Amreeki Engineers

My semester is now over here at USC. And as I look back, my interactions with two American engineers stand out - the second one being none another than the legendary Steve Wozniak.

But let's start with the first one. Now I met this guy in a queue in the career fair held in the University in February and I don't even know his name. But my 5 minutes talking to him left quite an imprint. This guy was wrapping up his Electrical Engg. He had previously done an audio centric two-year course somewhere on the East Coast. After that he had worked as part of Engineers without Borders in China. And, daresay it, in India as well!! He had been to the north of my dear home country to a couple of places even more than I have been to :p

He said he came to USC to do a full fledged Electrical Engg course -and he did it in just as 2 yrs as against normal 4 - as he was really passionate about it. He said he wanted to earn some money now and then go back to working with Engineers without Borders.

I stood next to him all the time wondering how wonderfully this guy following his interest and passion in life. It is brilliant that he knows exactly what he wants to do and is doing well at it. This is something I have rarely seen in myself, and those of my ilk - Desi Engineers. We take up Engg because that's what "smart people" are supposed to study in school (or medical :D ). I guess, inhi baaton mein hi toh maat kha jaata hai India.


And now onto the second American engineer I had the pleasure of an interacting with. Steve Wozniak came to the USC and talked about his love for engineering and his, and Apple's, beginnings. What struck me was the passion the guy has about technology. I mean he could improve upon circuit designs of massive companies such as IBM!! And now, after all these years, is still as much in love about it all. The glint in his eyes as he talked about his own work - like the first time they were able to use a TVas a display for a computer - and about technologies now-a-days  - like his PDA being able to recognize his handwriting and creating a reminder based on his message.

While not many people take up Engineering in this country - the passion amongst those who do seems quite exceptional.

Hope to catch some of that myself :D

Kabhi kabhi mere dil mein khayal aata hai..

Not too long, parody writing was my favorite pass time, as AS would attest...
Havent written one for a while but seemed to find something to blabber about :D

So Facebook, this post is dedicated to you:

Main aur mera computer aksar ye batein karte hai,
Ke tum na hote to aisa hota, tum na hote to waisa hota..

Kitna zyaada samay mein computer pe padhai karta,

Kitne kum mere 'friends' hote aur kitne zyaada mere dost,

Kaise wo dost mere janamdin pe karte mujhe call,
Aur kitna main khush hoti jo aati unki call..

Kaise mein apne photos share karta,
aur kaise mein doosron ki pics karta like,

Phone ka bill toh shayad hazaron mein aata jo facebook-free hoti meri life....

Kitni khabron se mein rehta anjaan, kya pata aur sukhad hoti meri life..

Kitna kam karta main kuch logon ko miss,
Aur kitna mujhe kam ehsaas ki ab nahin hoon unki life mein main so intricately mixed

Jo facebook na hota, toh aisa hota..
Jo Facebook na hota, toh waisa hota...

Diwali..

It was Diwali last week - even though it was my first away one from home it was a rather happy week with some great moments :)

And top of that list was the wonderful Diwali celebrations we had at our home - 2148 Oak Street - as for the first time ever I was part of a Diwali Aarti; and what more, youtube was our lead pandit :D

Bhai Log - at 2148 Oak Street :)

A lot of effort went into the party - the house was cleaned, food stuffs were bought and some amazing Indian food was dished out in our very own kitchen.. The party ran till 3am as we were totally overcome by the Diwali spirit.. 

And later in the week got better, I got to see my niece :D :D My bhabhi came to LA with her PhD advisor for a week-long seminar. It was great to see her and my niece - completed the family feeling on Diwali.

My niece strikes a pose :)

She's enjoying the company of Uncle J, even as Marilyn Monroe looks on :)

She was staying at a hotel in Hollywood, whose walls adorned a lot of movie-related photographs. One of Marilyn Monroe can be seen above.. Bhabhi's parents had accompanied her to LA and her brother and his wife joined us during the night. They also have a daughter. Fair to say that my niece and my Bhabhi's niece, with a combined age of less than 3 years cooked quite a storm during the night :D
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Interestingly, my Bhabhi's brother is a PhD, his wife is a Physician and of course my bhabhi and cousin are both PhD students. So I was in very august company for a few hours. Hoping to draw some inspiration there :D

And also I won myself the offer of a trip to Hawaii form my Bhabhi - condition being I must wind a life partner to go on that trip with :P I guess I should use this offer as a bargaining tool to win over potential suitors :D

And after I came back, there was the tailgating at the USC v Stanford NCAA football game at the LA Coliseum. What amazing atmosphere - people here really do well at setting up an atmosphere.

Balloons in USC colors..

Last time I had seen a game but not been to tailgate, this time I did the opposite. It was the wrong game to miss though - USC took Stanford, unbeaten this year, to 3 over times before tiring out. Hopefully next time I will watch the game and tailgate as well..