Ski Utah..

Ever since I chose Salt Lake City, UT for grad school, I have been hearing and reading about the 'Greatest snow on earth'. Half the license plates in the state proudly display this official state slogan below the words 'Ski Utah'. The winter recreational facilities at our 13 resorts are reputed to be among the best in the world. Along with the equipment manufacturers and other allied industries, they contribute almost $700 million to the US economy every year. The 2002 winter Olympics were held here and this is the only thing (if any) that people back in India knew when I said Salt Lake, Utah. In fact, the most common response I got was "What is that?" or "Oh you'll get nice food there :P" (fortunately or unfortunately, 'oota' in Kannada is 'meal', and most people called it 'Oo-ta' or worse 'Oo-thah' rather than 'You-tah'). But I digress. Back to what I was saying. Though I originally dismissed all this 'greatest' stuff as the usual American hype about all things American, I wanted to see for myself what it was like. And so I decided to go skiing! It was a truly amazing experience, thanks K! We went to the Brighton ski resort, a forty minute drive from SLC. The drive itself is beautiful and as you approach the resort, the beauty surrounding you is breathtaking. There are tall majestic mountains, small bubbling brooks and acres of spruces on all sides, everything covered in snow of course.

For a first timer like me, skiing is no walk in the park (ski resort :P). The equipment itself is complex, starting with the ski boots. These are heavy, uncomfortable plastic shoes that come up to your calves and have half a dozen clamps and fasteners all over the place. They are quite difficult to get into and practically impossible to walk normally with. These clamp into the actual skis by some clever mechanism that comes off when you fall but otherwise quite tricky to handle. And then you have the two poles that support you whenever you need. You then put on your jacket(s), head gear and gloves are are ready to go skiing! Well not really. Its not quite that simple. K made us first slide along on a single ski to get a feel for the surface. And then we had to learn how to walk perpendicular to the slope (because this is the only way you can walk without sliding away). Its hard! Believe it or not, the temperature was a few degrees below zero and there I was, sweating profusely; this really surprised me. After many minutes of this, we finally got onto both skis and started moving. That's when you really start to feel awesome. Its like you're gliding on air, there's absolutely no friction! You slide so easily and it feels great :) You only realize this is not such a great thing when you head the wrong way or want to stop :) That's probably the trickiest part of skiing, having to position your legs exactly the right way to reduce your speed and stop! I seemed to get the hang of this pretty quick and was eager to get up the slope.

To do this, you need to use the ski lift, which again is something not very easy for the uninitiated. The lift doesn't stop as you get on or off. You just hop on and go up. The drop, though not very large, was a little scary at first, as the mind imagines what would happen if you were to fall off!! At the other end, there is a small landing area where you have to hop off and immediately get your balance and get into the right position. This is where I had the first of my many falls! Anyway, we proceeded to head downhill and oh that was crazy! I kept veering off track and fell umpteen times, all in really awkward positions in two feet of powdery snow! Your legs are twisted and tangled in unbelievable ways and moving in any direction sends jabs of pain through one muscle or the other! You have to somehow get your hands to your feel and undo the ski clamps. Though it felt really nice to be in the snow, it is hell to retrieve your skis and pole and get back up in standing position. You don't realize how incredibly difficult it can be to just get up and stand until you've tried it on a ski slope! I tumbled and fell my way down the slope and eventually made it down. Second time over, it wasn't so bad though I still fell off the ski lift while getting off. As I did it again and again though, it got progressively better and the last few times, I didn't fall at all, either while getting off the lift or skiing downhill :)

By the end of it, my socks and gloves were wet. My hands and feet were starting to feel cold. My legs were aching all over. I didn't know if my nose and lips existed. But I felt great! I definitely want to do this more often and get better at it! Anyway, I shall stop now. I haven't had this much physical exertion in quite a while and am very very very tired. Its time to hit the sack!

Snow-fall!

