Packing

As soon as Dr. Ashcroft confirmed that he would meet with me on 22nd April, starting date as well as much of my route were finalized. It also meant that I had to quicken the pace of packing all the stuff I had accumulated. For once, I decided to explore the options of packing materials and thanks to dear friend Frank [Middletown, NJ], I found fairly economical pricing [significantly cheaper than UPS] for boxes from U-Haul.

Folks from Alpha Moving & Storage showed up on time, as promised, and were very professional, quick & diligent in their work. I felt ashamed, to an extent, as I took just about the same amount of time to load random stuff into my car as they had taken to pack an entire apartment into their truck. Given that I had moved less than 15 months ago, I should have paid extra attention to accumulation of stuff – but it was yet another lesson in life that I hope not to forget.

00. Red Bank, NJ → Ithaca, NY (2009.04.21)

Running errands [returning unused boxes to U-Haul, getting a copy of auto insurance, etc.] took a while and I did enjoy one last good [home cooked] meal at Batman residence (@dataguru61). As planned, the last stop in New Jersey was at Coach Lombardi’s Grave.

265 miles in 5:30 hours including 1:00 hour stoppage

Barring about a mile long bumper-to-bumper traffic somewhere along I-80W, most of 265 mile drive was very smooth. I just wish every segment of the rest of this journey is just as smooth. Passing through the township of Scranton, PA and discussing [more like learning, to be precise] the concept of Universal Art and the underlying advaita philosophy (as mentioned in my recent reading, hamsageete by ta. ra. su. – thanks Vathsa, Latha for letting me borrow that book) with Deepti (@deepgemini) were the highlights of this stretch. Heavy rains and the hills/valley geography made the last 10 miles or so seem a bit longer but I reached Ithaca, NY, safe.

Waking up early enough on 22nd April, I was able to race against the rising Sun and photograph the Ithaca Falls. Meeting Dr. Neil Ashcroft was a wonderful experience – after signing my copy of his book, the discussions spanned research, weather in Cornell & Houghton, science and importance of science history, a hither to unknown [to me] story of S Chandrashekhar and more – all in about 20 minutes. Citing the original source, the summary of that story is below:

The Candlestickmaker intertwines astrophysics, the aspirations of an Indian family and lore into a captivating performance. Set in a family home of the Nobel Prize winning astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who discovered the theory behind black holes, the play follows the story of three main characters. Sunil, a young Indian New Zealand university student, who has set out with his Lonely Planet in hand to visit his Uncle CJ Rohan in southern India. CJ Rohan is a retired university lecturer who is awaiting the arrival of his esteemed uncle, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (known in America as the candlestickmaker). The superstitious Rohan hopes to gain his uncles’ recognition for his life’s work, a paper blithely setting out to explain the importance of what’s in a name. And finally, Kilayani, the three hundred year old cook who also serves as living memory of this family’s history. Kilayani has been witness to the families coming and goings for seemingly centuries and is now awaiting the return of her love foretold.

Jacob Rohan deftly plays all characters; through the frenetic changing of character through mask, he draws the audience in from the beginning. Rohan is joined on stage by a musician and a silent actor who is also puppeteer to an English speaking, Hungarian singing duck. These colourful threads of the performance are brought together by a stunning and versatile set. Tall, willowy lengths of bamboo from which woven candlelit baskets hang tower from one side of the stage, overhead, props are suspended from boards suspended by a rope and pulley system which is anchored down to the opposite side. It is amongst these ropes where the musician sits alternating between providing musical accompaniments and manipulating the pulley setting. Initially, the set with ropes and poles joined from one side to another, is reminiscent of the deck of a tall ship and the performers the crew for the journey.

