My "adieu" mail while leaving my job at "CSC" ( Dec 2006)

Today, I was digging through my e-mails to find the e-mail id of a friend back in India and I chanced upon this piece of writing I had penned down as "goodbye" e-mail to my friends while leaving my job (CSC) for MS at A&M.

//reproduced without any modification//
// I had to send this e-mail from my gmail account. Reason: I had gotten so late at my office ( past 12 am) doing last minute things on my last day that by the time I got back to writing the adieu e-mail, I had already got my employee account revoked ( past 12 AM).:( talk about perfection!!

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Sun, Dec 24, 2006 at 12:52 AM

Adios - Time to say 'Will Miss U'!

"My wrist watch stopped ticking at sharp 10:59 PM 22nd Dec,2006 and I never knew why and how? But it only meant when 22nd Dec was preparing to pass the baton to 23rd Dec, my watch chose to play game with me by being stuck at 10:59 PM , 22nd Dec.I misjudged my transition from being an employee of CSC to a visitor of CSC and the price I have to pay is very obvious to you - mail not from Manish Kumar Singh/FSG/CSC !!

It's been a great experience working at CSC for the last 2.5 years. More so as the road traveled wasn't level and straight. But I surely enjoyed the roller coaster ride and it was fun-filled and enriching.

Shall never forget the fresher training days with all my great buddies, Days of leisure and slogging at work, Canteen gossips , Soccer Fridays and every thing else that touched me. Moments spent with my team mates working as well as partying are unforgettable. My team mates rocked!

Life is a journey to explore the unexplored with convenient halts. With this zeal and having explored what CSC had in store for me, I move ahead chasing the bigger and taller dreams. Seeds were already sown in my Undergrad years and I could watch them sprouting during my stay at CSC.I have decided to pursue Masters in Wireless Communication at Texas A&M University, College Station in TX,US.I am excited about the impending student life but will always be reminded of how it is at Work Place.

I am grateful to all of you who bumped into me and accepted me as your friend. Friends once made are always missed in their absence and so shall I. Thanks a ton for all your love, care, consolations and encouragements!

I remember one of my college friends writing in my Slam Book, "To meet and depart is the way of life but to depart and meet is the hope of life. We meet to create memories. But we depart to preserve them and that is Life..". And so I say to all of you.

With this note, I wish you all the best in all your endeavors in your personal and professional lives. Do keep in touch.

Wish U all a Merry Xmas and a great New Year ahead!!

Ta-Ta. Will Miss U! "

-Manish
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Some of the good wishes I received in response( am thankful to them):

"Good luck for your future..... hope all your dreams come true.... have a rockin stud life!! " - Ratnaker

"Wish you all the Best in your pursuits. You will scale great heights." - Raj

"Your mail was indeed one of the best good byes mails received so far.....All the very best for life ahead....This new year is going to be new for you in the truest sense.." - Natasha ( from HR) [very flattering indeed]

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I hope to write to all of them back again on the eve of this x-mas and new year!!

Mumbai under Terrorist Attack

Life can be so uncertain at times is so baffling.

Mumbai is caught up with a major terrorist attack. The city had never seen an assault of such a magnitude on her heartland. It all unfolded last day (Nov 26) with coordinated terrorist attacks at multiple locations around the same time. Mumbaikers were running for their lives. Rich and Poor, Indians and Foreigners , all were under attack.

Terrorists in Taj and Oberio were hunting for people with American and British passports. These terrorists were there to show the world that they hate Westerners and they are ready to kill and murder anyone who associates themselves with the Westerners. How pathetic!!!

We have seen 9/11, Madrid's rail bomb blast, Britain's glasgow airport terminal attack, Pakistan's Islamabad Marriott attack and now Mumbai is reeling under the pain of 24 hr non-stop terrorist drama. Where else? What else? World , as it seems,is no more safe. Ironically, even the Islamic countries with which these terrorists associate are not safe.

