Today when some of my friends back in India are on a trip to a beautiful place called Goa, I would like to remember some of the things related to a great man in the history of my country, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, have influenced my life.
Gandhiji, or Mahatma Gandhi - as he is popularly known as - is a big picture in the struggle for Indian independence. Probably the biggest. 'Never lie' he said. This reminds me of a story about him that I read quite a long time back. Gandhiji, when he was a child, stole a link of a gold chain belonging to his father to pay up for some money he lost in a bet. And his father came to know of it and gave a good bashing to him. He learned a big lesson from that incident - one that made his character. There is a difference between personality and character. Personality is something that people can see. But character is something that only you know you are. Gandhiji came to know that its easy to tell a lie but not a truth. And owning up something that you did wrong takes a whole lot of character that very few people possess.
I try not to lie to people. But I am not so strong as this great man whose birthday we celebrate every year on 2nd October. If I would have been that great, maybe my birthday would also have been celebrated by people who do not know me so well. I have lied to my parents, my friends, people I love. Not to hurt them, but to please them. But one must know, that, maybe it pleases them, but when they get to know the truth, it hurts even more. Maybe it would hurt them to know the truth in the first place, but not too much, and nevertheless, its pleasing to the self that I did not lie. There is no big rock of guilt on my mind, my conscience. Because when you have that rock on your heart, your mind, your soul, you cannot sleep in peace. And that is most important to every human.
My salute to the great man who walked the land and left his footprints on the sands of time and minds of millions... forever.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Rainbow in Houston
Houston is a rainy place. It rains all the time. You never know when it starts pouring and specially this time of the year. So better keep an umbrella with you always.
Yesterday was one of those days. But thankfully, I did not get wet. When I left my lab and sat on the bus, I saw an old man looking out of the window. So I looked in the direction where he was gazing. And there it was. A beautiful rainbow. The first I have seen, since I have been in Houston.
The pics was taken from inside the bus.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The fourth dimension
Last few weeks have been quite busy (wonder why all my blogs start with a similar or in-fact the same statement). Completed all my formalities after joining University of Houston. Visited Galveston beach once with Anoop, Wily and, of course, Payal.
I joined the research team of a very famous Professor here at the university. He thinks I am up for the challenge. I initially had doubts about myself. But I don't know, he said a few lines to me, and there I was, jumping head-on into the world of the unknown. Fluid Dynamics was a subject I hated as an undergraduate student back in India. Dr. S K Bhowmick was a very knowledgeable professor. But I could never come up with the curiosity that was required to sustain my interest in the subject. And now, here I am, trying to acquire the knowledge that should have been mastered 5 years back itself. But yes, I feel confident, that if I devote time punctually and regularly, I can still make the cut.
That is where the problem lies. It lies with the fourth dimension of the Euclidean space - time. You cannot defy time. You can go back in all the dimensions but you cannot go back in time. And that is why, one moment is never the same as the moment that just passed by. And time is always limited with everyone. I have to do lots of things before I do something. And you can never be sure how much time you have before something else arrives in the way, unprecedented.
That is the reason, at this point in time, while the 'rajma' still lies in the pressure cooker, and I write a post in the blog after such a long time, I just remember the poem I studied as a child. I did not understand the true meaning of it then. But now I do, somewhat! Well thats the story with everything you want to have. You never understand its true meaning till its gone. In my case, the thing I want the most right now is time.
And here goes the poem that influenced me in writing this blog. Its a beauty by a very simple man named Robert Frost. Its called: "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening".
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there's some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Just arrived
I am here in Houston. I know people in India are in office right now, and yearning for that tea-break in the late afternoon.
I was not very tired when I reached here. Anoop William (my Hamirpur friend, who was supposed to pick me here) was one hour late, so I had to wait at the airport. He was the same guy when we left him Hamirpur, just a bit more fleshier and with lesser hair on his head.
Right now its 6 am in the morning and the sun has not risen yet. The sun normally rises at around 7 am in the summers and 8:30 in the winters. I could not sleep properly tonight as I had already slept long in the flight. The flight was really good. Qatar airways is a very long flight. The flights usually do not take a route over the atlantic ocean, so they fly a long way. The route is very long. We flew over the Balkan states, then Russia, then Finland, then even Greenland, then Canada and then we came to the USA flying over Chicago and all the way to Texas. The good thing about the flight was that the food was excellent. Qatar airways is known for its good quality food. Vegeterian food was mostly Indian food- Rajma, Paneer, Rice, etc with salads, sweet dishes, cakes, biscuits, etc. Non-veg was also good. I tried fish as well as chicken on flight. Fish was ok. Chicken was good.
I was unable to sleep, so I thought to utilize some time blogging. Yesterday while coming, I saw the downtown area- the center of Houston. With tall buildings, it is the type of place what is shown on tv generally about how US is. And I am staying just 5 kms from that place. Today in the morning or afternoon, I will go to the college and look around. Yesterday also, we drove through the college to this place. Anoop said he will show me the college. He is working off campus here during summers. The college looked good. Buildings were really good from the outside. Will explore more later. I saw just one part of the college.
More to come. Watch this space.
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