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.