It was past 1 am and M and I were in the CADE Lab trying to get some work done for 6710 when the Cadence angels suddenly decided they didn't like us any more. Tired of staring at squiggly colored lines and cryptic error messages all day, we quit. Regretting not having taken the 12:14 back home, we trudged out wearily, only to be met by six inches of snow on the ground. It was the first major snow since I came to SLC and the locals say it only gets this bad twice or thrice a year, so my first introduction to snow was by getting thrown in the deep end, literally! I had my first fall in the snow (look at the title of the post) today too. I was mentally patting myself on the back for stepping really carefully and was sure I couldn't fall with all the caution I was exercising. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground, luckily cushioned by the thick snow cover! Anyway, back to my journey home.. It was totally crazy! Everything was looking so beautiful, a fluffy white coating on anything you saw. The trees looked especially nice, with no leaves but snow covering every twig. Unfortunately though, I had to spend all my time squinting at the ground, making sure there was no ice to speed up my journey downhill! Every step is a disaster waiting to happen and it was painfully slow walking on the sidewalks where grip was terrible. The fast walker that I normally am, it was really bad! I then decided to walk on the road (a really good decision I think, otherwise I would've probably spent an hour and a half to walk the eight blocks). Anyway, I believe I've begun to ramble so I guess its time to stop right here..

Mission shopping

Tents. Sleeping bags. Stoves. All these and more were on display on 'Black Friday' (which is the Friday after Thanksgiving, for the uninitiated). No, not on store shelves, but outside the stores. Undeterred by the freezing night, people were camped on the sidewalks outside Circuit City, Best Buy, Walmart and every other such store looking for a killer 'deal' on things they might or might not really want. Yours truly was there too, just to experience one of the craziest (in my opinion!) things in the US of A. I found it extremely amusing to see all these people huddled up there, some reading, some sleeping, some talking (our desi group was, of course, the noisiest :-)), and others just sitting quietly, ostensibly dreaming about the untold killings they were going to make in a few hours!

I would like to specifically mention two things that I personally found really interesting outside Circuit City that night: First, there was this group that actually had a portable stove with them to cook (or reheat) food as they waited (see pic) I realize it was a perfectly reasonable thing to do considering the temperature and time but now, those were men on a mission! Next, there was this guy who stepped out of a large Mercedes Benz and joined the hordes. Well, come on, if you have enough greens to own a Merc, do a coupla hundred bucks really matter that much?! All I can say is, it takes all kinds..!

If it were Madras, some young lad would have set up a small tea 'kadai' there to cash in on the tired shoppers but well, this isn't Madras so there was nothing around (maybe next year I should try this!). Anyway, the lines steadily grew longer until finally the doors opened at some weird time of the morning (?). The shoppers shopped, the billers billed and everybody lived happily ever after. Or so I presume, since a warm bed pulled me back home way before all this happened :)

Back to blogspot

I was just told that I lose my webspace in the cs.utah.edu domain when I graduate so I decided to just move back to Blogspot!

Of flips and flops

OK I’m *not* talking about those plastic things you wear on your feet; even I cannot be so bored as to focus my unlimited literary talents on something that insignificant (there will always be those who argue that nothing else I’ve written is really *significant* either but what the hell :P). Well anyway, now that we (I) have decided that this post is indeed of some importance, here goes.. And *no*, I’m not geeky enough to actually post something about those tiny clocked devices sitting on your processor!

I realize the title is probably not entirely appropriate but the flip is supposed to refer to the act of ‘flipping’ tortillas at which I’ve become fairly adept of late. And this is supposed to be a segway into the general topic of cooking at which also I’ve become adept over the last couple of months. Some say that an overdose of bland sandwiches and fatty burgers will make anybody interested in cooking but reasons not withstanding, I have really begun to enjoy cooking! The hiss of steam, the soft popping of mustard seeds in hot oil, the vibrant display of colors as stuff is added and cooked, the wonderful smell of spices.. aah.. heaven! And then of course, there’s the pleasure of tasting the results of all your hard work :) Just for completeness sake, here are a few things I’m good at cooking (completely self-proclaimed, modesty isn’t one of my strong points :P) - Carrot Halwa, Rasam, Sambar, Broccoli curry and of course, tortillas, where this all started!! Its an altogether nice feeling; wish I had enough time to do it more often and try new things!

Now that I’m done rambling about flipping stuff, let me get to the flop - this is supposed to refer to poker, another thing I’ve learnt recently. Its a really nice game, with burns and turns, flushes and straights, doublets and full houses. Its a mix of luck and skill and you just don’t realize time flying by. I can now actually flip the coins in one hand, Casino Royale style :) I may never in my life go “All in - forty million five hundred thousand dollars” but what the hell, its a load of fun anyway!

Ok I shall now stop boring you (I doubt you would have come all the way down here if you’re bored but its an obligatory thing to say) - its time for some hot Indian dinner followed by a game of poker! :)

New website

I now have a new website at http://www.cs.utah.edu/~udipi

Shouldn't it be different??