What do these terrorists want? An end to worldwide western influence and their dominance over the world? That's not gonna happen simply because the world is now a global village and western countries by the virtue of their superior status will have a major role to play.

We have seen that war is not a solution to this menace. What else is then the solution? Are the terrorists willing to rationlize their thoughts and demands? Or is it asking too much from them? May be it's like u have to be irrational to be a terrorist!!!

I sometimes wonder whether this is how it's gonna be forever and we need to keep doing our daily job without worrying about another terrorist attack in our neighboorhood. Is the future so bleak or am I being excessively pessimistic? Does anyone have a solution?

Facebooking - wastage of time??

I wonder how many people would say Big "NO" to this question. Afterall something which becomes integral part of your daily routine could no longer be counted towards "wastage of time". Someone who is addicted to "The Hills" on every Monday, or "Family Guy" on every Sunday or for that matter "CNN" or "Fox" News everyday , doesn't count watching these shows as wastage of time. It's part of their lives. It's what makes them happy for happiness is not uniquely defined.

Isn't it the same with Facebooking? It's an addiction - online social addiction. It takes up a good chunk of ur daily time. Is it a meaningful or fruitful activity? It helps you to remain connected with your friends on a daily basis without offline communication (cell, letters etc). It makes you feel happy to be always-connected with your friends. Is it meaningless?

I guess once you embrace such activities as part of your daily routine, you automatically build your daily schedule around them.

I hope I could find more examples of students from my generation who are facebook addicted and still great researchers. That would bolster my case and keep my addiction intact.

Blogging Break :(:)

I am desperately trying to get back to regular blogging... now i am spending a self-approved break from blogging ...

I will love to follow the blogging style of Mo's (http://thestonehengediary.blogspot.com/) ... small but impactful blogs... makes easier 4 ppl to read and doesn't take much of ur time also....

gotta complete an assignment and a presentation... the usual school stuff....

will be back soon...

till then enjoy viewing some of my recent photo albums on facebook...

Halloween Celebration - I & II
Big Thicket Trip - Camping and Canoeing - I & II

gorgeous beauty!

fantasy woods
Originally uploaded by _Neverletmego_

wonderful!

through
Originally uploaded by _Neverletmego_

gorgeous!

railway
Originally uploaded by _Neverletmego_

crow on a dry tree!

rural decay
Originally uploaded by _Neverletmego_

awesome!

edit
Originally uploaded by _Neverletmego_

They inspire me!

Life has so much to do and many times you learn that through eyes of others.

You idolize a few people who become the source of inspiration and aspirations in your life.

It's 3:55 a.m.I am just back from an iftar party thrown by a pakistani friend of mine.It was a fun filled party with a lot of good food to eat and beautiful people to meet. A few were inspirational.

This is just a short list of my close friends , surely a non-exhaustive one, who inspire me to live my life by giving it a purpose. Life is beautiful. It is too be enjoyed. It is to be won.

Parimal parag, Abhishek Anchilya , Rahul Ravikumar, Rahul Bhatnagar, Soma, Arzi Adbi, Sreejan Chaudhary, Nistha Tripathi, Ananya Banerjee, Anurag Krishnan, Vedant, Arpita and the list goes on!

Hope I can learn something from them!

"Red Bull " Car

What a sweet turn of events on a sweet evening!

It's UTD campus. It's evening time. It has just stopped raining. clear blue sky and nice cold breeze.what a nice weather! And I am out for jogging. In fact, I have just walked out of my apartment complex and about to start jogging.

And here is what happens! Just I didn't have my sweet W810i with me, otherwise I could have got a more vivid story for you. but anyways.

There comes a car driving to the side of me.It's a customized car.It seems to belong to someone who is very crazy about "Red Bull" - the energy drink you know. It's a small car with Red Bull logo on it and has a big Red Bull can attached at the back. It's a 2-seater. It's a VW Beetle.it looks like the pic on the right( i couldn't take the pic, so got from google images).

