My nameless diary

मञ्जुलको आत्मवृतान्त "पहाडजस्तो बाटोजस्तो म"

2012-01-12T11:50:00.008-05:00

पञ्चायत कालमा देशै रन्काएको राल्फाली समूहका शशक्त गीतकार एवं गायकका रूपमा मैले मञ्जुललाई चिनेको हुँ । म सानो हुंदा हाम्रो घरमा आउने जाने थियो उहांको तर अहिले उहांलाई भेटेको सम्झना मलाई छैन । भेटघाटको सम्झना नभए पनि उहांको नाम विभिन्न घटनाक्रमका प्रसङमा हाम्रो घरमा जमघट हुंदा चलिरहन्थ्यो र अहिले पनि चल्छ । मञ्जुलले लेखेका गीतहरु सुन्दै र गुन्गुनाउदै म हुर्केको हुँ । देश राजनैतिक कारणले रन्किएको बेला अजै पनि उनको गीत "गाउँगाउँवाट उठ वस्ती वस्तिवाट उठ..." ले नेपाली युवायुवतीहरुलाई उर्जा दिन्छ। कुनै बेला म primary schoolमा ससाना नानीहरुलाई पढाउंथे, त्यसै क्रममा मञ्जुलका बालगीतहरु उनीहरुलाई सिकाएको पनि म सम्झन्छु ।सामाजिक परिवर्तनको सन्देश बोकेका उनका गीतहरु धेरै सुनियो र ति गीतहरुले कहिंकतै मेरो व्यक्तित्व निर्माणमा पनि केही न केही भूमिका खेलेको हुनुपर्छ भन्ने अहिले मलाई लाग्दछ । म सानैछँदा उनको यात्रा-संस्मरण "सम्झनाका पाइलाहरु" पढेको थिएं । उनका फुटकर रचनाहरु पनि चाख लिएर पढेको छु र केही बर्ष अगाडि मञ्जुल र कवयित्री (अहिले मैले उनको नाम बिर्सें) को सहलेखन गिती संग्रह पनि राम्रो लागेको थियो त्यसैले मञ्जुलको आत्मकथा देख्ने बितिकै पढिहाल्न मन लाग्यो, यती उत्साहित हुँदै पढ्न बसेको लगभग एकै वसाइमा पढेर पनि सकें।

यस आत्मकथामा मञ्जुलको पारिवारिक पृष्‍ठभूमिको विवरण, भोजपूरमा बिताएको रमाइलो वाल्यकालका प्रसँगहरू, धरानमा पढ्न बस्दाको साहित्यिक र राजनैतिक उठवसका रोचक अनुभवहरू, राजधानी छिर्दा र काठमाडौंमा रहंदा बस्दाका तितामिठा अनुभुतिहरु समावेश छन् । पञ्चायत कालमा सामाजिक क्रान्तिको सन्देश बोकेर देशै रन्काएको उनी र उनीजस्तै विचार बोक्ने साथीहरु रामेश, रायन, अरिम, निनूहरुको साँस्कृतिक संगठन राल्फाको स्थापना र बिघटनका कथा यस आत्मकथाको एउटा महत्वपूर्ण बिषयवस्तुहो । मञ्जुलको कथा पढ्दा उनी साकारात्मक सोचका धनी छन् भन्ने कुरा बुझ्न सक्छौ । उनले आफ्ना अग्रजहरुका बारेमा र आफूभन्दा साना सहकर्मीहरुका बारेमा जसरी लेखेका छन् त्यसवाट उनको वौद्दिक र मिलनसार व्यक्तित्व पनि कितावका बिभिन्न पानामा झल्किन्छ । उनी सरल छन् र जीवनको हरेक क्षणवाट केही न केही शिक्षा लिन खोज्ने कवि मञ्जुल , गीतकार मञ्जुल , लेखक मञ्जुल साहित्य साधनामा सफल भएको अनुभूति हुन्छ यो किताव पढ्दा । मञ्जुलको आत्मवृतान्तले नेपाली गीती साहित्यको ईतिहासको एउटा कालखण्डलाई पनि प्रतिनिधित्व गर्छ । खुला रूपमा आफ्नो सोच र रचनाहरुलाई समाजमा प्रस्तुत गर्ने बातावरण नभएको अवस्थामा पनि ४-६ जना मिलेर तत्कालिन प्रशासनलाई दरो चुनौती दिने आँट गर्नी मञ्जुलहरुको मुटु कमलो, भावुक र नरम मात्र रहेनछ भन्ने कुरा त किताबमा प्रस्टै देखिन्छ ।

किताबमा केही कमी कमजोरीहरु छन्, पढ्दा पढ्दै कुनै कुनै प्रसँग लामो भएजस्तो लाग्छ र कुनै प्रसँगको कम व्याख्या गरिएको जस्तो पनि लाग्छ, किताब मोटै छ तैपनी अन्तमा कथा नसकिए जस्तो लाग्यो । असफल वैवाहिक जीवनको २-३ ठाउँमा उल्लेख गरिएको छ त्यस वारे बिवरण नभएकोले लेखक यस बिषयलाई अली सहज रूपमा सार्वजनिक गर्न हिचकिचाएको जस्तो बुझिन्छ । लेखकको जीवनको त्यस पाटोवारे जान्ने उत्सुकता भने मनमा नै रहयो। सानातिना कमी कमजोरी वीच पनि मञ्जुलको आत्मवृतान्त "पहाडजस्तो बाटोजस्तो म" मलाई एकदमै मन पर्‍यो । भविष्यमा पनि मञ्जुलका किताबहरु पढ्न पाइयोस भन्ने आशा छ । किताब पढि सके पछि वुवासँग यस पुस्तक वारे र मञ्जुलका वारेमा छलफल भयो । मैले उहाँलाई भेट्ने इच्क्षा भएको वुवालाई बताएं, मञ्जुल दाईसंग केही दिनमा भेट्ने कुरा भएको छ हेरौ के हुन्छ । यदी उहांसँग भेट भयो भने भेटघाटका बारेमा अवस्य नै लेख्ने छु ।

मयूर टाईम्स

2012-01-02T21:17:00.028-05:00

शायद नारायण वाग्लेको पहिलो उपन्यास पल्पसा क्याफे पढिसकेर होला मयूर टाईम्स पढ्न बस्दा लेखकवाट अली बढी अपेक्षा पनि गरेको थिएं । एकै बसाइमा पढेर सकें, ठिकै लाग्यो ।अपेक्षा गरे अनुसारको भने लागेन । राजनैतिक परिवर्तन सँगसंगै बढिरहेको अपराध, अपराधीलाई उचित सजाए दिन नसकेर देशै भरी बढ्दै गएको दण्डहीनता स्थिती, असुरक्षा , फितलो कानुन र कमजोर प्रशासनको कथा हो मयूर टाईम्स । कथाको बिषयबस्तु जीवन्त छ र आजभोलि हामीले दैनिक रुपमा सुन्दै आएका घटनाहरु नै यस उपन्यासमा समावेश गरिएका छन् । उपन्यास भन्दा पनि द्वन्दको बेलाको लामो newspaper reporting जस्तो पनि लाग्यो । उपन्यासकारका रूपमा भन्दा पत्रकारका रूपमा बढी चिनिएका नारायण वाग्लेले आफ्नै कथा प्रमुख पात्र पराग यादव मार्फत भनेको जस्तो पनि अनुभव भयो ।

Welcome New Year 2012

2012-01-02T11:46:00.005-05:00

Very warm welcome to the year 2012. May this year be as fulfilling as previous year. May every day, every week and every month bring happiness, good health, same peace of mind and similar calmness to the heart like the previous year. May this year bring all the happiness my friends and family desires. Amen !

This is once again time to redefine few goals, identify new roles and item to focus on. Now I have a new to do list, I wish list and I won't list. All the three lists are short but the determination to fulfill these things are stronger than ever.

Year 2011

2011-12-16T10:59:00.007-05:00

(One of Neevi's favorite time pass)

Year 2011 is coming to an end. This year has been wonderful for me and my family. The best thing is baby Neevi came into our life. Because of her I got an opportunity to spend time with family. For last 6 months I am living with my parents. Since I came to Nepal I am enjoying the whole family, parents, sister, nephews, in -Laws and extended family. Everyone is happy to visit Neevi. Especially, I am also enjoying the special food, oil massage everyday and the company of my lovely 5 yrs old nephew. It will be unfair here if I do not say I am missing Neeru as he is in US alone. I also feel little guilty for keeping his little princess away from him for this long. Few more weeks and we will be reunited and he will be able to enjoy her fullest. So this year is all about Neevi. The year 2011 started with happiness and nervousness as we found out about the good news, the first trimester went slow because of the physical changes and few discomfort. The second trimester was spent fulfilling the professional obligations and the third trimester I did not realize how it went. Time flies so fast and now Neevi is already 3 and 1/2 months old. I was quiet about the whole thing during pregnancy and now I just want to write everything I felt then.

The other important thing in my life which has been going on for years is my Ph.D. I know, this has been going on for ever and at times I also wonder if I will ever finish it. I think I will some day. I even thought about leaving it and making plan B for my career as for last 2 yrs I have not been very productive. At least I think so. I should rather say that Ph.D fell down in the priority list and I lost focus one more time. However, for a person like me it is not easy to give up things I have passionately started. Everytime I thought about calling it off I felt sad and a kind of discomfort covered me from feet to head. My heart ached every time I thought about quitting. The conclusion I drew from it was all the time and energy I have been spending towards this degree will go unaccounted. All those sleepless nights, separation with my beloved, all the travelling I have done and the financial sacrifices I have made in past 4 years worth more than just quitting. The bottom line is I will not be happy in future if I call it off now. Therefore, I am hanging on here and giving it one more try. Thy name is -Stubborn. Year 2011 is enjoying present happiness and identifying future happiness. Therefore, the resolution of this year is work towards finishing the remaining 1/3 of my Ph.D because 2/3 is already done as my adviser like to say. This is my second baby and I have a responsibility to deliver it happy and healthy for everyone who loves me and has seen me working on it. Seems like I am all rested, physically recovered from post delivery fatigue and ready to move on., during my stay in Nepal I am trying to give momentum to my Ph.D research. There is nothing like being optimistic.

कर्नाली ब्लुज

2011-12-11T03:36:00.008-05:00

५-६ महिना अघी बुद्धी सागरको कर्नाली ब्लुज पढेको थिएं , पढेर सक्ने बितिकै त्यस किताबबारे लेखिहल्छु भनेको त्यतिकै भयो। आज मूड चलेको छ । लेखें पनि दुईवटा साना साना paragraph तर save गर्न बिर्सेंको कारण मेरो मिहिनेत काम लागेन । फेरी लेखन बस्दै छु । अबको लेखाइ कस्तो हुने हो थाहा छैन ।

कर्नाली ब्लुज उपन्यास हो । यस उपन्यासको बिषयबस्तु सामान्य छ तर यस सामान्य बिषयबस्तुभित्र धेरै असामान्य प्रसँग र कथाहरु छन् । सामान्य नेपाली बाबुले आफ्नो परिवार पाल्न गरेको संघर्ष छोराको भाषामा वयान गरिएको छ । बाबु छोराको सम्बन्धको कथा हो कर्नाली ब्लुज । कर्नाली ब्लुजमा बाबु छोराका कथा मात्र छैन, म जस्ता नेपालको सुदुर पश्चिम भेगको भौगोलिक परिस्थिती, सामाजिक संरचना, सांस्कृतिक परिवेश थाहा नभएकाका लागि यो किताब धेरै सुचनामुलक छ ।गृहयुदमा देश होमिएको बेला साधारण नेपालीहरु कसरी प्रभावित भए भन्ने कुरा पनि बिभिन्न प्रसङमा एकदमै सहज र सरल ढंगबाट प्रस्तुत गरिएको छ । सुदुर पश्चिमको बोलिचालिको भाषाको प्रयोगका कारण धेरै ठाउँमा अप्ठेरो पनि महसुस भयो । ति शव्दहरु र वाक्यांशहरुको मतलव पनि थाहा भएको भए अजै रमाइलो हुन्थ्यो। पढ्दै जाँदा उपन्यासका केही भोगाइ र प्रसँग मेरो आफ्नै र मेरो परिवारको कथा जस्तो पनि लाग्यो । जे भए पनि मलाई कर्णाली ब्लुज मन पर्‍यो । नयाँ पिढिका लेखक बुद्धी सागरको नयाँ प्रयोग सफल भएको छ ।

