The most beautiful room in the world

Now onto my second day, it was time to actually enter a few buildings. I already had a lot of outdoor time when it was nice and sunny on my first day. Today I decided to spend time in the US capitol and the library of congress. Being in the US capitol was like entering a US political museum. Most striking in this building were the statues of great men and women of this country. There are number of them all around the Capitol. Also, it is appropriate that they have been donated from each and every state in this country. I was just happy I was able to find the only one from illinois. The ceiling in the Rotunda in the center of the Capitol building receives a special mention. I think people actually tripped because their faces were stuck looking upwards. The cool part was the room just below the Rotunda which had a star marking the center of the DC city.

But, the day undoubtedly belonged to the Library of congress. The jefferson buling of the library in particular. This 100 year old structure has the most beautiful ceilings and walls decorated with phrases and painting in every nook and corner. When I joined the general tour, the guide started by saying that there were 3 jewels of this place. The bible of mainz and the gutenberg bible (among the set of the first ever printed manuscripts) and the main reading room. We were told that it was a federal crime to click pictures of these 3 items. It was a good thing then that I had already photographed the 2 bibles before joining the tour ;). The tour ended with the party heading to the main reading room overlook. I had just finished admiring the marble painting that stood outside the doors then BAMM!!!!!! I see THE ROOM. I mean the guides always say that you are going to see the most beautiful thing in the world but this time the dude was right. Magnificent, Stunning, Spectacular are some of the words I will use to describe it. Due to my proximity to the guide there was no way it waas going to be possible for me to click a picture over here. But I had to get into the room for sure so that could stare around as long as I wanted. I found out that you needed a researcher card to gain access and they were available in the next building. I walked across the street, as soon as my dead feet could carry and had my self a reader's card. So there I was, been in this country for 18 months and do not have a state ID, but am a registered member of the Library of congress ;) . Got to the reading room entrance and was faced with a library assistant who asked me what I was looking for. How could I tell her that I had no sodding clue? That I was just going to go in and stare open mouthed at the room. Eventually I put on a sage look and said I would like to have a look around before I decide. So there I was in this enormous reading room, with the most exquisite ceiling ever. I think more than anything what was most attractive about this singular room was that it was for pure joy of reading. You sit there with your laptop (another of your favourite items) and scores of books surround you, not to mention more than 100 million books, recording, paper, movies in the 17 storeys under you. There I was staring around like a fool. I had to order something. So many movies, songs and books that I know off. Anything, something would come to mind. But the stupid brain freezes at the most inopportune times. Too many possibilities, and as is the custom with my brain when faced with too many options it just cannot decide. Somehow, 'kid in a candy store' phrase did not do justice to my predicament.

As I made my way back to the assistant I decided I would ask for something that would signify what I was feeling right then. So I went ahead and asked for a simple children stories book. Suffice is to say that my fascination with this room is not over yet. Time permitting I will surely make my way back here with a decision in mind. I know that they have brilliant rare books collection.

Day 2 statistics:
pics - 82
federal crimes - 2
reciepts - 2
thankyou's  3
welcome's - 1
tickets/passes - 4
places of interest - 8
soveniers - 2
expense - $19
new acquaintances - 4

The Solo Vacation Experiment, Day 1

After hearing about the madness of traveling solo from a number of individuals and being coaxed to travel alone by a select few I decided I will never know until I try myself.
So here it goes. My first try at  a  solo vacation. Subsequent blog entries will document findings about traveling solo. Maybe you guys would find something useful too.


Observations:

