Its been raining all day ....cricket practice got cancelled......tomorrow we have our first cricket game of the season....the Midwest Cricket Tournament begins tomorrow......many of us have not had much practice this week.....lets see what tomorrow holds in store for the team...there is also a chance that the game might be cancelled since it rained all day today and the puddles might not dry out ....that sucks big time since tomorrow was supposed to be an easy game for us......would have helped us bag full points...and now we look at the bleak possibility of sharing points due to the cancellation......well cest la vie.......that’s all I have to say....

Caught up on all the sleep I could......Mom called from India to let me know that my cousin R reached home ...he left the day before from here to spend the summer in India.....asked her to put him on the line and she says..." Beta...R has gone out with friends ,,,".........I could not help but smile in my sleep...that’s so much like him.....always upto something...always moving around with friends tagging along...friends willing to cut their right arm for him or left arm...depends.....he's just like that.......in a class of his own......

was supposed to finish up this paper for a conference...... which needs to be submitted the coming week....got around to doing a bit...guess shall do the remaining tonight......leaving for the mall in half an hour...need to find a sports clothing shop that has white track pants...need to be in all whites for the cricket matches.....so better get ready now......I love the rain and the cloudy weather but today is just one of those days when its all getting to me......uggghhhh!!!!!! ....its supposed to be summer and the temperature outside is 9 C...with wind chill its 5 C.......have to dig up a sweatshirt from somewhere now....thought I was done with them for the season...but .......never underestimate Mother Nature....for that matter never underestimate mothers in general.....

laters..........

I have learnt....

which side of dream world u are on....depends entirely on a cup of coffee..sometimes two....

back to sippin coffee

I hate it when there is a lot of good food or maybe just food ( that you have to eat) on the table and there is not enough room for it on the plate.....I think my life is heading in that direction.....lekin kya kare....what a man's gotta do he's gotta do......
ok then...i'll get back to filling my plate

Pune tithe kay une? Punya baddal kay bolave?

just felt like saying this to every puneri out there......you rock.....and Pune rocks.....

Was away in New Jersey attending a wedding in the family.......came back last night...had the most amazing time........attended a wedding in the family after the longest time........cant describe how that feels......
reached Baltimore, Maryland on Friday evening ......had someone pick me up from there and reached the 'shaadi ka ghar' in about two hours......since we got stuck up in traffic we reached late ........by then all but the bride and a couple of others had left for the hall for the 'sangeet'......reached the 'sangeet'/'dandiya' just in time.......I love dancing to 'desi' music......somehow I am not that comfortable going to a night club and dancing away to some trance music.... but the best part was hanging out with family........due to the distances here we don’t end up meeting that often....plus some of my family was here from India....so that was the icing on the cake....enjoyed myself thoroughly and it was nearly 2 in the night when we stopped..........back home we stayed up into the wee hours of morning chugging on beers and laughing at the stupidest things.....

as we grow up the excitement that u derive from a marriage in the family changes.....the level may not change but the type changes....as small kids I remember marriages meant good food and not being under the watchful eyes of my parents....we were given pretty much of a free hand and allowed to run all over the marriage hall....eat as much ice cream you want....I remember when I was about 8 yrs old....my youngest 'bua' got married.....I must have gulped down 8 plates of vanilla ice cream....a feat I have not yet been able to equal...leave alone beat.....as I grew older marriages meant more 'kaam' to do .......running around getting stuff....but at the same time the perks increased.....staying up till late...playing cards with all the elders......going out late in the night for coffee and pav bhaji with elder cousins and uncles......now I think we are at the other end of the spectrum where my younger cousins , nephews and nieces want to hang out with us so that they can have their share of late nights and sips of beer......