I had never seen such a thing before. Infact had never even heard of anything like that. So out of excitement I gave a cursory sideways glance towards the car to find out who was the proud owner of the car. And there I find two beautiful ladies smiling at me as I turned my head towards them, they sitting in the car. Cool! Nothing unusual! I passed by the car treasuring another moment of sweet surprise on the land of USA -VW's "Red Bull" Car being driven by a pretty woman!

And then I hear one of the ladies coming behind me shouting, " hey! do u need a can of Red Bull"?(free of course) I look back and say, " yeah, sure!" She is in black shirt and shorts carrying a bag full of Red Bull cans.It's then this thought struck in my mind that this whole thing is a Red Bull promotional campaign. Innovative Marketing. Isn't it? I ask her if she is a representative from Red Bull and she goes, "yes, I work for them". I compliment her on the beautiful customized car they drive and she thanks for that. She then shouts to a bunch of soccer playing guys for the Red Bull cans and one of them shouts back," we love you! you are so great! what's your name?" and there I know that she is Sarah. her other friend is waiting for her in the car.

I pace ahead for my evening jog.

They also drive out of the campus. Seems we were the last "Red Bull" marketing targets on the campus for today for those pretty women!

Nice experience it was!

As I write, I also found another blog on this "Red Bull Car" finding.

need to take a "cold" bath now after a sweaty jogging session! gnite! catch u later...

life in TX without your own car is worse than living in hell !

OK! before i proceed to talk something in relation to the topic of the blog,just wanted to let u know to check out this cool feature from google for the gmail users. U can now log off your inadvertently left logged-in sessions from anywhere - remote log out.

Now back to the main theme.

I guess reading the topic should have provided u enough hint how distasteful and painful a story I am gonna narrate you.

Not long ago, just yesterday, it happened so that I had to go to Post Office to return ( via mail) to JC Penny a khaki shorts I had bought online a few weeks back. Now I don't own a car. In fact, I don't even know driving. poor me. anyways. So I mostly rely on Dallas's city bus/rail service to commute to and from my work or for that matter between any two distant points A and B ( remember I am now interning with Nortel in richardson,dallas,tx.otherwise I study at A&M) Though I have a few friends here who posses car but I prefer not to ask for their assistance. they are too busy. i like to think that way.

So I had to go to Post Office. This is Saturday.And bad thing about bus service on the weekend is that it is almost nonexistent. Very low frequency. I looked up on google map for a nearby Post Office. Got the address. Got the bus route to the place. But to my bad, I looked up the time table for weekdays which is very different from the weekend (remember -very low frequency). Reached the bus station and kept waiting for the bus and it's then I realized I had got the wrong time for the bus. I had to wait for 45 mins before the bus arrived.to my relief it did arrive. Please note that it is a story unfolding around 2pm when bitter sun is basking in its glory.beware of TX summer. It would kill even a Delhite.

Finally I boarded the bus and reached my destination bus stop. Got down and then started the hunt for the Post Office. The sun was killing me. To my utter frustration, even after half an hour of search I couldn't locate the Post Office at the address I had jotted down from the net. I looked around in the locality, asked a person also ( which happens rarely here; u r on ur own) but of no help. I was too tired by then. First, 45 minutes of wait for the bus and then 30 minutes of Post Office hunt in scorching Texan summer.Are you kidding? I was about to die out of dehydration. I guess I was the only guy walking on the street. Everyone else had their vehicle.

I couldn't continue any longer and decided to head back to home. But again I had to take the bus. Only that it was scheduled no before than 30 minutes:( I was ruined. Another 30 mins of wait. I t was then that I determined that no matter what I am gonna get learner's driver license in the next week. U need to have it before you can apply for driver license.You get learner's after taking a computerised objective written test.

Bus finally arrived after 30 minutes of unbearable wait.Got into it.Got down at my destination. Headed directly for a can of coke in a restaurant, only to realize that I had to walk for another 20 minutes under sun as the bus to my apt didn't run in the evening on weekends. I couldn't believe my day! I was getting roasted alive and I couldn't think of anything else but all evening and night of sleep when back at home. The worst thing is that I couldn't locate the post office.

