Trekking-1st time-Fabulous Experience-Want To Do it again!

If I haven't admitted it in my previous blog, let me do it here " I am a total lazy bum"! :-D Though I am a fun loving person, "Fun" is always restricted to talking, movie watching , eating and just staying at HOME!! Another reasons could be, I have never had the opportunity to try something else. Happy and content the way  it is and my laziness adds to it.

 So, coming back to the recent present, 9 of us ( Bangaloreans) planned for a 1 day trek to a place close by to Baton Rouge. Its called Clarks Creek - Tunica falls. We were so sure the trek is going to be such a difficult task that, we shopped so many eatables the day before!!!

  It included anything and everything you can possible take for a "picnic" rather than for a "trek". I ended up sleeping at 2:30 AM after cutting a huge watermelon and fitting it into various boxes that we planned to carry. Woke up at 6-7 AM not sure, got fresh had a banana and left to the friends place.

Not to our surprise, the other set of guys arrived LATE, and we all departed by 8:30 AM odd. The drive (1.5 hours) to the place was just superb!!!! With a few missing routes, we reached the place by 10 AM [ I am not sure with the timings I have mentioned]. Mid way through our trip we did stop by to take a few SNAPS :-).

So we started trekking and within a few Milli-seconds we stopped by for having breakfast [ rich breakfast]. Then we decided to take the primitive trail for trekking and had to cross many obstacles on our way.

 We stopped by 1-2 falls had some fun with the water and were deciding the next path to take all the while. By noon, we were at the dead end of a fall and  halted there. We played with American Football BALL and Dumbsharads for a little while. Then had a "Richer" Lunch and left by 3:30 PM. Trekking back was a little easy, since we opted to take the wooden staircase rather than the primitive trail, but after a certain point it was just man-made paths which were very steep.

 It was a humongous task for all of us to make it through such strips of path . All tired and sweaty we came to the parking lot by 5 PM and reached Baton Rouge by 6:30 PM odd!!!

1. To be honest it was a" Trek-Picnic" outing

2. It took about 4 day for my body to stop aching

3. I just had so much FUN

4. We did see a Lobster and copper head snake during our trekking

 Finally, this experience has motivated all of us to go for some more treks.  Hope I will be a part of each one of them, because it’s worth it and was "FUN"!!! :-D

Links to Pic:

https://picasaweb.google.com/simplypri/Temp?authkey=Gv1sRgCLKZiJ2r3N6sfQ&feat=email#

https://picasaweb.google.com/arpitha23/ClarkCreekTuniaFallsMar192011#

https://picasaweb.google.com/bpradippai/ClarksCreek?authkey=Gv1sRgCMqLm_ujwczx3gE#

https://picasaweb.google.com/sunadsn/TunicaFalls?authkey=Gv1sRgCKq07qOJ8NOcaw#

Handling Pressure!!!

I always thought in fact "assumed" that I am good with Handling Pressure. For instance during exam weeks, I never see myself freaking out, pulling night outs or for that matter getting hyper tensed about anything at all. However I realized I am not as good at I thought I was :-) SURPRISE SURPRISE!!

There were two instances previous week, which made me re-access my pressure handling traits.

1. I had joined dance group to perform here at LSU. Soon I realized, I had too many issues to commit myself for the dance. I quit within a weeks time. :-)

2. I usually make sure most of the group assignments are done in such a way that I am content with my performance 100%. Again last week I had difficulty dealing with a team and came to a point where I just wanted to be done with it at any cost.

So, it basically boils down to a point where, how much interest and commitment I show for a particular task, that makes it less pressurizing for me, and not that I am good at handling pressure all the time ;-)..and I guess that's the way it should be!!! Glad to realize that at the least NOW :-P

P.S : Now I understand, whenever my mom forced me to cook, why the food used to be less than "good" most of the time ;-) hehehehe. Sorry MOM, I take full responsibility for it now.

Nothing comes for FREE!

This is one such blog in my account I have written out of extreme saddest and pain.

Last week has been difficult for certain reasons and I am still taking time to recover from it. Every time I think about it, I feel I would have felt better had I been there and not "Here". May be it is a physiological thing! However, the truth is when I decided to come this far, I knew the hard facts and was ready to compromise on certain things for what I wanted to do. Now, whenever I realize the things I am missing whether it be attending a friend's wedding, staying with family or been there to support people I care for, I feel was it really worth it? And the answer I get each time is nothing comes for FREE!!!

It is one such hard truth in life and we all do experience it. I had one of my friend blog recently that some people just get lucky with everything and it’s really "UNFAIR". On retrospection, you might see the “lucky” person didn’t turn out to be lucky just like that! That's the way it is and you simply have to learn to accept it. I am trying to learn......

P.S : I expect people to respect my privacy and not ask me the reason for my sadness. However, you are welcome to comment on the blog.

It's all about "TIME"!

TIME HEALS EVERYTHING....this is something most of us might have heard and NO I am not getting "Philosophical"...After about 6 months stay in Baton Rouge...there are few things that's obviously changed in me and my life....and I am going to talk about that...

The first time I tasted "Lays" chips and sipped "Sprite" here, I knew it was not the same as how it tastes back in India. Now I am so used to the current taste of these items, that I can no more recollect how it would taste back in India.

I was under the "superstitious" belief that I would fall sick if I don't eat "Chaats" especially "Pani puri" on a weekly basis and I used to long for it. My mouth waters even now if I think of them!!! But now I crave for Mexican Food, cheesy stuffs in other words basically more of the American food !! Though there can be no comparison between the two. Each have their own place in my taste buds ;-)

Apart from food my weekday and weekend routines have also changed and I am so accustomed to them that I hardly recollect what I used to do back in India [ Off course I remember the important ones but the trivial ones have escaped my mind!!]. Friend's with whom I chat or talk on regular basis find a gradual change in me which I myself don't recognize.