The Candlestickmaker offers the audience insight into many journeys, the physical, the mythical, emotional, cross-cultural and scientific. By being instantly and convincingly transported to southern India, Rohan, invites the audience into a tale where the mythical and the real are meshed. A journey which seems more familiar than not, yet one knows that by the interval, there must be an impending disaster, a disruption in the chain of events. To formulaic perfection, the tale follows the science, as slowly the plans and desires of the CJ Rohan, Sunil and Kilayani begin to implode in the second act as the decisions and actions of each character imposes upon the others, resulting in a classic comedic tragedy.

For the next four hours or so, I ended up hiking parts / outskirts of Ithaca – meeting fellow Patriots in College Town Bagels [needless to mention the bagels were delicious] and checking out Buttermilk Falls, Old Mill Falls, Lucifer Falls and Taughannock Falls. If what I got to see in these four hours is just a trailer of what this area [upstate New York] has to offer, I would certainly love to visit it again at leisure.

01. Ithaca, NY → Watkins Glen, NY → State College, PA (2009.04.22)

Given the way Ithaca is geographically designed, it wasn’t too long before I realized that you are either going up or going down; and once you are on a flat road, you are probably out of it. And I used the same theory to confirm that I was out of the city limits. Knowing that I would spend quite a lot of time had I entered Watkins Glen, I decided to skip it – so that I could reach Penn State as originally planned.

Just as in the previous segment, I only had to face about a mile’s worth of slow traffic along US-15 – near NY-PA border – and couple other slow downs due to ongoing construction work. Somewhere along US-220, I did see Sunshine in my rear view mirror while thunderstorms were waiting ahead. Wish I had more time [and wish I was on a non-highway] to stop and take pictures of it. All said and done, it was a no-complaint ride and I reached State College around 6:45pm – and for the record, I tweeted at quite an annoying rate all along this drive.

250 miles in 3:45 hours including 0:45 hour stoppage

The next two days or so were spent hanging out/hiking with dear friends from Penn State University – Shivu (@pionshivu), Mahesh (@mahesh_shastry), Harisha, Umesh, Vipul, Vikas (@vikasargod), Sanghamitra, Piali; a good 45 minute long discussion about some aspects of educational technology with Cole (@colecamplese) [who I had met earlier at WordCampEd] and Allan (@agyorke); following that discussion with couple more – first with Nolen (an MTU alum, current PSU grad) about non commutative geometry and then with Shivu & Mahesh about RSA & factoring primes; photographing parts of Penn State campus that I had not done previously.

It was also pretty nice to have re-started the running process, albeit lasting only two days, with Mahesh and Vikas; though, our attempts to see Joe Pa were futile, I at least got to see how modest-looking his house is. Needless to say, my eyes were rather sore by the end of this two+ day stay in Penn State – I cannot delve into the details of everything I saw, but trust me – they will stay fresh in my memory, only to be replayed as and when my mind wants it

02. State College, PA → Canton, OH → Belleville, MI (2009.04.25)

Having spent a good part of the previous evening in hanging out with my gracious hosts at Penn State – dining at Olive Garden and following it up with discussions on varied topics till hours beyond midnight only meant that I wouldn’t wake up before sunrise and start the subsequent segment of the journey. When the journey did start around 9:00am, my Garmin GPS got confused by disappeared roads and the new I-99 corridor. May be the fact that the distance to the destination was increasing with passing time should have cautioned me, but my common sense [or lack thereof] took control of the proceedings. I saw an automobile with Michigan license plate ahead of me – on an otherwise empty stretch of the aforementioned highway – and assuming [wrongly] that they were going where I was going, I started following them. About 30 minutes later, I found myself in Tyrone township – located about 25 miles from State College, but only in the wrong direction

400 miles in 7:15 hours including 1:00 hour stoppage

While this showed me that I need to do my geographical research well and that I should keep the maps on my GPS updated, biggest takeaway was that I should test my common-sense before trusting it. Rest of the journey, once I found I-80, was fairly smooth as it has been so far. Only modification to the travel plan was that I decided not to deviate towards Canton, OH – the home of NFL Hall of Fame. From my [later] understandings of Peter‘s (@techieb0y) Theory of Interstate Travels, I realized that having a Garden State license plate while driving through Ohio was not a bad thing at all – I could zip through at/around 80mph and still not even be warned by the highway cops [as had happened over a year ago, when I was driving the other way with Michigan license plate]. If you are new to this rivalry, may be you should read this or see this.

