tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-285144952012-02-01T09:10:33.518-08:00Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.comBlogger361100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-89435632391275096232011-05-24T16:06:00.000-07:002011-05-24T16:13:41.185-07:00

A couple of months back, Clarence mentioned a Corporate badminton championship in the Bay Area. Usually I don't play tournaments because, thanks to my dodgy shoulder, I have to play a notch below my best and that puts me at a lousy level where I cant compete in A division and B division players cannot read my strokes. In this case I was intrigued for two reasons. The Bay Area is the mecca for

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-14433838504502988272010-08-24T12:06:00.000-07:002010-08-24T12:17:22.676-07:00

Pratibha sometimes gets into a phase of home sickness where all she can talk about is India. Things came to a point this year where she started talking nostalgically about flies and the garbage. So I thought it would be a good time for a wake up call and I offered her a trip to India. Negotiations went on in full swing and I failed miserably in my attempt to restrict their trip to 3 weeks (in

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-90122246239218239462010-07-11T10:34:00.000-07:002010-07-24T23:33:36.762-07:00

A few weeks back Ranga asked me my plans for the July 4th long weekend. Pratibha and the kids, being in India, my plans were to sleep, eat, sleep, eat and to catch a few more winks wherever else I could. It was a good plan but he offered me something even better. A road trip to Utah. My vision of a road trip is curling up in the back of a car with loads of healthy snacks like chips and soda and

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-68830424941575532092009-11-28T21:21:00.000-08:002009-12-03T22:41:01.913-08:00

A few days back I got a mail from Nachiket gauging interest in a short hike. Nachiket is one of those supermen hikers and the lowest end of his 'short hike' just about intersects with the highest end of my 'killer record length hike'. Normally I would have run for dear life after seeing such an email but I really wanted to do a hike. I had been active and about and all that recently. I could feel

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-88962839704627876222009-11-15T11:13:00.000-08:002009-11-15T12:47:13.979-08:00

Sometime in Feb of 2009 Pratibha missed her period again. It was exciting for us. Sona is a very sweet girl and we were ready for the next one. A doctor's visit confirmed our hopes and we started planning to welcome the newest addition to our family. Sona was firm that she wanted twins. One boy and one girl. She would call them googoo and gaagaa. Much to Pratibha's relief, the old man above did

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-38184991407414837802009-07-10T17:53:00.000-07:002010-08-24T12:03:19.656-07:00

I was paging through random blogs when I came across this post. http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/randomaccess/entry/we-are-a-useless-sporting . To hear a fellow Indian say that we are somehow inferior to foreigners. That really hurt. But that got me thinking. What ails sports in India?Having once played top level badminton, I can assure you that there's very little more that I, or many of

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-21152213927408358692008-12-15T10:49:00.000-08:002008-12-17T11:22:14.983-08:00

Sona's birthday was on the 6th of this month. Pratibha and her fine circle of friends got together and pretty much ran the show from start to finish. Sona and their kids had a blast. Lots of noise, lots of balloons, lots of fun. In one of my insane moments I said I would cook the biriani all by myself. I had never cooked for more than ten but I pooh poohed at Pratibha's concern at my lack of

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-3938624528634225792008-11-14T17:07:00.001-08:002009-12-04T10:12:10.115-08:00

I recently came to realise what a disability it is to be a topper all your life. The problem with it is that failure destroys you. It paralyses you. life comes to a stop. you don't know what to do.Now, on the other hand, look at me. What is failure .. I ask you? I don't know what it feels like to fail. Somewhere between the time in kindergarten when I was given my first 'quiz' and the time I got

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-25033157046590212492008-10-09T16:13:00.000-07:002008-10-23T11:25:40.763-07:00

It was with a heavy heart and leaden footsteps that I took my daughter for her first day in school. A sweet and endearing chapter in her life was over. It seemed so soon. Sona's teacher is a jolly and kind lady called Anita. Biting back tears as I rang the doorbell, I explained to Sona that her mom and I are always with her and that if she needs to speak to any of us she just needs to tell the