That's my story. Doesn't it sound awful and pitiable?

I am getting my learner's driver license this week no matter what!

With no well developed public transportation, one shouldn't dare to live in a big city in TX like Dallas without a vehicle of his/her own.

Enough is enough!

Should I write or Not?

I have been delaying off this entry for a long time now. But you know, with so many good blogger friends around, it's hard to get remain un-motivated ( yeah this is a new word). yes, I am again referring to Sreejan,Nistha n her friends, Anurag n his ISB blogomanics:)

So now when I have got started let me begin by reminding that I am now in richardson (close to Dallas,TX) interning with nortel networks for another 1 month. And then will head back to TAMU for a year of more school.

Till now the internship has been good. not hectic as such. have learnt a few new things and hope to work on them in next one month. honestly speaking 3 months is a very short duration for the project I am working on.but this is the choice I made when in the beginning I was offered internship for 6 months. i preferred to go for only 3 months and they happily agreed with my demand. so no whining.

in short I have enjoyed the stay till now.I am staying in UTD campus in a subleased apt. good thing about living on a university campus is that u get access to university's rec center, the oppurtunities to play outdoor sports with univ students, glimpse of hot girls more often than would be possible otherwise and a few other trivial things :)

hope things continue in good spirit till my stay lasts!

What a nice weekend!

2400 Waterview Pkwy,Richardson,TX

Monday, June 16

How should I rate my weekend if it goes the way I describe below? I like to rate it as "nice".

• 3 hours of passionate basketball game on Friday with my internship mate Bojan and his friends.
• Great Euro soccer Group D matches on Saturday. Spain's last minute goal breezed them to the QF round .
• Delicious dinner at Claypit @Richardson on the Saturday evening. The receptionist was an Indian gal and she was real gorgeous and sweet. That added a plus to the already beautiful ambiance of the restaurant:)
  
• Sunday seemed a bit frustrating in the beginning, primarily because I couldn't watch the live Euro soccer Group A matches thanks to NO net connection during the day.The connection restored in the night and I could watch the replays on espn360.com and footytube.com.The thrilling victory of Turkey over Czech was a match not-to-be-missed. Turkey now advances to QF to play with Croatia. My dear friend Mr. Bhatnagar bets that Croatia is gonna make to semis by defeating Turkey 2-1. I say NO.Croatia is destined to lose that match.Score, I can't predict.
  

Weekend ends and it's almost bed time now with Monday to Friday 8-5 routine beginning yet again tomorrow.

good nite!

She conquered; he got demolished

Ivanovic, to my great delight, won her first grand slam by beating Dinara Safina in straight sets in the French Open final at Roland Garros. She deserved it. She played hard throughout the tournament to clinch the title.She is now ranked no. 1. She must be very happy! Infact she is!

The Men's category on the other hand had a very dull final with world no 1 Rodger Federer suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of Mr. Spaniard , Rafa Nadal. Federer couldn't overcome his nemesis and lost yet another opportunity to fulfill his dream of winning all the Big titles.

But tomorrow will be a new day and we would have a plenty of new games to enjoy!

Wimbledon is at the corner! knock-knock!

Federer needs to regain his charm after a series of dismal clay court performances. Ivanovic needs to prove that she can win on green courts of Wimbledon too!

Ivanovic is closer to the French Open title!

"Dinara Safina proved her title credentials with a 6-7 (6-8) 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 win over top seed Maria Sharapova in the fourth round of the French Open" says BBC News.

With Maria out of the race for the French Open crown, Ivanovic seems to be in a good position to clinch the title. Ivanovic is in great form and she needs to get past the Swiss nemesis Patty Schnyder today to keep her hope alive. The match is being touted as "the Match of The day" and should be no less entertaining than that between the two Russian princesses Safina and Maria.

Hope I can watch the match somewhere on web!

All the best to my favorite Ana Ivanovic! Go gal!