Within about two hours of reaching Belleville, MI, we [Chong (@bigmaninjapan), Jess (@shorty_stylee) and Ryan (@bigryanb)] headed out to the Corner Brewery in Ypsilanti – to attend the Jaunty Release Party. From what I gathered, there were more people than expected [which was good]; I got to meet few old acquaintances and enjoy good food; what I didn’t expect was to be buzzed by the very first serving of Hard Apple Cider, but that didn’t stop me from having two more through the course of the evening!

03. Belleville, MI → Rose City, MI (2009.04.26)

Following sound sleep at Tim-Jess residence and a good Sunday brunch with Chong (@bigmaninjapan), Jess (@shorty_stylee), Jaskie (@ajjaskie) and Jon (@nuxi) at Fleetwood Diner in Ann Arbor, MI, these folks took me to my first sighting of The Big House – which apparently was under construction to regain its rightful title.

180 miles in 3 hours including 0:20 hour stoppage

Just like the previous three segments of this journey, this one too was uneventful – the only traffic log/jam being on I-75S. Within about three hours of starting the drive, I was at Kyle‘s (@kwschnei) parents’ place in Rose City, MI. After relaxing for a while, Kyle’s dad took me around to see an eagle’s nest and the famous Shoe Tree in St. Helen.

Kyle’s dad had taken Monday off to show me around the area and when he said we would be visiting Tawas City area, I shot an email to a dear friend to see if we could meet and she gladly obliged. Following breakfast at Sunrise Cafe in Lupton (an area that Arthur Godfrey used as a hangout – thanks Mitch for the information), we shot pictures of Tawas Point Light House, hiked a bit along the Lake Huron shore and then met with Penny at Tim Hortons for coffee. She was kind enough to take us to the Chamber of Commerce, pick maps and draw out a route for rest of our day.

We ended up checking out Turtle Marsh, Lumberman’s Monument, Iargo Springs and upon return to Rose City that afternoon, we spent time playing around with HDR & discussions on food/culture/tradition related topics with Kyle’s mom, while she made Spaghetti – which needless to say, was delicious

04. Rose City, MI → Munising, MI → Houghton, MI (2009.04.28)

Waking up early, I followed Kyle’s dad to St. Helen and must have seen at least 50 deer in about 20 mile drive. After getting my coffee-fix and making sure my car didn’t starve either, I set out with plans of making to the Mackinac Bridge in time to get pre- and post-sunrsie shots. Though I was late by just a few minutes to shoot the darker sky shot, I did get a decent shot as the sky was lighting up. Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse was a bonus!

475 miles in 10:15 hours including 1:45 hour stoppage

Upon crossing the bridge while watching Sunrise and eating Blueberry muffins [that Kyle's mom had prepared], I headed towards Whitefish Point and then to Tahquamenon Falls. In spite of all prayers and requests, weather gods didn’t seem to be co-operating and with weathermen predicting similar conditions for next 48 hours or so, I didn’t seen any point in making an overnight stay at Munising. Instead, 225 miles later, I was in Houghton, MI – around 3:00pm local time.