फूलको आँखामा

2011-12-07T11:18:00.015-05:00

"फूलको आँखामा फूलै संसार, काँडाको आँखामा काँडै संसार" - गीत सम्भवत धेरै नेपालीहरुलाई एकदमै मन पर्ने गीतहरु मध्य पर्दछ । यो गीत गाएकी छन आनी छोइङ डोल्माले। यस गीत मार्फत साधारण नेपाली जनताले आनीको सुमधुर स्वर सुन्न पाए भने आनीलाई पनि यस गीतले नेपाली श्रोताहरु माझ चर्चाको शिखरमा पुरायो। यिनै आनीको जीवन कथा हो 'फूलको आखाँमा' । आनीको कथा मार्मिक छ, रमाइलो र उत्साहबर्धक पनि छ ।यस किताब मार्फत मैले आनीहरुको जीवनशैली नजिकबाट बुझ्ने मौका पाएं । घमण्डी रुखी र जर्कटि छोइङ कसरी दयालु र मायालु भइन् । घरेलु हिंसाबाट मुक्ति पाउन धर्मको शरण लिएकी एउटी भावनात्मक रूपमा बिचालीत केटीले आज हजारौं बिचलित मनलाई शान्त पार्न सक्ने प्रतिभाको बिकास गरिन । केटाकेटी छँदाको भोगाइ र यातनाका कारण आफू भित्र बलियोसंग जरा गाडेर बसेको घृणा र हिंसात्मक प्रवृतिमाथि आनीले कसरी बिजय प्राप्त गरिन् ? आफ्नो मनलाई दया र मायाले भर्न कस्ता कस्ता वाधा र अड्चनको सामना गर्न पर्यो यो किताब पढेपछि बुझ्न सकिन्छ । आत्म नियन्त्रणको अभ्यासको कथा हो- "फूलको आँखामा" । आफूभित्र जरो गाडेर बसेको घृणालाई सम्पूर्ण रूपमा पखाल्न नसकेको यथार्थ र असन्तुस्टी पनि किताबका विभिन्न पानामा भेटीन्छ ।

छोइङ डोल्मा आनी बनिन् तर अरु भन्दा फरक आनी बनिन्। उनमा नयाँ कुरा सिक्ने र जान्ने उत्सुकता दिन प्रति दिन बढ्दै गयो । त्यसैले उनले अंग्रेजी भाषा सिकिन् , संगीतमा पोख्त भइन्, गाडी किनीन् । आफ्नो धर्मले परिभाषित गरेको अनुशासन भित्र रहेर आफ्ना साना र ठूला इछ्या पनि पुरा गरिन् । उनलाई फेरी फेरी जुत्ता लगाउन मनपर्छा । उनले धर्मपुत्र पालिन र आफू जस्तै नानीहरुका लागि स्कूल खोलिन् । मानव धर्मको सेवामा उनी अहिले पनि अग्रसर छिन, अस्पताल बनाउने चाहाना उनमा छ र त्यसका लागि जुटेकी छन् अहिले आनी । आनी छोइङलाई शुभकामना ।

लेख्दा लेख्दै बत्ति गयो, नेपाली जनजीवनको यथार्थ ...

Life with baby Neevi

2011-12-02T10:14:00.007-05:00

Lovely little girl came into our world in August. We became a family from a couple. Life has changed since then, in a better way. Having her in our world means so much. The sense of completeness she brought in our life in difficult to comprehend in words. Her soft skin, chubby cheeks, innocent eyes, tender touch bring smile in my face and tears in my eyes. These days she smiles, throws her arms and legs, sucks her thumb. One of the best things she likes to do these days is snatch everything she could get hold of and either cover her face or put it in her mouth. She shouts if she needs company. She is very entertaining, keep herself happy and people around her happy. She is little more than 3 months old now, her calm and happy attitude has helped me transition smoothly to my new role as a mother. More importantly, having my mom around to help is making the whole thing just wonderful. I am so dependent on her. Having my mom around when I embarked on the journey of motherhood is one of the best moments I have lived. At times I wonder if I will be able to fulfill the same responsibility in future for Neevi.

My full time job as a mother has not started as I am right now in Nepal at my parents place. My parents were in US when I had her. We came together to Nepal in early October. The main purpose of bringing Neevi to Nepal was to introduce her to the extended family especially to her paternal grandmother. Its been almost 2 months since we came her and we still have one more months to go before Neevi and I leave for US. I do not even want to think about it right now. It will surely be difficult for me as I am so much dependent on others right now. My mom takes care of most of her things right now. My 5yrs old nephew, Ananya has been a good helping hand. He is so excited to have a living doll in his life. He loves to do little chores related to his little sister. He loves to play with her and she respond each of his tricks. Since we came here he has refused to go home with his parents. He wants to be around Neevi. I love to watch this little bond grow stronger each day. My parents are enjoying both of their grand-kids at the same time.

जीवनको आभास

2011-08-17T09:09:00.001-04:00

आभासले मात्र पनि जीवनको

यति खुशी दिन्छ भने

कस्तो हुन्छ होला कुन्नि

आफैले जीवन जन्माउदा

नौलो जीवनलाई हत्केलामा राखेर चुम्दा ...

About my blog and few more updates on myself...

2011-08-13T01:16:00.010-04:00

I have successfully completed five and half years of writing on this blog. When I first started writing, I never thought I would continue for this long. I did not have any specific subject matter in mind to focus on. The only theme I had then and now is that this blog is about me. Topics I chose to write in this platform revolve around my interest, hobbies, priorities and moments important to me. When I started this blog I did not think of any particular target group, I had no idea who would read my blog, I just wrote it for myself. After these many years of writing I still do not know what impact does it have on known and unknown readers or if it has any at all. There were high and low writing moments, more frequent and less frequent updates. Whether I posted in a blog regularly or not writing has been an important part of being me. It has been a good outlet and has helped me clear my conflicted mind many times and overall has helped me mature and keep myself happy :-). I have noticed slight shift in my writing pattern, more mature and objective in some aspect, few negligence in others. Facebook definitely have taken significant time share of blogging. Still, I am trying to be faithful to my old pal. So far have enjoyed it and hope to take it further in future.

I have tried to summarize the highlights of my blog , or should I say few focal points around which my life in last five years has revolved around events, some special and other general, as it happened in Nepal's household. The platform has been a witness of beautiful life I am spending with my loving hubby. The blog has rejoiced our happiness, achievement. It has been a quiet spectator of our struggle and tough times. It simply has been part of our togetherness both during low and high moments. It has well documented most of the travelling I have done in last five years both personal and professional, my experiences living in different places, my journey with my family and friends from different facets of society, the books I read. It is also a witness of my moods and madness through random write ups or my prose and poetry. These are the main ingredients, other minor but important contents I posted occasionally were also essential to spice up my writing .

Having said this, months has gone by and I have not written a word here. There are some good excuses but it is more of me being lazy and nothing else. Had been busier than this in the past and had maintained the writing rhythm in a timely manner. But now priorities has been changed. Anyway, now I am here writing so why to bother about not writing earlier. Right now life in general is good. In fact very very good. We do not get an opportunity to make such a statement very often in this world. Therefore I am happy and proud to write such a statement. I am living one of the best moments of my life and enjoying every bit of it. Touch Wood! Since I have shared most of my happiness and sorrows in this platform, I think it is okay for me to share this greatest news of my life. Very soon, I am embarking on a new journey of life - a journey to motherhood: -) Yes ! I am expecting a baby. I am very happy and excited and blessed as everything is going very well. Happy and healthy - thy name is me:-)

Freedom from Fear by Aung San Suu Kyi

2011-04-21T14:45:00.005-04:00

"It is not power that corrupts but fear. Fear of losing power corrupts those who wield it and fear of the scourge of power corrupts those who are subject to it..." - Aung San Suu Kyi

This book has been lying on my book rack for decades. Yes it is true. It was there in my shelf ( rather in my dad's shelf) back home. The cover and the title was very very familiar but I never opened a page. I saw it every now and then. Last time when I went home and was browsing the shelf I picked this book among few others to bring with me and again never opened it. Finally, after hearing a news of Ms. Kyi's release from house arrest in November 2010 I thought It is high time I should read this book and know little more about the lady who is fighting for democracy and freedom in Burma for decades. Ms. Kyi, a Nobel prize winner, was under house arrest for 15 of the past 21 years. The book "Freedom from fear" gets it name from the famous speech Ms. Suu Kyi delivered in 1990. The book is about Suu Kyi's life and a documentation of her generations long fight for democracy and human rights in Burma. It also provides a good overview of the country's geography, socio-cultural structure and political history.

Happy New Year 2011

2011-01-07T13:05:00.012-05:00

Happy new year to everybody. This new year has started with much excitement for me, promising news, peaceful mind, and some fun activities.

The Library of Congress

During the new year holiday we went to "The Library of Congress" in Washington, DC. It has been in my list since I moved here. I had seen it from outside but for some or the other reasons I could not go inside and spent time in the library in my previous visits. This time I went inside and spent just about an hour and not yet satisfied. I will visit again and quench my thirst of spending more time in this magnificent building archiving the history of knowledge from all over the world. The architecture of the building, its sculptural, painting and posting - each of them signifies knowledge of different fields history, arts, philosophy, geography, science, mathematics and more. There is so much to learn from this place. This in one of the best places I have visited in DC, in US and in my life.

Christmas Bird Count...

I have been meaning to restart my old hobby of birdwatching since long time and specially after moving to Virginia the desire had gone strong. On our trip to Boston during 1st week of December I even bought a bird book to help me pursue my hobby. When there is a will there is a way - it so happened that one of Neeraj's senior colleagues is a renowned birdwatcher in this area. When we went to the christmas party at his home I brought up my interest in bird watching as the house was full of significant signatures reflecting the interest in birds. It was great hearing Dr. Gaskill's birdwatching experiences in US and other parts of the world. I was very much impressed with Dr. Gaskill about his passion and knowledge on birds. He was sharing his experiences with so much enthusiasm and interest. A material physicist by profession proved to me that if one put his/her heart in anything there is no way one could not master the subject. It is all about passion.

Having noticed my interest and willingness to learn Dr. Gaskill invited us for this year's Christmas bird count trip. I had been in two of such trips in Kansas when I was working with Dr. Dusty Becker during 2003/2004. I had enjoyed the event then. Christmas bird count is an annual event which documents different species and number of birds in a given day and time and it happens through out US. How could I miss this opportunity, especially an offer to restart my long desired hobby with Dr. Gaskill who has been doing this in the area for last 16 years. On 2nd of January Neeraj and I accompanied Dr . Gaskill and a team of ornithologists, biologists and other highly knowledgeable bird enthusiasts for Christmas bird count in Mason Neck State Park and Wildlife Refuse area close to our home. The team was divided into 4-5 subgroups, Neeraj and I were with Dr. Gaskell and Jane. Four of us had a wonderful time counting birds. It was raining but we were so much into it that it did not bother us much. We started with migratory water birds. Sighting a flock of tundra swan which migrates from Arctic was a treat. We also saw hooded mergansers, mallards, great blue heron and few other species of ducks.

Sighting numerous (more than 10) bald eagles of different ages and their nests so closely was another treat. There were many other terrestrial birds we saw -woodpeckers, chickadee, wren, robin, nuthatch, creeper, cardinals and many more. I have a list of all birds I saw that day which will help me in identifying them in future. The book by Kauffman was handy. It was a good one for beginners. Neeraj and I left around 1:00 pm. The group continued in the afternoon as well. Overall it was a very satisfying experience. I would like to continue birdwatching. For that I need a better binoculars, the one I had was not that good. I had a very good binoculars back home, I think I bought that one with my first internships stipend back in 1999 when I was so much into watching birds.

I miss those days with Aseem and Charlu, two of my close friends who introduced me to this adventures journey of birdwatching at IIFM. I also miss a bird friendly atmosphere of IIFM campus. Of course another good friend Subas with whom I shared the interest at KMTNC. Subas and I along with other bird enthusiasts had one of the wonderful birdwatching/count trips in Chitwan during 2001. We were in three days canoe trip from Machan resort to Kasara camp counting birds, It was very fulfilling and successful experience. Subas and I even prepared a manuscript out of that trip which we planned to publish in one of the journals, I left the office at the mean time so did Subas after couple of months so the paper never get published. However, the trip had been one of the great learning experience and I have always cherished that adventurous trip. Those were the days...

Time to wrap up year 2010

2010-12-28T21:09:00.009-05:00

(The first snow of this season)

It is unbelievable that year 2010 will end in few days. Many things happened this year. Neeru took a new job, I made significant progress towards my Ph.D as compared to last year, now both of us are together in DC in our new home and family here and back home are doing good as well. Having spent the last winter in the Midwest I am enjoying the weather in DC metro area right now. In a summary, year 2010 has been a fulfilling year. All is well. While trying to manage everything some days or weeks were tough, most of them were pretty nice and easy. Now I am very much looking forward to year 2011. Hope it will bring the same peace of mind, ample of new opportunities to explore and few moments of happiness to cherish like this year !

