A Generation Disoriented

Its about a group of people living on a part of land among 5,on a large rock floating in Space
called Earth by its inhabitants,rotating around a star called Sun,in one of the billions and billions of Galaxies in the Universe....possibly one of several 'Universes'.These people are known as Indians and are putatively the most spiritual and religious creatures on the face of the planet Earth.

There is a change taking place.Its fast.Very fast .Some will cope up if they maintain the speed .Others will be left out.Its a new millennium and after breaking away from the shackles of cruel and inhuman domination at the hands of another set of people from the same planet,they are charging up.The whole country is ready to gallop and take gargantuan strides in every walk of life. People are earning more ,spending more than any of their forefathers.Its looks like the empyrean era everyone was waiting for.

However something is amiss.Isn't it? The country reputed to be the spiritual home of the World ,the birthplace of many of its oldest religions is losing faith.Money to buy anything and scientific minds to reason out anything convince them to digress from their beliefs .However the society and its values are still not weak enough to let them wither their values.Morality may have taken a strong blow in the face but its still not out .The fight is still on. People are confused ,apprehensive ,abashed about their conduct.What should be done what not.What is correct what not?Is the New Age materialism the answer to their age old suffering or not?What is the importance of our traditional spiritual knowledge in today's World.No doubt they are perplexed because never in the history of Mankind a change like this took place.With ever increasing tensions of work life ,intrusion of media in personal lives and deterioration of nature and world climate,each one is is at the crossroads of life.One is the road to perdition ,the other road to spiritual kingdom(if it exists!!).No one knows coz u can't reason out the existence of a spiritual world .Only those who have been there or will be there know.

As India marches on to become a major power on the planet ,influencing policies of not only its immediate neighbors but also of many major countries worldwide,it has a prudent role to play.It has to serve as an example to the world.An example of how to coexist harmoniously with Nature.An example of why materialistic prowess is not the factor that decides how advanced a civilization or a Nation is ,to show how they define a Developed India.A country whose people are not hungry ,a country that loves its flora and fauna .A country never shy of sharing knowledge with others to improve their lives as well.

They believe in logic.They always have .Since thousands of years ago its sages have pondered over and witnessed the enigma of spirituality in addition to required amount of materialistic knowledge. One day a new generation of Indians will stand tall on the surface of Moon(Earth's celestial neighbor) or Mars(one of Earth's seven brothers in the solar system) and ask himself 'What next ?'

Getting Ready for THE DAY

All of us have had that ventral churning and discomfiture before major events in our lives.It is mostly beneficial in making our efforts better.5 days before appearing for one of the most important career deciding events of my life(although not as important as IIT-JEE),the queasy feeling is taking toll of me.I am poring over tomes of English books(???? what the hell)for getting a good score.GRE is a lot different from all the exams I have appeared for throughout my student life.Its has got a different feel to it.I have almost finished studying all the word lists for this exam from the Bible "Barrons".Though my retention percentage is dismally low.Also there is no fixwd syllabus .You know its going to be an English language exam :thats it.What bewilders me is that why do they lay so much emphasis on English rather than Analytical or Maths skills.Simply beat me !!That totally obviates the purpose of taking another English testing exam TOEFL.Still if a university says it wants both we can't refuse ,can we.
The drama has begun.I hope the denouement of this whole episode is a propitious one.Trying to do my best with just 5 days to improve whatever i can .

I hope to receive your words of benediction .

Legendary Chronicles of the Tormented soul

Deplorable and unpropitiated events do happen a lot where I am concerned.Its hard to remember the last time i was out of trouble for a period more than 2 days!!!I am getting better at getting screwed up!However this post is not only to slander my own existence rather to devote some quality time in examining the esoteric behavior of the some nerds among the gaggle of the 'elite' IIT ians.

This species is marked with the wont to start taking reviews from the lesser kind as soon as an exam is over.Its pretty easy to find one outside any examination hall.The one with the thickest crowd of morons babbling about a possible answer around him is one of the kind.'It' hideously creeps near you to ask if you did well(as if my lamenting countenance is not a good enough insinuation ).Well then there is this other subspecies of morons here-the sly and wily ones.They sympathize with you having done bad and console us by their words of encouragement.The reality slaps you only when you actually try them out for help....those are the first ones to put up their hands and say " I have no idea how this works","sorry yaar i will need this book within an hour ,so....".Thank you so much

I dont know why such kind of caustic views prop up only when you yourself are screwing yourself.This ones due to another marred TS .Oh god why do you have to make us go through these excruciating experiences again and again! I need salvation....