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-67401228305478536982008-05-12T15:59:00.000-07:002008-05-20T15:24:44.978-07:00

Cuyamaca mountain towers majestically over the southern Californian desert. A forest fire four years back has diminished some of its glory, but the new landscape is no less striking. Skeletons of burnt trees stick out like pine needles on a lush green carpet of shrubs and grass. It's a grim reminder that, in spite of all our advances, mother nature still dances to her own tune. Srujan first

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-34312103865557145282008-03-18T06:35:00.000-07:002008-03-18T06:57:19.375-07:00

My second coming to US has been no less eventful than my first. Apparently, I am very good at remembering my old mistakes. I had a checklist somewhere in my subconscious memory that meticulously ensured I repeated them all. Therefore I landed in Phoenix,AZ, once more, with everything I need back in India, and everything I don’t need in two over sized suitcases superman would struggle to lift. I

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-82376327510727791942007-12-19T11:56:00.000-08:002007-12-19T12:00:26.107-08:00

There is nothing sweeter than a baby's smile and Kanush's is no different. However, the smile that I am talking of, isn't really a smile. It's what Kanush interprets to be a smile. I first told Kanush to smile when she was too young to know the meaning of that word. Therefore, she did the first thing that came to her head. She started alternately opening and closing her mouth very much like a cow

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-42219113543807612152007-11-02T19:40:00.000-07:002007-12-19T12:01:37.875-08:00

Qualcomm was a wonderful workplace and I got along very well with everyone. But still, there are always a few who are closer. These guys formed my inner circle and made my days in qualcomm truly memorable.Ganesh and I joined on the same day. We did our trainings together. We chatted a lot and got to know each other very well. The first thing I noticed about Ganesh was how much he resembled

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-21617591190210009412007-09-17T20:16:00.000-07:002007-09-20T08:40:26.563-07:00

My good friend Vivek got married last 13th and I went to Kerala to attend his wedding. Seeing him brought back memories of incredibly stupid antics from our childhood. This one surely takes the cake.A bright and sunny day was spoilt by an unfair and malicious detention served cruelly on me for the trivial affair of lightly touching Laxmi on her shins. I argued my case convincingly and Sister

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-79871251980554886342007-07-10T02:12:00.000-07:002007-07-10T02:42:14.839-07:00

I have so much fun in office it's a shame I took so long to write about it. We collected some articles to contribute to the office newsletter and I've picked out the ones I liked from that.Having the largest number of survivors from the birth of QIPL,Team DSP has made giant strides since its’ humble beginning in a nondescript shack three years ago.Ten people from this group braved the frigid

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-899515033091606112007-06-12T08:56:00.000-07:002007-06-13T03:42:22.932-07:00

Things had been pretty quiet on the wheelie front(biking/backpacking group in our office). Some core members got married, some had kids, and others were just plain lazy. So Sushim proposed that we have a short trip to get things started again and to introduce the newly joined spouses/kids. Atul proposed Bhongir or Bhuvanagiri as the locals call it It is a fort that is about an hour's drive from

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-3455077657843610532007-03-31T08:15:00.000-07:002007-04-07T01:07:26.427-07:00

It was sometime in 7th grade that I was taught the modus operandi of honey bees. The bee stings .. and then the bee dies. I found that hilarious. I think I even asked the teacher if that qualifies to make it the stupidest animal on earth. I found out, painfully, a couple of weeks later that it's not a bad means of self defense.The day began like every other day in my life. The sun rose in the

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-88912610459557966532007-03-27T07:58:00.000-07:002007-03-27T20:10:55.853-07:00

Shanku and chakki came to our house when they were a month old, mongrels picked up by the fisher woman who had heard that we were looking for a dog. She said that their great grandparents were Alsatians. They were tiny puppies and mom put them in a couple of shoe boxes. Later she found a bigger box where they could both be together. I loved them. Everyday, when I came back from school, I used to

