Boshu's Weblog

How to travel on budget to Miami!!

boshu — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 20:49:56 +0000

Of all that life can offer, travelling is one of my favourites. After a whirlwind trip to the famous Miami, I have loads of advice for travellers who are looking to travel cheap. These are some tips:

1) always keep your eyes open for deals online( I benefited greatly from spirit air and groupon).

2) See if you can stay over at a friends place.

3) Try to cook your own food.

4) last but not the least, find out all about the availability of local transport( The miami-dade transit was my source)

Places to see!!

boshu — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:40:27 +0000

Bruhadeeshwara temple

tirupati fast passenger express

boshu — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 06:59:34 +0000

Of the many options I have had in the last three months, I have opted for the most economical ones for more than one reason.

You get to know people in their real sense only in scarcity. I could see the implications of this during my journey back to Bangalore in the passenger train. Sunday evenings always call for a larger crowd in the train and with a fare of a meager Rs.22, you can imagine how tempting it might be for people to travel via this train. With little knowledge that the train would get crowded as much as it did, I boarded the train soon after it reached the station. I didn’t realise how fortunate I was to get a seat till people started standing in our compartment. My compartment consisted of a mother with 2 young children.

Slowly more people entered and pushed the childrem to the edge and occupied every inch of space available and everyone squeezwed themselves to give space to others. Among them was one couple. They did not know the local language but only hindi. When I enquired something in Hindi, the lady excited and asked me about by wheere abouts reported the status of their children and remembered the times when her daughter was in my state and blessed me when I had to leave.

By the end of the trip I got something I hadn’t got for a long time…Love and respect from the most unexpected quarters..

10 years back!

boshu — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 07:55:31 +0000

I looked at the world with rose-tinted glasses.
I was still exploring my neighbourhood.
I would go to my grandparents house very often and everytime I won some prize. Now I don’t win prizes(because I don’t participate in any competition.)
I was a crazy school going kid with all the idealism on earth.
I ate curd-rice for lunch almost everyday.
My grandmother’s home was full of life. My grandfather was alive and he would appreciate me for all my small accomplishments.
I had someone to tell me that I looked like a princess(my grandfather).
I was almost completely absorbed in improving my musical skills(carnatic classical music).
I just dreamt of eating ice-cream.(My father was very scared my throat would go sore again).

I had just become an R.K.Narayan fan. I dreamt of becoming a writer oneday.

I had multiple career dreams.

I was pretty scared of talking to boys.

I was less accepting of the westernised society.

Books I have read in the last 3 months!

boshu — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:07:12 +0000

For the last 3 months, my only reliable source of entertainment has been books from my institute library. The experience takes me back a few years because I had lost the practice of borrowing books from a library and reading a few years back.

Now, I feel the same peace I felt during my peaceful years of existence.

Coming to the books I read:

1) It’s not about the Bike by Lance Anderson:

This is the autobiography of Lance Amstrong, the cyclist. It is a story of a man who has founght against many difficult odds in life and can inspire a reader to be ready to face life the way it is.

2) Google Story : I didn’t finish this book. the first chapters talk about Larry Page and Sergey Brin. No comments beyond this.

3) The last lecture: i liked this book. I finished reading it in one day. Actually I got my hands on this book before it coould be donated to the library.

4) Salt and Sawdust: My favourite author, R.K.Narayan is the author of this story which is a part of a larger collection. I loved the story. I kept smiling for a few days after reading this.
5) Brahmins and Bungalows: This book is not about brahmins, it is a travalogue by a partially Indian Author( I mean her origin). I like the book because it talks about Bangalore and Mysore. Even otherwise the book makes a good read because the author takes you to a different world. My only complaint is the bias of the author towards Europeans throughout the book.

List to be updated soon

reminiscences of a lecturer!

boshu — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 04:36:03 +0000

Being a lecturer is something but being a 24 year old lecturer(according to me) is completely another.

As a student now, I am surprised at myself when I look back at what I was then. One thing that is still etched in my mind is my schoolmates heartfelt opinion(which he expressed loudly to his fiancee) that I was still a kid and wearing sarees. I had got so used to wearing sarees to work that I had started wearing them even at home on festival days.

The first batch of students I taught is special to me. It is special for me because I had a very good time. I had a good time because everything seemed to be working in my favour. Here’s one of my best moments with them:

” The first international T20 series in cricket(In which India won) had just ended the previous day with India winning the Finals in a nail-biting match against Pakistan.

If I had to explain further, it was because of Sreesanth’s catch that India won the cup.If not for Sreesanth, the ball would have gone for a six and turned the match to Pakisthan’s favour. That was the time when Shahrukh Khan was revelling in his success after “Chak de India” and had come to cheer the team.

Back to college, internals was over a couple of days before and I had finished correcting all the papers and found that my students of IS class had not come close to performing to my expectation inspite of a lot of important questions being given before the test and revisions.

When I went to class the morning after the T20 finals, I asked all the students who had watched the match the previous day to raise their hands. Almost the whole class lifted their hands in the Euphoria of having watched the match. Then I asked them the match changing moment and told them that they are the Sreesanths who don’t catch the ball because they got distracted looking at Shahukh Khan. To my surprise , the whole class laughed and clapped at this analogy.

The point I was trying to drive across to them was that they were not focused and that could make a lot of difference.

This for some reason is one of my best moments(of many) as a lecturer. These are the moments that make me feel that I would not trade that experience for anything else.

Protected: my ancient dreams!!

boshu — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 09:58:17 +0000

This post is password protected. You must visit the website and enter the password to continue reading.

Carnatic classical Vocalists I like!

boshu — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 04:19:57 +0000

To me listening to music is emotional listening. I have come across too many people asking me to identify ragams and so on and so fortgh when I am attending a concert or a programme.

Frankly, I don’t beleive I have to be able to do any of this to enjoy the music.
Carnatic classical music is definitely secientific. I mean there is a lot of maths and science in it.
But that is not why I like it. I like it for teh sheer strength it has and it’s feel when you listen to it and the person I feel I am when I listen to it. I believe it is a part of my identity.

Coming to the vocalists I love listening to, I am going to list present artistes. The Vocalists of today.

1. Ranjini and Gayathri: Defifinitely they top the list for me. I like their voices. The marathi Abhangs they sing is rather famous and that is one more thing I like about them.

2. Sanjay Subramanian: To me, he is an energetic singer. I feel the atmosphere is filled with life and energy when he sings.

3. Sudha Raghunathan: Her voice is great. I liek to listen to her sing Muthuswami dikshithar krithis and Thyagaraja Keerthanais.

4. M.S. Sheela :

There are many more Carnatic Vicalists I like but I will stop with Four for now.

Coming to my favourite, I like the Thaygaraja Aradhana and the melange of voices I hear when so many musicians get together to render the 5 precious gems i.e. the pancharathna krithis.
On any day this will remain my favourite(the chorus singing Pancharathna krithis)

My favourite poem!!

boshu — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:49:01 +0000

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;	5

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,	10

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.	15

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.	20

Right now, this moment, for quite sometime now, I have been able to relate to this poem like anything

Movies I watched in the last 2 weeks!

boshu — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 05:38:46 +0000

Get smart: Even though I don’t watch English movies in a theatre, I wathed this one. I liked the movie. I liked Moscow also. It makes a good watch. Should watch this movie with right company.

Jaane tu ya jaane na: Unlike what the reviews said, this movie is not so realistic or it would be realistic to a very small group of people. nobody in this movie worries about marks or jobs through out their college life and are always partying and going out.

Yet it is a good movie because it can keep you absorbed to the storyline.