Pooled..

 

 Of course Im a pooler (or is it pool player?), trying my luck in a different way. Afterall I think that was the third or fourth time I ever took the stick in my hand. This was from a mid summer evening when we decided to stop over at a local bar near office after work. Had to knock down a few glasses to get to this point. I mean the pool is free unless you order "something" at the bar!

Rear Window...

We used to live in the central part of Madison about 2 miles from downtown at a place called Sherman Terrace. One group was on the far east side and another on the far west side of the city. So, every time we had to get together in the city, it had to be in my apartment on the third floor of the building. And more over there were two groups here. So all four groups (Praveen, Shamanth, Subhadra, Me) got together to go Mad in Madison!

This one is from one winter morning when I looked down from my apartment window at the parking lot, our toys appeared to be getting together in snow! The window was my weather forecast. One needs some kind of weather forecast in Madison for sure, trust me.

Wow, Cake..?? I think its my birthday today!

Siddhu(my nephew) is always ready with candles everytime some one brings a cake to his home. So basically he celebrates his birthday almost once every month. This was from one of his countless birthday parties and he dint even care about changing his school uniform. I remember, the first time I ever cut a cake on my birthday, the candles counted 24 and I had to go to US to see that miracle. Not that we couldnt afford it in the family, but we never cared to. So much that we dont know our Mom's birthday even to this date. Although she used to make sure we had new clothes and chocolates to distribute every year in school.

Birdy Garland

 

While crossing a busy road in Ameerpet, I heard a loud flapping sound  from above and when I turned up my head a flock of pigeons have just landed side-by-side on the wires that connected electric poles on either side of  the road. Suddenly I thought on that November cloudy evening in the midst of a busy traffic a few meters above the ground what those pigeons were thinking about, staring down!

Some day I will...

But this was not that day. This was on a winter day when me and my buddy were waiting at a strip joint in Madison. It was very cold and I saw this piano place called Steinway. So, we thought why not get in and wait. There were very beautiful pianos ranging from brands to grands and this one here is a grande piano that was close to... wait for it........
A Million Dollars!!

Free Ticket..

I once got a free ticket to a base ball game. A lot of people from my office joined too as these tickets were given away at work. I mostly went there because my buddies from work were going. Still I was missing my gang. So when I reached the ground I asked around my circle and managed to earn two more tickets for my friends Praveen & Shamanth. They started off, but I did not see them until a few hours after the game when they had to pick me up from a bar and take me home. Guess what ! 
Free Drinks too at the game!!

Bowled Up!

 

Yeah, thats me and probably thats the highest score I ever reached in bowling. Neither me nor my friends believed when I was throwing strike after strike. Ofcourse I never saw this kind of score again after that.

After a long time away from my home town (in US) Omaha, one fine day in the summer of 2008 I decided to drive home. I couldnt hold back my excitement all the way from Madison to Omaha in a 500 mile drive that lasted almost 10hrs. It was as if I was coming back to my real home in Hyderabad, nostalgia wise!

And the best part of it was that I was with my brother and my bro Pandu. I think may be the happiness and the excitement worked up a bit in pushing to the limits of scoring strike-after-strike at Mocking Bird Lanes, our favorite bowling spot.

Atomic Energy Central School - 3 (TIFR)

                 After a long long time recently I went back to my alma mater AECS-III also called TIFR as there were 2 other branches. Located in woods behind ECIL near ECIL cross roads. A melange of emotions run through my heart just to see the state in which the building was. I never would have even dreamt of seeing this great institution in such a state. Once bustling with hundreds of students in the morning and afternoon batches with long prayers, four different groups of students identified by their flaps (green, yellow, red, blue) practicing sports, dance, rangoli, quiz for competitions during weekend spelled Saturday then. Now Deserted, Wild, Locked up from outside world and almost rotting! A few years back they closed our school combining students from other branches into one place. Ofcourse only a handful of students now, with the emergence of many private, so called competition oriented concept schools that have IIT, EAMCET, AIEEE coaching integrated, differentiated what not!! They have all things for the future exams but unfortunately they dont have anything for the present school life like a play ground, sports, cultural activities. How sad. 

              6th class was my most favorite year in school. We used to have a lot of substitution periods as almost every day some lecturer missed their schedule. And most of these were substituted for PT or Library. If ever I had a chance to go back in time, I would definitely go to my 6th class.....

My first Guitar....

As most any kid, in my childhood I had quite a liking for guns and guitars. In my drive of fulfilling all childhood dreams I finally bought a guitar back in the Fall of 2007. I was finally working in a full time job and had time to spend on my hobbies and dreams. So, after searching rigorously, I found a second-hand electric guitar for $120 on craigslist. I called up and the lady delivered it at my apartment. It came with a full packed box including an amplifier, extra string set, a bag and a pick. Me and my friends had a lot of fun trying to play it, but no notable notes ever. I learned that for a beginner you should go with an acoustic guitar which is easy to start unlike electric that has a lot of controls and is a bit complicated. I gave it to my brother when I moved back home. So, the best use I had with it was to have a couple of pictures!!