coming back to the weekend,......Saturday was spent in catching up with my cousin R./...he is going to India this week to get all the work done for his marriage that is in August.....my best buds Panter and my friend , T, my cousin S and her husband M from LA were all there....felt great to be with them......all of us in the same house........bole to 'jhakas'........the next day...Sunday was the 'shaadi'.......that was a quick affair with the excitement of stealing the groom's 'jooti'.....glad to say we were successful at that......the reception was the highlight of the day.....was not the type of reception we have in India where many a times we have nearly a thousand people who are invited......and they all line up to go on stage and meet the newly wed couple...I can imagine how tiring that is for the bride and groom........there were about 250-300 people who had been invited...and all of us had been assigned tables at which we would be seated for the rest of the evening....and the couple came personally to each table and met everyone.....a much better idea...but then the number of guests need to be limited.....so all in all it was a very nicely arranged set of functions...hats off to all the members involved in the thinking ,planning and execution.........

I hardly slept over the weekend.....was sleeping an average 4 hours every night...not once did I feel tired though......its just the excitement and the atmosphere in the house I guess that made all of us feel that energetic......came back to Ohio last night......and once I hit the sack there was no way I could get up this morning to go to the University.......tried getting up after 8 hours......but was tooo groggy.....so slept on for another 3 hours.....

I think I am all set to take this killer week by the horns now......

One of the best athletes among us desi's here in Akron and our cricket team captain Suneel Battula was inspired to start a blog of his own after he checked my blog out.......I told him to check the post I had written about our awesome victory against Cleveland Cricket Club....so anyways I get this mail from him today saying he has now taken to blogging......so read on.....Suneel's Thoughts .......by the way he is right now in Houston, Texas playing in the Natioanl Racketball Tournament....some achievement just to be there....good luck Suneel..........

Cricket practice....and someone comes up with the idea that we need to be a fitter team....now I dont disagrre with that.......anyways coming back to fitness.....we now have tu run before every practice session.....ran four rounds today......my legs ache.......tired......I now know where my fitness level stands.......*tccchhhhh tcchhhhh*

I have learnt that majority of issues/problems/irritations can be solved when I start thinking using the brain that came free with my body.......and what more it makes me happy and there are lesser things to worry about in life.........if only I had learnt this earlier..........Father's have this way of passing on knowledge to their sons.....my dad tried that too......but I thought it was hip to be rebellious as a teenager.........realize the folly of my ways........I think whatever he said to me then makes fullto sense now.........pan kay karnar.....between fathers and sons...'he asach chalayacha'........what to do ....we are like this wonly..........

Cricket Anyone????

This post was actually supposed to go up yesterday....lekin was very tired....hence a day late......anyways read on

When I came to America in the fall 2001, I least expected cricket to be a sport played so eagerly by the 'desis' there.......I had my own ideas....where are people going to find a pitch...even if they have a ground will anyone go through the process of preparing a pitch there....is there a source to get cricket equipment in the U.S..... but I was pleasantly surprised........a small city like Akron, Ohio had its own team since 1994 that played in the Midwest league, a cricket tournament organized in a very professional manner with its own website up to date with statistics and scorecards of all games played.........teams from the states of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia played in this league

I was what practically every guy from India is.....a galli cricket player where the ball is usually a tennis ball or a rubber ball or a cricket tennis ball "( they are called MRI balls after the company that makes them)....and my whole range of shots comprised the pull on the leg side and a shot straight down the ground( actually building compound)....playing with a leather ball with pads and all seemed exciting......however in the summer of 2002 which was my first summer in the U.S I did not manage to play since I made a trip back to India and once I was back I had too many of my friends and family visit me............however I followed the season and the fortunes of our Akron Cricket Club all through the season...my room mate Adi was also on the team ....after every game the whole team would camp out on our porch and discuss the game our beer and 'chakna'........and since I knew most of the team I too ended up being a part of this post game session....that’s when I made up my mind to try out for the next season........

