Grumps and rants

I didn’t know until I saw this on twitter or some platform (matrimony?) that podcast is a thing. This took further interest when Elon Musk showed up on a podcast lit a joint that was talked over the social media. I started watching (listening) podcast since the COVID-19 lockdown went into place. I watched a lot in the beginning from the Joe Rogan (YouTube). His podcasts cover wide array of people such as finance, comic artists, sportspersons, movie actors, economics, professional poker players, any field, any genre. He can talk to anyone for long durations; I think the longest I heard was close to three hours. I absolutely love the way he gets into the conversations, he without any long pauses or any other fillers moves back to the point he initially had wanted to. The podcast shapes like a water in a vase, any form as long as the water keeps flowing in it will transform. Even if he doesn’t have deep interest in anyone’s field he would still be able to get details, a superficial idea o...

Hello there all, It has been ages I've had made any post. I've been extremely held up with lives on professional as well as personal front. Of all the things I'm still doing is slowly and slowly reading books. I had decided to chuck book-list but I am going to go against it for no reasons whatsoever. I read following books in my available time in the year 2019: Drug war politics: the price of denial Troublemaker by Linda Regan Adam bede by George Elliot The ragged edge of night by Olivia Hawker Pelican by John Grisham Going home by  Nora Roberts Shalimar the clown by Salman Rushdie A polish doctor in the nazi camps by Barbara Rylko-Bauer   In shock by Rana Awdish If I look at it, it is less than one book a month that is an abysmally low count by any measure. Year 2020 is no where going to be close to this list as I picked some long and old books that are considered classics and all time best. It took a great deal of me to complete them.  Let us hope this year end on a goo...

I woke up late for work, in July oppressive,  muggy New York area heat. I caught jitney bus to port authority bus terminal as usual to catch subway. I landed in the back seat, always the back bencher since ages. I sit and involuntarily a person greets, exchange pleasantries in Spanish. I respond in Spanish, I only know two, three words and they do put smile on other when put and replied for exchanging greetings. He suddenly changes language and hello again, we both laugh. He was sipping coffee, I ask how it is, fine he replied. As conversation ignited he asked where am I from I responded India. The conversation furthered, traffic was notorious as was the day. He asks if I drink coffee, I told no, tea is my to-go; coffee is A-OK. He continued saying his country got tea from India (he turned out from Turkey), as I told him it was British rule that brought in India. Meanwhile he tells what and how tea in Turkish is pronounced, written with a tick beneath C in Chai , so and so forth. ...

I was running around on Friday, June 21, beginning of summer solstice. I was perspiring by the time I got hold of things from cafeteria. I had a check-list for Friday, after an hour or so quickly walked down athletics department to empty my locker rom. The deadline was June 30 as the session starts in July end or something, until then all the lockers need to be emptied.  I was in rush, to get back to my seat to complete the week. In this hurry I saw 2004 Nobel Prize winner. I had had seen him few times earlier on-campus, in a seminar or crossing streets. This time I wanted to speak with him, just for a conversation, have his autograph. I stopped, thought multiple times and the process got stuck. He was holding a folder with multiple pages, wearing suit-tie in black and white color. Inevitably I went ahead and said "excuse me". I mumbled few words to confirm if he were Dr. who got Nobel prize. He graciously nodded. I rummaged myself for pen and paper for an autograph, of cou...

Date 06/11/2019 Back in 2010 or so I used to visit an NGO; that used to assist kids with special needs. I and few of my friends were part of a group to meet kids, teach, spend time with them. These kids had genetic disorders, learning disabilities and such. Again, and again we taught them A-Z, or 0-9, or names kid would fail next day or next minute, splitting heart into smithereens. I didn't recall a day where my eyes didn't well up there; I was torn apart, as I was in tears. I wasn't strong enough to face them. After these sessions I used to get back to routine, fun as it was the end of my college education, again cycle continued. I visited the NGO once a week and as time went the visits got sparser; I didn't visit in later months of my under-graduate college. I couldn't summon courage to visit or insincerity got better of me. These days I work at a research-based, academic-hospital setting. I see loads of kids with severe genetic disorder, kids with spec...

