Year Gone By(e)

Phew!! what an year that was.
Started on a very bad note, worst exams and results, struggle to get an addat internship. Strained personal life and fears and tension to sustain self financially for next academic year.

Kind of a scary year, when so many things go wrong. Can say the worst year, who knows what worst can lie ahead :).

But definitely ended on far better note than how it started. End the year with respectable grades, start of thesis in a good group. Decent part time job to earn almost enough dough to sustain myself next year. Calm and pleasant personal life (at the moment).
So all in all a mixed bag year, like always but have taught as this is my first full year in foreign land with no trip back home, sometimes these things can take their toll.

2010 will be much more challenging and on the edge kind of year, lot of promises to be complete.
Esp., start of the year is walking on fire, I first have to complete degree and thesis with good grades and decide what I want to pursue doctorate degree or a decent job and where.

Simply hope to have enough courage and faith to sail through 2010 and have less of bumpy rides.

Adios

Singh is King

Singh is King--Indeed!!

Wow, finally the election circus came to an end. And what a spectacular results it was. Never in near history, any party got this thumping results and swept seats from states all over the country.

Congress crossing 200 seats paved path to a stable government at the centre, which hopefully give good and inclusive governance for next 5 years. Dr. MMS is back and back with a band this time. I hope he doesn't decide to step down in the mid-way and pave path to Rahul Gandhi, which I think will a blunder for the country. Taking few tough decision is good, but heading a country as complex as India is another.

Markets soared at the prospect of MMS at centre without albatross-like-Left. Time to cheer indeed.

Best thing happened at the election, is complete rout of Left in their citadel of Kerala and West Bengal. Karat must be having sleep-less night over his near dicatatorship command, arrogant and short sighted vision. People like him does not have a vision to dream about the country. There is no place of negative politics in the country, which have been proved right by the voters this time. Well, how that happened is anyone's guess.

Second good thing, was fall of Regional parties and their kingmakers, who were ready with their wish list to draw as much as pound of flesh as they can. Vote for national party, led these satraps to almost Comatose state. The not-so-united Third Front came crumbling down like a pack of cards, as soon as results are out. Fourth front, is desperately seeking Congress's attention for minsiterial berth and swearing is secularism (or is it pesudo-secularism).

As the race for 272 ended on Saturday, race to get cabinet berth begins. Hoping to see some credible faces in the cabinet and keeping tainted faces out.

रण भूमि

कौरवों की भीड़ हो, या पांडवों का नीड़ हो|
जो लड़ सका है वो ही तो महान हैं ||

जीत की हवास नहीं, किसी पे कोई वश नहीं|
क्या ज़िन्दगी है ठोकरों पे मार दो||

Dance of Democracy

So after wait for days and uninterrupted analysis and bytes, the D-Day has finally arrived when India go for polls. One long month of polling and finally things will be calm for sometime. Expand of media is too much sometime.
This poll will be best remembered for the bitterest fight between incumbent and in-waiting PM. Never been it has reached so personal. Funny part is, Advani who for quite sometime been leading the very personal attack on PM, said that he is hurt as PM have made a personal attack on him. Hippocracy at its best.

So hoping it will be a peaceful election, and we will elect one more stable non-BSP, non-Left government this time.

Journey of a shoe

Shoes are back in demand!!
There were times, when people use to make a garland of shoes and make the person wear it, blacken his face and make him sit over a donkey take this procession in the whole village. Now with changing times, this tradition was long forgotten.

But they back, yes, they surely do. It all started with journalist in Iraq throwing it at President Bush and now this cool trend finally arrived in India. If 2004 were about India Shining, 2007 assembly about Modi masks then 2009 is about shoe hurling. First PC and now Naveen Jindal, its advantage congress now. Haha
Very soon it can become status symbol for politicians, their popularity is determined by number of shoes hurled towards them and journalism program nation-wide can offer courses on how to throw shoe in a press conference, working on aim, distance and target. This could be a mandatory course for them. Also politician will take training on how to duck this.
Very soon we can see games on facebook to throw shoes at each other.
In short I love Indian Democracy.

Weekend

Had a good first weekend of holidays.
Went out on Friday and meet lot of friends after a long gap.
Watched Godfather I and II. Amazing movies, good classics.
Went to see Ronde Van Vladeren. 1 hour train, 30 mins walk, 30 mins wait and few secs of race and still the whole experience was pretty cool.

So, good weekend after a long time.

Early Spring Work

Sunny week, its kind of rarity in Belgium. Day temperature at 15 degrees, long days, sunset at 8 pm, weather cannot be more pleasant here. Oude markt (Old Market) is full of people having beer or koffee in the afternoon. University lawns are full of people enjoying the sun and playing.

So what I am doing drinking in oude markt or bar-be-que in the lawn?...
I am sitting in lab, spending day and night there and trying to convert bunny.ppm to bunny,jpg...
Life is neither fair nor right :(