iMesmerized!

So, I got the iPhone finally (as you can see from the following post)! No doubts, it is just awesome and I'm loving every bit of it! Now, here's the interesting part. Whenever I'm in public talking on the phone, or just listening to music, people inadvertently stop me and ask me if it is as great as it is (Google for "Jesus phone" and you will know!) I just hand them over the Phone (observe the uppercase "P"), and they are just awe-struck!

Example? Here you go...this morning I was at a local Starbucks replying a call. I just finished talking when my turn came up in the line. Having finished my call, I followed the usual routine of hanging up (yawn!) and sliding the phone in to my pockets. That is when I saw a very eager curiosity on the face of the Starbucks employee. "So", he went, "Is it as good as everybody saying it is?!". I just handed out the phone to him and said "Check it out for yourself". He was so freakin' impressed by the phone, he gave me a free iTunes download card! Talk about the "perks" that come with having a cool phone! ; ) Another female employee there admired the phone and started questioning me how can the phone be so small, yet so cool! I told her that I'm not Jesus, and therefore I'm not obliged to answer anything about the Jesus Phone. : )

Now I guess I can TOTALLY and officially flaunt my iPhone in public more often and grab attention from people, especially the female folk, eh? ; ) Just kidding!

The iPhone Tempatation

The iPhone temptation was too hard for me to resist! After waiting for about four months, I finally got myself an iPhone. Needless to say, it is an amazing piece of hardware. I'm just loving the experience of surfing the Internet, reading email, watching YouTube videos -- all on this new device. Oh, I forgot! There is a phone in the same device. : )

I cant believe I waited this long to get this beauty! Awesome deal overall!!

PS: I wrote this blog entry from my new iPhone ; ) Cheers!

Yevgeny Yevtushenko

Yevgeny Yevtushenko, a famous Russian poet, was here at the University of Maryland. Today, he read some of his own poems in Russian! What a great event it was. Just imagine! a great Russian poet reading his own works...it is an experience you have to, well, experience yourself. Here's a photo of him reading one of his poems. He is a passionate man - just like a typical Russian writer.

Here's a poem of his I loved!! He read this poem to us today, just THE way it should be read.

Я люблю тебя больше природы,
Ибо ты как природа сама.
Я люблю тебя больше свободы –
Без тебя и свобода – тюрьма.
Я люблю тебя неосторожно,
Словно пропасть, а не колею.
Я люблю тебя больше, чем можно, -
Больше, чем невозможно, люблю.
Я люблю безоглядно, бессрочно,
Даже пьянствуя, даже грубя,
И уж больше себя – это точно,
Даже больше, чем просто тебя.
Я люблю тебя больше Шекспира,
Больше всей на земле красоты,
Даже больше всей музыки мира,
Ибо книга и музыка – это ты.
Я люблю тебя больше, чем славу,
Даже в будущие времена,
Чем заржавленную державу,
Ибо Родина – ты, не она.
Ты несчастна? Ты просишь участья?
Бога просьбами ты не гневи.
Я люблю тебя больше счастья,
Я люблю тебя больше любви.

/Евгений Евтушенко/

Are dreams real? Or is reality a dream?

I saw a very strange dream recently. In my dream. I saw something that felt very much like real life. Something refreshing, something made me feel great, and something that I cherished a lot.

I wrote the entire story here, but then I decided to remove it all since it is very personal. Anyway, I just kept thinking why some real things feel like a dream, while sometimes dream feel like real life. Paradoxical? Perhaps! I just lost in thought for a few days!

From Iowa...

The trip to Iowa was awesome, as always! I went there for my alma mater's (University of Northern Iowa, or UNI for short) Homecoming. Boy, oh boy! Was that fun or what! It was very nice to see old friends and make new friends. And oh, we won the Homecoming football game 30-24 against South Illinois University. It was great in all aspects!

I will post new photos when I get a chance. Stay tuned.

>> Here are some photos from my Facebook album:
http://umd.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2196466&l=bc2d7&id=5734033

Garba 2007

If I were to pick one favorite festival of mine out of the many Indian festivals, I'd definitely pick the festival of "Navratri" (Click to read more on this from Wikipedia). Perhaps, this is the only time of the year when I do NOT hesitate to go dancing, even though most of these dances are traditional.

Ever since I came to the US, this festival has become even more important to me because this gives me the ONLY opportunity to participate enthusiastically in an Indian cultural event, all dressed up in traditional Indian clothes.

And speaking of traditional clothes, I think we Indians have THE best traditional clothes in the world. Period. Bar none. Check out the colorful photos to see how vibrant my homeland is! I'm sure that you'll agree with me!

More photos...

Check out some of the photos from that evening. It is TOTAL fun!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2193691&l=db86d&id=5734033

Victoria and Vancouver: Photos

I was in the beautiful western Canadian province of British Columbia. I had an awesome conference in the little city of Victoria and then traveled to Vancouver for a day! Overall, it was an awesome trip. Story is definitely coming up, soon. Here are the photos.

Vancouver, BC: New!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2193178&l=75546&id=5734033

Victoria, BC:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2192897&l=2f995&id=5734033

Stay tuned for updates and story.