On being nice to others.....

Sometimes it happens this way. U sit back and reflect on your past. You feel guilty of the way u handled a few things and resolve not to let it happen so again. Evolving through learning, you can say. May be something close to Darwinian Evolution theory.

"Being nice to others" , in my opinion, is such an absolute necessity that the guilt of not being so certainly figures in our reflection in the past.We might have different opinions about a lot of things but that doesn't call for any sort of animosity. We can be violet and red and still be part of the same visible color spectrum.We can support Obama and not Clinton and still be a democrat.

I have had quite a number of such experiences of NOT "being nice to others" which on hindsight make me feel a goofball . Why did I react that way? What good I did for myself if not for others? These thoughts somehow struck me today and motivated me to write this article thus ending my blog-drought in a way.

Life is a beautiful gift.It's an one time opportunity to surround yourself with good people by being good to others. Why should you miss it? I know you can only have a silly reason worth not sticking to it. So move on and grab the opportunity. Hold on! Am I advising u? I can't dare. You could be violet when I am red. But yes you can listen to me.

I don't want another such day in my student life:(

I remember those "uncomfortable" school days when I would leave home for school but wouldn't go to school. Why? Because I would not have completed my homework. And it used to be better to go to school a day after with absence letter (of course with forged signature;)) than get punished in front of the whole class/school for defaulting.

I thought those days won't appear again. But to no respite, those days are back again.Twenty years of long time don't kill your bad habits.

Wonder what prompted me to blog at this point of time. I have bunked a class. Because the class is taught by my research adviser and I am too ashamed to face him in the class for having canceled our research meeting twice. The only way out is to write him a SORRY mail and hope to attend the next meeting with VERY GOOD PROGRESS on research.

What a bummer! I feel like banging my head on the wall. But I am still sane and don't want to visit the Beutel Health Center!

THE END.

It was a historic moment.It was a moment of immense pride and dream come true for him. It was a moment of ecstasy and jubilation for him.

It happened when the Serbian prince Djokovic knocked the Frenchman Tsonga down in the grand finale of Men's Singles Australian Open 2008 at Rod Laver Arena. Novak Djokovic is the first Serbian to win a Grand Slam title and that too at just a young age of 20. In fact, he made his name in the history book as the youngest male tennis player to win Australian Open at Melbourne.

What a pride moment for him, his family and his nation!

Men's tennis has gotten better with Federer,Nadal,Djokovic and likes of Tsonga threatening each other for the coveted position of Rank 1. It might well be the beginning of a new golden era with new players reigning the turf.

It was fun watching games at wee hours, only to get late for class & job:)

Sadly , it's now THE END of Australian Open 2008.

She couldn't make it..But She can.

Ana Ivanovic couldn't match Sharapova's prowess in the glamorous finale at Melbourne, AO 08. She lost 7-5,6-3 in a 90 minutes battle.It hurts!

She was in tears at failing the expectations of the Australian crowd - a grand slam win by Ana Ivanovic. But she is just 20 and has immense potential. She is surely set to win the next grad slam she plays.

I like her. I like her play. I like her personality. She is a woman with great heart and impeccable talent. She will go a long way.

Her diary note on her loss to Sharapova is so touching and testament of what a beautiful woman she is.

She is still smiling and expecting to beat Sharapova when they meet again!

Yet Another Stunner in AO '08

The Federer Tennis Machine was brought to a shocking halt by the Serbian Djokovic on Day 12 of AO 08!

Djokovic tread past Federer to set up a clash with the unseeded Frenchman Tsonga in the Australian Open 2008 Final. None of them have won grand slams ever!!

Surely a bad day for the Lord of Tennis!!

My prediction of Federer winning the Semi went wrong but am still sticking to Tsonga clinching the Final! Lets see what happens!

Two Serbains in two different finals! Country must be proud of Djokovic and Ivanovic and praying for their wins!

Tennis couldn't have got better! I am loving it!