Over the top and....Over night too!!

Place: Minneapolis
Time: Around 5PM in December 2008
Altitude: Too high to count!

A day after the snow in the city, I had a connecting flight from Madison to Omaha from Minneapolis.  Unfortunately the weather became worse in Omaha due to rain and the flight had to take a U-turn just a few minutes before landing back to Minneapolis and I had to spend the rest of the night in the airport with quite a few people from other flights. It was rough, especially when I remembered my first trip to Minneapolis in the summer of 2006 when I was with my troop having a blast. Little did I know that it was going to get worse in the morning. I missed two flights and had to wait all day in the Chicago airport to finally reach Omaha more than 24hrs delayed to my friends graduation ceremony. I made it to the last round of drinks, just in time!

Speeding Up Together

It was summer of 2008 and my first brother-in-law came to Pennsylvania for a 2 month official trip. He visited us in Madison over a weekend and the first thing we did was to drive to Chicago. It was my second trip to Sears Tower, the third tallest building in the world in Chicago. And while editing this post I realized they changed the name to Willis Tower in 2009 after more than 35 years since its construction. The interesting fact to observe while in the elevator to the top of the building is that it goes up in just almost one minute. I wonder what speed it travels. They should make it a glass door lift just to experience its power. Im sure most people wouldn't feel comfortable to see that.

What, Where, When, How...??????

 Its amazing to observe things around us and wonder if they ever say anything to us. One winter morning I rushed to office, threw my gloves on my desk and went to get a cuppa coffee. When I came back to my desk, I saw my gloves and for a moment I felt they were trying to say something to me and from their body language it appeared they were questioning me. And a lot of questions went through my mind about them and about myself.  I wondered if they were asking me why I treat them so roughly. My gloves were very warm and soft. I never used to take them off  when outdoors and so they got ripped pretty bad after a while. My desire for gloves goes back as long as I can remember. They somehow make your hands more powerful in a mysterious way. Its like not yours, but you control it as if its yours.


PS: A second delay in my PAD and I dont hope/plan/wish to make a third.

On the way from work...

I cant believe I missed my PAD project the very second day itself...damn me! So, just to make it up to you, heres a small hand made bouquet from hand picked flowers that I found on the way home from work one day. It was the Fall of 2007 and the trees started glowing with bright colors and weather was slowly becoming cooler. Its a 2 minute walk from the bus stop to my apartment and I couldnt ignore the flowers and couldnt resist picking them. There were a lot of different varieties and some were abnormally large. I took these home and spent some time trying to make a bouquet. Since there was nobody I could give it to then, I took a picture. They lasted only an hour I think. Of course I sent the photo to one of my office friend's whom I planned to give the bouquet in the first place. I would post about her one day, stay tuned!
By the way PAD expands to Photo A Day!!

Happy Birthday..... 5th Siddhu!

 

This year marked the 5th birthday of my nephew Siddhu AKA Venkat Siddharth on 16th January. Incidentally it was my second brother-in-law (Kishore)'s birthday too, although I dint bother to ask the number of candles they used. Cycle or Bicycle has been a significant object of desire in my childhood life and occasionally even now. All my school days went in dreaming about riding my own Hero Ranger cycle one day. Every time my Dad used to make a deal of getting first rank for a cycle. And every time I won, he used to suffice the deal with a poor compromise like buying me a silver ring with a pearl (yeah, right I loved rings), buying a second hand lady's BSA SLR or a second hand HERO cycle. At that time I decided that I will buy a cycle with my own money one day. So, finally when I got settled in a full time job in 2007 half way across the globe from my home, I started searching for the best deal. To my surprise I realized, Madison, WI seemed to be the bike (US bicycle) capital. Every body in summer set out on bikes during evenings and weekends. Its amazing to see the whole family going beside the road together each on their own bike- one for day, one for mom, one for sister, one for brother and one for the little brother. Obviously there were series of bike shops that had a wide range of bikes. It took me a week to research and convince myself to afford a bike for $230. But when I told this to my colleagues at work, I got disappointed to learn that the winter was about to start and its not worth to spend so much for a bike. Theres no way one can ride a bike during winter in Madison, trust me, I have been there! So I managed to get a third hand bike for $50. It was good too, for those few days during the fall of 2007. So technically I never bought a brand new bicycle until 

Siddhu's birthday this year. Happy Birthday dude and thanks!

Happy Valentines Day and...

A Happy New year 2010. Unlike the past few New Year occasions, I was with family this time. It was my Sister and her cutefull kids.

I promised that I would be there on new years eve with them. Although little after the mid night blast, I had to come back to my place for the never-ending-editing work on my first short film. Incidentally I finished the final editing for my second one today.

Some how we try to make huge plans for regular occasions, yet we miss to celebrate it with regular people. The most regular being Family. I have been missing them for quite a while now, yet it would never be as it used to be.

On the brighter side, this blog is dedicated to a "friend" of mine as Valentines Day present. I hope to make it every day till the next! 
Wish Me Luck!!