I promised myself I would keep this blog active but it just was not to be! Anyway, for those of you who care enough to read, here is my perspective on the United States, three weeks after I came on shore "FOB"! Just for the record, my first week here was spent in different parts of the Bay Area in California. In one short week, I visited San Francisco, San Jose, Stanford, Walnut Creek and Berkeley. The next two weeks have been at Salt Lake City, Utah, which is to be my home for atleast the next two years.

Anyway, SEVIS is now convinced I am who I say I am and where I say I am (if I wasn't then why would I say I am? :P) . I am ready to get a social security number. I just signed the lease on an apartment. In short, I am close to being a non-nonentity. Mostly I feel the transition has been smooth and largely hassle free.

George Bernard Shaw once said "I dislike feeling at home when I'm abroad". I'm not entirely sure I agree/disagree with him, but naturally, when you land in a new place, you would expect to be confronted by strange people in a strange land. Neither was really true in my case!

My first days away from home were not spent with strange people but with Poorvi (my cousin) and her friends (Thanks Dinesh, Anu, Tina!). They really really made me feel at home right away. The 'land' hasn't really been very strange either because of a)(over)exposure and b) globalization.

I frankly think I was exposed to all things American waaay too much long before I came here! Too many people gave me too many inputs about life here to let any charm remain in moving to a new country. I knew people drive on the wrong side of the road, I knew switches operated the wrong way, I knew people used credit cards EVERYWHERE, I knew everybody was informal, I knew people greeted each other all the time, I knew people (almost) never broke traffic rules, I knew you got cheques (checks) instead of bills and paid with bills instead of cheques (checks), I knew you kept thanking, apologizing and appreciating all the time, I knew that the system of measurements was what the rest of the world had thrown away, I knew you needed 'quarters' to use a pay phone or do the laundry, I knew you called 911 for the cops, I knew the medical system is quite simply put incomprehensible, hell, I even knew a dime was smaller than a cent (well actually I'm not sure about that!). Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is that nothing really seems new or different. Every odd thing I see, somebody has described to me before. Or I've seen it on Friends. Or Seinfeld. Or the Tonight Show. Or CNN. Or.. Ok you get my drift!

That brings me to point b, globalization. As Thomas Friedman has argued beautifully in his book, the world is flat. Geographic location doesn't really matter. The liberalization of economies has meant that the same global (American) giants now operate out of Chennai or Bangalore just the same as from San Francisco or New York. You can thus have the same global (American) lifestyle (McDonalds, FedEx, Google, Nike.....) irrespective of where you live. I see the same Coke, the same Subway, the same Toyota Corolla and the same Dell. Maybe this is one of the reasons I don't really feel much of a difference between living in Chennai and SLC. And of course, India has been catching up with the rest of the world on many counts, thus in some ways reducing the gap that existed. For example, a large shopping mall is not something I would gawk at now. Nor is a 6 lane highway. Or a Mercedes S Class. Its all the same!

I must emphasize, however, that I do not think life is EXACTLY the same. It really feels good to know that you can cross the road and the car guy will stop for you. Or that you can count on the 10.08 bus to college coming in at 10.08. Or that you can drink water anywhere and not worry about falling sick. Or that the whole goddamn country is mapped down to the last detail and is available online. Life is convenient. I like it :)

Ok I'm feeling really really really sleepy and will just end abruptly here. There may be mistakes in the blog but I am in no state to read through before I hit "Publish". I may fall asleep without completi

The Second Coming

I realize my old blog has been rotting for quite a while now. It's time for a new life, just as it is a new life for me, in more ways than one! The "-to-be" is gone from the tagline and the stale name is gone too. The sombre black background gives way for something more bright and interesting. The address reflects my new identity as ruddha (more on this in a later post).

Though I don't do these tag things, this time it is what pushed me into actually writing after a really long time! Thanks JK! The tag says I'm supposed to write 8 random things about myself, so here goes:

1. Four years spent in the wrong place have ruined my English. I hope a change of scene combined with more active blogging ( :D ) will take it to pre-SSN levels.

2. I find it hard to sleep before 1 a.m.

3. I love Gtalk. In fact, I love most things Google.

4. I prefer time displays in 24 hr mode.

5. I hate fish. Dead or alive.

6. $*##$#()$@#)_@#$

7. I don't belive anybody cares about what I've written so far or what I will write after this! This doesn't make me any less interested in writing.

8. And finally, at the end of a post mostly about random things, I must say I absolutely detest randomness in any form!

Though I did respond to a tag, propagating it is something I don't think I will ever do. So, I tag NOBODY.