad as he had to pick up my bro first (who was coming from Bangalore by bus!!). I just walked around the station. Had a masala dosa, HUGE with LOADs  of potato curry for 11 bucks. The same thing waould have costed 35 bucks in Chennai. So finally my dad picked me up at the Vasco da Gama train station and we drove down to the company guesthouse at Panjim/Panaji. He still hasn't realized that it isn't Malaysia. He ripped the car at 100 in the rain. Not exactly what I would do! But then I must say the road was pretty good.The road winds between the ghats and the sea. At times it's just a couple of metres from the water. Amazing! The drive was nice and cool, it was raining a bit and that just added to the fun.I desperately searched for some nice radio channel but only found one playig bhajans in Marathi ( i think!), so we played it anyway.
The best thing about the guesthouse is that it has cable! So, finally I can watch all the crap that I have missed out in Madras.But unfortunately Goa isn't known for it's super electricity supply, so got cut out in the middle of an episode of Will and Grace. Sigh.

Relationship Ramblings 1.0

I think it's the engineer in me or whatever that is constantly looking to form rules for everything!! So here are a few...
What is a genuine person?
He/she respects and cares for those who have cared for him/her.Caring for those who don'tcare about you is just a way to get hurt.If you don't care about those who care for you,you are hurting them.It also means you make a genuine effort to listen to what the otherperson says.
Is it possible to get a person to like you or have a particular opinion about you?
I don't think so. You can only like the other person/ be nice to them, it's up tothem to form an opinion about you. You can't make them like you or have a particualaropinion about you. One good way is to be clean and fair no matter what. Fair to yourself and to the other person.
Does being nice and helpful mean I am heading for disaster?
Not really. Being nice means helping the other person when he/she is in need. It doesnot mean I am going to do whatever the other person wants. But the chances are I am goingto give it a fair hearing. Respect is not the same as obedience.

End of Days

Yes, my days in good old IIT madras have come to an end. Can't believe 4 years have gone by so fast. The day I joined, it's like yesterday. I even remember that I bunked the inaugaral ceremony to walk around the institute ( jaws dropped in awe). All the experiences- good and bad, friends,things I have done..really will miss it. Well, I have grown older and wiser ( hopefully!!). Time moves on- here has ended one phase of my life and I move onto the next. Sometimes wish I can be in IIT forever, play tennis at the courts , hang around the wing and gurunath , do that meaningless browsing in the lab, sit around outside the mess and have tea at 4 but life isn't like that is it. You have to move on.Hopefully, I can keep coming back now and then and god willing atleast a few people will remember that someone called Aditya Ramani once existed on campus.

PR 5.0- How do I make a lot of money?

Paradoxical as it may seen, I strongly believe the people who make the most are those who are passionate about what they do and aren't that driven towards  the money.Being just being out there to make money isn't going to get you any- it's just greed and the world is not stupid. You gotta do a good job. Look at all the people who have made it huge- Bill Gates, the Google guys, Yahoo...- pretty much all of them had a nice idea and had the self belief to carry it through to the people. Yes, they are super rich but that's because Windows is good (yes!) and Google rocks. We even speak of 'googleing' something!! Look at the guys even at IIT. The guys who make the big money jobs are basically great at what they do and really like it.

Life goes on...

A couple of more weeks have passed....
- 20 days to go before I leave. That would be August 12th. Let's see maybe I will come back in December depending on workload, homesickness and money of course.
- Bought my clothes. And got a nice blazer done. At his hip place called Syed Bawkher. Even the tailor wears a Citizen watch!!
- Met up with guys in the hostel.Negi, Saboo, Munni, Machar and Antenna.
- Got my French grades in place finally. So that means I get my grade card in a couple of days.
- Convocation in a week. Will be seeing all my classmates after a long time- almost 6 months.

Philosophical Ramblings 4.0

You can be happy only when you care about others.

Hmm...

I wonder if anyone apart from me actually reads this, especially considering the number of blogs out there. But today, I am feeling a bit down so maybe that's 'filtering' my opinion. Hmm..
So lets see-
The last few months have been relaxed and happy. Not really doing anything in life. Just lazing around and 'let life pass by' as they say.
My dad's working in Goa and brother is in Bangalore ( he is from IITM CS too, 2 years my junior). Would be visiting them sometime. Haven't done the tickets yet.

P R 3.0

Whats the most complicated and intricate thing in the world and at times can be very frustrating to deal with?
People!
Quantum Physics is passe.

