Hi all,
Its 2.37 am at night and I am sitting in our hotel room at a small sea-town by the name of Virginia Beach on the Atlantic Coast. It took us a drive of almost 6 hours to reach here from Washington DC. The sight that is infront of me is probably the best that I have seen during my life. But, before I get overwhelmed by the beauty that is unfurling before my eyes, let me mention the prior events of the day on which we visited the power-centre city of this planet.
We spent the majot part of the day in the US capital. It was around 12 noon when we reached DC. The first sight of it when we got out of the metro tunnel was very much reminiscent of the Maidan area of our very own Calcutta. On the two sides of a very long rectangular Maidan-like field are the White House and the Capitol Hill, with the Washington Monument constructed symmetrically in between. Our first stop was at the National Air & Space Museum. The next two places where we went are the Capitol Hill and finally the White House. Over-all it was an interesting short trip, but I would have to visit Washington again to explore it to even more details. (The trip would have been really successful if I could see Superman on the roof of white House).
Now, lets come to the present. I am sitting on the 15th floor verandah on the Atlantic Coast. The moon is on the crystal clear sky and her radiant silvery reflection on the waters of the Ocean are creating a mesmerizing effect on all of us. The beauty of Nature has struck us hard. We were orginally scheduled to check out tomorrow at 11 am, but now we have extended our stay till day after tomorrow. I just want to absorb the true essence of this supernatural beauty that is around me..... I am really lucky to have opportunities like these.....
Cheers all,
Saikat
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Third World?
Hi all,
Its 1.30 am Friday night at Washington D.C...... I have come here for a short trip this week-end with my friends. We will explore the US capital tomorrow and head to Virginia Beach towards night. Hope to have a nice time there on Sunday.
This is my first trip outside Virginia Tech area of Blacksburg and surroundings, since coming to US on 7th August, 2009. It took almost 6 hours of drive (including 1 hr stop-over for supper at a Chinese restaurant) to reach Washington. The highways were unlit (literally) and the roads were narrow and risky (infact very much accident-prone). I genuinely at times feel that we have come to an undeveloped country from a developed one (i.e. India). And, this is even more true if we compare the transportation systems prevalent here with the one we have at home. The public transport network here is in utter disarray. Buses are there within the town, but they are only regular on the week-days, leaving the week-ends in the hands of Gods. And, during breaks, although there is some schedule, they don't even bother to pay any respect to them. Finally, this country has a railway network that can be best described to be the one that India probably had during the 1910s. The connections are rare between small towns and cities and some say that the trains are also not safe (so are the few long-distance buses that they have here) Believe me, the rail-system here is almost a hundred years behind us.
The main point where America scores over India is that the people here are rich. So, each middle-class family can afford 2 cars. But, this can in no way justify the utter disregard of the State towards maintaining a proper and systematic public transportation system......
Anyway friends, tomorrow we will visit the White House, the Smithsonian museums, the Capitol Building and the other notable places of Washington D.C...... I sincerely wish that this city would not dishearten us.....
Cheers All,
Saikat
Its 1.30 am Friday night at Washington D.C...... I have come here for a short trip this week-end with my friends. We will explore the US capital tomorrow and head to Virginia Beach towards night. Hope to have a nice time there on Sunday.
This is my first trip outside Virginia Tech area of Blacksburg and surroundings, since coming to US on 7th August, 2009. It took almost 6 hours of drive (including 1 hr stop-over for supper at a Chinese restaurant) to reach Washington. The highways were unlit (literally) and the roads were narrow and risky (infact very much accident-prone). I genuinely at times feel that we have come to an undeveloped country from a developed one (i.e. India). And, this is even more true if we compare the transportation systems prevalent here with the one we have at home. The public transport network here is in utter disarray. Buses are there within the town, but they are only regular on the week-days, leaving the week-ends in the hands of Gods. And, during breaks, although there is some schedule, they don't even bother to pay any respect to them. Finally, this country has a railway network that can be best described to be the one that India probably had during the 1910s. The connections are rare between small towns and cities and some say that the trains are also not safe (so are the few long-distance buses that they have here) Believe me, the rail-system here is almost a hundred years behind us.
The main point where America scores over India is that the people here are rich. So, each middle-class family can afford 2 cars. But, this can in no way justify the utter disregard of the State towards maintaining a proper and systematic public transportation system......
Anyway friends, tomorrow we will visit the White House, the Smithsonian museums, the Capitol Building and the other notable places of Washington D.C...... I sincerely wish that this city would not dishearten us.....
Cheers All,
Saikat
Friday, February 26, 2010
Passions
Hi friends.....
Its Friday night 2.00 am at Blacksburg, USA. This was a really hectic week, but a very productive one at that. I got some new insights into my research (Vortex Dynamics) and also learnt a few more new computational techniques..... :) Wonderful !!!! At last, my life now is roughly the same as the one I used to dream of having when I was a 12 year-old (I am very lucky.... not many Indians get the chance to live their dreams even remotely). As an icing on cake, I also got to hear a talk from a senior NASA scientist (working at the Langley Space Research Centre)..... :) ......I just pray that the passion that I still have does not diminish with time and that 12 year-old in me never gets killed....... Believe me, life is very simple and its really refreshing to enjoy its simplicity.