We in front of the National Christmas tree, Washington D.C

Happy Day

2010-12-12T23:52:00.004-05:00

I am happy today. Simply happy. Nor that today was different from any other day. Weekend was low profile as most of our weekends these days. We went to one of Neeru's boss's house for pre-holiday gathering, small group of young material scientists. Had lots of fun decorating a Christmas tree, talking about birds and few random stuff. It was raining today I did not get out of the house today. Nor that I get out everyday these days. I am noticing lots of behavioral changes on me:-) I used to be a person who had to go to 10 places in a day to complete a day. These days my days goes by just being in one place for 10 days. Wow ! the most important part is I am content with this life style most of the time, with very few episode of restlessness. So what goes in my daily routine these days - get up late, eat breakfast, check emails, work for couple of hours, take a nap, watch hindi serials (oh yea, this is my unbelievable new addiction), cook dinner, watch TV, work for couple of hours and sleep late.

Working from home has gained momentum and now I am set in a new schedule. I work couple of hours in the day time and couple of hours in the evening and few hours during night. This schedule works much better and more productive than my previous schedule when I tried to train myself to work 8-5. The goal is to work 8-10 hrs in a day and be productive. It does not matter how I spread my work schedule in a day.

Have not started any new book after finishing the Alchemist. Have to look for another good book and its audio version. No big plans for holidays therefore will have time to read few books.

भाषाको कुरा

2010-12-11T01:42:00.003-05:00

नेपालीमा ब्लग नेलेखेको पनि धेरै नै भएछ । सम्झना छैन अन्तिम पटक कहिले लेखेको थिएं । जती जती दैनिक काममा व्यस्त भयो उती नेपाली पढ्ने र नेपालीमा लेख्ने पनि कम हुँदैगएको सधैं नै महसुस हुन्छ । हुन त नेपालीमा लेख्नलाई दिनै जुराएर त लेख्नु पर्ने होइन तैपनी अंग्रेजी नै सजिलो लाग्ने भएको छ आजभोलि लेख्न बस्दा । नेपालमै जन्मेर, यही नेपाली बोल्दै, नेपालीमा नै पढेर, नेपाली माटोमा नै हुर्के बढेको म जस्तो मान्छे त लेख्न बस्दा आजभोलि शव्द भेट्दिन । दैनिक जीवनमा अंग्रेजीले प्रभुत्व जमाएर होला आफ्नो भावनाहरु शब्दमा उतार्न पनि अंग्रेजी नै सजिलो लाग्छ ,नेपाली भाषाप्रति आफ्नो माया हुँदा हुँदै पनि । कसरी सुइकार्ने मैले नेपाली शव्दहरु बिर्सदै गैरहेछु भनेर । हरेक दिन अंग्रेजी शव्दभण्डारमा शव्दहरु थपिंदै गैरहेछन् र नेपाली शव्दभण्डारवाट शव्दहरु हराउदै गैरहेछन् । कहिले कहिले आत्मग्लानी पनि हुन्छ । प्रवासी हुनुको धेरै पिडा मध्यको एक होला शायद यो ।

मेरो त यो अवस्था छ भने बिदेशमै जन्मेका र सानै देखि विदेशमा नै हुर्केका नेपाली मुलका केटाकेटीहरुलाई यो नेपाली भाषा बोल्नु पर्ने एक प्रकारको वध्यताले कती पिरोल्छ होला । विदेशमा बस्ने, केटाकेटी भएका लगभग सबै जसो मेरा आफन्त र साथीभाइमा आफ्ना केटाकेटीलाई नेपाली बोल्न सिकाउनु पर्छ भन्ने भावना छ र लागि पनि पर्नुभएको छ उँहाहरु। तर कती हद सम्म सफल हुनुभएको छ त्यसको मुल्याङ्कन गर्न गार्हो छ। एउटै गुनासो भने पटक पटक सुन्न पाइन्छ - जती गरे पनि नेपाली बोल्दैन् , हामीसँग बोलीहाले पनि आफु आफु बोल्दैनन्, यस्तै यस्तै । मेरो अप्रत्यक्ष अनुभवमा यो एउटा चुनौतीपूर्ण कार्य हो। दिनमा एक दुई घण्टा बाबु आमा वीच नेपालीमा हुने वार्तालापबाट केटाकेटीले कती बुझ्ने र त्यसलाई कती र कसरी प्रयोगमा ल्याउने अनी आमा वावुले पनि केटाकेटीबाट कती अपेक्षा राख्ने, यो दुवै पक्षका लागि धेरै नै अन्योलको बिषय हो ।

Boston trip

2010-12-07T23:28:00.007-05:00

(John Harvard, founder of Harvard University)
I accompanied Neeraj to Boston during his conference right after thanksgiving for three days. I have been to Boston couple of times before, in fact many times before. This is one of the town I have enjoyed in summer and in winter too (early winter, I have not seen snow in Boston). The small city on the bank of Charles river is so vibrant with young and old crowd. We could also called this city a mecca of educationists. Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology situated in Boston are dream educational institution for every educated individual. Harvard is the oldest educational institution in the US and is 374 years old. Many of us wish to study or work there if not at least wants see its premises.

The juxtaposition of century old architectures with the modern ones is another signature feature of Boston city. This is the picture of a church and a modern building at Copley place in Boston, one of the tourist attraction. The beautiful part is we could see the shadow of the church on the opposite building on any sunny day.

शारदा शर्माको "अग्निस्पर्श"

2010-12-07T20:58:00.011-05:00

शारदा शर्माको "अग्निस्पर्श" भर्खरै पढेर सकें । शारदा शर्माको बारेमा सुनेको थिएं, यस किताब मार्फत उहाँलाई नजिकवाट चिन्ने र बुझ्ने मौका मिल्यो । दैनिक जीवनका सामान्य परिस्थिती र बिषय बस्तुका अनुभवहरुको गहिरो मन्थन गरेर यस किताबमा शारदा शर्माले जीवनको गहिरो मुल्य र मान्यताहरु हामीलाई पस्कनु भएको छ । आफ्नी जननी र उनी जस्तै अरु आमाहरुमा समर्पित यस आलेखहरुको सँगालोमा नारी संवेदनाका बिभिन्न रुप र रङहरुको प्रस्तुती छ । दैनिक जीवनमा महिलाहरुले भोग्नुपरेका सामान्य कठिनाई देखि एक सक्षम र सफल महिलाका बिरोधाभास र समर्पणका विच आध्यत्मवाद, स्वतन्त्रता र जिन्दगीका सामान्य नियमहरु खोजेर, यि सामान्य:प्राय देखिने जीवनका मुल तत्व हाम्रो जीवनधरालाई अगाडी बढाउन कती जरुरी छन् भन्ने कुरा श्रीमती शर्माले राम्रोसँग प्रस्तुत गर्नु भएको छ । यस उत्कृष्ट संग्रह मार्फत समकालिन नेपाली साहित्यको फाँटमा ससक्त महिला स्रस्टाको रुपमा शारदा शर्मा उभिनु भएको छ । यस कृतिको बिषयबस्तु धेरै फराकिलो छ । बिषयगत विविधता यो किताबको बलियो आधार हो । भाषा धेरै नै उत्कृष्ट छ ।

The Alchemist

2010-12-03T22:23:00.006-05:00

I just finished reading/listening one of the very good books "The Alchemist" by a Brazilian Author Paulo Coelho. I read the first half and finished the second half listening to it. This is my second attempt listening a book and it has worked out well. Especially when I doing data management or before going to bed. Jeremy Irons has done excellent job narrating the story.

The book is a about identifying own "Personal Legend". This is the story about dreaming and living the dream. The main character of the story is a young shepherd named Santiago who traveled to Egypt from Spain in search of a treasure. During his journey he met few influential people who motivated him to identify his personal legend, encourage and helped him to achieve it. During his journey he discovered himself, found his love and a treasure through his sincerity, hard work, willingness and persistence to work towards fulfilling his dream. This book talks about a philosophy of life and how you choose to live it. Its about whether you want to give up all material goods in your life to live your dream or you want to possesses every possible thing and give up your ultimate desire.

There are few other things in the book which kept my attention to its fullest while reading/listening the book and they were the description of Sahara desert, the life story of oasis and of course the mention of pyramids in Egypt. These are the places and the things I want to visit and see. I have not been to this part of the world and I do have my personal dream to visit these places and enjoy the natural and human made wonders someday...

I like the book very much. This is one of the must read books. This book helped me be happy, believe in my dreams and hold few principles I am carrying to guide my life even tighter. I do recommend it to my reader friends. Happy reading friends.

This post has no title...

2010-11-23T20:25:00.005-05:00

This is one of my favorite pictures from my recent shots. This picture stole my breath and took away many more things from me. It also represents one of the unforgettable moments of my life. Therefore, I wanted to post it here just as a record for future, just for myself. Whenever I see this post it will remind me of the day it was taken, various emotions and thought this image provoked. For me it represents sadness and I want to document that saddness...

Anuradha Koirala

2010-11-21T09:36:00.004-05:00

Three cheers to Anuradha Koirala, the CNN hero of the year. Ms. Koirala is a social activist working for prevention of girl child from trafficking and prostitution. She has been working towards protecting nepali women from sexual exploitation since early 1990s. She has been successful in protecting more than 12, 000 victims through her social organization named MAITI NEPAL.

You made us proud and your courage and initiation is an inspiration to all nepali people in general and nepali women in particular. I hope your story will motivate us to tread the untrodden path in any of the fields which will serve humanity. I have a long desire to serve as a volunteer at Maiti Nepal during my visit to Nepal. It has not happened yet. Hopefully I will be able to do so in future visits.

One more time three cheers to Anuradha Koirala. Good luck with your fight to protect thousands of women from such crime. You are and will always be in our prayers. May god bless you.

Fall Foliage

2010-11-20T23:03:00.002-05:00

Nikon D5000

2010-11-20T18:45:00.009-05:00

I officially made an entry of a new interest in my list of things I like to do with a purchase of a new toy. I am finally an owner of Nikon DSLR. I like to take pictures, both of myself and things and events around me. My interest in photography has helped me document the events and moments I have enjoyed and places I have visited in the past. I own a small cybershot which I have been enjoying a lot and have used to its fullest. Now I am ready to embark on a journey with little sophisticated piece. I do not know much about photography other than using my own judgement while taking pictures with point and shoot. Nor do I know much about taking pictures with a dslr. However, I am very excited to learn new subject matter with my new toy. Thanks to my lovely cousin, Roshan. I am very happy. This is the second fancy electronic gadget I own and I hope to enjoy this as much as I enjoyed my first one, my first laptop Neeraj bought me couple of years back.

Here are few fresh shots of my first subject...

more interesting subjects and pictures will follow...

Observing sunset from Skyline drive...

2010-11-15T22:15:00.011-05:00

Picture speaks much much louder than my words....

Skyline drive...

2010-11-15T15:06:00.013-05:00

On our way home on Saturday from Luray Caverns we drove to Shenandoah National Park and drove through skyline drive. We missed fall foliage on the drive way however, we could still see beautiful hills covered with colorful foliages. Though trees along the drive way had already shredded their leaves, driving in scenic driveway of the Shenandoah, the skyline drive was an extraordinary experience in itself. Very thought provoking,rejuvenating, exciting,peaceful and simply beautiful. We stopped at few viewpoints, enjoyed unique beauty of nature specific to each place. The gradient of colors from bottom of a hill to its top both on leeward and sunny sides were unique, simply marvelous. We repeatedly wished we should have come there couple of weeks back. We definitely need to go there to see fall foliage next year.

Nature is amazing and its beauty is very mysterious and breathtaking. We drove through 3680 feet high ridge, the highest point in the skyline drive. It was very much aspiring to see hikers coming down and going up in different trails. Oh, My! I need to come back to this place, to camp, to hike and to rejuvenate myself.
And of course, my new camera will add another dimension to my excitement.We drove through a meadow and saw few mobs of deer, a fawn and a mother wandering along the street.Colorful wildflowers blooming in meadows and along shoulders of the road complemented the beauty of Shenandoah drive through.

The story is not yet complete. I observe, from the highest point of skyline drive, one of the beautiful sunsets of my life. I do not know about Neeru but I was lost first and then felt enlightened as we were watching the sun bid us goodbye for the day. The story of driving through skyline drive continues...

Lovely weekend

2010-11-13T20:31:00.021-05:00

This weekend has been so wonderful. Just two of us after so many weekends and both of us were mentally free and were up for any thing unplanned.Planned life is so boring and unromantic. Friday was a quiet and cozy evening with a dinner and a movie. Pretty woman was on TV and this is one of my all time favorite romantic movies since my college days. I have watched the movie several times.Still I want to watch it. How could I miss the chance to watch this movie AGAIN when hubby was also ready to sit down with me and watch it. It was so much fun.

