Moving ...and Independence Day

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Dekh liya hamne jug saara,

Apna ghar he sabse pyara.

Literally translating, I have seen all the world, but still my home is the loveliest! Did you ever feel like that? Staying in luxurious hotels and travelling in best transport also can not provide the feeling of calmness and relaxation that you feel as soon as you step into your home, irrespective of how dirty/small etc. it may be. That is when the pain of moving and shifting house becomes more acute. But was Tang Hall at MIT was my home? Perhaps not, for I will not be able to consider graduate dorm as my house however long I stay there. But still memories will stay, particularly due to unmatachable company of my roommates, who unfortunately have to split in new dorm. Lets see what goes on in my new, and even humbler, adobe at Ashdown!



India observed its 58^th Independence Day last Sunday. I have peculiarly uncommon penchant for such events compared to people of my generation. Perhaps my sentimentality has to do something here. That is why I was so happy yesterday when Sangam at MIT celebrated it, first time ever, in such a grand and indulging way. My short visit to Indian Association of Greater Boston's (IAGB) India-Day also elevated my spirits due to its familiar atmosphere of thousands of Indians dressed in their traditional best enjoying multicoloured cultural show.

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Los Angeles Visit

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I really don't think it is worth mentioning as one of my outings here since I did not had chance to visit any of the tourists places! I happened to go bollywood of America as part of a project meeting with Department of Transportation, Los Angeles for two days. But the schedules was so tight with meeting and travel that I did not see anything except my hotel and conference room :(



Some of the things, which are mentionable during this trip, include a high-technology real time traffic control center of LA and convoluted and dense freeway network of LA. Spread in a small office Advanced Traffic Surveillance And Control (ATSAC) of LA hosts about two dozens of computer displaying real time sensor information and live cameras strategically located at various intersections of road network. Seeing such a setting was much more impressive than reading about it, and make me wonder if the driver on the road really know that some person are working hard in real time to reduce their travel time and delays?

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Six Flags Trip

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June 25^th, 2004. Group Size: 7
Pictures here

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I really don't feel like writing a detailed chronology of my Six Flags Trip, though I have included it here to complete my travelogues. In short, seven of us drove from Boston to Six Flags, New England on sunny Sunday morning on July 25^th at about ten and reached there at noon after 70 miles of travel. Slow initial start due to failure to print entry tickets beforehand and consequent trifle problems rendered us hungry enough to jump on the lunch as soon as we reached there. And the real fun began soon after. Though we surely did not optimize our itinerary in use of various ride available at Six Flags; Vikrant, Rags, Emily and me had a wonderful and vibrant company to enjoy all rides to fullest.

We started with "Scream" which is a open lift kind of ride which first elevates you to very great heights and then drops - freely under gravity, till just above the ground. Trickling sensation in stomach and sense of free fall were both scary and thrilling. Next we went to "Superman ride of steel" which is prime attraction of Six Flags. After long wait for more than one hour - courtesy to unusual mechanical failure - we had an opportunity to ride one of the fastest roller coasters in world. This being my first ride on roller coaster was most memorable experience worth the hour-long excruciating wait. Most of people were letting their body swing freely under centrifugal/centripetal forces during ride while I was miserably trying to keep my body straight, which resulted in temporary neck-ache!

After that we were thrilled to ride another roller coaster, called "Brain Eraser", which even turns you upside down! Though it really seemed much more scarier before we experienced it, subsequent trial eliminated the fear since it was somehow less fearful than "Superman" one. Next we tried some of water sports, which unfortunately, some of us, including me, could not relish to our hearts content due to our failure to get swimsuits with us. However we were not deterred, and Abhinandan and me just stripped from top and folded our jeans to "look like" swimming trunk! After lots of coaxing and cajoling to service attendant to let us go with jeans we enjoyed couple of rides which eventually meant sliding down from about three storey height in water tunnel! Our unawareness of the fact that water sports were available only till 7:00pm in evening left us desiring for more. Did I mention that we also one small boat jump over waterfall?

Among other rides, we also enjoyed "Giant Wheel", which is just like normal circular ride, and that too, utter disappointment of eager ones among us, was very slow. Nevertheless, I must admit that this was one of the most fun filled outings I had in Boston. Watching things a tourist in Niagara Falls and New York is one thing and doing things is another! I love Six Flags :)

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My Weblog

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My previous weblog was hosted on Rediff blogs at http://ashishg.rediffblogs.com. I just had this account to write in for Sangam weblogs. Anyway, here let me recount some of the advantages and disadvantages of Rediff Blogs and Blogger.



Blogger.com is obviously designed for blogs specifically, and hence it has most of the interesting features, and many of them are useful for an average blogger like me. However what I like particularily on blogger.com is the WYSWYG posting so that you can compose and edit your posts in all coloursful formats without knowing html language. Also one can get email notification when a visitor leaves a comment on the posting which is lacking on rediffblogs.com, and which is very important feature. Another useful features, though not particularly of interest to me, are ability to post on server other than blogger.com, detailed profile of blogger, more templates to chose from etc.



However though I dislike the absence of the comment-notification feature in rediffblogs.com, I like the ability to categorize your posts into various groups, which is unavailable in blogger.com. Apart from this rediff doesn't have any advantage, and hence, I shifted from rediffblogs to blogger.com.



All these differences are, of course, assuming that, you don't want to do major overhauling of script.

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