Happy Independence Day

I wish every fellow Indian a ver yHappy Independence day.Like every year I would like to ask you to take out some time to animadvert over our achievements ,our failures,our mistakes,our wonders,our antipathy to what is wrong among us,our ideals ,our morals ,our heroes ,our alibi as a nation .A nation of 1.5 billion people which still struggles to get a few Bronze medals(leave aside Gold and Silver ) at Olympic Games.A nation which is so intelligent and innovative yet whose children leave her for better life and career prospects in other countries.A nation where people have become so complacent towards decreasing importance of human life in the society that they do not care if someone poor dies outside their house of hunger,even if they are relishing a sumptuous feast inside.As we all know not everything is right with the system here.I will not go into any sardonic recriminations against politicians or this or that.We all know who the culprit is.US!!(NOT United States)
Let us pledge at this auspicious day that we will work hard individually as much possible to make this country better not jsut for you and me but for all those who are waiting in their power less ,mulcted by poverty ,penury struck homes for a New India to empower them.I believe we can start off with easy steps such as saving as much power and water as we can at our homes and by putting up our best efforts to keep India clean.

VANDE MATARAM!!!!JAI HIND

Nice and Marseilles trip part 2

After taking directions from the tourist office we decided to walk all the way to the place we were told to go.We had our dinner at an Indian restaurant named JAIPUR.Then ,we walked almost 10-15 Km that night along the beautiful MArseilles port ,beaches and markets.We saw the typical rooftop parties from top of a palace near by.Thats where the zoom of the camera came handy.
We used to walk a Km or so and then just take a break on a bench on the shore side.Gaurav and me kept saying to each other just one km more and then we'll stop but that one km never finished!!!We came to the end of the city .A place from where we could see the lights of the city going out and merging into the darkness of the ocean that lay beyond it.Nearby was a very beautiful beach on whichwe spent a very unforgettable night.It was chilly as hell,wind was blowing as if a storm was approaching and we were unprepared for it.We decided to take up this night as ita once in a life time opportunity and stayed there under the shimmering stars till morning when the warmth of the sun gave us some relief and we dozed off for a good 3-5 hrs sleep there on the beach itself.In the night we asw a lot of love birds on the beach,families coming and having a good time at 3 am !!!!!that was pretty weird and both of us just kept looking as each other as more and more people came to the beach all night long.

We spent the morning and the afternoon at various lively and exotic beaches of Marseilles.Gaurav's jaw dropped a hundred feets as soon as we reached there.So many European beauties at one spot.Hard to describe!!After
that we made our way back to the city centre and made our move towards the Notre dam.It was located so high up on the hill and the road was very steep as well.It took a hell lot of effort to walk up there and visit the Notredam.I would say it was worth all the efforts.The enchanting panoramic view from the top was transcendental.Words fall short for its beauty.

After a day long of sight seeing at various places in Marseilles we came back to the Gare to get a train to Nice.At the desk we found a guy who had been to India twice and knew a bit of hindi as well!!!!!That was great feeling .We got on to a train at around 8 pm and reached Nice at 10 pm.

As we came out of the station in Nice we could see that we were in for a treat and good time .We were surrounded by hundreds of thousands of european beauties and we understood immediately why Nice figures as one of worlds best beach destinations!!!
We spent the night at a modestly expensive hotel and went to bed after a short walk of the city area.Watched some interesting TV programs that night in the room.

Sunday was a whole new day and a whole new experience.

Nice and Marseilles Trip Part 1

It was a beautiful sunny day in Lyon.I took a half day leave and reached Part dieu railway station around 1:30 pm .Gaurav,my friend from IITB Civil was waiting for me there.Pretty excited about our first journey in Europe we hurriedly reached our Voie or platform and waited for the train TER ,which are the regional trains in France.The trains didnt require any reservation ona particular seat .You can just go and find yourself any place to sit.We shared a compartment with two guys and two girls.Had a brief conversation and then all of us dozed off for an afternoon nap.The four hour journey to Marseilles was like over in a flash.On our way we saw the beautiful Mediterranean waters reaching far in to the land on our sides.It was one of most beautiful scenes that i have seen till date.....the sun going low ,the blue waters of the Mer touching the feets of the low hills surrounding them and our train passing through a side track by the hills!!!