Some structures (especially in downtown area) were missing and some new ones have been coming up, much of the town was/is still the same – especially when it comes to the warmth of people/community. Even though there is no firm, mathematical proof for me feeling homesick going from Michigan to Jersey [while I didn't feel such a thing when I first came to Michigan from the other side of this planet], the observations are still valid. While I search for words to express my gratitude to all those folks all along the journey who were more than gracious and phrase my happiness for being here, you may enjoy the pictures from this trip

It’s not uncommon to find someone asking What’s there in Jersey? If a question could be answered with another question, one might ask that asking person What’s not there in Jersey? Of course, it’s not New York City or Philadelphia or Los Angeles. When one looks beyond the stereotypical & fleeting impressions of the Turnpike and the Parkway and the factories and the refineries and casinos / boardwalks of Atlantic City, it’s not hard to realize that there is plenty more. While it is impossible for me to make this a comprehensive and exhaustive guide to Jersey, it wouldn’t be fair [to myself] if I didn’t write about some of the interesting stuff I came across in the last 14 months or so.

First thing to surprise me was the number of parks – some as large as thousands of thickly wooded acres with waterfalls – in almost every county of this state, aptly making it worthy of the title, Garden State, in spite of the high population density and most of them are staffed by very knowledgeable folks. With wooded areas and parks come a variety of birds – so much so that there is a World Series of Birding, organized by the New Jersey Audubon Society. And to make a passing mention of other noteworthy things – Horn Antenna that proved the Big Bang Theory, Tower that played host to Marconi and the first wireless telegraph communication, house where Albert Einstein lived, institution where some great minds have worked [and are working], Princeton University, Fluorescence Capital of the World, Coach Vince Lombardi’s Grave and the list just goes on.

And since a picture is often worth about a thousand words, I figured I would make a collage that conveys much of what I have seen and experienced.

Best of my photographical attempts, depicting few facets of New Jersey, are here. I have deliberately not included the pictures of many wonderful people [and their families] I have come to know – for I don’t have pictures of all of them. Given the population density of this area, it wasn’t always easy to find these cool people but it just proved to me that there are helpful and friendly people everywhere. And, I respect each and every one of them for [often going out of their way, making/taking time to help me] making my stay here memorable

Weeks and even months passed waiting for The Call and finally when I had given up any remaining hopes of playing at all for the season, I heard a kind-hearted gentleman speak to someone enthusiastically about a softball in the work-place cafeteria. Needless to say, I had to poke my nose (shamelessly) in his conversation to check if he knew of any league/team that was looking for players; and true to his words, he sent an email to the league the same day.

Game #1 – NVA Nads Vs Stray Macs: Following the league’s website, I realized there was a game scheduled in Middletown the same evening. Figuring it wouldn’t hurt to watch the game, I showed up and acted as a catcher during batting practice. Little did I know, one of the teams, was short of players and were happy to recruit me. My batting was pretty bad (2/3 with no RBI) and fielding (starting at 3B and finishing at 2B) left a lot to be desired. NVA Nads beat us pretty bad (17-8). May I could blame it all on the work-clothes I was playing in and the lack of play-time for almost 10 months?

Game #2 – MRT Vs Stray Macs: Having dressed up in sports-clothes, I had no excuse to play bad in this game. Our dear manager put me up in a some what familiar spot in the batting order. May be it was humidity or some other unknown factor, every time I hit the ball, it seemed to come off of the sweet spot. I got a double to start off, then a 2-run triple, then an inside the park grand slam and then a single – to complete the Full Cycle. Icing on the cake was being walked intentionally during last at bat [I am sure thinking about some PERL scripts/syntax I had discussed with buddy Kevin played its part as well]. Never had I had a full cycle at bat (it was getting dark and they probably couldn’t see me – just like Bucky had mentioned in the letter), never had I had an inside the park grand slam (or grand slam of any kind) and never had I been walked intentionally. Although my personal fielding skills (in the out-filed) still left a lot to be desired, rest of the team defended well, pitched excellently to beat MRT (a team from higher division) 19-17 in an exciting fashion

Game #3 – NVA Nads Vs Stray Macs: The game got off to a bad start and we gave up 22 runs in the first four innings – mostly due to simple mistakes repeated a multiple times. But our plan to catch up on them worked to near perfection – we shut them down for the last three innings and scored consistently to be trailing by (only) 7 runs in the bottom of 7th innings. To be part of the 7 run rally with 2 outs was very exciting and but equally lame was the overall finish to the game – we needed just one more hit (which we knew we would get) but the game was called with score tied at 22 apiece.