(Neeru and me inside the cave)

On saturday, we finally visited the long planned Luray Caverns and surrounding Shenandoah valley area. The cave was marvelous. Gradually going down 164 feet and deeper with thousands of magnificent structural formations ranging from millions of years past formation and some still forming. They were big and small mostly made of of iron, calcium and manganese giving red, white and grey shades respectively. The combination of three individual colors and mixture of them have provided an extraordinary colors to the structures formed inside the cave as small as few inches to as tall as 50 -60 feet or even more.

(The formation named fried egg inside the cave)

(The dream lake, another signature feature inside the cave, we could see the mirror image of structures hanging from the ceiling in the lake)

My tiny cyber-shot has not done justice to the colors inside the cave. Am I forming some background here? Oh yes , I finally bought my first Nikkon DSLR which is on its way home. I am very much looking forward to play with my new toy.

Coming out of the Shell

2010-11-09T21:02:00.008-05:00

It is so difficult to motivate oneself to get out of the comfy hibernation shell. That is what I am experiencing these days. Everyday I promise myself that I will be physically more active today as compared to previous day and later in the day I find some lame excuse or laziness over powers me and I stay at home doing nothing. This has been going on for weeks and I do not like it at all. It is very difficult to motivate oneself than others. Preaching is more easier than practicing. However, this week has been better than past few. I finally went to the gym this week twice. On sunday I walked on the treadmill just for 10-15 minutes. Today I walked and run for about 15 minutes and finished a mile on 2 inclination and 4 miles/hr. Did some stretching. I know this is not much of an exercise, in fact nothing for my age and body type. But I need to start somewhere. I do not not have a big goal to achieve. I just want to be consistent with this routine and in couple of weeks I just want to be able to run 1 mile easily. One day at a time has always been my guiding moto whenever I am slacking in one or the other aspect of life. Keeping that spirit has always been helpful.

I have also started to read a book "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. More will follow about the book in few days. What else is going on in my life? Work is frustrating and working from home is even worse. I am not at all liking it at this point of time. I need more energy to keep myself on schedule than work itself. I know I chose to do it and I have not been successful in mastering the self discipline to work from home. It is very challenging and need a conscious and consistent effort.

One thing I have enjoyed in my current life is no travel especially by air. Its been complete 5 months since I have boarded a flight. Wow, what a relief. No long road trip since August which is also nice. My body is all rested now. However, I am not yet prepared for any travel. I can handle a short day trip to near by places but not yet ready for hours of driving. I am not at all prepared for flying:-). I am 100% sure that this feeling will change after sometime because travel is part and partial of my life and I enjoy visiting places and people. The other thing I have been enjoying is healthy eating at home. Have very much enjoyed the new kitchen. I have not tried much of a new recipe but have just modified and improvised the old ones as per our new mantra of healthy eating.

It seems like I am coming out of my shell. At least the shell has started cracking. Lets see how long it will take for me to wander around with all my new energy.

Movies recently watched

2010-11-03T23:59:00.004-04:00

I have been hiding in my cocoon, living my less active life. I am saying living rather than enjoying my less active life because it has started making me a slacker. I spent most of my weekdays inside the house being less active. Weekends are little exciting because of various activities, not the big ones though. I want to gain my energy back and be mentally and physically active. I have set up a small library in my office room, however I have not read a single book after I moved to VA.What is the use right? That is what I feel. I am not happy about it. I know I have started one though and hope I will finish it soon and will write about it too.

I have watched couple of movies recently and following two are the ones which left impact on me. Both of them are worth watching.

this movie is based on Helen Keller's life story. I had read a book by her and also watched the movie black, bollywood adaptation of the story. This one is sweet and short unlike the hindi version black.

This movie I had heard about and meaning to watch.Its a story of an African-American researcher, scientist who was active part of one of the many medical research break throughs and did not get the recognition due to racial discrimination during that time.

Exploring DC

2010-10-29T09:47:00.003-04:00

On and off these days I get out of my cocoon and explore DC metro area. It is more of a forced getting out than my own extraordinary motivation. Now and then I get visitors and I grab this opportunity to get out of my cocoon. Recently I visited the Pentagon, Lincoln memorial, Supreme Court of US and the library of Congress all from outside except the Lincoln memorial. In a separate occasion I also gathered a brief overview of china town, glimpses of the rally to restore sanity and Marine Marathon and watched hubble-3D at Air and Space museum.

The quick glimpses of these historical monuments, buildings and events in and around DC metro area have influenced me enough that I want to spend more time in each of these historical buildings and learn more. Explore in depth just by myself unlike a tour guide accompanying a day visitor. There is so much to do in DC and learn. The exploration process has started slowly. I need to make a special and systematic plan to satisfy my curious mind. May be a bucket list to explore DC. As I explore the bits and pieces of DC metro area I strongly felt the need to own a good camera. My small cyber shot do not do the justice to these epitomes of human history. The place has planted a seed for new interest on me. Photography. I have enjoyed taking photographs in the past mostly of myself,events and places around me. The regular point and shoot has fulfilled my need. The magnificent DC has refused me to be captured in a small frame and thus I have decided to purchase the dslr for myself. One of my loved ones has showered his love and promised me that he will fulfill my desire of owning a new toy. I am very excited about it.

Dashain this year

2010-10-20T00:08:00.007-04:00

Dashain this year was one of the wonderful dashains I have celebrated in many years. This is our first dashain in our new home with family. It was so nice. We ate, ate and ate, danced, played cards and had fun just doing nothing.

(Me and Neeru with my lovely brothers Roshan and Rajan)

We had a inter state Dashain this year. Roshan flew from North Dakota and Rajan from Texas, Northern most and Southern most states of Mid west. Indra and Mukta dai's family drove from Virginia beach and North Carolina respectively. Most of the saturdays guys spent their time assembling newly purchased grill followed by barbeque. Neeraj and I made Sel roti later at night. On Sunday morning we went to the Durga Temple. It was the day of Dashain and it was very interesting to observe the presences of Nepalese crowd in the temple all clad in beautiful attires. It felt like as if we were in one of the Temples of Nepal where people from different faces of life gathered to celebrate the biggest festival of ours.

(Mukta dai and Roshan getting ready for barbeque)

(The whole group)

Nepali Cultural Night in DC Metro area

2010-10-13T10:38:00.006-04:00

Last saturday Neeru and I attended a Nepali cultural program named "Dashain Eve 2067" organized by United Nepal, a local organization of Nepalese artists. It was one of the very few big cultural events I had attended in US. There were more than 1500 attendees and some 30 or so performances,including the performances by renowned artists like Rajesh Hamal, Saroj Khanal, Raju Lama, Karna Das, Prem raja Mahat, Saranga Shrestha and few others.

How did I find the program? I enjoyed it very much. Most of the performances were excellent. Raju Lama rocked. So did Rajesh Hamal, Karna Das, Ratan Subedi and others. The dance performed by young local artists were worth a praise.The program had blend of everything, folk and modern performances, mime and dances.

Though I enjoyed the program "the Dashain eve 2067" was one of the worst managed program I have ever attended. The poor management and lack of coordination among the organizers were evident at every step of the program. an hour late start, loud music, music being stuck during the performance, were few to name it. It seems like we will never ever be able to see well managed, well coordinated nepali program. I am forced to say this because all the events I have attended so far have suffered from this infection. The worst part is every time the management team gets away with a poor excuses, and blaming it to old Nepali practice. Therefore, over a period of time I have learnt to ignore that aspect and have developed my attitude towards focusing on the individual performance and enjoying it. And it has worked out well. Worst come worst this time the program was also unexpectedly interrupted by the false fire alarm that went on during the middle of the program resulting in evacuation of the building for about an hour.

Despite of all these we stayed till end of the program which ended at 12:30 at night. At the end I even got a chance to take a picture with Rajesh Hamal, a superstar from Nepali movies. Not that I am his big fan I like his performances and he delivers dialogues very well.

Happy Dashain to everyone:-)

Life in DC and its Suburb

2010-09-20T07:24:00.006-04:00

I have been enjoying my life in DC suburb very much. Have started exploring the area little bit. Went to the Zoo one weekend. We went to the zoo later in the afternoon thats why we did not get to explore much. However, I enjoyed the bird exhibits, giant pandas, cheetah and few others.

Who moved my cheese !

2010-09-03T09:50:00.002-04:00

I moved from Kansas. I am in Virginia now, in my new world. Enjoying my low profile life after hectic summer. Enjoying my new house, especially new kitchen, I love to cook. New house project has taken up pretty significant amount of time after I moved here, both out of necessity and excitement and now the time has come to wrap it up for some time and move forward with other stuff in life. There is still so much to do, probably for the third/forth phase of house project. Being in a your own new house has been a wonderful experience, peaceful and satisfying.

Other than house project I have started to explore the local area for recreational stuff. It seems like there are few hiking trails and a lake or two nearby for bird watching. I have to bring back my old hobby of birdwatching.While unpacking I have found my binoculars, now need to look for a good bird book.

I have a new office room in my house. It is all set up now. Has not been fully functional yet. I have only spent couple of hours in past weeks. I look forward to spending more time in here in coming weeks. This will be my den for next couple of months as I have many things to finish during this semester.

Reading has gone significantly down in past couple of months. Need to break this phase and start reading as I have few books lined up for reading, both in Nepali and English.

Summer 2010

2010-07-30T01:39:00.002-04:00

About this time last year I was very active in reading books and updating my blogs. However, this summer I have been so passive on both of the fronts. Have not read any books in past few months and have not been writing either. What have I been doing then?
I have been busy teaching these days. In fact I am done teaching technically today. This was my first time teaching a class as an instructor. I taught Geography 100 - the world regional geography. It kept me busy through out the month as during these summer sessions one teach everyday for 2 hours. Teaching for 2 hours everyday for 5 days, I was always working on it, either preparing lecture slides, writing and grading assignments and exams. I am giving my finals tomorrow and I am done teaching for this summer. It has been wonderful experience. I loved it. I would love to teach again:-) I am glad the feeling persisted. I was little nervous as I was not sure if the feeling would remain or not after I am done teaching.

I did not have to travel anywhere in last 2 months. At time I wonder what would my life be if I do not travel this much. This has been the longest no travel since November. However, I am getting ready for another big travel. I am moving from Kansas to Virginia next week. Am I ready for it? I think I am. I have a strong feeling that I will be reading and writing more once I settle down in VA.

2010-06-28T23:57:00.003-04:00

What has happened to me these days? I do not feel like writing. Its been months since I read any books.Exercising has not been on the top of my list either. I go to swimming on and off, I went today after many days. I feel exhausted and tired all the time. There is not much going on in day to day life. It seems like I am recovering from all the travelling I have done in last few months. I am happy that I do not have any travel plans for next month or so.

I do have travel plans in August and this one is a big one. I am moving to Virginia from Kansas. Am I looking forward to this move? I have mixed feelings. I am excited because Its been little more than a year since Neeraj and I are living apart and it has started getting into me. I miss him more. Second exciting this is the newly purchased house. I have just spent 10 days in the home and I am looking forward to live there and enjoy the personal space. There are other exciting part as well - we are in suburb of Washington D.C area and there are so many different things to do. The only factor which gives me a mixed feeling about moving is my Ph.D. I am planning to work from home once I move to Virginia and I am worried that not being in an academic setting will slow down the work. I am little nervous about it. Hopefully, this nervousness will help me keep in track. Self discipline is important and I need to practice it more.

I have so much to do before I move to Virginia and I feel I have no energy left. I have a terrible toothache since thursday. It bothered me the whole weekend and I went to see the dentist today. He told me that it is not the tooth that is bothering me it is the gum infection and prescribed me a rinse and an antibiotics. Hopefully it will get better in days to come.

Have been following the world cup football. Have not got a chance to watch it more frequently as it falls during the office hours. I watched the game between Argentina and Mexico. I am looking forward to watch the game on Saturday between Argentina and Germany. I grew up cheering up for Argentina. Therefore, this season also I am for Argentina.

I need to bring back my energy.

Spring 2010 wrap up

2010-06-14T13:53:00.006-04:00

Spring of 2010 is over. Long gone now. My spring 2010 was full of travel,personal,social and work related. It was a full semester and was productive semester as well so I am happy about it. Finished the windbreak project, presented the final results in the workshop organized by Kansas Forest Services, wrote a manuscript based on the results. I am waiting for the feedback on manuscript.

Dissertation proposal is done, all document signed. In a couple of weeks I will be officially a Ph.D candidate. Still a long way to go but one phase has been traveled and I am embarking on the third phase of PhD journey. Now I will be playing around with numbers and digits, softwares and techniques.

Other fun stuff happened towards the end of the spring semester. Attended Akriti and Deepak's wedding in Dallas. I could only attend wedding ceremony, had to miss the reception in the evening as I was headed to DC that afternoon. Wedding was fun. It was good to see Dixit uncle and Aunti after few years.