1. After getting down at ronald reagan national airport I proceeded to go towards the metro trains that leave from the airport. Over confident that I was in my map reading skills, I proceeded to pluck a train route map from the counter and spread it out to figure out how to get to the hostel. After 15 mins of staring at it and still not able to find my hostel on it I finally asked the guy at the desk to show the proper way. In the end it turned out it was just a single train and I would be there in 30 mins.
2. In my eagerness to get to the hostel I did find the right platform but boarded the wrong train. Went to some other part of town. It took the train reversing its direction for me realize that my stop would never come.
3. Had my snow shoes on since I thought it could snow in Washington. But Washington surprised with with a sunny warm and clear day. Unfortunately, walking all day in those heavy shoes took its toll.
4. Standing below the Washington monument was easily the best moment of the day. You could see the US capitol, White house and Lincoln memorial on each side. Not to mention a number of museums.
5. While asking people around for clicking a picture of myself, I came across a Indian family. Father was the one I asked for the favor. But uncle just gave me a withering stare and said "I am setting up my own camera".
6. After a tiring day, as I came back to the hostel, I encountered a Chinese dude in the elevator up to the 8th floor. Since we were both going to the same floor in the excruciating slow lift I decided to strike up a conversation. me:"Are you a student?". Him:"yes". me:"which university?" Him: "cornell". me:"cool" him:"what about you?"me: "UIC chicago". He obviously assumed university of chicago (The business school). him:"university of chicago. really?? how old are you?". I clarified that i was in UIC and then he concluded "Ohh. Then its okay". We both proceeded to our separate beds in our dorm. Suffice to say I am not talking to 1 person in my room.
7. For dinner, decided to find the nearest pot belly, but ended up at this burger joint. Great burgers. Horrible fries.

Inference:

1. When in a new city, always ask the professionals for directions from the airport.
2. Going to the right platform does not guarantee the right train. When the LED board blinks yellow all the time it means its yellow line train and not blue.
3. Always carry light shoes when a lot of walking is involved.
4. No matter how tired you are or how much your legs hurt from heavy shoes, the sight of a beautiful monument still takes your breath away.
5. Dont ask people to click your pictures when they are setting up their own cameras
6. While conversing with people in a hostel just say you are a student, no need to ask or tell about universities.

Day 1, statistics:
pics - 90
reciepts - 8
(pics taken by other people) thankyou's  - 7
(pics taken of others) - welcome's - 8
tickets - 2
places of interest - 8
soveniers - 2
expense - 63
people befreinded - 0

The Random Photo Theory

A photogrph - technically a record of a specific scene made possible by the wonders of light. More commonly. it is a medium by which we document key moments in life. Its the most common way to keep track of the good times. Keep track of the important times. Your first walk. Your first prize. Your graduation. First trip. Special days in school and college. Trip to your dream destination. Farewells and reunions. Your marriage. The list goes on. Consider for a moment that you are dealing with photo albums. Suppose you have a album of life. The pictures mentioned above would more than likely make the list.

But those are not the pics I want to talk about. With the advent of digital photography its become very convinient to take pictures anytime anywhere. With internet its become even easier to share them. Something that has emerged out of the widespread use of mobiles is the ability of people to take pictures of even the most trivial scenes. Its become possible to take photos of even the most mundane things in everyday life. Random photos. Very few actually do this though and even fewer usually amass a huge collection of these photos over time. This has resulted in a common section on everyone's web album collections. Its called random pics.

This blog entry is inspired by these sections. You see, I dont think people fully realise the importance of these albums. Too much importance is given to the album of life. Those moments in the album of life. Your marriage. Your graduation. Standing beside a millenium old monument. They are all unforgettable experiences. A photograph of those moments is for commemoration rather than remembrance.

A random photo on the other hand, is something very trivial. A photo of your friends in the canteen. Of you with your co-workers on a project. A  photo of you and your friends or family hanging about the house doing nothing. Some pics you don't even realised were taken at the time. The ones for which you never posed with a 32 teeth smile. Of the time you were drunk and went crazy. Of the time you and your friends played a impromptu game in the class during break hours. That picture of you when you were working on a terribly difficult project for class all night. These too, were enjoyable times. Good times. Times you reminisce about when you get together with your near and dear ones after a long time. Times in your lives that are always behind the anecdotes that come up in conversation during reunions.

As we grow older, and start having more pictures in the album of life, the more we forget the pictures that would have made the random album. The scenes, pictures of which would have made the random album are slowly but surely forgotten kept alive merely by our memory of them once in a while. Though the photos in the album of life form the major landmarks in your life, the pictures that make the random album depict most of your life. There is perhaps a greater need to capture these moments in time.

Your favorite hang out spot as a kid. The classroom of your favorite subject as  a teen. The place where you did major work as an adult. The place where you first met most of your friends. The first time you hit bull's eye on the dart board but nobody believed you ;). The large consignment of groceries that was required for all the people you shared your first apartment with. Will all make an appearance only in the random album.

So if these moments are important to you, start taking pictures. Increase the size of that random album, because its these moments that are sure to fade away and that need most protection.