Recently, I am watching Designated Survivor TV series on Netflix. To give a backdrop it's a political thriller based out of Washington DC, USA, where the entire government is assassinated save two-three people. From these remaining, one gets to become the President of the United States (POTUS). The drama then begins chasing culprit, closing in on leads, betrayals within the government so and so forth. The series also spans on political challenges one administrator faces such as tabling of a bill, domestic issues of violence (gun), etcetera. Amidst all scandals, politicking, bills the ruling office hires someone who can direct and improve overall public image of ruling party. The hired professional says appearance is reality. He goes to back and forth with his prolix language to have POTUS agree to his. After watching episode and in last few weeks having digressive discussion over this I have starting to believe this more and more. It's all about packaging. There are certain ...

I grew up in a city, studied in an English medium school, went in a school bus, had access to high-end facilities at school such as library, playground and such. For me saying "My name is so and so" was easier than cutting cake, mention my father's name, address, city in English; I was adored in my village more than two decades back. It was unheard of someone who can say one line in English.  Village where access to electricity is somewhat equivalent to water accessibility in cities like Bangalore in summers, now. There would have been successive days where one had had electricity for say more than five hours. To me back in city it was rare to have electricity shed except summers, or early mornings. I can say I had had a fancied childhood, a fortunate one. Touch wood. In summers I played marbles, did mischiefs all around in weddings, house inauguration, looked at night full of stars, made wishes for good marks in grade exams gazing at falling stars, wondered at shift of ...

2018, what a year I must say. Year got tougher in every aspect unthinkable. For the starters,  I turned 30 in October 2018. I'd pined to write on this but schedule was difficult. Three decades complete, with last decade full of a roller coaster ride. I moved around few number of cities in India: Bhopal, Pune, Gandhinagar, Mumbai, etc. I moved to another nation, the US; moved here to three cities: Atlanta and most currently New York City Area, Weehawken township. I made few or close to no new friends in the decade save college ones from under graduate, give one or two from masters'. The ones from work were non existential and are none to say.  I think it is good for me to see how things have shaped, unshaped in this decade or several years combined. I got my first job in 2010 Dec., I got my first paid intern in year 2014. I saw a good number of movies until 2011 thanks much to under-grad hostel and LAN. Movies rarely added to my schedule after 2011 give or take few A-OK a...

I bought Troublemaker by Linda Howard on kindle as this was shown on my home screen. I purchased it looking at the ratings, title and thought to give a try as the author was unheard of. I finished reading it in around ten days and the reason I read it so quickly was that I had wanted to see when the title of book plays role.  The book begins with an attack on Morgan who works for an agency. In his journey to recover from a near-fatal attack he meets Bo (Isabelle) in a sub-urban Virginia town who is a police chief of town.  Book traverses how Morgan and Bo fall into love, flirt and how a lovely dog gets to be a focal point of plot. Novel is set in a small town where author does an A-OK job about case which Bo as a chief leads but nothing fancy about it. I'm truly disappointed the way book progresses. The book erroneously and perpetually revolves over the golden retriever dog (Tricks). With all due respect I love dogs and golden is my favorite. Dog's food time, dog's...

Apart from Indian cuisine, I enjoy Thai food among others. For the first time I'd Thai food was in Washington, DC after I moved there in 2015. It was served in a seminar, all the more reasons to attend talks. My boss used to pick on me for it. He knew where to find me when there was an invited talk for I attended these for food only. Initially I had my reservations for it as I were to move out of mental blocks to try noodles, hold sticks, lumped rice and meat laden dishes served. For the sake of not eating my self-cooked food I tried dishes which to my surprise ended up really good for my palate and bowel. It ended up served in repeated occasions which made me choose Thai food if possible whenever checking out restaurants.  Last week or two back with a colleague I visited Rain II restaurant near West 168th street (close to Columbia University Medical Center). He owed me food for all genetics data sharing and cranking  I did . I've visited this place around 3-5 ...