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-16514132580934128902007-03-18T00:23:00.000-07:002007-03-27T05:11:18.129-07:00

My first job after I graduated from MS was in a small start up company in Hyderabad called Danlaw. The DSP group in that had all of six people and two of them worked in another office. As can be expected, we bonded into a close knit unit. Within a month of my joining, one person left for USA and that left three of us in office. Ritesh, Madhubabu and yours truly. We did everything together, coding

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-17788379572949890722007-03-11T23:40:00.000-07:002007-03-27T05:14:32.068-07:00

The sixtieth birthday of an individual is called a shashtipoorthi and is a very important ceremony for hindus. On this day the person's children offer prayers for the well being of their parents and the parents get married again. This of course assumes that the parents are still together .. something that is not guaranteed in modern times. I will however excuse the learned sages on this point as,

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-40575808636661432322007-01-01T01:01:00.000-08:002007-03-27T08:20:52.149-07:00

Indian students in USA can be broadly divided into three. The 'haves', the 'have nots' and the 'have nothing at alls'. The haves, better known as American Born Confused Desis (ABCDs), come to college in flashy cars, hang around in funky malls and give the rest of us a preview of what our kids would be like if we stay on in US. Most of them are wonderful people. Very funny, very balanced, and

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-1166540035908946382006-12-19T06:50:00.000-08:002007-03-27T05:14:32.068-07:00

My daughter was born on the 6th of December 2005. As if to prove she had my genes in her, she hurried out and my tickets home weren't till a month later. But her mother called me and told me all about it .. or as much as she could manage between sobs and chuckles (oh!! Yeah .. I was firing away with my poor jokes even at that moment). I hugged the receiver, blew a kiss to my daughter

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-1165816374990447742006-12-10T21:49:00.000-08:002007-03-27T08:21:12.683-07:00

A half marathon is twenty one kilometers. Why would people want to run twenty one kilometers and end up at the same place they started running? Two hours and six minutes after I started, I had the answer .. It takes 21 kilometers of running to figure out how good it feels to finally stop running. But again .. let me start from the beginning. As with all my mad moments, there was a wheelie

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-1161342783003492412006-10-20T04:11:00.000-07:002007-03-27T05:14:03.478-07:00

I got my first bicycle in 7th grade. It was a mini Hamilton. Wasn't the fastest nor the most reliable, but , against all odds, I loved my bike. There were four of us 'bikers' in the neighborhood. Kiran, Niran, Nitin and me. Come summer vacation, we used to pack our lunches and set off early in the morning to find a quiet place and have a picnic. Pedal away for hours on end, finding rarely used

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-1156487669812089062006-08-24T23:30:00.000-07:002007-03-27T05:14:32.069-07:00

I started playing badminton at the age of six. For three years I used to escort my dad to the badminton club and hop onto the court between games. I would swing and swing at balls thrown at me till I made contact with one and then I would run off the court celebrating wildly and wait for the next game to finish. I once asked father why he let me play in the evening when all other kids used to

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-1154009404206532542006-07-27T07:05:00.000-07:002007-03-27T05:14:03.479-07:00

When I came down from US for holidays I had to finally face the fact that I had gone from hunk to huge. Like any self respecting adult I had stoutly refused to acknowledge my rapidly expanding bulk till the day my buttons tore as I struggled to compress myself into my shirt. I stole into my brother's room and borrowed his shirt and would have kept doing that if he hadn't informed dad about my

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-1153457359284834322006-07-20T21:46:00.000-07:002008-01-06T12:02:47.012-08:00

My elder brother's name is Kiran. He takes after my mother, big built, strong bones, ferocious strength and a ruthless fearlessness, altogether not really a person to mess around with. All this toughness hid a soft heart inside it but that's besides the point as, being his younger brother, I believed it was my birthright to pester the sanity out of him, and once insane he really was a terror.