Fast forward to the summer of 2003.......3rd practice game of the season before the tournament begins on June 7th...we have won our earlier two practice games quite comfortably.........we were to play Cleveland Cricket Club(C.C.C) on the 17th of May, Saturday...it had been raining quite a lot for the past two days and we all were hoping that it would clear up on Saturday and the game would go on......mother nature smiled upon us and Saturday was a nice and sunny day albeit the ground was still quite wet and slippery due to the rain...however we decided that conditions were good enough and we had a game on hand........C.C.C. asked us to bat first ........we started out well but soon our star opener and find of the last season Phani was caught behind and the score read 16/1.....Puneet the other opener soon followed , clean bowled when he tried to hit the ball out of the park...wickets kept falling at regular intervals......Brijesh however kept his cool and kept stealing singles and the occasional two's.......none of his shots carried to the boundary because of the soggy outfield.....with the score at 54/7 I walked in......this was the first time I was batting in a game......I had only one thing on my mind and kept telling myself. “Hemant, don’t score a duck on your first outing.".........I scored a single of the first ball I faced and with that I was all set to raise my bat and acknowledge the imaginary crowd in my head that kept shouting Hemant Hemant!!!!!!!..........another edge and I scored my second run....in the meantime Brijesh had stepped on the accelerator and soon the score was 66/7.......I was facing the ball and saw a big gap towards the leg side and I swung wildly......missed the ball and survived......Brijesh shouted from the other end.." Hemant tu mere ko bola dimag laga ke khelega." ( Hemant , you told me you will play sensibly).....I nodded my head and the very next ball my 'galli' cricket instincts took over and I swung wildly towards the leg side....however the ball stayed low and I was clean bowled for 2......so much for a debut.........the remaining two batsman hung around for a while before Brijesh got out after scoring a patient 30.....the remaining batsmen had scores ranging from 4 to a duck...my score of 2 was third highest......something I should not really be proud of...but then

Our bowling started of on a decent note and at the halfway stage of 15 overs their score read 42/3.....we kept telling ourselves that we stood a chance...well we all have heard about the power of positive thinking haven't we???.........somewhere around the 20th over their score stood at about 64/4...a comfortable position.....19 runs to get in 10 overs and 6 wickets in hand..........I was standing at mid-wicket and Rajesh was at square leg........suddenly Suneel our captain motioned to me to move from mid wicket to a position that can be termed as mid on ...in layman’s terms he kept the whole of the leg side open for wild shots....and their set batsmen did exactly that......a wild swing on the leg side...his bat went across ...however there was no contact and he was clean bowled........awesome piece of captaincy by suneel.........after that what happened was truly awesome.....our fifth bowler and star performer Baji took 4 wicket’s in 5 overs......he bowled 2 maidens and gave away only 7 runs.........truly amazing........their next 5 wickets fell for 5 runs out of which 4 were clean bowled..........well what can I say.......3 wins in a row......does this mean we are a good team.......or that we will make it atleast to the knockout stages of the tournament........maybe even further.......or then this was just pure luck......I think only time will tell.......

I think positive thinking payed off........we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat...or then they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory....I think there are always two sides to a story.....

Dinner last night: Dal Bati with lots of ghee and some yummy chicken............ohhh and a beer.....

Brunch this morning: Rava Idli ( lots of them) , Sambar and spicy chutney......followed by strong coffee........

no wonder I am sooo sleepy and dont feel like doing any work today.....think I need another cup of coffee

I have been up since 7.00 am.......I was always told that if I get up early I will feel fresh all day.......am still waiting for the freshness......

And last but not the least

In the past I have written about so many people on my blog....
Panter my best bud since we were in kindergarden..........my brother Pow and the woman of his dreams, Kiki.......my friends from Akron.....and the list goes on.....all this time I did not write about one of my closest friends( which was brought to my notice by her).....who religiously comments on my blog....looks forward to new posts .....and keeps askin me when we meet online whether i have posted something new.....so this ones for u T......