The Temperature's been hovering near freezing point all day long, I welcome this chilly weather that was much dreaded. I'd attended an invited talk yesterday. The talk focused on extremely rare diseases, genetics and data behind. My interest shrunk as the voice was unreachable and being a back bencher I registered very less amount of her words but I was interested in the study, design she'd conducted.  She had worked with/on diseases in Hungarian gypsies, fascinating, I know right? She did her education (Phd) back in Belgium. Also, the research was narrowed onto pediatrics; she worked closely with clinicians, helping parents to curate diet for affected children, develop personalized medicine by zooming into the cause of disease. She worked with such rare diseases ( for example  - a form of progeria) that case (affected individual) count of two was great. To give an idea my research is conducted on data that include 10,000+ people. Her research worked with families aff...

The new year has begun. I feel filled with high hopes, which hasn't been a forte of mine since as long as I could remember. I know I know, this isn't quite me and not what I had something in my mind after tumultuous 2018. 2018 was year with a different set of hurdles and I went with them sometimes sideways, at times along with them, and if psyche abandoned me so did I the troubling thing. I struggled with new job for the first half of 2018. It takes around six to eight months to learn the ropes at new position, manage expectations, set expectations with self and maintain the spirits having defeating challenges which seemed insurmountable once.   Besides work and apart from regular hiccups I'd my share of issues with life of looking bride which has been an untamable task so far. Situation looks grim at times, at times OK and at times stale, and again rejuvenated. It's a tough call to make. It's not easy to decide and look through the next years how this is goin...

Hello everyone and holiday greetings to all of you! It's that time of the year where I share my list of books read, to be joyous and to be disappointed, sadly. Earlier I'd listed books in the year of  2017 . This year hasn't been a remarkable one with respect to novel reading. Following are the books I read in 2018: Blade Still Alice The girl who played with fire The girl who kicked the hornet's nest Disobedience  Boardwalk Empire - the birth, high times and corruption of Atlantic city The Girl on the train I'm of-course disappointed with the number of books read this year and with the content I'd read in these books. I didn't really enjoy these books save one or two. I wish to improve on both these in the upcoming year. See ya!

It was snowing in morning. Light snow flakes, ones hampering your visibility, intermittently falling on eyelashes, melting on eye-glasses. The chills weren't there, it was cold. Such mornings make my knees go weak. It's not the work, or routine, it's the moment I want to sit in my room, gaze outside, see the town get coated in white dust. I get overwhelmed by these moments. Rush to work, lines on the forehead, thoughts in the subconscious mind fade away. It was similar to stomping my heart for something I cared less. I breathed in the cold air, stood in the snow at station close to office, smiled and braced self for the day ahead.

I've been maintaining a separate file for all the books I've read, seems tedious to keep it now. For good I'm going to list all the books I've read until now. They are going to overlap with the ones I'd shared recently. I can't say I've read the most fancy, or the most-read ones but the variety grew as I grew (older) or I could lay my hands upon. In no particular order they are: Angels and demons by dan brown Romance with chaos by nishant kaushik Complete sherlock holmes by sir arthur conan doyle The monk who sold his ferrari The verdict - John grisham Tell me your dreams - Sidney sheldon Harry Potter: The Philosopher's Stone  One night at call center Godfather Five point some one Master of the game - sidney sheldon The sky is falling- sidney sheldon Digital fortress- by dan brown Three mistakes of my life Any thing for you ma'am Eleven minutes- Paulo Coelho Blood line-  Sidney sheldon Oliver's story - Eric sehgal Love story ...