After the wedding ceremony with Dixit uncle and family

I was in DC for 2 weeks. We had taken up one of the biggest financial decisions during my stay in DC. We bought and closed a house. The house hunting process was going on for last 3 months and finally we found the one we liked and have already moved in. Wow. It was quick that is what I feel. I am excited, happy, overwhelmed and nervous about this decision.

Both Neeraj and I accomplished lots of thing during fall semester. He took up a new job, moved to new place. We bought a new house and taken good care of professional obligations on both of our ends. So far life is happily balanced. Life is all about balance and I am proud that we have been successful so far in maintaining the balance. It is tough but doable.

Summarizing April 2010

2010-04-29T23:20:00.008-04:00

(Me at the AAG meeting, one of the highlights of April 2010)

It is unbelievable 1/3 of 2010 is already over. Wow! What did I do in April ? Lots of things.

I finished working on the windbreak data, analysis is over. Now I have to finalize a manuscript I am currently working on for publication and also write a report base on the same to submit to Kansas Forest Service. I also have to prepare to present the work on May 20th at South western Kansas during the Agroforestry day. This project will be done by the end of this semester. I am really proud of myself about this project. This is one of the few projects I have worked for a year and is ready to come to a good end. It involved lots of GIS and remote sensing work, field component, meetings with government officials and couple of presentation in seminars and workshops. This project gave me a very good idea and also prepared me on how it is like to work in the field of natural resource conservation in the United States.

I am also in a process of finally finalizing my dissertation proposal. The committee has already given a green signal. I have few things I need to take care of other than that my dissertation proposal is done. Wow ! in fact a big Wow ! The phase II of Ph.D is coming to an end soon. This would be my biggest achievement of the year. I have 2 more phases to complete. I have, for my own benefit, divided the Ph.D into 4 phases. Phase I- course work, Phase II - Preliminary exams, Dissertation proposal preparation and obtain Ph.D candidacy ( All But Defense (ABD) status). Phase III - working with data and methods , Phase IV- writing dissertation. Hopefully, from the beginning of summer session I will start working on Phase III.

(One more from the conference)

I went to Washington, D.C during 9th -19th to attend annual conference of Association of American Geographers. I presented a paper based on the work I did last summer. Side project I should say. It was about applying remote sensing technique to identify malaria vectors' habitat in South America. The presentation went very good and my presentation skill has definitely improved over times. Given the interest I have in this project, I wish to have more time to play around with it or more time management skill so that I could get to the end of this project.

There are few more updates from April. However, I am feeling so sleepy right now to write further. May be tomorrow. So much back log in writing. I thought blog was all about writing as it happens. Am I breaking any rule here? Oh ! well then I better go off to bed start updating things as it happen. Good night !

Blood Donation

2010-04-06T23:20:00.004-04:00

I donated blood for the first time in life. I feel great:-)

नेपाली साहित्य, म र हिमाली स्वरहरु

2010-04-01T02:44:00.004-04:00

नेपाली साहित्य मेरो जिन्दगीको एउटा पाटो हो। मलाई नेपाली किताबहरु पढ्न मन लाग्छ । कहिले कहिले नेपालीमा कविता पनि लेख्छु । नेपाली साहित्यसँग जोडीएका मेरा केही अनुभवहरू यो ब्लगमा समेट्ने कोसिस गरेको छु । न्यू योर्क शहरबाट प्रसारित हुने नेपाली अन्लाईन रेडियो "हिमाली स्वरहरु" मार्फत मैले नेपाली साहित्यसँग जोडीएका मेरा भावना र अनुभवहरु बाड्ने गरेको छु ।

१०८ औं श्रृंखलामा मेरो कविता कार्यक्रम संचालक शाहदेव पौडेलजीले पढेर सुनाउनु भएको छ

http://nepaliradio.org/2009/08/108thepisod/

हिमाली स्वरहरुमा मैले गत बर्ष पुस्तक चर्चा नामक कार्यक्रम सुरु गरेको थिएं । मेरो आफ्नै कार्यव्यस्तताले गर्दा मैले त्यस कार्यक्रमलाई अगाडी बढाउन सकिन । समय परिस्थिती मिल्दै गयो भने म फेरी यसलाई निरन्तरता दिन चाहन्छु । गत बर्ष प्रसारण भएका कार्यक्रमको लिन्क राखेको छु ।

पुस्तक चर्चा

९६औ श्रृंखलामा - बबिता बस्नेतको कथा संग्रहको चर्चा

http://nepaliradio.org/2009/05/९६औ-श्रृंखला-सुन्नुहोस/

९५औ श्रृंखलामा - डा. दयानन्द बज्राचार्यको पुस्तक चर्चा

http://nepaliradio.org/2009/05/९५औ-श्रृंखला-सुन्नुहोस /

९३औ श्रृंखलामा: साहित्यकार भारती गौतमको साहित्यिक कृतिको

http://nepaliradio.org/2009/04/93rd-episode/

प्रेममय कबिता श्रृंखला

http://nepaliradio.org/2009/02/प्रेममय-कबिता-श्रृंखला-स/

अमेरिकाबाट प्रकाशित हुने पत्रीका विश्व परिक्रमाको तेस्रो वार्षिकोत्सवको उपलक्ष्यमा आयोजित कविता प्रतियोगीतामा तेस्रो स्थान पाएको मेरो कविता "मन "

७९ श्रृंखला

http://nepaliradio.org/2009/01/७९औ-श्रृंखला-सुन्नुहोस/

Recent traveling experience

2010-03-30T03:39:00.003-04:00

My Day: March 12th 2010

2:45 am - Woke up 3:00 am: Stan gave me a ride to Kansas city airport 5:00 am: Reached Kansas city airport 5:30 am: Cleared security 6:00 am: Got ready to board the flight to DC 6:15 am: was informed that the flight was overbooked and my ticket did not have assigned seat so the flight took off without me.

6:15 - 6:45 am: negotiating, talking with airline people, tried my best to be nice and polite 6:45 am: Stand by in the flight to Philadelphia - did not make it 7:15 am: Stand by in the flight to Charlotte - did not make it 7:30 am: Decided to come back to Manhattan,negotiated with the airline people, collected the compensation voucher.

7:45 am: Went again for the security check 8:00 am: Boarded an unscheduled flight to Manhattan from Kansas City. I was the only passenger in the flight. It felt good in fact. Felt like somebody chartered the plane only for me. 8:25 am: Landed in Manhattan airport. Thanks Dr. Goodin for picking me up from the airport...

Traveling is not always fun. I am so tired of uncertainty associated with flying.

NC nostalgia

2010-03-30T00:36:00.003-04:00

Its time to say official goodbye to Raleigh, North Carolina. Already missing the place, weather and of course the circle of goods friends and family. Will cherish the wonderful memories collected over three years period - Food and restaurants of Chattam Square and the grand asia, the indian movie theater, buying and selling vegetables at the farmers market, trails of Johnson Lake, Parties at Morrisville, intellectual conversation with mama,Aseem and pinku, taking classes at UNC- Chapel Hill, working at Duke University and most importantly our life at room no H-21 in King Village, everything was so wonderful. The room brought us happiness, success and prosperity. Definitely, not everyday was good, we had some difficult days and few lesson learning life moments. Otherwise it was one of the best spent time period in Neeraj and my life. Will miss you a lot.

Travel, travel and more travel

2010-03-29T23:31:00.004-04:00

It has been little more than a month since I updated my blog, it was all because of the busy schedule, travelling and me being sick on and off. Lot going on in life right now. Basically it is one of those moments when I needed to be everywhere. In some place my presence was expected and in other I was there because I wanted to be there.

Let me start with the most exciting news- Neeru has taken a new job in Washington, DC beginning second week of March. Therefore, It was once again a transition time, exciting, overwhelming, hectic, emotional, stressful and we wish we were together moments. I went to North Carolina over the extended weekend during the last week of February, we made a quick trip to DC on a house hunting mission, was unsuccessful and got back to Kansas in a flash of time. I did not even know how those 4-5 days went by. It was my last visit as of now to Raleigh, NC therefore, had to say personal goodbye to few close friends. I already miss NC. Neeraj and I had one of the best times in our life in NC. It was so peaceful, low profile and satisfying in many respects. We met few wonderful friends and the moments we spent with them, we will always cherish. I think, I will miss my book buddy, Pinku the most, bold and beautiful, had to admit this:-)

I again boarded a flight on March 15 after 2 weeks of coming back from NC . This time it was not for NC. It was for DC. This was my third visit to DC in last 3 and 1/2 months. I was there during thanksgiving break as well. Anyway, this trip to to help Neeraj settle in a new place. Spent quite a bit of time in IKEA furniture store and very impressed with its product and the price range. Bought a long desired platform bed from IKEA. I am sure I will be visiting this store more often in near future. Since my cousin brother Roshan and our friends Aseem and Abhilasha were around in NC to help Neeraj move from NC to DC. Having Arbinda and family in DC to receive Neeraj made things very easy and less demanding for us. Moments like this make me realize how fortunate we are to have such caring family and friends. I have always been fortunate to be around a circle of caring family and friends and feel very blessed, obliged and thankful.

A week in DC was wonderful, got to spent lots of time with Arbinda, Rehana and their little daughter Anwesha and other family members. I was fortunate enough to be a part of Arbinda and Rehana's happiness as I was there when they welcomed their second baby Rigved on March 22nd. Rigved was the youngest baby I had seen so far, got to see him within few minutes of his birth. This visit to DC turned out to be the baby visit time for me as I got to visit Krishna and Sujata, my high school friends, 6 weeks old daughter Luniva and also Anup dai and Deepa bhauju's 6 months old daughter Aarya shree. I had seen both Luniva and Aarya Shree in my previous visits.

In between, I did manage to attend two days conference in Wichita, Kansas in the month of February. Again getting ready to travel after two weeks to Washington, DC to attend an annual meeting of Association of American Geographers (AAG). Yes I am happy cause having a conference in DC means I get to spend sometime with Neeru. So far profession and family has been balanced, at least I think so:-). There is always other side of the story which I do not want to know because I want to believe what I think, at least in this context.

Time to say goodbye:-)

Super Bowl 2010: Go Saints

2010-02-09T21:21:00.004-05:00

One of the biggest sport event in the U.S and also in the world Super Bowl 2010 was on the weekend. Few of us got together at friend's place to watch the game. It was very entertaining and I had lots of fun. I am not that much of a follower of an american football. Watching football is a part of american culture and it is specially popular in campus environment. Everybody talks about football here is campus especially the younger crowds. Therefore, I have acquired this habit over years and whenever I have watched it enjoyed it. The other reason I developed interest for this game is Neeru is so much into it. He follows most of the games and I get to hear bits and pieces every now and then. The 44th Super Bowl this year was played between New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts. I was cheering for Saints and I am very happy that Saints own over Colts with 31/17. The game was very exciting and I along with my friends enjoyed it a lot.

The other thing Super Bowl is famous for is commercials. This is the time and event of the year when the new commercials for consumer goods are introduced. You get to see lots of creative and expensive commercials during this event.

Three Cups of Tea

2010-01-19T19:56:00.011-05:00

I am done listening "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. Listening a book has been an interesting experience. While listening the book, I lost track of the narration sometime but overall experience was good. One thing for sure is the success of audio book is mostly dependent on the narration. In this book the narrator, Mr. Patrick Lawlor has done an excellent job by reading the book in clear voice and slow pace.

3 cups of Tea is a story of Greg Mortenson who went to build schools in rough terrain of Pakistan after failing to reach the K2 summit, World's second highest mountain of Karakorum range in Northern Pakistan . As one get involved in the book, the very likely thoughts come into the mind - what if Greg had succeeded reaching K2 summit? The obvious answer is he would have never landed up in Korphe, a small village in the province of Baltistan. Had he not landed up in Korphe, he would not have come back to build the school, a promise he made to the people of Korphe who saved his life after the failure. His life would have been different and he would not have chosen this path of kindness and charity. However, after completing the book you reach to the conclusion that sooner or later he would have embarked on this journey as he is meant for doing something like this. Taking challenges and working on it one at a time. It is not the failed mountaineering which in a day or week induced this desire to do something for underprivileged children of remote Pakistan in Mr. Mortenson's heart. Serving was in his blood as his father was one of the persons involved in building one of the renowned teaching hospital of Tanzania today. This failure was just a coincidence, I feel. This failure was a blessing in disguise for him. The way of leading Junior Mortenson to follow the path his father choose decades ago just in a different form and different part of the world.

The book is not only a narration of one infidel's attempt to build schools and educate children in an Islamic country during the middle of war. This is one of the best visions to fight terrorism in an unique way. Though this book revolves around Mr. Mortenson's life yet it has been successful in addressing the pressing issues of current world, fighting terrorism being one in the top. It has well accounted the real meaning of Islam and the desire of majority of Muslim, peace and prosperity for all. Education for their children and happiness for their family.