I first met T when she came to Pune along with Kiki....Kiki was in that phase when she was visiting India as often as three times a year...and on one of those trips , T came along with her.. ( background:T and Kiki were roommates then)......we hit it off instantly.......she was there in Pune for less that 24 hours and we spoke to each other like we had known each other for a quite a while.....and then in 3 months I was in America.....and she and Kiki played host very graciously....not once did I feel that I was away from home.......I was fed very well and never did I go thirsty ( T took it upon herself to pour red wine every down my throat, every night of my stay)..........over the last two years we have become very good friends......she is related to me in many ways......multi faceted that she is, ....she is like my elder sister and gives me the longest lectures and shout at me....she is like my little sister and will irritate the hell out of me.......make khana for me like my mom would ( though what she makes is usually toasted cheese and bread).......and be my partner in crime.........

T.........a toast.........I think this is a foundation for a great friendship .....

*clink* ( thats was the glasses making a noise after my toast)

p.s. T, tere boyfriend ne yeh padha to margea mujhe....

my room mates.....

Its been nearly two years that I have been living here in Akron....and I have to admit that i have got the nicest room mates ever........I see people left right and center changing houses....looking for new people to live with because they have problems with each other.......touch wood we never had any such problem.......a little background about my roomies.......like me they are Polymer Engineers too.....we all completed our under grad at Maharashtra Institute of Technology ( M.I.T)........N was my classmate at M.I.T......and Adi and Nish are classmates too and they were senior to us by a year......so anwyays I think I need to write a bit about them .....so here goes

N: I remember the first time I met N.....he had recently completed his diploma in Plastics Technology from Bombay and hence had direct admission into the second year of Engineering....and since he was a late admit he was a part of the last batch of students for the practical classes.....so even though his surname starts with B and he should have been in the batch comprising of the first 15 students, luckily for me he ended up in my batch....so thats how we first met....and I also remember ...instead of calling him N I had called him M and he seemed quite irritated about that.........a bit more about him....he is most sincere about his work........if only I could work half as sincerely as him....shame on me!!!:)...he loves to party too...just like me...and I love it when he gets tipsy(which is not very often).....he is very much like the big brother in the house....he is one half of the legendary Ram-Laxman ( N-Nish Jodi)...affectionately called N Bhai or N Seth and during our undergrad years he was called Dhirubhai (like the founder of Reliance) ...well we both applied to University of Akron and when we got our respective admit letters we decided that it would be a good idea to be room mates.....something I don't regret at all.......

Nish: he is the other half of the Legendary Ram-Laxman jodi........he and N are from the same college in Bombay...though he was senior to me and N in Pune, he was junior to N in the college in Bombay......he directly joined M.I.T after his diploma whereas nihir decided to get some work experience after his diploma and that hows Nish ended up being our senior......in Pune he and N were room mates....confusing na.....i still get confused...took me a while to write all this.....usually he lives in his own world where he decides what is good and what is bad.....a man of very strong ideas and he will not deviate even a bit from them....he is someone who can say the funniest of things with a straight face ...thats because the statement was not intended to be funny in the first place.........Nish is affectionately called Pheku, Popat or Ghati...actually the list is longer but these are the ones that are often used......once N and me had decided to be room mates...we got the news the Nishtoo had got an admit from Akron....so since N knew him very well .......Nishant was a natural choice......all in all a very good choice......

Adi: Julia Roberts was the wild card in Ocean' s Eleven......in my case Adi was the wild card in the quartet...someone I'd never met before ......I usually never interacted much with my seniors during my undergrad days and though he was only a year senior to me...... I never ended up knowing who Adi was........the first time I met him was here in Akron...he was the last to arrive among the four of us.....our first meeting was actually something something like this

Me: Hi Sunil.....I'm Puneri...
Adi: Hi Puneri ....Adi....
Me: So we are gonna be roomies huh!!!!
Adi: Yeah......( and we both kinda smiled)..........

I have rarely seen him in a serious mood....the math wiz in the house he makes the best "chai" I have ever had.........thanks to him chai is usually made a minimum of four times in our house.......my partner when it comes to watching sports on TV.......all that I learnt about tennis I learnt from him......ask him where he kept your pen that he borrowed yesterday ...chances are he won't know....ask him what was the score in the 30th minute of the the 2nd set in any final Pete Sampras played.....and you will be surprised.....affectionately called Adi, Addu or Sindhi.....I think this is one wild card I wont regret ..........