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-1152869109839192432006-07-14T02:24:00.000-07:002007-03-27T05:14:03.480-07:00

After my visa arrived I had to face the reality that I would be leaving India soon. All of a sudden even the beggar crying for alms outside the house was an expert on America and all things american. Comments and advise flew in from all sides. Some made sense, some dint and some were outright hilarious. The joke, however, falls right back on us if we choose to follow any of these outrageous

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-1151936077306419532006-07-03T07:14:00.000-07:002007-06-25T21:11:16.463-07:00

The average engineering student opens his textbook for the first time after the first semester results have come in. By now, the euphoria of having made it through the entrance exam would have died down and he would be extra motivated by the fact that he has failed most of his subjects in the previous semester. A session of panic follows when he realizes that the scoundrels who write engineering

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-1151650467559554092006-06-29T23:46:00.000-07:002007-03-27T05:11:55.781-07:00

We have a trekking/biking/backpacking group in office. They call themselves the wheelies. I call them the crazies. What else would you call those who go trekking to forts, mountains, rivers et al in the peak of the monsoon and come back boasting about the number of times they fell and sprained their ankle. Like anyone else, I am not immune to moments of madness and in one of them I

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-1151552854810979102006-06-28T20:44:00.000-07:002007-03-27T05:14:32.070-07:00

Pratibha (or Sonu as she's called at home) joined our lab group in the 4th semester. She was a feisty character. Jolly good fun to have around but what really attracted me to her was her lunch box. She was a north Indian and there's no food like authentic north Indian food. Sadly I wasn't the only enlightened one. Every day, at lunch time, there used to be a mad scramble for pratibha's lunch

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-1151477075147481312006-06-27T23:44:00.000-07:002007-03-27T05:14:32.070-07:00

My preparation for GRE and TOEFL were officially kicked off as early as the third semester of Engineering. Again I had my nerd friend Akhil to thank for that. Having failed miserably in his attempt to make it through to IIT he decided that rather than commit suicide he would leave the country. We scouted around and came to know that there is something called a post graduate degree. It is a degree

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-1151407614071338692006-06-27T04:26:00.000-07:002007-03-27T05:14:03.481-07:00

Labs in colleges all over India are very similar. They consist of a bunch of bored instructors huddled in a corner, a vast collection of apparatus from the Jurassic age and a large group of students broken into groups, taking apart these machines and trying to get them to work. The 'instruction manual' for labs are few old lab manuals handed down from the Nile valley civilization. Successive

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-1151399174207725062006-06-27T02:04:00.000-07:002007-03-27T05:14:03.482-07:00

My first semester in Engineering was one of the most interesting chapters in my storied B-Tech days. It all started with me being dragged down, kicking and screaming, from the badminton circuit to CET. I can still remember the sinking feeling I got when I stood in front of the Head of Department on my first day in college (I was a month late and he wanted to know why). We dint like each other. It

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-1151399060416025422006-06-27T02:02:00.000-07:002007-03-27T05:11:55.781-07:00

It all started when my brother came to Las Cruces on a visit. He and his friends are jolly good fun and they hit off real well with my roommate and close friends (Vidya, Wiplove and Srujan). So we decided that we should visit them for the spring break too. A rough plan was chalked out and then we forgot about it. Close to the spring break the idea caught heat again. But Albuquerque (where bro is)

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28514495.post-1151398948063161372006-06-27T01:58:00.000-07:002006-06-27T20:04:56.640-07:00

Hi folks, So I've finally joined the blogwagon. Cant imagine why it took so long. Lazy I guess (or .. like they say .. I'm not really lazy .. I just stop before I get tired). I'm going to use this space to write articles on my life. Different experiences, a little peep into me, something I can read when I'm too old to type :). .. so .. here goesP.S :- the other person in the pic is

Nishanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11682206321491206514noreply@blogger.com1