Tonight marks the end of year 2017. I'm at rest with the year-end and at peace how things have shaped up. I've few good news for the year-end; holidays are all lightened up for me. It's hard for me to express my solace with recent developments. Keeping the spirits high I'm listing books I read in 2017 as I'd done for 2016 : Anna Karenina translated by Constance Garnett City of thieves Night by Elie Wiesel translation by marion wiesel  Rape of Nanking the forgotten holocaust of world war II Dawn by Elie Wiesel Animal farm Old man and sea by Ernest Hemingway Day by Elie Wiesel Of mice and men Now the Hell will start One Soldier's Flight from the greatest manhunt of world War II  by Brendan I. Koerner To kill a mocking bird The martian by Andy Weir The Media Monopoly    The Grapes of wrath Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini  The heart divided by Mumtaz  Train to Pakistan  The Namesake  The girl with the dragon tatto...

It's been awhile I wrote something. I didn't enjoy staying away from blog. Mornings were pumped with a torrent of thoughts, many days. Missed penning them down. Anyway, I moved to NJ, close to NYC for new job. Changed place, changed friend(s), wallet, recently got a new laptop finally, new various other things. The transition was much needed, indeed. A week back or so unpacked things that were in boxes for a over a month, got rid of tonnes of papers that I've been carrying since 2013. Long time I know. Never got chance to look into them. Inertia is within me is strong to not rattle things, make changes. That fear of making things bad, breaking persists, lives inside me. I'm still trying to get hold of all the changes: commute, cooking, lunch box, knowing bus terminal, shuttle drop-offs. It's overwhelming. At work I've found the groove but things are still settling; just assembled my chair, got external monitor a few days back. New machine is pending, still. ...

For the last time I'm sitting in my endeared balcony. I guess enjoying noise from planes in the sky, sirens from ambulances. Night is beautifully pleasant, close to full moon, breezy. Wrapped in my thoughts, few brooded upon, reliving good memories, burying the heart wrenching ones (Arlington Cemetery is close by). Gazing at small whatsoever Virginia skyline with clear head, empty mind like a clean slate. One on which anything could be etched and everything could be erased, again and again. I am going to miss balcony for an indefinite period of time. My body is aching and eyes are heavy from all the packing, cleaning. Am moving. This is figuratively and literally, both. I'm moving to the world's financial capital and moving on in my life, further and farther. DC had been the city where I resided, lived more than eighteen months in last more than half-a-decade. I can't believe myself it's been really a long time of more than two and half years. Years pass by but no...

I jostle with numerous things, things that are like cake walk for many. I merely can't figure or make up my mind. It takes me time to convince myself, to gather my thoughts and make route through them. As in whence I'm jabbing keys on this laptop for blogging I've to make some outline of the post, some times it's like a fog, few times I write in multiple seatings, edit, review and again consolidate thoughts. The picture is hazy, where to start, where to end is unclear.  A decade or so back I was prepping for an entrance exam and during one of the classes we were told physics is about feel. If you can't get it then it is going to be hard. I didn't understand it for many months until practising tens of questions, writing tests I consistently scored in single digits. Later on I quit preparations for the exam and aimed lower for I realized I'm unable to get idea of things quickly, as was needed.  I realized and practised this thoroughly yet I haven't sto...

It's 65°-ish Fahrenheit in the District. Evening is serene, save cruising sound of vehicles from highway across the apartment and loud noise from jets from airport near by.  This weather is totally marvelous, I could sit entire night without moving, yet enjoy every moment of it. Pleasantness is immeasurable in the Fall in DC. I'm going to miss it, very very much. Dawns are bit soggy, misty, foggy. Need an another layer to wrap, absorb a tad chilly weather with a savory tea. Time has changed. I'm inundated with some mixed feelings, doubts, some inhibitions. Things have changed, time has moved on, however, I reckon it's me who hasn't. Probably, time to rectify stuff within self. Not going to roll as always, had been, have been.  I ponder too hard on how and what causes these changes so slow, that are much needed yet take years to understand, identify, be cognizant of. People are mean, selfish. They are going to lie, absorb anything, nod, roll eyes as if things are ...