India - From them to me

These are samples of the feedbacks I got from the elementary school students to whom I spoke to, about India.

Nobel Peace Prize for me?

The Good, The Bad and The Funny

Its been so uneventful the last few weeks. Have you ever noticed, if you are completely into something, you get kind of sucked into it and everything else outside, doesn't really exist?? I guess its like being in the zone for a major league pitcher or something. Anyway, I was all consumed in the cricket tournament we organized last week, and am glad to say, it was a success. We had more than 100 participants, sold more than 100 t-shirts and everybody went home happy. It was the single biggest fund-raising event for the cricket club so far. I think we probably will end up with about $1200 in the bank from this weekend event alone.

On the first day of spring, (March 21 or thereabouts) I played some flag football with a bunch of my friends and hurt my shoulder. I did not get the time to go to the university hospital and get it checked out, because of the tournament, india-england series, research etc. Finally, I scheduled for an appointment for this morning 9.45 AM. Since the local buses run on their own schedule, I ended up being 10 minutes late for the appointment. Apparently, that is the cut-off limit for canceling someone's appointment. They told me I was lucky that the scheduled doctor had agreed to see my bum shoulder eventhough I was right on the cut-off time. (Maybe, I should buy a lottery ticket today and find out whether I am really lucky!!).

Believe me when I tell you this was the funniest doctor meeting I have ever had. I have gone to quacks, semi-doctors and dentists before (I am an anti-dentite... :-) , but nothing beats this one. Every time I have gone to see one, usually, the doctor checks out by touching your forehead, pulls your tongue out or in case of hurt shoulder, asks you to, you know, MOVE IT A LITTLE. Today, our man was busy typing. He typed onto his computer for 15 minutes about how it happened, how long ago and all the generic crap. And after a lifetime, he goes onto check my shoulder. Mr. Doctor tells me to finally get an X-ray as he thinks I do not have a normal shoulder injury (What the hell??? Do people have to come in with missing shoulder sockets or bones sticking out with blood all over, to be called normal??).

At the X-ray room, when the lab nurse asked me to remove my necklace, i almost took off all my clothing!! She said, "no, just the necklace would be fine! ". Goddamn it! One of my all time favorite fantasy is to nail a nurse in the hospital. So close, yet so f-ing far.

Back at the Doctor's office, after a few "huh!"s and "Ah!"s, he tells me that the Good News is, I probably don't have a broken bone or dislocated joint!! Are you kidding me??? You took all this time to figure this, Einstein? You could've just asked me!!! Going in, I knew it was probably a bone bruise or soft tissue damage!! Gosh, don't you ever watch ER or Scrubs or something Mr. Doctor Charlatan??

Now, the Bad news is, he still doesn't know what it is, as the X-rays are not very clear!! (obviously. They still haven't figured out what to call these rays, and now you're gonna figure out what they apparently have imaged??). I was given 3 options. Go to another orthopaedic expert and get an MRI, surgery or the third: wait it out, have some physiotherapy. As I sat there thinking through these options, I realized by getting physiotherapy, I still had a shot at making my all-time fantasy come true.

Monday, May 1, 10.00 AM. Appointment with Destiny. Ms. K is gonna be working on my shoulder. I have been advised to wear something comfortable!!! Hope she does too!!

Long way home

Ahh... Its good to be back. I think I have been away for close to 3 weeks now. Trust me when I tell you its not due to laziness. It was due to a combination of a few things... a) busy with some research work b) helping out my advisor with the teaching of an undergrad class c) India-England series and d) I am the event coordinator for the 2nd Annual 8-a-side cricket tournament organized by the Penn State Cricket Club.

One of the projects that I have been working on, involves studying the interaction of Laser with a variety of materials. Since that project was coming to an end, we needed to run final set of tests and put together a report and things of that nature. Combined with it are the all-nighters due to all the India-England cricket matches which are on TV from 11.30 PM to 7 AM.. So by the time I got done with any test on a given day, I was totally exhausted to blog.

Today, I have been feeling a little under the weather.. bad cold, sore throat and coughing and am running a little temperature as well. So, I thought I'd call it an early day at office. I just couldn't sit in the lab any more. I thought I'd get something to eat and head home. I made my tired, weary walk from my department to downtown State College to find some food. It usually takes about 5-10 minutes. Today it took me almost 30.

First up, i ran into a friend from the department, did a little chit-chat about weather and stuff. Then, it was Totti. We discussed a little about his team's name for the upcoming tournament. Right now, he is using what he used last year, "Out of Form".. When suggested that he better change the name and come up with something new... he got some fundaes from pointy and called me back with "Australia" or just "Ozzies". I thought that was a funny name for a team of Indians. I guess, looking at the teams registered for this year's tourney, Totti's team looks the strongest and prolly might walk away with the trophy. I guess "australia" is apt.. but as luck would have it, Bangladesh is walloping Australia as we speak. Nice going Totti!!! Way to Jinx the world champs!!!!

Finally gotta move on from there and met up with Morgan, who made fun of my walking around college avenue and *not" going to any bars.. and wanted to know of the prep work for the tourney.. whether he could find a spot in an team. Redirected him to Totti, who he knows!

A guy from the Geography department says Hi.. tried not to have even a little conversation as I was hungry by then. Successful! Nazar is walking towards me but he was in a hurry as he had move his car...

FINALLY... Hello Irvings!!! Hmm... Grilled chicken Pesto sandwich, with a cup of coffee and a bag of chips. Delicious!!