Philosphical Ramblings 2.0

1. It's impossible to have a relationship with a person if you don't respect that person.
(View are entirely my own and it may not make much sense to you)

Philosphical Ramblings 1.0

1. Each person is good or bad. Depends on what you make of them.
2. You can't have the cake and eat it too. Everything in life has a price. Know what it is. And no you can't have it all.
3. Try to think less of yourself and more of others.You are probably very good at one, good at a couple, ok in half a dozen and zero in the almost infinite number of things in life.

Extra Stuff

Want to go to this course called 'Art of Living'. It's supposed to be pretty good. Dad went for it.Maybe in a couple of weeks.
I also need to get a driving license, hepatities B inoculation and my french grades cleared.
(Basically using this blog as a post-it)

Relaxation

A couple of days back for the first time in my life my mother said I looked relaxed. When given to me it's a compliment.I get endless advice from grandparents to slow down. I react by getting angry. I come for dinner after everyone and get up before anyone. I have been told endless number of times that I am tense, short-tempered, impatient and very rushed.(Actually most of it is true) So this is a big first for me. Actually, I never knew it could be so much fun to do nothing.It's more fun than working- no wonder no one likes work.Maybe I should do this more.But, hey I also plan to work.

Back Home

Back home on May 20th. Was sick for a week. Lost a couple of kilos. Parents said I looked fat when I came, now I am 'Normal'. What else? Went around with KP and Arvind the Sishya guys. Vishnu is back too so will be seeing him too. Also met my to be roommates in UIUC- Jigar and JV. Also played some tennis and met the hostel guys.Need to finish all the formalities to get my degree.Have my visa interview on July 1st.

Out of here Part 2- Out of France

So I am leaving this place on the Sunday the 16th of May. Had a good time. Only regret, should have participated more actively in university life. But I travelled a lot, experienced a lot of things western and basically figured how life is going to be in the US, so I guess it was worth it- maybe it will help me get used to life in the US faster. Kind of look forward to going back- Indian food, no one speaking French (very important !) and the people in India. No idea of the 'reverse culture shock' that I might experience though.Its going to be a bit weird for the first few days.

Hamburg, Lubeck,Amsterdam

Trip Start- Night of Friday, 30th May
Trip End- Morning of Tuesday, 4th May
Good to Great Trip.Lot of Spring Festivals going on. Music, beer and nice food. Tried out the German specialities- Thuringer and Krakauer. Basically roasted sausages but very nice. Went to Lubeck. Nice relaxed city. Just walked around and took it in. Not many tourists.
In Amsterdam I feel there is nothing more to do ( apart from drugs that us ;) especially if you have been to other major European cities as the churches and attractions are nowhere near Paris or Florence or Rome) than go to the Van Gogh and Rijk Musuems.Saw all the world famous paintings- Sunflowers, Potato Eaters by Van Gogh and Night Watchers by Rembrandt.Also relaxed- took a nice nap in the park and lazed around.

Crazy Italy

Places:Milano(Milan), Firenza(Florence), Roma(Rome)
Also went to Paris. Couldnt get a bus to Lyon so took one to Paris and took a train to Lyon.
6th to 12th April 2004.
+Nice architecture and paintings. Florence is amazing.Rome is good too.Takes you into a different universe.
+Met a lot of people. Japs,Indians, Sri Lankans, Nigerians etc.
- Too many tourists.
- Not too friendly. Especially the public service.
Whats Crazy?
Got hit on by some middle aged homo in Paris! Was fun handling him but a little too edgy for my tastes.
Italian trains. Travelling without reservation reminded me of good old Indian Railways.

Life is Boring

Life sucks here a bit. Apart from the travel I dont seem to have much of a life- not too many friends and not too many things to do.
An ah yes- I got into Stanford and got rejected at Caltech. But I havent got aid so it doesnt really look like I am going to go.

Barcelona

Spent the Sunday and Monday in Barcelona. Amazing place. More fun than any other city I have been to- ever. Nice food. Cheap. Great Waiterfront. For 7 euros I had a N course lunch- Entree, Main Plat, Dessert, Post Lunch Tea and Wine to go with the food and did I mention that it was a sit down dinner with waiters and fancy cutlery.

Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Lake Constance, Brussels

Trip Started: Friday 19th, 10 PM
Trip Ended: Thursday 25th, 10 AM
Travelling inside Germany is like travelling in a well santized hospital. Though a little unartistic one.But it was fun. Liked going in the trains. They are so empty, you can just settle down and sleep.
Lake Constance is in Southern Germany- it is the junction between Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Beautiful. From the German side you can see the Alps.
Met my friend Raghav. Stayed with him in this place called Mettingen, a Stuttgart suburb. Also went to the Merc and Porshe musuems. That was the cool part of the trip.
Brussels was ok. Not much to see though. Has something called Trappiste Beer which is the old style beer thatw as made in monastries- worth trying.