The overlooked song principle

Just the other day, out of boredom I was listening to relatively old music albums in my list. You know, something we all do. We create these huge list of albums and then listen to our favourite ones time and again. Before you know it, you have a enormous playlist. The playlist is comprised of songs of particular genre you like, songs for different moods you are in, songs you have for special ocassions, some songs you have no idea how they got there and some that you have just lost interest in over time. It rarely happens that we like every song in a given album. But still we preserve all the songs in the album to maintain a collection. My process is no different. It just so happened this day that I veered from normal routine and I choose a song I never paid attention to from one of my favouite albums last year. I suppose the other songs were so well known I didn't think twice to listen to others on the list, or maybe I did but never liked it when I heard it after the popular ones. Maybe, at that time I just wasn't into these kind of songs. This was the 'overlooked song'. This time I tried it, and surprise!!! loved it even more than the popular ones I used to listen to. I liked it so much, it was on a continuous loop for a better part of the night.

It got me thinking, how much this applies even to other things in our life. A good example is the people in our lives. Just like different albums, we come across different kinds of people throught our lives at different stages of our lives. We have people from school, college, work, family, leisure activities etc. Just like with songs we have special criteria on which we make a playlist of people in our life. People we share common interests with, people we are attracted to, certain people that seem attractive at a particular stage in life, people we work with, etc. Consider your life to be giant playlist of people. Every environment (family, college, work) you encouter is an album. Every person in a given environment is then a song in that album. Based on our frame of mind, our moods, our needs, our thinking at the stage of life when we encounter that environment we selection of favorites. We select people that we think best suit us at that time. We area attracted to individual who we think would gel the best with us. It's like with a friendlist on a social networking site, a set of mobile phone contacts, a list of contacts on your chat list, a group of people you encounter frequently in either classes or work or day to day lives. Depending on our supposed preferences we have a mental check list and from each of the lists above only a few people ever make the grade. Just like with the songs that you loose interest in over time, there will be a list of people just present on many of the lists above withwhom we loose interest over time or they are just there and we never felt the need to interact even once after adding them. They will be just like the 'overlooked song' I came across accidentally. Just like the overlooked song they might turm out awesome too.

Its all good to have those favorites. But it never hurts to add to the list either. Just like with our taste in music, we usually change over time. People we overlooked in the past might be surprisingly fascinating if given a shot. Maybe they were already our type, but we never noticed. Just like with the overlooked song from my list, we could have another favorite on our people playlist.

So next time you are at work, go chat up the co-worker you just nodded greetings at in the past. Next time you are in class, go talk to the classmate whom you have shared many classes with but never talked too. Ping the person who has been on your chat list for years since you added them but never chatted with. You might be pleasantly surprised :) .

Rohanisms

Disclaimer: These are original thoughts of the author of this blog. Any resemblance to quotes floating around is just a simple case of 'great minds thinking alike' ;) .


Rohanism #1 : More often than not, you are judged by your interactions with strangers, so make each one count.

Rohanism #2 : Everyone is capable of interesting engaging thoughts, sadly very few actually write them down.


Rohanism #3 : Normally, people are neither good nor bad, niether better nor worse. They are just different from who you are.

Rohanism #4 : Everything works out in the end or everyone just learns to make their peace with the outcome


Rohanism #5 : I am quite the people's person, I just need the right people to be that person with


Rohanism #6 : People will never know who you are until you show them

Still in Love

Its 5am in the morning. I am awake and on my laptop. Seems like any other night. Though this was not any other night. I just had to check the weather on google to know what was special about the night. There was predicted snow!!! So there I went, trudging along the living room, to the window to check if it had started snowing yet and behold there it was, a white blanket over the trees and street below my apartment. Bummed out as I was to miss the start, there was no way I was going to miss anymore. This thought itself surprised me more than anything else. After the harsh winter my first year in Chicago, I thought my Indian born brain would not hold any novelty for the phenomena and my Indian born body would not be happy at all to see it again. How wrong was I?

As I later remarked to my roommate, it was as if I had no memory of the first snow from last year. It was the same juvenile excitement and sense of wonder that had struck me about a year ago. I still wanted to be first one to make the first tracks on the snow, still wanted to click pictures at places I would usuallu not give a second glance to and still wanted to take a long walk to the university campus just like last year. Who cared If I was going to have grueling exams for the next 4 days. This just had to be done. All I had to do was wake up my roommate (which he already was) and in the next half hour (after making sure we had all the ingredients for our excursion jackets, peanuts, chocolates, camera) we were on our way.