Just like the teams that I have played with in Upper Michigan, I had plenty of fun (made a lot of noise and almost lived up to Bucky’s recommendation) with Stray Macs and post game celebrations were equally entertaining. As much as I wish to have played more than just three games, I am equally glad that the season didn’t go down the drain completely. If – for whatever reasons – I am still here the next season, I know a team that I can play with

Fast forward about 100 days – Marg introduced me to Doug Schmidt, an avid mineral collector (or A Rock Hound, as they like to call in Franklin Mineral Museum). After a short talk over phone, we decided to head up to these mines/mineral museums. Personally, meeting new cooler, nicer people who have similar interests is such a wonderful experience and this was no exception – our drive-along (along the scenic routes) discussions covered a variety of topics, mostly related to science, history and teaching.

Given that about 380 different minerals (out of about 3800 known to mankind) are found in this area – aptly known as the Fluorescence Capital of the World, tour of the two mines was very impressive. Rather ordinary looking and unattractive mineral specimen look divine (yeah divine, sexy is an understatment) under Ultra Violet radiation. The experience only gets better with very knowledgeable tour guides who explain things in an easily understandable manner, even for kids and first-timers. On a hot day when temperatures hovered around 90+° F, walking about 150 feet deep beneath the surface in Sterling Hill Mine – where the temperature was ~50° F – was certainly a blessing, considering all the new, cool things/facts I learnt.

These and other pictures, if you are interested, are here. All in all, it was certainly a very enriching day – in more ways than one and reminded a lot about the Seaman Museum, and the Quincy Mine (a full tour of which I am yet to take). I am most certain to back to these places and spend some quality time learning more about the minerals, history … and probably taking more pictures. If you are in that area and like minerals and know how to enjoy them, you should too

After much deliberation by my dear friend (and his colleagues) that lasted for nearly 18 hours, it was decided that on Sunday, the 6th of April 2008, they would visit Delaware Water Gap National Recreational Area. The underlying plan was to have their portraits taken (by yours-truly) with waterfalls/ravines/woods as the background.

Why Worth Forgetting?

After intermittent obstacles (stopping and waiting for others to tag along, for breakfast, etc.), the group finally reached the area near Layton around 11 am (which was about two hours behind schedule according my plan)! When stopped for the first set of road-side shots on the way to Tillman’s Ravine, signs of uncivilized behavior surface for the first time. Yelling, shouting, and other such condemnable acts started one after the other…

Situation further worsened when I saw reckless and speedy driving on a wilder road, interspersed with residential areas, and the icing on the cake was at the Tillman’s Ravine parking lot. After having parked my car and setting up my camera gear, I see one [BLEEP] (apparently considered to be the leader/cause of such stupid acts) drives the car at high speed and does donuts (swirling/circling movements) with the car – resulting in noise that would easily outshine that in Times Square in NYC.

I was (and still am) in complete disbelief as to how could a bunch of people – so called educated (each one had one / two degrees from prestigious institutions) professionals (all of them work for the same multi-national company that Tiger Woods advertises for!) could behave like with such utter disrespect towards (the quietness of) nature!!

Upon asking a reason for such behavior, the lead [BLEEP]‘s response: Now that I have done it [CAR DONUTS IN A QUIET ENVIRONMENT, CAUSING INSANE AMOUNTS OF NOISE], you will enjoy the quietness more/better!. My dear friend, whom I have known (or so I thought) for 10+ years, summarized & justified the behavior: Whenever a group of people go out, it’s quite natural for the mob-mentality to set in. If that lead [BLEEP] hadn’t shown up, most of the crowd would have behaved in a sane manner.