Future Plans

Over the last week I got into University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and the University of Texas Austin. Got an open offer, 1536 $ a month, not the highest around but good enough. So, as for now I am heading to UIUC. Caltech and Stanford are yet to come but they are pretty far shots in any case. So there is a pretty high chance I am going to spend the next few years of my life in Illinois.

I am out of here!

Well for the last few weeks I have been having a minor saga with my visa. I was not sure if it is possible to leave France with my current visa. As those familiar with large administrative bodies will agree, getting any kind of useful information out of these things is a pain in the ass. So I have spent the last 2 weeks showing my visa to random people, visiting the local prefecture half a dozen times and generally being a anxious pain to those around me. Well, finally I got lucky, I got my friend Aravind to call the local prefecture (for the 3rd time I must say) and somehow a person who knew the rules answereed the phone. And he (or she?) said yes.
There is also another reason why its good. I just bought a 60 day bus pass for 310 euros. Unlimited bus travel inside Europe. If my visa got messed up, its 310 euros down the drain.
So this Friday I will be leaving for Frankfurt or some ger and hopefully every weekend I can 'do' a country every weekend. Fun right. Its kind of boring to travel alone, maybe in the coming weeks I can plan things better and get hold of some travel partners.

Topic of the Day (TOTD)- Perfume (Parfum en Francais)

The last few days have been interesting- of all the things that one can do in the world I have been trying to buy a designer (=expensive) cologne. Since I am going to blow 40+ euros I though I might learn as much about perfumes as possible. Its also lot of fun, i go to the shop, smell perfumes, ask for samples-these people take their perfumes seriously-they understand that choosing a perfume 'is a difficult thing to do'- acutally i agree especially because I am going to spend 40 euros. Yeah, I keep ranting about 40 euros, from where I come from its a lot of money.

Apparently it isnt such a simple thing - there are 'classes' of perfumes- sweet ( smells of vanilla , chocolate ), sour/sharp (smells of lemon, orange), woody ( smells of musk, smoke, tobacco- old men smells) . There are also notes, perfumes have 3 notes, the first note is what you smell initially, then you go to the second note and the longterm smell is the third note. I hated perfumes that smelt of vanilla (reminds me of cheap ice cream) and those that smell sharp/lemony (remind me of airline toilets- dont ask me why).

After much experimentation and a lot free take home samples-
Givenchy pour Homme(this one is amazing) sweet + woody
Rochas Man(nice) sweet
Baldessarini by Hugo Boss
Polo (this is usually worn by 'fathers' and 'uncles') woody
Vetiver by ?? . This smell is similar to Givenchy so its good. sweet + woody
There is one more called Old Irish Tweed that is worn by people like Prince Charles, Robert Redford etc. I didnt find it in a shop yet, atleast it didnt catch my eye- gotta try this one out.

There are some cologne type scents, nice smelling but smell like expensive aftershave, good if you dont want to have others complain about a headache.

Aqua di Gio by Armani
212 Men by Carolina Herrera

The disgusting ones-
Gucci Envy- headache for 35 euros
A Man by Rochos- reeks of chocolate
Le Male by ?? - vomitingly sweet, its like putting your nose into vanilla concentrate
These are supposed to be 'best sellers'. They are a lot of bad ones that are actually bad.

This list has been compiled with a LOT of effort so you can trust it! But its always a personal thing, so you may not always agree with me.

An update on whats going on in my life

Plan US of A- I got into University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ph. D. but I havent got my aid details yet. But I am reasonably sure I will be getting aid coz my decision came way early. This year the application scence has been bad! Some of my friends havent got anything and many of the univs that give us admits year after year have dumped us. I still havent got 4/6 results.But whatever, I feel pretty lucky to have a univ considering whats happening to my classmates. Leaving is September. I will be back in Madras in June, so I am looking forward to 3 months of general fun.

Le Plan Francais- Il marche comme si comme ca. Its going like this like that. Its improving but I am not sure if it will improve fast enough for me to be able to speak before I leave. But nowadays I insist that French people speak to me in French ( they try to practice their English with me - bad people very bad).

Le Plan Touriste- Apparantly my visa is valid only for France. Need to get one more to travel. I actually like having visas stuck on my passport, so I am not really angry. I am also making slicha ambitious plans of going to Morocco ( its Africa u see- a different continent), because the bus pass that I plan to buy includes Casablanca and Rabat. The visa is 15€ and living costs should be low and going is free anyway, just the cost of the pass.