We reached Marseilles at 6:15 PM .Both of us were amateur travellers and had gone to a totally new place without any reservations for our stay for the night :p.Gaurav had a list of few hostels in Marseilles but we didnt know where to go from the station /Gare.Once outside we asked few people where to go but they said that those hostels are very far from the station.We being the dilly dally types decided to look for one cheap place to stay near the station itself.After searching in the nearby for over an hour we decided that probably we wont find one near the Gare so lets go somewhere far from it.On our way we saw a life size metallic bull had fallen from top a building and crushed a car below .It was such a strange sight.people were queuing up to see it as if itwas some tourist attraction.

Finally towards the end of the road towards the port we found the tourist information centre.We thought now we'll get info about some hostels and rest for some time.But it was not supposed to be so.

The interesting part of the day was just about to begin .What happened after this staged the perfect starting for our EUROTRIP.......;

Keep checking for more updates !

Euro Trip Prologue

Hello all my friends!!!

Well this is the prologue to the story of the legendary Eurotrip of mine.I have been repudiating from my duty of keeping all of you updated for which i am deeply ,solemnly sorry!Its been almost a month or more since i blogged and I really missed it lemme assure you of that.

I shall now start my chronicles of one of the best phases of my life which is set in the beautiful,romantic and scintillating valley of the French Alps in a city called -LYON.

The trip took me to some of the most famous ,infamous,exhilirating,captivating and stupendous locations around Europe.I travelled across the continent through France,Italy,Spain,Netherlands and Belgium ,met some amazing people and saw fascinating cultures and traditions.Indeed an unforgettable trip !!!

So sit back and enjoy as i start posting my travelog shortly!!!

The World Is Beautiful

Ca va,

Does the sun know that its so beautiful,do the flowers or the oceans have any idea of their fragrance and beauty,depth??I dont think so!But yes,i do know that my life is amazingly beautiful.
I had never ever even dreamt that i will get the opportunity to see the other side of the world so early in my life;but with the grace of the Almighty here i am !!

Location:Lyon,France.
Year:2007 Summers

Let me tell you my stay here over the past 1 month has been phenomenal.Really.I have seen a totally different world unfold in front of my eyes .This is something i was trying to visualize each night i went to bed before coming here.
And its not only the difference of infrastructure and facilities that has attracted my attention but also the starking difference in our social structures.However I think that this variation itself gives birth to beauty of life !

Now let me tell you about my stay in Lyon.I am working here at INSA Lyon,one of the most reputed engineering institutes of France and among the best in field of IT and computer technology.I am fortunate enough to have got the opportunity to be a part of the Informatique department here and experience the standards myself.I work as an intern under Mr.JeanPhilippe Babau and Fabrice Jumel ,who are researchers at the CITI Lab .I work in an office along with the PhD guys under Mr.Babau-Julien and Belgacem.Two really intelligent,funny,active and helpful guys.

And well the most troublesome experience uptil now has been getting good vegetarian food that gives some satisfaction to the stomach.Life teaches everything does'nt it.After eating cheese and bread for first one week every time i was hungry i decided that I had to cook food myself at room or else i l die of hunger.Guess what life had another pleasant surprise for me!It gave me an Indian IIT friend in the same hostel or residence as called here.He taught me how to cook two three dishes tha helped me survive this month.Hopefully I willl try out some more dishes now this month thus ending my hunger woes.Well Shekhar,sorry I forgot to mention his name earlier, is a really nice guy .Two IITians understand each other
so well I never realized earlier.

For now i feel sleepy and i have to do alot of travel in my dreams tonight so will post about my Marseilles and Nice trip later .Till then its me signinig off with a quote from some geek that I lliked:

"Because I have loved life, I shall have no sorrow to die."_____Amelia Burr

Welcome all the Bloggers

Its been long since I have been dreaming of starting my blog but today I believe is that propitious day!

Today let me tell you is the day I left behind another milestone in my life .I became a college senior only to realize that now I have to work even harder to fulfill my dreams and make my life meaningful as I have dreamed it to be.The day before I was just hoping if I could freeze that smile on faces of all my friends as we walked out of that exam hall ,full of anticipation ,exhilirated,confused like a motley of colors on a painters fabric!!

Please enjoy my experiences as I post them here for sharing with all of you and send in your comments and suggestions on anything you feel like communicating to me!

Samarth Agrawal
Indian Institute of Technology
Roorkee,India