going to the mattresses

in just over a fortnight i take on a bull thats charging at me....i have done little by way of preparing myself...woke up today and decided that its time to dig those trenches deep...

needless to say, i plan on maintaining silence till i emerge...bruised and wiser....

trip to MA, RI: Dec 10 - Dec 14, 2005

with my mind made up to recharge, i headed to the north-east....travelling in winter to the north-east...yes i should have reconsulted with my marbles...[what marbles?]...the plan was simple - land in Providence, RI, head to Worcester, MA and visit Boston while there...needless to say 4-days of chilling out...

Saturday night - Taps picks me up at the airport and we head back to her place...mutton biryani awaits me and i know she has done some heavy-duty cooking to welcome me...coz the car smells...Indian cuisine definitely knocks the wind out of all those perfumes out there.. i meet her roomie Ty and he is one of the few Americans i know who isn't excited about Indian cuisine...if anyone needs clarifications on blazing, he is the guy methinks..the food was excellent [and yes Taps, i promise to make you cook more the next time we meet]

Sunday - lunch at one of the desi boys' house - snacks, apertif and greasy food...a couple of chilled out dudes exist....and then there were mid-way desi converts*...irrespective of how inconsequential and predictable [repeat telecasts included] a particular game is, they will not yield to changing the channel to watching something as neutral as Tom and Jerry even...bear in mind that most of those in the room don't understand/follow/care about American football and have politely suggested changing the channel....if these guys decide to settle down in the land of opportunities, they sure will bond with their sons over a game of football, some weak American beer and NFL drawings....

i had never really eaten sushi....if you are saying 'OH MY GOD!!' - i am not a big fan of seafood....shoot me...so Taps and Ty decide that its imperative that i eat good sushi and we go to Mikado...an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet dinner....i am not hungry even but i loaded up the plate coz you see they are all such teeny-weeny bites...and then you learn again how looks can be deceptive....even a pea-size pearl-like shiny 'thing' [for i am not an expert on sea-life or dead sea-life must i say?] can potentially 'appease' your appetite quicker than a seven course meal....and i was brave enough to load up a second time...Ty and me were particularly Fear Factor-like about the caviar-sushi....we even said cheers, as though we were proceeding with a shot...shmucks that we are, shock came knocking....quickly followed by taste-bud holocaust....caviar is a delicacy just like sucking rotten eggs is your favorite pastime...what do i try next...hmm....how about fried shrimps on sticks - yummie right? breaded shrimp toasted to golden brown....yes yes it was tasty....only problem was that the shrimp was whole....imagine a shrimp head with black eyes on either side sitting on top of the stick....i had to but pause before i could eat it....now honestly i am not refined enough to know how it is to be eaten...hem and haw...then i notice over Ty's shoulder there is a Japanese [?] guy about to attack his shrimp-on-stick...i follow his cue and eat it the way it is supposed to be eaten...bite the darn head off and chew....rather tasty like the rest of the body...Ty went back for seconds and had to yank a solitary eye off the shrimp to see what the eye tasted like...he didn't say anything flattering...so i think i did alright....i left rather full, with the insides of my tummy resembling that of a whale which doesn't discriminate against sea weed, caviar, shrimp, salmon, tuna, blah blah blah....

Monday - Taps goes to school at Worcester Polytechnical Institute [WPI]...so one more school i get to visit....this is undoubtedly the geek school i have been to so far [even beats Harvard which i visited the next day]...no people standing around chatting...everyone focussed on academic shizit....a school newspaper thats called Tech News....even a snail isn't that lame...oh but the following picture will set to rest any doubts you might have about me awarding the geek-school crown to WPI....