This small book provides an excellent account of Dr. Mortenson's being. The value system his parents showered on him; his childhood; his up brining in Tanzania; his love for his sister Krista, his professional experience as trauma nurse all of them have contributed well in shaping up Mr. Mortenson's personality. This book is a well accounted description of role of each elements smaller or bigger in his life which lead him to undertake this challenging task of putting books in the hand of children who otherwise would have been force to carry bomb or rifles.

Good Luck Mr. Mortenson. Now next on the reading list is "Stones to School" by the same author.

Spring 2010

2010-01-14T22:21:00.003-05:00

Spring 2010 semester started this week. The pressure of the semester will increase as it gains momentum in weeks to come. I will be working on pretty much the same stuff I was working last semester.However, this semester will be more towards finalizing the stuff I did last semester, windbreak project of southwestern Kansas. I also need to complete the analysis of the images from Paraguay I was working in the summer. And of course need to finalize my own proposal and start data management for the data I have.

These days I am listening a book, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. The book about one man's mission to fight terrorism by spreading education on wild and tough terrain of Pakistan. This is my first try of listening to book as I work on data formatting and management which need more patience than any thing else. Listening to a book has made my data formatting job enjoyable which otherwise would have been big pain in the neck. I will write about the book once I finish reading or listening it.

Bits and Pieces

2010-01-11T11:43:00.013-05:00

HAD syndrome

Husband Attention Deficiency Syndrome. I am suffering from it right now:-). The name is my own invention and I do not know if someone has already coined the term. At least I have not heard of it. Trying to be creative and humorous while I am desperately missing someone. I wish he was here for longer. I wish the weather was better when he was around. We did spent low profile quality time with each other, however, it is never enough. Just craving for more attention, I guess.

Exercise Package

I just bought a exercise package with a personal trainer for myself. Yes, I am serious about making 2010 a physically active year. I was never a work out person. Never felt the need. However, I have realized in the recent past that if you want to be energetic and happy one of the best way is to keep yourself physically active and do it in a more systematic way. I do not have a weight problem or nor that I am not physically active otherwise. I do walk regularly and do other activities like dancing and hiking in a periodic basis. However, I strongly felt the need to know the actual strength of my body, its flexibility and more that I do not know of. I have started the process. This packet will have seven sessions. The first one will be the assessment session and planning phase based on the assessment. I will keep posted on how it goes. I am very excited about it and very much looking forward to start the session.

3 Idiots

2010-01-09T12:08:00.004-05:00

One of the best movies I have watched in many years. Amir Khan is genius, there is no doubt about it. With every movie he adds an extra edge to his career and personality. He likes to experiment with new ideas and give his best and the product we all have seen it Lagan, Dil Chahata hai, Rang de Basanti, Tare Zameen Par, gajini and now 3 idiots. Could not compare one with the other, each one is unique and 100% in itself.

Go Amir Khan, waiting for DVD to be available.

Happy New Year 2010

2010-01-02T20:35:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year 2010 to everybody. Hope this new year will bring the happiness and prosperity in everyone's life. Welcoming new years means looking back to the past year and contemplating and reviewing things that have happened in your life. Cherishing the good moments and valuing the lesson learnt from not so good moments. For me the year 2009 has been good as I look back. Getting back to the school has been the best part of the year 2009. Despite of the fact that Neeraj and I live apart during the second half of the year we managed it well. More frequent travels and long phone conversation (thanks to the family plan phoning system) and the chat - things went lot smoother than we initially thought. We are really proud of it and hoping to be together soon.

This year I have also got several opportunity to experience the affection and care, kindness and generosity of people around me. I am very fortunate to having met the friends I have, few old ones some new ones. Thank you very much for being you and I am happy that you became part of my life.

Based on the things I need to take care of this year. I have set some goals (no I have not taken any resolutions). Have tried to make them more realistic and most of them are simple tasks and involves self discipline than anything else. Lets see, what I do as the days passes by. The goals are:
1. Exercise: Walk at least 6-10 miles a week
2. Eat healthy and regularly: Eat breakfast regularly, eat lunch and dinner on time
3. Work on sleeping schedule: This seems to be the hardest right now as I tend to stretch my night hours as a result loose the next day morning hours. My goal is to go to bed early and get up early.
4. Keep the positive spirit and be happy:-)

The Christmas 2009

2009-12-28T19:07:00.012-05:00

This year the Christmas was filled with different activities and fun events despite the unfriendly weather and hubby being sick.

The Christmas eve: Biryani Night

I tried one of my culinary skill during the Christmas eve to fulfill the promise I made to couple of friends here. I made chicken biryani at one of my friend's place. I was very excited and was nervous too as I had to make it for about 15-16 people. I took all the time I needed to prepare for it, starting from the grocery shopping to cooking it. Raju helped with the meat chopping part and some other stuff when I needed hand. Neeraj was recovering from fever and sipping the hot water or soup while I prepare to cook biryani. He also managed to make me nervous by reminding me where things could go wrong through out. His alertness and my hard preparation paid off at the end of the day. The biryani turned out very tasty. I was very happy. Here is the evidence:-)

The Christmas day: Event -I: Clearing the drive way

we had a big white Christmas this year in Kansas. Therefore, the Christmas morning started with snow shoveling the drive way at Dr. Goodin's house with a dirt shovel as there was no snow shovel in the house. Later on when I mentioned about it to Doug I got to hear the real story. In these years he has refused to buy a snow shovel as he never clears his drive way. His claim was he has a 4 wheel drive and he never felt the need to clear the drive way. Since the need was felt by us and we managed our way out by borrowing the snow shovel from the neighbor and cleaning the snow in a drive way.

Christmas day: Event -II- Dog chasing

The other thing I did on the Christmas morning was - I FREAKED OUT because Kaya managed to run away from the house right in front of Neeraj and me. She was out of site for about 20-25 minutes. I was not worried about her not coming back. I was worried about other dogs in the neighborhood who could have been hurt by her as Kaya have had a reputation of not being friendly with fellow dogs. Any way things got settled after she came back to the house by herself and so far we have not heard or read anything in the news about dogs being hurt in the Christmas day:-) We can claim we are safe now.

Christmas day: Event III- Wonderful Christmas meal and fun

Because of this dog chasing we were late for Christmas lunch at Freyenberger's, people were waiting. It was kind of embarrassing. The weather was not friendly either and we were not sure enough if we could make it even late. So we decided not to join them. However, Stan was kind enough to come pick us up. We really appreciate his kindness. We managed get their late just by 1/2 hrs. I know.

(The hosts: Freyenberger Couples)

I was happy to be there.The energetic Murray kids (grand kids of Jane and Stan) helped begin to make my rest of the day wonderful. They are really cute and energetic and by now they know me and have accepted me.

Christmas meal was wonderful and we played cards ( I think the name of the game we played was "Sanghai") Troy (Son -in-Law of Freyenberger's) said that this is the only game the freyenberger's know and they play it whenever they get a chance to play it:-) We had fun playing it for hours.

We left after dinner and the fun filled Christmas afternoon at 1642 Leavenworth street covered the stress we had in the morning of the same:-)

End of semester...

2009-12-27T20:09:00.004-05:00

Semester ended last week. Wow! I do not believe how fast it went. It was a challenging semester for me. Not very hectic nor loaded with too many deadlines. But the real challenge was a self discipline, meeting my own deadlines. In that case it was a okay semester I am not very proud of myself but was closer in reaching my own expectation:-)

What I have been doing after the semester got over. Dealing with the Midwest winter weather and trying to have fun at the mean time. Neeraj is here for Christmas and new year holiday. The holidays started rough as he got sick right after reaching Kansas. I know it was not fun as he was down with cold and fever for 2-3 days. Now he is back to his normal health and resuming his normal activities. I am happy for him and myself.

These days we are dog sitting at my professor's house. We are doing it for a week and enjoying it so far. Kaya has been behaving well except for the Christmas morning when she managed to fool Neeraj and me and ran away. The details will follow. We had few fun moments at the house, invited a friend and her family for dinner one night. We made momos, played cards, took pictures with Kaya and the funniest thing we did in the house was there was a big basket of coins 6 of us bet on that and counted all the pennies, dimes and quarters. Bibha was the closest one in guessing the amount and won the bet. The basket contained approximately $73 dollars.

This is the only picture I have from that evening. I have to ask my friends to send me pictures they have taken of the evening. As I get it I will update this post.

Random thoughts I wrote and never posted...

2009-12-18T15:53:00.008-05:00

This particular post is about random thoughts I wrote during last couple of weeks and later decided not to post them for whatever reason. Now I am posting them for the reasons that those moments were gone and they are the witnesses of the moments of my life some beautiful and other not so beautiful. Posting it today means I have overcome those moments,moments of fear, insecurity,intimidation, happiness or whatever was it...

December 3rd...

The month of November went without writing anything. First 20 days went as a regular work days in Kansas then I went to NC for a extended thanksgiving break on Saturday, 21st Nov. I wanted to keep it a low profile holiday and spent as much time with Neeru as possible. I wanted this break just by ourselves. However, things did not work out that way. Few important and urgent and others unnecessary social obligations were waiting for me to come to NC. Managed them somehow some with willingness and other without willingness. Neeraj and I went to DC for a short official trip on Sunday, got back to NC on Monday night. It was raining the whole time we were in DC and driving back. Driving back home was not fun because of the traffic and the rain. Now I am back to Kansas working, reading and thinking the same old stuff over and over.

October 27th....

These days I often encounter questions like - when will I finish my Ph.D ? or what is my plan after completing Ph.D? Depending upon the moments some prepared and others unprepared and who ask it I answer in a relatively vague way. This is because I do not have an very specified answer to it. It is not that I do not have a time line or a plan but I guess I am not in a position to make a public statement. Simply I do not want to give an answer to anybody for that matter. It is my journey and I want to do it the way I want and take as much time as I want to take.

I am still in a relatively tough situation and not being able to handle it in a straight forward manner. It sucks and hurts me more than anybody else. Not giving up and hanging there no matter what happens has been my attitude these days though my days has not been as productive as I wish them to be. I am an unique individual and the situation and life experiences I have is my own. No other individual will understand it and I should never ever try to make anyone understand or expect him/her to understand me and my situation. No I am not frustrated or angry. It is just that I am dealing with my own undesired situation, lack of motivation, low level of confidence and disorganized day and have lots of unscheduled moments.I am writing this to myself as a witness of those low moments of my current life. Though my desire to wake up in the morning and be productive is not there however the strong will to move on keep me alive.

Why do I need to prove myself? whom do I need to prove or do I need to prove at all to anyone. I do not even know what state of mind I am right now. What is expected from me? Whose expectation I am here to fulfill. My own or others? It applies to all kind of expectations -personal, social, academic and professional...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmNTAvnSais

Southwestern Kansas

2009-10-29T23:56:00.002-04:00

I just got back from a trip to Southwestern Kansas. Dodge city to be specific. The trip was for a windbreak project I am working on right now. It was two fold the first one was I had to go see the field windbreaks and assess their conditions in the field so that I could use this ground truth information for assessment using remote sensing information. The second reason I was in Dodge city was to attend the meeting of Conorado crossing RC and D board meeting. It is a part of state wide NGO which for my understanding works for conservation related issues at regional level. I gave a presentation to board members which included county manager, forest officers, conservation officers, administrators and bureaucrats. I had to present the results and the status of the windbreaks project I am currently working on. The presentation went well and so did the field trip. It was raining today so we had to go on dirt road and get out of the vehicle to do the assessment while it was raining that was the adventurous part.

What is the striking part of this trip - this part of the state holds the saying that Kansas is as flat as pancake. There are very few features to block the view. It is the flat land and the horizon to most of the part. There were few wind farm, with couple of hundreds wind mills in few places that was new to me too.

Movies

2009-10-27T04:24:00.007-04:00

The Office space - Funny

The hangover . Hilarious....