Life in Lyon 3

It's almost a month since..a lot of things have happened...made some friends...spent a week in paris during the winter break...went to some conference my friend was attending...good fun...my application results have started coming in..this year has been bad...i am happy that i got U Mich....others havent come yet...maybe i will get something better....some of the other IITs seem to be doing better...6 got into Berkeley from IIT-K..just from CS...makes me go mad...

There are many reasons why I came here in the first place...learn french...travel around europe and most interestingly ( and importantly in the long run i would say ;) )..learn social skills..yes i am from IIT and i dont have social skills....
As for progress...my french is improving..i can understand stuff...and can get something across if necessary with a lot of effort..i have developed this bad habit of slipping into English but i should stop doing that....as for travel...just been to paris till now...and social skills....its improving but nowhere near the dudes here....but sometimes its extreme...yesterday i went to the university bar with a couple of french friends...there was this drunk girl who was talking nonsense...you should have seen the way one of them flirted her up....she wasnt drunk enough and was smart enough to realise what was going on...:)...so the land of the tigers...

IIT= Indian Institute of Technology

LIfe in Lyon 2

Well its about 4 days since my last post and things are looking better...i guess i am getting used to things and i have made a lot of aquaintances....we went for a trip around the city on saturday...they split up all the exchange students (about 20) into 2 groups of 10 and we were supposed to visit some places in the city and get some trophies ( e.g. a napkin from a specific cafe to indicate we have been there)....well..i was watching a movie in another guys room till 1 in the morning and ended up getting up at 11...so to cut a long story short I had a splitting headache and didnt really feel like it but this was better than staying in the room ALONE and reading...it actually turned ok..the small problem was that all the foreign students were supposed to practice their french and as you know I cant speak french...so I spoke in broken french and English and they spoke in french.....my group had 5 five girls, a brazilian guy and 3 french student 'guides' and me and of them only the girls (barring one of them) knew any english...anyway they were friendly enough.....my friend amit was in the other group...the other group had some nice people...there was a belgian girl..Evi something...apparently she plays rugby!....and Navin of course...an indian guy from singapore.....he is the only one around us who has a computer..so we hang out in his room and watch movies/friends....but he gets on our nerves sometimes...moves his hand in a flowery way, effiminate one can say hoping he does not read this post.....and tries to talk to all the girls...but he is nice and doesnt harm anyone so i guess there is nothing wrong...i just reread whatever I have written till now and I realize that I have use the word 'nice' a lot but what the hell!...in the evening both the groups had dinner together in a french restaurant..the soup was good otherwise i found it tasteless (and waaayyy too much meat but others liked it )....and after the movie some of us warched a movie in navins room...'Love Actually' it was called..a feel good movie..where all nice (again?? ) things (mostly love)happens at christmas..but more than all this i am getting to know some people here...and that makes me more confident and I finally called up Bruno, a french business associate of my father when he used to work in malaysia, he lives in lyon and is my guardian here. He said he will call me for dinner sometime ( my father tells me he is ex noblesse = nice house + decent money, maybe ), that would be nice but I am a bit anxious for the following reasons
a) the french are very polite, if i were to have dinner (set dinner with fork spoons and other such terrible implements) then i would have to be in their house for 2+ hours, I should not do something stupid
b) what can i talk about for 2+ hours?????
okay thats all for now..next post in a couple of days..

Life in Lyon 1

Well..this is my first post..I am a student from indian institute of technology madras (iitm for short) currently on an exchange program to insa-lyon, france...this afternoon i was feeling a little jobless and felt i should do something interesting..and a journal about myself is interesting ( to me at the least! but i hope you like it)..

At this moment i am sitting in the lab in the Infomatique department..thats what computer science is called here....just finished my intensive french course..5 hours..horriblement....they teach french in french..so..you can imagine..I am usually lost in class..but I do know how to say..Je n'ai pas compris..i have not understood :)....half the time i feel stupid and inadequate ....especially when the teacher looks at me and says..Compris? Understood?.....but hopefully i will get over it....other than that..over the next few days i have to decide my project.....might be in image processing...i dont know

There are about a dozen indians here...6 from indian institute of technology delhi.. J Amit (my friend from iitm, we came together) and a few other french born indians i have not met...but we are getting quite friendly with the iitd guys...

A couple of days back Amit and I went to the cathedral fouvier..its on the top of a hill and quite amazing...it was originally built in the 16th century..it has all these really ornate mosaics and statues...its the most beautiful church i have seen....we met a french priest there...who looked just like in the movies so to speak...he took some interest in us...these people are so friendly...when we told him we were hindu..he asked us if we want any material on christianity etc...but obviously..we didnt..

Okay..thats all for now..till the next post..bye