Moving from a town house to a normal apartment in a dark street, we had always feared the lack of view. But the dark narrow street in front of our apartment did not dissapoint. It did allow us to make the first few tracks on the freshly fallen snow. And like I told my roommate, a new place was just a prelude to a new set of beautiful views. It is probably why I have come to like this season so much. The fact that a single color adds so much beauty to any landscape. It has the potential to convert ordinary pictures into postcards. You can have the best smells during the first rain and have a myriad of colors with spring, but there is something angelically wonderful about a landscape blanketed with first snow.

We walked the few blocks to our university campus clicking pictures along the way. In a few minutes we were at our destination, the university hall. If you want to experince the best of the current weather on campus, in UIC, then this is the place to be. As has become our custom, we clicked our pictures and ate our snack (we graduated from energy biscuits last year to peanuts and chocolates this year ;) ). Then just took the sight in for a few minutes. I even put my tongue out in true dog like fashion to taste the snow (which was tasty and salty btw).

Finally it was time to turn back. A coffee from starbucks would have just put a cherry on top of a brilliant hour. But alas, in our excitement, both of us forgot our wallets. But when you get to see first snow both in the dark as well as daybreak, lack of coffee is just a minor hindrance.

As I later realised back in my room with a warm mug of french vanilla coffee in my hand, the best part was perhaps the fact that I enjoyed the whole thing as if it were my first time out in the snow. The realisation that perhaps I had not lost my sense of wonder, did make me satisfyingly content in some wierd way.

What about you guys?? tell me about your first snow experience or second or next......
Don't like snow, then tell me about your favourite season :)

Windows 7 Compatibility

If you know enough about me then you know I am a microsoft lover through and through. They did restore my faith with windows 7. But still skeptics have complained about its compatibility with all the useful software that they use. So, here is something that would lessen their pain. A comprehensive list of programs and their compatibity with Windows 7. So next time you install a huge piece of software you can check this list first.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=890e522e-e39e-4278-aebc-186f81e29173

The 'RIGHT TIME'?

The motivation behind this post is the curiosity of people about my relationship status.
As is her custom every few months, a very good 'chat pal' was again on the same topic the other day. She was convinced about the fact that I was lying about my non-existent better half and later proceeded to try and convince me that it was high time I start looking. Is she right? Am I missing the bus? Should I really be serious about this? IS there such a thing as a 'RIGHT TIME' for this venture?

Since, I have so many friends better experienced in this field, I thought why not throw the question out. Why not gain from their experience. First thing I did, I looked at all my friends trying to figure out when they got involved, why they got involved? Why even some of them wanted/want to get involved?

Certain responses for the motivation to get involved:
"I just can't stay lonely anymore. I need someone to share my life"
"You sit at work 12 hours a day then you will know"
"I need sex atleast twice a week"
"I think I am ready"
"Bas ab shaadi karni hai"

I distinctly remember laughing after each reply ;). There were many reasons due to which people came to a conclusion that they should have that special someone. Though I have never come to a similar conclusion ever in life, I do wonder about one thing. Is there a 'RIGHT TIME' for people to feel like this? Should you feel this way at a certain age, at a certain stage in life, etc Is there something wrong with you if you don't feel that way? Though my inexperience with relationships should disqualify me from any such discussions, I think my inexperience itself gives me a unique perspective on this topic. It allows me to think about it objectively,  without any bias. I don't think everyone has this urge. And people can stay quite happy without someone special. Do you agree? Or are people like me just kidding themselves?

Note: People who recognize their own quotes, and are thinking of ways to punish me should be thankful I did not use any names ;) .

Holiday Wishlist

A Holiday Wishlist!!! I think everyone should have one during the holiday season. So here is mine (ahem... a post for all my rich friends out there, if you like me very much and want to show your appreciation I wouldn't mind one of these).

1. dunder miflin cap
2. Ruskin bond books
3. Pocket projectors
4. T-shirts from thinkgeek
5. Bump top pro
6. Telescope
7. A recliner couch
8. Wii with LCD screen

As you can see, I am a human being with very simple and basic needs ;)
Reply with you own. Who knows, maybe I am in a generous mood ;)