The regular chick flick

Enjoyed all three

किताब कै कुरा

2009-10-26T02:42:00.005-04:00

कृष्ण धाराबासीको "टुँडाल" भर्खरै पढेर सकें । नारी मनोविज्ञानमा केन्द्रित उपन्यास भएर होला छोड्न मन लागेन र एकै बसाइमा सकें । किताब बारे केही प्रतिकृया पनि लेखी हाल्न मन लाग्यो । ऐतिहासिक, सास्कृतिक र आधुनिक परिवेशमा हाम्रो समाजमा रहेको नारीको स्थानलाई यस किताबमा राम्रोसँग वर्णन गरिएको छ। एउटी नरीले देवीको रुपमा, आमाको रुपमा, छोरीको रुपमा, दिदी र स्वास्नीको रुपमा अनी मात्र वस्तुको रुपमा कसरी समाजमा आफ्नो ऐतिहासिक पहिचान बनाएकी छ त्यस पहिचानलाई कायम राख्न के कस्ता मानसिक उतार चढाबबाट गुज्रिन परेको हुन्छ भन्ने तथ्यको चर्चा कृष्ण धाराबासीले गरेका छन् । अहिलेको आधुनिक समाजले आफ्नो बदलीदो परीवेशमा पनि किन नारीको बदलीदो रुपलाई सजिलै सुइकार्न सक्दैन भन्ने खुला प्रश्न यस पुस्तकमा भेटिन्छ । किन एउटा पुरुषले नारीलाई जुन रुपमा देखेको छ त्यो भन्दा भिन्न भएको हेर्न चाहँदैन ? किन आमा मात्र आमा हुनुपर्छ ? किन उ कसैकी प्रेमिका हुन सक्दिन ? वा किन उसलाई मात्र नारी भएर आफ्नो जीवनको निर्णय गर्न समाजको अनुमती चाहिन्छ ? किन नारी स्वतन्त्र छैन ? आफ्नै सोचमा पनि। आफ्नै मनमा पनि किन उ उन्मुक्त हुन सकिरहेकी हुन्न, एउटा डरले सधैं किन घेरी रहन्छ ? यस्तै यस्तै प्रश्न वारीपरी घुमेको छ" टुँडाल "।

ऐतिहासिक मन्दिरका टुँडालमा कोपिएका कामुक मुर्तिहरु जसरी त्यतिबेलाका योन सोछन्दताको पुष्ट र अपुष्ट प्रतिक बनेर आज पनि हामी सामु खडा छ त्यसरी नै धाराबासिको "टुँडाल"ले पनि हामीलाई झक्झक्यौछ - किन परपुर्वकाल देखी अहिले सम्म पनि योन मात्र सोछन्द हुन सकेको छैन, किन दिन प्रतिदिन बढी भन्दा बढी अश्लील बन्दै गैरहेछ ? किन यसको महत्व एकातिर साघुरिदै र सतही बन्दै गएको छ ? योन जीवनको महत्वपूर्ण र स्वर्गिय आनन्दको अनुभुती हो - यो कसैले नकार्न सक्दैन, तर घरी घरी किन योन आफुंलाई पस्कने पात्रहरु, खेल्ने खेलाडीहरुको दर्जा र सामाजिक पहिचान सँगसङै परिभाषित र अपहेलित हुन्छ?

सरसरती पढ्दा खेरी किताब राम्रै लाग्यो । कती ठाउँमा कुराहरु प्रष्ट छैनन् । कतै चाहिने भन्दा बढी तथ्यहरु थोपर्न खोजिएको जस्तो पनि लाग्छ । धेरै फराकिलो बिषयबस्तुलाई अनेक तिरबाट बुझ्न र बुझाउन खोज्दा बिषय बस्तुको प्रस्तुती अली फितलो भएको पनि अनुभव भयो बीच बीचमा । समग्रमा "टुँडाल" ठिकै लाग्यो । अजै राम्रो हुनसक्थ्यो ।

Mitch Albom: For One More Day

2009-10-24T12:14:00.006-04:00

Mitch Albom's writings dig deep into the philosophy of life and death. It surrounds around the relationships and rely the importance of human emotions in our life. Importance of love, affection, care, devotion and sacrifice. How each of these factors plays role in shaping our personality and deciding the path we take on life journey. There are very very few people who manage to keep the humane side of them alive as they embark on the race of global competition to lead a successful and better life. Living in the materialistic world which tend to detach humans from fellow human beings Mr. Albom has been successful in delivering the message of necessity and crave each of us desire - crave to be loved, necessity of recognition, search of a cetain someone who understands you completely. It is the love which help you grow, makes you confident,the events around you happens because of the love - this is the impression I have gathered from reading Mitch Albom.

For One More Day is a third book of Mith Albom I have read. This book is also about the relationship. The relationship of son and a Mother.

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

2009-10-21T02:47:00.006-04:00

I have been meaning to write about this book, siddharth, by noble laureate Hermann Hess.This book is about a man named Siddhartha's journey to spirituality. The book is not about the journey of Shakyamuni Siddhartha Gautam as we tend to think that way in the begining because of the name of the book and the content. However, the book revolves around the same time period and also has a chapter when our character siddhartha meets Gautam Buddha. This book is about achieving enlightenment through experiences in life -starts with sacrifice, sacrificing our own desire of comfort. It is a story of internalizing the value you learn and earned everyday and walk towards the ultimate goal of understanding the meaning of your life or meaning of being you or your existence. That enlightenment comes through devoting oneself fully to what one does, be it loving someone, conducting business, providing services for noble cause or just nurturing the fellow human being. This is a tale of a man who embarked to achieve containment, satisfaction or peace in what he does at given time.

It is a good read. I liked it and want to read this book again because of the content of the book and the way it is narrated one tend to get different meaning or value at different stage of life.

What next in the reading list? "For one more day" by Mitch Albom and "Tundaal", a nepali book by Krishna Dharabashi. That reminds me that I have not written about the book "Tapain" by Dharabashi.

The Nancy Brown

2009-10-19T11:45:00.003-04:00

Yet another news to make me sad. It is a sad demise of my good old friend Nancy Brown. She was fighting her battle with Cancer. I met Nancy when I started my school in 2004. We get along not only because both of us were non traditional students. Most of our class mates were younger to us. But we shared few common things- Sarcasm and the MA supervisor too. Nancy herself was 20yrs elder to me. She had been very nice and kind to me and helped me a lot understanding american academic culture. She was diagnosed with the disease when we were in 2nd year of degree. Nancy and I both worked under the supervision of Dr. Douglas Goodin. Both of us completed our M.A under his supervision , I continued to work on my Ph.D here with Dr. Goodin. She moved to Penn State for her Ph.D. We used to talked on and off on phone and emails and have been sharing our Ph.D journey.

She was a fighter. Therefore, she completed her masters degree while going through chemo and later continued Ph. D at Penn State University, where she received her “All But Dissertation” ABD, before her health forced her to take leave from school. She was an avid reader, photographer, nature enthusiast and music lover, who could play a variety of instruments. She is a person with weird sense of humor which took me a while to understand it. Later, I learn to bit her too :-)

Neeraj and I also got to spend good time with her husband Kelly, during his visits to K- State. Same holds for her daughters Laura and Megan who is about my age.

Well, its a time to say Nancy good bye. May your soul rest in peace and I am happy that we crossed path and was able to walk together in life though it was short. You are one of the strong women I have met in my life. Have learn so much from you. The most important lesson I have learn from you is there is no barrier if you desire to learn and reach intellectual merit. She died at the age of 54, too young to die.

The last time I met her was in March of this year during annual meeting of American Geographer. I love you Nancy and will miss you. May you rest in peace.

here and there

2009-10-19T01:16:00.003-04:00

This weekend is Tihar/deepawali. I missed home so much this time as this is my first tihar just by myself. Last year was the best one as we had good tihar celebration with Roshan and Rajan at North Carolina. I was missing that and spent my tihar being sad. There was a program organized by NSA, I just did not feel like going to it. I did not go. The only celebration I had was today evening at one of the friend's house is few round of card game and Kauda. I enjoyed it and fulfilled my share, which was very very little, of tihar celebration. I realized today how sad one can become being alone and miss the dear ones during festivals.

Kaya

2009-10-15T00:31:00.007-04:00

Kaya is a name of a my adviser's dog. The picture above is not hers, however, she looks very similar to the one in the picture. She is an Alaskan Malamute. The reason I am here writing about her is because later last week and over the weekend I spent my time with her since her owner was in Brazil for one of his research trip. I helped Doug with the dog sitting. No no it is not an exploitation of the students by an adviser, I do get paid for watching the dog while the master was gone. It was an exciting experience for me. Being with puppy in the house has long washed my preconceived notions of having pets. I have developed a tendency to like a dog pet around and have been enjoying and caring the one in the house. That is why I agreed to take responsibility of Kaya for couple of days while the owner was gone. Unlike puppy Kaya is a big dog. Alaskan Malamute and weigh about 120 pounds and her master claims that she is smaller for her breed. She is a very friendly and nice dog for every creatures but other dogs. So one of the instruction for me was to be careful while talking her for a walk. She gets very excited and become aggressive when she sees other dogs. I had two such encounters during my walk with Kaya. I am proud that I managed it well and was able to bring things under control in no time. Other things that excites her are squirrels and rabbits. She likes to chase squirrels and rabbits.

Overall, I enjoyed being with her for couple of days and we develop a good friendship. One of the interesting thing was during the last night I stayed in the house she came and slept next to me. I thought she was feeling little lonely and needed a company. Later, Doug told me that she generally do not do that. She likes to sleep in the floor. May be she was missing her master. The most important and funny thing was I let her sleep next to me and she snored loud and I let her do that too..

I invited Preeti to join me at Kaya's on friday and we 3 girls had a ladies night out which was fun. Preeti and I cooked a deer meat one of my friends gave me which turned out delicious beyond out expectation. That was quite an evening. I did not have pictures to put it here. I will take Kaya's picture when I next see her and put the real one here.

Have no title...

2009-10-08T00:25:00.005-04:00

I have been lazy in updating my blog these days. Not because I do not have time or things worth mentioning has not happened. I think I was not just in a writing mode. Semester is going well, very very slow for me. My anxiety level is rising up as the semester move towards the second half. I am not perfect and my imperfection is making my life harder at this moment. I feel sad, sorry, guilty and helpless at times. Nothing I could do about or failed to see through it. I have left it to time and hope time will teach me to improve upon my imperfection.

The imperfection I am dealing with thes days is my incapability to work hard, real hard, tough hard, rigid hard:-(

Any way, lets change the topic...

Neeraj came to visit last week for few days. It was nice to have him around, in fact was wonderful. His visit coincided with Dashain festival. We had some fun time together. Needless to say I enjoyed having him around and missed him so much when he left.

Ready to attend dashain party

Us getting tika from one of our friend's aamaa

Weekend

2009-09-21T01:17:00.004-04:00

Weekend in general was nice, few activities and some time by myself . I sent my weekly update to Dr. Hutchinson and came home little early on Friday. Did laundry and cleaned the house which was long due. Ate early dinner with Jane and Stan. Jane made a delicious fish dish with beans and vegetables. Later in the evening went to Preeti's place for sleep over. We had a very nice time, talked about so many things. I think I was already 3:00 am by the time we went to bed.

Saturday was very relaxing, the weather was so good. Was home most of the afternoon, enjoyed reading in the porch, the mild sun was very relaxing. Went to swimming later in the afternoon. Stan brought grand kids from Kansas City, so in the evening we had a barbecue. We invited Preeti too for the dinner. I made aalu ko achar. It was delicious. After dinner Preeti and I helped in cleaning. I went to Preeti's apartment to help her setup her newly moved furniture. Stopped by Rojee bhauju's place to say hello.

On sunday I had an invitation to go to the birthday party in Jardine at Tej dai's house. Preeti dropped me to the party and later picked me up to go to the mall where we both were selected for lucky draw to take free pictures at Sears. Yes ! we are having lots of fun time together. Few were planned others just followed:-)

Early Sunday I heard a bad news about one of my close friend. She has been diagnosed with one of the monstrous disease. She is very young to have been diagnosed with it :-( I was disturbed through out the day. The common friend broke the news to me just before I was getting ready to go to the birthday party. I stayed there for a short while and came home right after the picture taking appointment. I was in no mood to take the picture however managed to stay composed. Got back home right away. Talked with couple of common friends and shared theirs and my own fear and optimism. Thankfully, I got to talk to her later in the evening and I was very composed when she called me. My composure helped her to talk about things objectively and both of us talked about keeping the positive attitude and taking one day at a time. She has always kept positive attitude towards life. Hope her optimism in general and the will power to fight this remain with her through out. May god bless her and listen to our prayers.

Few notes...

2009-09-16T23:47:00.006-04:00

Time is flying so fast, this is what I feel everyday. Its been more than 4 months since I am living in Manhattan. One of the difference I feel between begining of the 4 months and now is relatively I am much relaxed and emotionally stable and pretty determined about what needs to be done. It is a relative thing I am talking here. However, in a conflicting note I have not moved forward as much as I planned or wished in achieving my immediate goals. It has not discouraged me but makes me restless at times and also lead to some kind of guilt feeling. I do not know whether it is genuine to be restless or feel guilty about it. One thing is for sure it is much much easier to say things or plan and very difficult to convert it into doable task and achievable goal. No matter what it takes and how long it takes I am not giving up, this is my spirit now and I am proud of myself to have such spirit. Having said this just an update on what I have been doing these days:

Windbreak or shelter belts project...