So anways to sum it up all....Ek rahan Adi...... ek rahan N....ek rahan Nish .......aur ek rahan Hum..........like Nish says ....four of us make the best home in Akron...I doubt anyone can challenge that.....:)

Off to give my last final in a while....last exam for the semester....and last exam I need to give to fulfill graduation requirements for my master's thesis........now all that needs to be done is do some decent research and then write the thesis ( which is not as simple as it sounds).......back to studying now


latersssssssss

I have tickets for the new Matrix movie.......
yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee......1st day 3rd show..........

Just something I came across........

There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra than Alzheimer's research. This means that by 2020, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them??????????????????????????

Nashville

The last 10 days or so have been really really tiring...am finally back home ....got back this morning ........but at the same time I cannot complain....I was away from Akron attending two conferences in succession....and both trips were funded by travel awards.......so eat well stay well and enjoy.......and both conferences happened to take place in two very nice cities........the first one was in San Francisco....about which I already wrote.....and the second one was in Nashville, Tennessee....all in all.....two very nice trips.....and presented two papers on my research too........

I was a bit apprehensive about whether I would have a good time in Nashville or not.........well I finally did end up having a great time there too.......drove down with my three of my friends on Sunday.......Nashville like most cities has its share of big buildings housing financial giants ...but what makes it stand out is its location by the Cumberland river and its vibrant music scene........home of country music they say.....in downtown Nashville by the river are these stages...where every weekend there are shows featuring some of the best artists.....I can just imagine what it would be like to sit there with the river in the background...the cool wind in my face.....and music....ahhh heaven.....unfortunately since we reached late Sunday evening and we had to attend a reception hosted by the conference organizers.....I could not catch a show......well...I guess one must always leave something for next time..............

Monday and most of Tuesday were spent in attending the conference.......caught some interesting sessions there......networked a lot with the people ..........networking nowadays seems to be the best way to land a job.......especially in the polymer industry......Tuesday evening we decided to the see the city and hang around for a while in the downtown area before we hit the road to get back to Ohio.........had nice meal at the Hard Rock Cafe.....bought myself a t-shirt from there and some other souvenirs from a variety of shops..........

finally we left late evening to get back to Ohio.........and reached Akron just in time to catch sunrise.........as soon as I reached home I knew what my day was gonna be like......sleep sleep and sleep....and thats just what I did..........

I think the last 2 weeks or so have been a perfect blend of work and pleasure.......all in all...time well spent

May Day

The last Friday of the spring semester happens to be the last Friday a graduating senior ( 4th year) student will have to attend classes at the University ............and it is supposed to be party time...this usually happens in the month of May and hence this day is called May Day......

till about two years back it was a big thing here in Akron.......people would be roaming around the streets......with beer mugs in their hands and going door to door askin for beer.......was like this big event here..,...though I never witnessed it, I do hear a lot about it........Allyn Street, Wheeler Street, Torrey Street( where I live) and Sumner Street were the places to be .....and then two years back (under the influence of some "nasha") these kids thought it would be an awesome idea to go onto someone's porch and get their couch lying there ..........and light it in the middle of the street and have this big bonfire.......well that was the end of May Day here in Akron.....since then the security for May Day is tight as ever..........as it is i see a cop car pass by my house every 15 minutes on a regular night.....so just imagine the security today.......as of this evening Exchange Street , that is the main road leading to this area was cordoned off and no vehicles were allowed there......there was a special task force employed just for this night.....cops are seen usually in cars.....today I saw cops on bikes, all terrain vehicles, in their cars and believe it or not ...........on horse back.....last year the cops were patrolling the area using choppers.....

All because someone decided to burn a couch on a warm night in May.....else I would not have been posting this.....instead I'd be knocking on someone's door asking for my share of beer.......