We spent the last few days touring New York city, taking in the sights, sounds and smells that make this experience so different from visiting any other city in the US. The crowds that are always in a hurry, the roadside vendors emitting more smoke than a lot of cars, the ubiquitous Starbucks on every lane (or maybe I should say streets and avenues) and the gravity defying skyscrapers that seem to house more people in a single building than there are back in College Station!
The walk to Wall Street and Brooklyn Bridge, the view from 1050 feet above sea level atop a man made marvel - the empire state building, the feel of seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time and the first visit to a casino at Atlantic City. Few things can match these experiences. A huge thank you to each of Vijay, Varun, Manna, Chandu, Norman, Sathya and Sunil. It would never have been so much fun without all of you.A few clicks:
An eventful year. Lot of good things, but some painfully bad memories too.
With Utsav being a huge success, the new year had started off on a really good note. For those who do not know, Utsav is the annual day event of Saanthwana, an NGO that I am a part of and something really close to my heart. Teamwork payed off and the event went off as well as it was planned. A little behind schedule though, but in Hyderabad, that is definitely okay. LOL
At approximately the same time, admits from universities had started coming in and I was delighted after getting through Computer Science at Arizona State.
The republic day visit to Sphoorti (an organization similar to ours) which is managed by a very good friend of ours, Srivyal. We had a wonderful time with the kids and the dance performance by Satya, Priyanka, Anusha, Priyanka P and Sampath, waving the national flag. All those who were present that day will recollect the size of the flag. I wish I had a picture :). Suvidha engaged the children in some chit chat to spread some knowledge about the national flag and other national symbols.
A few days later, something totally unpredictable happened. My mom called me to inform me of some letter from the Indian Institute of Management. (Trivia: I had always wanted to get into the IIMs, but had given up hope after two unsuccessful attempts). The third attempt was halfhearted to say the least and I had never given it a thought after that last Sunday of November, 2007. Not expecting anything substantial, I opened the letter.
'You have been shortlisted for Group Discussion and Personal Interview' it said, and my joy knew no bounds. More so, since it came at a time when I was least expecting it.
2008 had started off on a good note and I knew this was a big year for me. All was well, until February 25th.
I was on my way to office, as usual when Nagesh messaged about an accident to Bhagi. I simply smiled as I knew that he must be joking and upto his usual antics. Sometime later, another message. This time from Kiran. My heart sunk as I knew something was terribly wrong. A few hours later, my friend Bhagirath breathed his last. It was a huge setback for me, considering how close he was to me. Wasn't it just 24hrs ago that we were driving around with another friend, ice-creams in hand? And to think that 24hours later, he wasn't existent seemed very very difficult to digest.
The first week of April was when I had my interview at IIM, Bangalore. I was pretty pepped up because this was what I had been aiming for the last few years, a shot at the IIMs and I wanted to make the most of it. Then again, Someone thought differently. The day before my interview, I received a mail that I was admitted into Texas A&M. My dream admit and one of the better schools in the US, I was over the moon. Totally.
I went to the interview next day with nothing to lose. And a few weeks later when I was informed that I did not make it, I knew I had lost nothing. As much as I wanted to be in the big league in India, I was sure that an MIS program was where I belonged. Maybe an MBA sometime in the future, but for now, I was heading to be an Aggie.
Back to Saanthwana. With the help of Pragnya and her friends from Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences, we organized a highly successful dental camp at Sphoorti. Even the hot summer sun did not deter people as we saw a good turnaround.
June 10th - we celebrated Bhagirath's birthday, among children from Sphoorti and Aadarna, just the way he would have wanted to. An emotional moment for a lot of us, including his family. We are thankful to them for supporting us throughout.
This is what I left behind as I flew away, for a new beginning at College Station. Fall was a demanding semester, yes, but I think God has been very kind. Assignments, tests and articles became the order of the day, in addition to my job as a Graduate Assistant. With finals nearing, night-outs were added to the aforementioned list. :)
December 10th - finals end. Finally time to relax. I took off to New Jersey to spend some time with friends. As I write this post, we're forced to stay indoors; its snowing pretty heavily.
Good Indian food, movies with a desi crowd.... feels like I'm back home. :) Someone told me before I left, New Jersey is mini-India. Probably I will go see the Statue of Lady Liberty tomorrow. We're pretty close to NYC in a place called Millburn. Millburn City, as Manohar prefers calling it. :)
Probably this is my longest post and will remain so for a long time. If you've come till here, then thank you :). I have written this for myself, if not for anyone else, to remind myself of new friends made, the joys we've shared, victories I have been a part of and the grief that has united us.
Cheers, to everything!
And oh! A happy new year to all of you! :)
