What the hole ???

Here I am sauntering down The Brickyard in front of the libraray in my university. It's a pleasant day and I happen to notice that there is an Agriculture Awareness Week going on.

Some farm animals, a few tractors and such. Out of curiousity I go near and I see one of the freakiest things in my life. Suffice to say that I was shocked.



For those interested, it's called a Fistulated Cow. Look it up.

Cherry Blossoms

When I was in Washington D.C. last weekend, lots of people recommended that I visit the Cherry Blossom Festival held in downtown Washington D.C. every year.

It is held to celeberate the coming of Spring, signified by the blossoming of the Japanese cherry trees gifted to the US by the Mayor of Tokyo in 1912.

The cherry blossoms were nowhere to be seen. The celeberations, of which a kite festival was a part, were a tad early.


A kite festival seems right to welcome the new phase of the year. People can move around outdoors after a cold winter and actually have a wonderful day, the kites symbolising the freedom they have.

Oh, to soar like a kite in the wind, the brilliant blue beckoning it to
have a dance with the pure white.

Rarely do we feel such freedom in our hearts and those moments are something to cherish for a long long time.

I feel it today. The trip to Washington D.C. gave me reason to feel so.

Do I want to be a kite? Kites have a string attached after all and me, I have a past. Kites can't fly without that string and neither can I without my past.

A gesture of appreciation to all those who are that string.

Bhaji

You have to read the title carefully. Neither does it refer to a cricketer nor does it refer to something eaten with Pav.

It represents in itself culinary perfection, a tradition to be proud of and passed on for generations to come.


That's right fellas, its the perfect snack for a rainy day. Kanda and Batata Bhaji.

All made by my roommate and me on a glorious Saturday evening. I must say I am quite proud of the Chinch-Gul (Tamarind - Jaggery) chutney too.

On a side note, the plural of 'bhaji' is also 'bhaji', not 'bhajya'. A distinction fine enough to be lost on me till very recently.

Fantastic effort and kudos to whomever they are due from the two people who had their stomachs and hearts filled with joy.

Spring Break

With those who have heard of Spring Break, it conjures up images of beaches in Florida and cruises on the Carribean, late night parties and having unimaginable amount of fun.

However, with those "familiar" with Spring Break especially as applied to the graduate students, it conjures up images of finally being able to sleep for 8 hours every day, single minded dedication to a project or just relaxing and watching movies.

Am I exaggerating? I think not.

The better part of my spring break this year was spend in doing exactly the things I said above. I know I shouldn't be generalizing but I consider myself a representative of the graduate student population.

Movies watched included but are not limited to:

Chicken Little - Nice one
Crimson Tide - Perennial favourite
Van Helsing - Load of c*** couldn't finish it
Few Good Men - You wan't the truth? You can't handle the truth. Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise rule. Demi Moore looks hot. Another favourite
Jerry McGuire - Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr. play off each other very well.
Remember the Titans - Decent movie
The World is Not Enough - Watched it again just for Sophie Marceau and Denise Richards

Oh, well. It had to end some time. Back to the grind from tomorrow.

Samir Govilkar

Ok, first off this is a blatantly obvious attempt at self promotion.

There is a term called "ego surfing" and I have indulged in it many times. What it basically means is that you search for your own name on the internet and see how many places it shows up.

I have the dubious fortune of being listed as the webmaster of a now defunct website (Sanskrit Mandiram), the "current" treasurer of the IEEE student branch of my undergraduate college and a heavy contributor to the SETI@home project which I no longer am.

You can verify this yourself, just search for my name.

So, I plan to rectify this situation. If you now go to Google Blog Search and then search for "Samir Govilkar" this post and hopefully all the other posts in this blog will show up.

The second course of action is making my own website (http://www4.ncsu.edu/~srgovilk). But that website has been in the making since August 2004 as testified to by the Last Updated field.

Hence, coming soon is all I can say and you being the wise people that you are, know better :)

Cheers.