Compelling argument, but leaves me begging the same old questions:

1. How much longer before maturity sets in, even amongst the so-called educated professionals?
2. If a person’s behavior depends on those of the people surrounding her/him, should she/he be considered mature?
3. Why is it so easy to pick and follow a dumb/stupid thing? Why doesn’t our brain think to do something from its own judgement?
4. How much more loss (in terms of natural resources and wildlife habitats) do we have to endure before we realize that nature’s quiet beauty should enjoyed quietly and not abused.
5. Did the students fail the education system or the education system fail the students?

   My dear friend supported the latter but, please, I beg to differ.

6. How much longer before the realization, that JUST BECAUSE I PAID FOR IT, I NEITHER OWN IT NOR HAVE THE RIGHTS TO ABUSE IT, sets in?
7. How much longer before one realizes that one’s act(s), especially when outside of his/her own country, helps formulate views about that nation in general?
8. Most importantly, how long before we realize that freedom comes with responsibility?

It has been a week and I still can’t stop fuming about it – the scene ([CAR DONUTS IN A QUIET ENVIRONMENT, CAUSING INSANE AMOUNTS OF NOISE]) is still etched in my mind and pisses me off quite often. This one was, by far, the worst outing I have ever gone on. and I have never been more ashamed (of the people that I went with) in my life.

At the end of it all, I believe I am the one to be blamed – while these educated professionals assumed that they would be finding a 100 feet waterfall in the middle of Manhattan and that they could make as much noise as they wanted, I assumed that all educated professionals (most of them were/are in a serious relationship as well – another sign of maturity?) are mature enough to know the required etiquette to be amidst wildlife habitats and natural wonders. Neither their assumption was right nor mine – but the consequence(s) of my bad assumption(s) are worse than theirs

If everybody was like you, world would be a very boring place … so said my dear friend on that dreadful day. May be very very true. But by the same token, I strongly believe that if everybody was like them – with utter disrespect towards time, other’s opinions and public property – much of the wildlife on this God’s Green Earth would disappear sooner than later and we would have nothing to show for subsequent generations!

What makes this experience even more pitiful is that people involved hail from the same region that was once (at least in part) ruled by emperor Ashoka – the same fella who once inscribed the wildlife conservation laws/policies. Much like everything from that time, these were inscribed on stone – so that they would stand the test of time and some natural elements. But the level of natural awareness (amongst majority of people) is much like those stones … buried deep some place (the social fabric)…

Lessons Learnt

I swear you will never see me with these folks ever again – at least not in any place/region that has anything to do with nature and/or wildlife. It also has made me keep the phone numbers of all NPS local offices handy – so that I can report such obscene acts immediately. Last but certainly not the least, I learnt that I should not judge a book by its cover and that looks are most often deceiving, like Shakespeare once wrote in MacBeth – Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under’t.

I have also realized that wildlife and nature (landscapes and waterfalls, etc.) were there in UP Michigan and there are probably plenty more in this part of the world. But what it certainly lacks (the mistake is on me, I haven’t found many yet) is the same number of sane people – that share similar concern and enjoy it the way it was/is meant to be. I MISS YOU GUYS

If I thought what I went through was bad, my friend went though something that’s a million times worse. READ IT HERE.

After a gloomy 40 mile drive spanning about an hour early in the morning, I found myself in aesthetically & architecturally pleasing Princeton University campus. The weather – owing to night-long rain – was much colder than I had anticipated (ended up using hand warmers). And probably because of the same reason, in addition to the fact that it was a Saturday, the campus seemed pretty empty. As such, I didn’t have to worry about people running in front of my camera or asking me questions and such. I must confess – that in spite of spending four hours – I could cover only a tiny part of the campus and as such, can imagine myself paying many more visits. Below are some of the shots:

The drive towards Princeton University

Something Interesting…

Coffee….

Holder Hall

Thanks to readings of science history, dear friend Pradeep, a camera store owner & a cop in Princeton, I got to know where exactly was the house where Einstein lived. On my way along the streets of Princeton, I did find more interesting entities:

The street where Einstein lived….