Coming back to the other aspects of life..... its almost 7 months that I have come to US. But, still I don't feel like I am somewhere entirely different (may be my daily phone calls and video chats with my parents and brother are doing the trick). So, at times, when I try to feel that "how does it feel to be in America?", it feels odd. To me America is still the country from where Mamon-mashi (my grandma's neighbour) brought me blue baseball cap when I was 5. Everytime I go to a shop and see caps, I try to find that blue one.... but alas styles have changed. America to me is the country where the dad "shrunk his kids"..... And, for all these, real America looks very mundane to me :)...... Consequently, another thing that comes to my mind is this - it is therefore the small child who gets the real mystical flavour of a place even if he is thousands of miles away from there (as I did when I was 5)...... So, all my little friends at home, I will surely bring you loads of gifts whenever i go home :)
Another thing that comes to my mind at this instant is the family wedding (scheduled next week) that I am missing. The groom is actually my uncle (mama in Bengali.... Ma-er khurtuto bhai), but being 3 yrs older that me, we were really good friends right from the very early days.... We used to eat together at any family ceremony and he is like an elder brother to me..... I wish him all the best for his new life..... :)
Lets end now..... Looking forward to another productive and busy week ahead :). Hope you all have the same because life is work :)
Cheers all......
Saikat
Its Friday night 2.00 am at Blacksburg, USA. This was a really hectic week, but a very productive one at that. I got some new insights into my research (Vortex Dynamics) and also learnt a few more new computational techniques..... :) Wonderful !!!! At last, my life now is roughly the same as the one I used to dream of having when I was a 12 year-old (I am very lucky.... not many Indians get the chance to live their dreams even remotely). As an icing on cake, I also got to hear a talk from a senior NASA scientist (working at the Langley Space Research Centre)..... :) ......I just pray that the passion that I still have does not diminish with time and that 12 year-old in me never gets killed....... Believe me, life is very simple and its really refreshing to enjoy its simplicity.
Coming back to the other aspects of life..... its almost 7 months that I have come to US. But, still I don't feel like I am somewhere entirely different (may be my daily phone calls and video chats with my parents and brother are doing the trick). So, at times, when I try to feel that "how does it feel to be in America?", it feels odd. To me America is still the country from where Mamon-mashi (my grandma's neighbour) brought me blue baseball cap when I was 5. Everytime I go to a shop and see caps, I try to find that blue one.... but alas styles have changed. America to me is the country where the dad "shrunk his kids"..... And, for all these, real America looks very mundane to me :)...... Consequently, another thing that comes to my mind is this - it is therefore the small child who gets the real mystical flavour of a place even if he is thousands of miles away from there (as I did when I was 5)...... So, all my little friends at home, I will surely bring you loads of gifts whenever i go home :)
Another thing that comes to my mind at this instant is the family wedding (scheduled next week) that I am missing. The groom is actually my uncle (mama in Bengali.... Ma-er khurtuto bhai), but being 3 yrs older that me, we were really good friends right from the very early days.... We used to eat together at any family ceremony and he is like an elder brother to me..... I wish him all the best for his new life..... :)
Lets end now..... Looking forward to another productive and busy week ahead :). Hope you all have the same because life is work :)
Cheers all......
Saikat
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Debut blog.....
Hi all....
This is my first blog and hopefully this is not my last :)
To put it in bland terms, I am a Graduate student in US, doing my PhD in Engineering Mechanics (more specifically I am bothered about Vorticity Dynamics). I might not be the best in what I do, but I do feel good about it. Since I was a child, I always wanted to build aircrafts that can reach the skies and spacecrafts that can travel a bit more towards those far-off stars. And, in real life, I might not ever actually construct those machines, but I can always predict the vortices that hinder their motions :)
So much for my professional goals and ambitions..... But, I am not really interested in discussing these things in here (although, I do admit that these would crop up here and there in my writings.....). I wish to write in here the various experiences and thoughts that truble me/ amuse me/ befuddle me from time to time..... :) I would write about my unfulfilled dreams, and the fulfilled ones too.....
Please be patient with me if my thoughts get too self-centric (I would try to avoid that to my best)..... All said and done, I hope this blog becomes an interestin read.....
Cheers all..... :)
Saikat
This is my first blog and hopefully this is not my last :)
To put it in bland terms, I am a Graduate student in US, doing my PhD in Engineering Mechanics (more specifically I am bothered about Vorticity Dynamics). I might not be the best in what I do, but I do feel good about it. Since I was a child, I always wanted to build aircrafts that can reach the skies and spacecrafts that can travel a bit more towards those far-off stars. And, in real life, I might not ever actually construct those machines, but I can always predict the vortices that hinder their motions :)
So much for my professional goals and ambitions..... But, I am not really interested in discussing these things in here (although, I do admit that these would crop up here and there in my writings.....). I wish to write in here the various experiences and thoughts that truble me/ amuse me/ befuddle me from time to time..... :) I would write about my unfulfilled dreams, and the fulfilled ones too.....
Please be patient with me if my thoughts get too self-centric (I would try to avoid that to my best)..... All said and done, I hope this blog becomes an interestin read.....
Cheers all..... :)
Saikat
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