Australian Open 2008

Nadal left helpless and shocked.
Unseeded Tsonga making it to the Men's final.
Ivanovic resurging from 0-6 down to send Slovakian Hantuchova packing home.

What a day in the AO 2008! It was day 11 at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.

I am dying to see Ivanovic, my favorite tennis princess, outclass Sharapova in Women's final. You might not predict so. Neither they predict so. But I am rooting for her, only for her.It's already being called as "possibly the most glamorous grand-slam final in history". Clash of drop-dead gorgeous tennis princesses!

Then awaits the blood bath in Men's game. I am afraid that Federer will find his nemesis this time in Frenchman Tsonga - the find of AO'08. Frenchman's strategic tennis intelligence coupled with immense physical strength makes him a great contender for this year's AO.

I predict Fed vs Tsonga in the Men's final with Tsonga as the winner!

If Djokovic could take on Fed in US Open 2007 , Tsonga can obviously in this Australian Open 2008.

let the game begin.

Bravo! Federer is the Lord of Tennis!!

It's Australian Open 2008. It's Rod Laver Arena at Melbourne.

An epic battle between rookie Siberian J.Tipsarevic and the best of the bestest Federer just ended in a result so relieving to me! 4.5 hours upwards game . A 5 setter. 50+ combined aces. What a nail biting match!

What more you accept out of a game?

Federer won the game to advance to the 4th round of Australian Open. It was a hard fought victory against the immensely talented Serbian Tipsarevic.It ended in 6-7,7-6,5-7,6-1,10-8.

Go Federer! Go! Do watch out for the Spaniard bull though. He is lurking there.He is Rafael Nadal!

New Year,New Things.

I was in India this dec for a short trip. It was great to spend some quality time with my lovely sisters and mom n dad. I also managed to visit my maternal grand-ma and grand-pa who have been very close to my heart.

Was back to College Station on 27th dec.

Winter break and you in College Station. A very pitiable situation!!

But fortunately, Anshul one of my Rurki friends was here in Austin for a business trip from AMD India and so I got to celebrate the New Yr in style:)

Austin, the Music capital of America, was a great place to be on the New Yr eve. Melodious music pervading the Austin Downtown, street performances by talented break-dancers ( am in lack of word here:)), electrifying African-Brazilian dances, THE crowd to 6th street and not to mention, the 15 minutes of spellbinding Fire work - everything happening around gave the New Yr celebration a true Austin spirit - the spirit of music, the spirit of living life!

With new yr comes new things in life. People make resolutions to formalize the newness they want to bring with the new yr. I too made a few resolutions but in an informal sense. Yeah, in the stricter sense, they may not be called New Yr Resolutions but they are a few new things I want to achieve in this new year. They relate to my studies, my extracurricular activities and my love for playing guitar. Specifics better be kept to the diary so that at a later time I don't find myself amidst the battle of defending myself for not able to keep my resolutions. This way, I get the exclusive rights to amend them and follow the way it suits me:) goofing around!

Feliz Año Nuevo! bonne année! ein gutes neues Jahr! nav varsh ki subhkamna !

I love the people of America. I love the people of Europe.

It's been a year when I came to USA to pursue my higher studies. Honestly, those 365 days have been a great learning experience. I got to experience the new education culture, the new social structure, the new people, the new fashion.... a lot of new things:)I love the people of America for their honesty and straightforwardness. I love the fashion consciousness of Generation-Y. I love their helping nature.

How do I know Europeans in real life? Mainly as an observer at the Frankfurt Airport on my flight journey to India. You get the snapshot of the whole civilization at an airport as humongous as Frankfurt's. And that's where waiting for 4 hours for the connecting flight to India, I got the glimpse of Europeans in masses - from all over the Europe - Dutch, English, Russian, Belgian, Italian, French. I was most fascinated by their fashion style. how great they are when it comes to fashion! beautiful gals being the ambassador! I long to travel to Europe and experience its beauty!

Being a patriotic Indian, I need not say the OBVIOUS:)