The house where Einstein lived…

Rest of the pictures from this trip are here.

It’s pretty hard to explain my excitement – growing up on the other side of planet earth and reading up on the biographies of many a great minds (mostly scientists – mostly physicists), it was always a dream to see this (along with many other) institutions. And today, I can check Princeton off of that list Not only I like the University’s architecture and it’s heritage/history, I have – yes, just in one visit – developed a serious liking for the town as well. And as I mentioned before, I will be visiting this place for more reasons than one in the weeks to come.

After making sure that hunger didn’t stop us from seeing what we had planned to see (Burger King on Broadway offers free WiFi as well as wired terminals to access the internet), my photographic expedition of NYC began on a deceivingly bright sunny day with clear blue skies but very cold strong breeze (very cold and strong for New Yorkers; to me, it was just another of those Yooper days). Having somebody (Vathsa, that is) who knew what to see and how to get to those places, helped to an extent that I cannot emphasize more. He took me to quite a few interesting places – some well known and some not so well known – mostly by walk and sometimes by Metro. WTC site, Broadway, Wall St, NYSE, the Bull, Statue of Liberty (from shore), Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Grand Central, Empire State Bldg…. were the places (as I remember) we visited and I must say, I am very impressed with the city – socio-economical flow seems to be fluent.

Lunch at Minar, a desi restaurant in the vicinity of Empire State Bldg., was rather heavy but spicy & tasty nevertheless – I couldn’t believe I had paid thrice the amount for a Mysore Masala Dosa for one third the size in Boston! Before and after lunch, for quite some time, we tried innumerable (or like Vathsa says, 3 million plus 2) times to reach Rags – to see if he could pick us up from Newark. We boarded the train to Morristown from Newark and tried 7 million plus 2 times to see if Rags could come to Morristown. Technology should have made our lives easy (at least that’s the assumption) and Rags, for heaven’s sake, has two cellphones. I had to call Pramod (in Syracuse) to send Rags an email!! Well, nothing worked and, speaking with Latha over phone and discussing some photography issues with Vathsa were the only things that went right. Just to make the matters even worse, our train didn’t stop in Morristown and took us all the way to Dover (don’t know if this place has anything to do with Dover Publications). We took a cab and headed towards Parsippany – few good things to come out of this experience are as follows:

1. I got to shoot a longer exposure photo of a train entering the station
2. I learnt how to say I don’t know Spanish. Please excuse me in Spanish

We eventually reached Parsippany and I had no fuel left in me to join Vathsa and Rags to Atlantic City (about two hour drive). Both were kind enough to change the plans – we went to CompUSA, grocery shopping and then had dinner in yet another desi restaurant (Udupi style). After having re-packed all my stuff and discussed my NYC experience with Ramprasad, I am just about ready to sleep – I need it badly as I have to drive over 200 miles tomorrow…

After several failed attempts, I finally get to talk to him and spend next 40 minutes or so with his roomie, Punit, discussing about Rags’ heroics. (Rags, I am living up to my word that I would b!@#$ about it in the blog – more of it will follow). Eventually, I get to do something that I had never imagined while growing up — meeting my friends (Rags and Vathsa in this case) outside India. Next couple hours went by as we did the usual catching up and Rags, as he has been for the last few years, was busy working with his customers (in simple words, working from home, after a full day’s work, on a Friday evening). We (Vathsa and myself) finally pull him out of the house and drag him to Taco Bell – which was just minutes away from closing. In the two hours that followed, I wrote couple of scripts, one for log-rotating mail back ups and the other called MiME (Moving in Made Easier) – to help setting up accounts on new (linux) machines easier, while Vathsa and Rags bowled in Hanover Lanes. Important thing to learn, about driving in New Jersey area, was that one has to make a right turn to make a left turn – funny heh? As Rags had to work on Saturday too, Vathsa and myself would go to NYC early next day morning and go to Atlantic City later in the evening.