All I can say it "It's all about TIME" and I am not the one to be blamed!! :-D

P.S : On a personal note , I have heard and seen people getting "Americanized" after a few days stay here. And off course I have seen people not liking that change. But now I wonder do we have the right to even blame them ?

Kannada Balaga!

It's been really long since I have blogged and obviously it means my new Semester has started!!

I am not talking about my 2nd semester in this blog..it's all about Kannada Balaga. I happened to meet 4 guys from Bangalore in the 1st semester. They had invited us to their home for dinner. It was fun to hang around with them and soon after that, I got busy with my routine. After that my encounter with them has been just short meetings or e-chats. However, in the 2nd semester I met them with 2 more additions , had a pot luck dinner and a dinner outing and to be honest I had a blast!!! Let me introduce these guys n gals:

1. Naveen : Confused Party
2. Shashank : A telugu guy, who doesn't know telgu, a Bangalorean who doesn't know kannada.

3. Pradeep : The only sane person in that apartment who pulls everyone's leg and spares none.
4. Pratap : New addition to the apartment. Came in this semester. Yet to "know" him.
5. Sunada : Living Kannada encyclopedia. His level of jokes are ultimate! And the best past is he never repeats his jokes, difficult to find people of that nature!!
6. Madahvi : Newly wedded wife of Sunada. A silent person but a needed addition to the Kannada Balaga :-)
Except for Naveen, the rest are doing their PhD's here ( Impressive).

The things I enjoy the most is :
1. Getting an opportunity to dress up in Indian Attire!!! I miss it occasionally.
2. Talking about the famous eat outs in Bangalore
3. Laughing at some internal Kannada or Bangalore related jokes
4. Feeling one amongst them knowing I am not been judged upon !!!

I even sacrificed my Sunday Time to meet up with them and it was totally WORTH IT ( such a stress buster)!!!! Hoping to have some quality time and
"memorable" memories with these people :-)

JAI KARNATAKA! ;-)


P.S : This blog is purely my opinion ( just like my other blogs) , and is not intented to hurt anyone's sentiments otherwise.

Keeping myself preoccupied :-P

I had close to 40 days of hols after my 1st term exams and I had planned a lot on what I am supposed to be doing which would be most productive and effective! :-P thinking like an "MBA" person...and as usual something else happened...

The Actual Plan :

1. Work for 40 hrs a week as a software developer

2. Borrow some marketing text book from my prof and off course read it "GK"!

3. Get my driver's license for 4 wheeler

4. Prepare for the Internal Auditing Course [ the screwing one of all! ]

Why it didn't work :

1. Do to some complications in paper work, the employer couldn't hire me during the break :-/

2. After exams were over, I didn't even look at the Marketing Department :-P

3. The person who was supposed to teach me driving was busy, so zero progress on that :-(

4. We didn't get the course material for studying Internal Auditing! :-D

What "Actually" Happened :

1. Sleep for 10-12 hrs a day, with no alarms waking me up

2. Watched a few TV series like Desperate housewives, Lost and How I met your mother

3. Watched various flavours of movies right from action. comedy, feel good, horror, drama and thrillers ( suspense n romantic ) in English, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Bengali, Japanese/ Chinese and French

4. Rediscovered my passion for Cooking! And yeah prepared some yummy innovative food!

5. Visited Baton Rouge Down Town [Commercial Area] and LSU campus and took over 1k snaps [ from 4 cameras]!

6. Had been to a few potlucks and invited a few people to home for Break Fast and Lunch

7. Finished reading "Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown

8. In the process of teaching a friend of mine .Net [C#]

9. Got a new hair-cut for $20!!!

10. The usual routine of shopping, house keeping etc

11. Chatting with my friends and keeping in touch with them

Well I have managed to keep myself as much "preoccupied" as possible which was neither productive not effective as per the initial plan :-P..but what the heck..this could possibly me my last set of hols as a student where I can decide what to do..So I did what I wanted to do :-D

P.S : With the next sem starting shortly I am DAMN scared..can I go back to 4-6 hrs of sleeping, no entertainment, busy-schedule, alarm clocks and what not!!!????

In your shoes....

Strange thing happened...I was watching a Telugu movie recently and something hit me like a jolt!

Obviously the "HERO" was ripping apart all the villains and their "chamchas"...So the overall conclusion is the "HERO" is a brave guy..invincible.. ultimately he would win and that's why he is the "HERO"...but.........what about the villain...after witnessing death of their own people and being sure they would also end up in the same situation still they attempt to attack the "HERO"...well I know its a reel that's running but still...just imagine even their bravery!!! :-D..funny isn't it ? So I started applying the same logic to a few scenarios..."Putting my self in the opposite persons shoes"...and you would realize whether you are the winner, accomplished person the opposite person wants to be...yet there is something special about that person if you wish to see it!!

For instance, at the least I have studied a few subjects to date [ though I am not interested in them] just to make sure I don't flunk in them..I don't think I have the courage to face people effected because of it..and I am sure that would be the same case with most of us...but imagine a person who has flunked and has the courage to face it [ whether they wish to or not...]. Wow its just amazing...! from looking at someone who is not good at a subject, I now see them as someone from whom I can draw some courage...

If I start thinking of many such instances I realize there is something else in that person which make them unique! So I have come to a conclusion that there can never be a "LOOSER"....well if someone is out right arrogant, lazy, good for nothing that's all together a different story [out of the scope of this POST!]...

I know the topic is debatable..and I am still not sure on my "thinking"...but just felt like blogging about it!