[Dont dawdle dumbfounded
in a room full of elephants]



[Confront the
spectacle with
its own
irrelevance]


[Spectacle the
irrelevant confrontation
with or without its own]






that my friends is the ONLY scribbling on a restroom wall at WPI....the only one i saw...when i walk into the mens restroom and see clean walls i take an extra quick breath to check if they have been given a new coat of paint....no such luck....i have seen many doodles and enjoyed a few so far...but this solitary one at WPI just left me wondering how tempered my steel balls really were....no use of 'bitches', 'fuck', 'call me at 123456' variants....no diagrams of engineers trying to be fantasy conjuring, body redefining juveniles....i have seen and read a fair bit of abstract stuff but to this day i have no clue how to receive such unique bathroom 'literature'....

Thai for dinner at Worcester? WARNING: Worcester has only one Thai food place....if you are not looking for authentic Thai, then give it a shot...its good food but it just aint Thai enough..the nice thing though was that they had this sit-down place with one of those fancy cushions to sit on and a table at about the right height [full points for getting the height just right]...Taps wondered why they had a pit under the table and I thought it was for people who weren't comfortable sitting with their legs crossed [what with the strong affair Americans have with obesity..] and Ty thought it was an oil-changing pit for cars...which quickly drew my thoughts to Bangalore's Little Chef [a car garage turned into a Chinese "restaurant" - i could probably question the Chinese bit of it even]....and my litmus test of a Thai restaurant failed miserably...they had Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango on the menu but they were out of mangoes..."those bastards" [in true South Park style]...

what better way to chase Thai food down than a few hurricane-senoritas....Taps and me were first-timers and weren't digging the scene that much irrespective of all the trash Bettys' served up....truly many are the ways of picking up dollar bills...

Tuesday - on possibly the coldest day of my stay we venture out to Boston...Taps suggests i take fleece instead of a windcheater...biatch should have said "get both and more"....so i wont bother sprinkling this section anymore with how cold my frigid ass and blue balls were...Harvard University we quickly trot to...me more to get away from the blowing wind and Taps to dazzle me with her knowledge of the place...seems like a standard place...just another university...except for ol' John Harvard's statue with its shiny left shoe....supposedly if you wish to go to school at Harvard, you spit and polish the shoe....there sure are a lot of people who want to go to school there...as soon as i get my brain-freeze to go away, we step out and run into a nice little bar called the John Harvard Pub [no points on genuity]...nice place and its definitely worth a visit....[Bangaloreans might be reminded of Geoffreys]...soon we are joined by Ren and the three of us head to an Ethiopian food place a short train ride away...and i might as well add now that Boston's Park Street is proud to be the first subway in America...




the injeras were heavenly and the meal was a good fix after the sipping....Mike's Place, this supposed aum-nice dessert place, closed just as we got there....going by what i have heard, a trip to Boston in the future is imminent to check this place out and a few others....

Wednesday morning - a quick trip to Christmas Tree Shops...impossible low prices on decorations, food and just about anything you need for the house...couple of gift purchases later, we are enroute to the airport....minor alarm when Taps' car battery dies...another minor alarm when flight out of Providence gets cancelled...i am re-routed and still reach Albuquerque at the same time, with an extra stopover...no apologies, no upgrades - customer service is dead at Delta....guess they can afford that now that they are protected by all the benefits of declaring bankruptcy...

and no i still haven't been seated next to a nice woman who caught my interest while flying...the wait continues...

* desis who love American football, know the teams, know the players on the teams, know their darn game statistics and vital stats even, and are even into betting on some of the games....

maybe somewhat done

i am done with my coursework...well sort of...all that stands between the graduation walk in May 2006 and me is a dark monster called the comprehensive exam....shit-loads-of-studying stands in the red corner...baying for blood maybe?...the bell will have to wait till i return from a quick trip to the north-east..

time is most subtle at picking up and dropping its pace...the clock in my head says its a lot longer than two months since i travelled out of new mexico..the calendar on the wall says otherwise...in black and white...irrefutable...stoic...no other course of action but to lay down the sword....

off to work to fight a new battle now...

why blog?

a few reasons really....but since i am not particularly keen on going into it....how about a "why not"..