I am working on a project which main goal is to identify and assess the windbreaks or shelter belts in 7 different counties of Southwestern Kansas using aerial photographs and GIS. I have been working on this project for last month and a half. It has given me an opportunity to learn the geography of southwestern Kansas in general. I am also learning about windbreaks and its importance in ecosystem management and conservation. It is particularly important for soil conservation. I am also learning object based classification and other GIS skills. This is a Kansas Forest Service Project and last week I had a meeting with a project PI Mr. Bob. The meeting went smooth and I am happy about my progress in the project. I am almost done with the windbreak extraction process for 6 counties I am working on. I may need to go to the field for ground truth collection in few weeks to come. I am looking forward to it.

Proposal and Paper
This is my biggest anxiety and it is still there. Have not figured out to deal with this stuff yet the task needs to be completed soon. This is the most important part right now and I am still stuck with it. I do not know what to write and what not to about this stuff. I still hope that I will get it done and move forward. However, when and how I have confusing and intimidating thoughts. I have recently started taking a different approach. Rather than just reading papers on different topics and making notes and keeping it to myself I have started discussing one topic with Dr. Goodin every week. We have just done it for 2 weeks and it has helped a bit to look things from different direction. These two weeks we discussed on a broad topic, infectious disease and how it is influenced by environment. For coming week I plan to be more specific and discuss about specific problems associated with Malaria in Nepal.

Other than work...

Swimming

I have been swimming regularly for last couple of weeks. This week I went for 4 days and for longer hours. At this time I am not learning new techniques or style. I am just practicing what I have learn so far and just enjoying it. It has helped me a lot to relax and keep moving in general. I have learn to float, swim under water holding my breath, learn to breath under water, moving my hands properly while doing laps. Now I am focusing on my feet movement as it is not done properly and also trying to breath outside water in a little synchronize manner. I know how to do it but breathing has not been synchronized. I have also encouraged one of my new friend Preeti to swim and she has been coming along with me. She had not swim in the past so I have taught her the basic swimming skill and she is enjoying it too.

रमाइलो प्रसंग

2009-09-03T23:21:00.005-04:00

एक हप्ता जती भयो बुवासँग कुरा नगरेको । त्यसैले आज फोन गर्नु पर्यो भनेर बुवालाई फोन गरें। बुवाले फोन उठाउने बितिकै नौ बज्न लाग्यो भन्दै छोटो कुरा गरेर आमालाई फोन दिनुभयो । आमा पनि नौं बज्न लाग्यो पछी कुरा गरौंला भनेर कुरा छोट्याउने तिर नै लाग्नु भयो। ठिकै छ नि त पछी कुरा गरौला भनेर मैले पनि फोन राखें ।यसो chat गर्न पर्यो भनेर MSN खोलेको विधान अंकल हुनुहुदोरहेछ online, नमस्कार गरेको जवाफ मा नौ बज्नलागेको सुचना फेरी आयो ।

‍ ‍ यो नौ किन बज्छ ?

बल्ल बल्ल पिताजी लाई फोन गरेको
बोल्न नपाउदै नौ बज्न लागेको सुचना आयो
आमाको हालखबर सोध्दै थिएं
त्यही नौ बज्न लागेको संकेत आयो
काकालाई नमस्कार टक्र्याउंदा
यहाँ पनि त्यही नौ बजेले नै बितायो

हैन यो नौ किन बज्छ ? काकालाई सोधें
जवाफ आयो,
बिचरा नौ ! बज्न पनि नपाओस् त

बज्न त बजोस् न नौ ,
जती चोटी बजे पनि केही छिन
बज्नु भन्दा अगाडि नै
नौ बजेले पाएको attention (ठ्याक्कै मिल्ने नेपाली शव्द नै आएन यो नौ बजेको चक्करमा )
पो मन नपरेको त
कुरुक्षत्रको शंख जस्तै
बज्नु भन्दा अगाडी नै सबैलाई थर्काउने,
आत्याउने, हल्लाउने, झक्झक्याउने ,
नुहाउने पसेकालाई राम्ररी नुहाउन नदिने
खान बसेकालाई पेटभरि खान पनि नदिने
बात मार्न आँटेकालाई धित मर्नी गरी बोल्न नदिने
कहीं नबजेको नौ...

Meeting new people

2009-09-01T00:24:00.003-04:00

I always enjoy meeting new people and reconnecting with the old ones. One of the thing I was missing during summer was girl friends to hang out with in the evening or over the weekend. Just to do random stuff like window shopping, going for coffee or exchanging recipe. One of my friend Shruti is back in town from Switzerland. Shruti is also working on her Ph.D in Physics from K-State. She was in Switzerland for her research. It was good to see her last week and catch up with her. Shruti and I also spent time with Preeti who started to work as a researcher at K-State about a year ago. She is new to me. We get along nice and good thing is she lives just a block away from my residence and we have been spending good times together. One evening all three of us got together went for coffee, shopping followed by a dinner at Preeti's place. Shruti left for Hawaii for couple of days on Friday. Over the weekend Preeti and I got together and prepared a chicken biryani at her apartment. It was long due from my side to the folks in the remote sensing lab and finally I made on sunday. Preeti helped me with it.

Preeti and I went for a walk to the city park today. It was a nice walk .We did 3 rounds, yup 3 miles walk with a new friend. We had a nice conversation gave us opportunity to know each other. It is always nice to have a nice company.

के लेख्ने के ...

2009-08-30T21:21:00.005-04:00

आज लेख्न त बसेको छु तर के लेख्ने के लेख्ने भएको छ । कुनै बिशेष कुरा पनि छैन लेख्नलाई तैपनी केही लेखौं लेखौंभएको छ ।कस्तो गाह्रो हो यो Ph.D गर्न, कती पढ्न पर्नी। पढ्न त सकिन्छ, कती सोच्न पर्नी। यो सोच्न पर्नी अनीत्यो सोचलाई उत्तर दिन सकिने प्रश्नमा परिवर्तन गर्न कस्तो गाह्रो । हो अहिले म त्यही नयाँ सोच र नयाँ प्रश्नकोखेलमा अल्मली रहेकी छु । त्यस वाहेक ...

जिन्दगी रमाइलोसँग नै चलिरहेको छ , खासै उल्लेखनिय घटना वा कार्यक्रम केही भएन यो हप्ता । सप्ताहअन्तघरमा नै बसेर बित्यो । शुक्रबार हिन्दी सिनेमा हेरें, नाम बिर्सें अहिले । सिनेमाको कथा राम्रो थियो , केटाकेटीकोभविष्य प्रती बाबुआमाले कती सचेत हुने, कती आफुले निर्णय गर्ने र कती केटाकेटीलाई निर्णय गर्न दिने भन्ने बारे। निर्देशन फितलो भए पनि बिषयवस्तु राम्रो भएकोले मलाई सिनेमा राम्रो लाग्यो । Chal Chalein

wrapping up summer...

2009-08-24T02:36:00.007-04:00

Summer 2009 has been wonderful. I am so happy to be back in school and enjoying being in academic environment. Other than returning back to school and surviving the transition phase well I also had wonderful time with friends and families.At the end of summer when I went to North Carolina Neeru and I went to Virginia Beach, Virginia for a vacation. It was one of the best vacations we have had. I am so happy that we could spent lovely time with each other before the semester begin.

The fall semester begins from today. I have a busy semester ahead. I hope I will be able to manage it well.I was able to make a pretty good framework of what I need to do in this fall semester. I will be working for Dr. Hutchinson this fall and hope to meet his expectation.

Happy Teej

2009-08-23T02:22:00.004-04:00

This weekend is Teej, one of the major festivals in Nepal. It is celebrated by women for three days. These days It is also referred as a festival of sisters as the female member of the family get together perform the rituals, eat special food, sing and dance. I have always enjoyed this festival as it involves singing and dancing. Most importantly, I grew up observing the festival very closely as my mom, my aunts and their friends were really into it. These days outside Nepal also women have been enjoying the festival. I just got back from the gathering which celebrated teej. The posted video is self explanatory...

Dedicated to two men in my life...

2009-08-20T01:46:00.010-04:00

Today is very important to me. The day is special to two men in my life, my dad and my husband. It is just a coincidence that these two special events fell in the same day this year. Father's day according to Nepali calender and Neeru's birthday. I have therefore, dedicated today's blog to these two important persons in my life. My dad, Mr. Somnath Ghimire and my husband Dr. Neeraj Nepal. They are part of my being. One made me and the other let me be me. I love them, value them and most importantly I cannot imagine myself being without them.

Today is father's day in Nepal. I am missing to be with my dad. I got to talk with him in the phone though. Something is better than nothing. On the occassion of the father's day one of the poems I have written about my dad has been aired on the 108th episode of himali shwarharu, nepali online radio.

I do not know what to say , I am running out of words here to express my love and respect to my dad and also not being able to put in words the kind of relationship we share. I am very fortunate to have him as my dad, for his unconditional love, guidance, values and philosophy he taught me. Most importantly he let me disagree with him. Despite of the fact that I hate some of the things he expects me to do he is the world's best dad. I love you dad...

As I said earlier my dad shaped my personality. Neeraj accepted me as I am and always let me be me. Today is his birthday and in these is 7 years of marriage this is the 2nd time I am away on his birthday. I am feeling sad about it but this is how life is meant to go on. Happy Birthday to you and I love you...

Just wondering do they ever feel jealous of each other because of the attention I give to either of them :-) This is me, has to think something weird...

Beautiful moments in Raleigh,NC

2009-08-14T11:02:00.005-04:00

Pinku, Binay dai, Neeru and me at P.F. Chang

This visit to Raleigh has been really wonderful. I felt like being a celebrity here. I have been spending great times with friends. Went to meet the gang. One evening Pinku and Binay dai took us for dinner at P.F Chang's . It is one of our favorite restaurant. We enjoyed it very much. Picture will say more than my words:-)

Me adn Pinku

Me and Neeru

Vacation Begins...

2009-08-10T10:43:00.010-04:00

Hanging Rock State Park, North Carolina

Me on the top of hanging rock...

I am in NC now. Got here on Saturday evening. Thanks to Khem dai and Shatya bhauju for dropping me the airport on time. I wish Manhattan have bigger airport with more frequent flights to bigger cities. Unlike Manhattan we live just couple of miles away from where we live in Raleigh. One of the many things we have enjoyed in Raleigh is living couple of miles away from the airport. When my plane landed in the RDU airport I called Neeru and he was taking shower. By the time I received my luggage he was waiting for me outside the terminal building:-) saves lots of time and energy.

Neeraj and I took a day trip to a 'Hanging rock State Park' about 2 hrs drive from where we live in NC. It was about an hour uphill hike. Both of us really enjoyed exploring the nature. We stayed on the top for about and hour, cool breeze and smell of pine trees along the view was very nice. I wanted to stay there longer. We had a very nice time.

us relaxing and enjoying the nature sitting on the top of the hanging rock

The pictures from hanging rock was my first public appearance in face book after I changed my hairstyle. Got lots of feedback and comments from my friends about the dared new hairstyle I have now:-)

Summer is over

2009-08-08T01:19:00.002-04:00

Today is August 8th, 2009. Summer of 2009 is officially over for me. I am happy about it. This summer has been a nice buffer phase for me, helping me get back to school and PhD mode again. There is always this feeling of -I wish I had more time or I wish I could have achieved more and I have that feeling too. Despite of that I am happy with how the summer went. It definitely went fast. I had few low, discouraging moments, however they were not that much of a significance. I am going to North Carolina later today for little more than a week after successfully staying at Manhattan for summer session. I am looking forward to this break and hope to spend nice time with Neeru and few friends.

I will be in NC for 10 days. I know I will be busy. Neeru and I do have a plan to go on a short vacation during my stay. I am so much looking forward to it too. I am also hoping to finish the long due 'Tapai' by Krishna Dharabasi and 'Siddhartha' by Herman Hess. I will read 'Siddhartha' during my flight tomorrow. I am also looking forward to meet my wonderful group of friends at NC and catch of with everyone Shova, Pratima, Sarala and Manisha. Excited to share the joy with Amrita in person. Pinku is my book buddy and have not had chance to discuss with her the book she recommended to me - 'Tuesdays with Morrie'. Pinku and I are going for lunch on Tuesday. Aseem and Abhilasha will be back to NC from India during these 10 days. So does Ashok babu with Pratima. This pretty much tells how I am going to spend time in NC. Social butterfly, thats me:-)

I do have a plan to finish 2 academic books I have been reading and write a short summary or review of those books by the time I come back to Kansas. I think it is doable if I stay on my plan.

विरोधाभासका कथाहरु...

2009-07-30T01:05:00.005-04:00

Life is full of conflicts. Conflicting views, conflicting plans, conflicting personality, you name it and you will find something conflicting about it. These days I have been thinking about intrapersonal conflicts than anything else. Conflicting thoughts that come to your head. There are few things I have been thinking and saying to myself:

1. Why do I have conflicting views about certain things?
2. Why do I make conflicting plans?
3. Why things important in my life conflict with each other?
4. What do I need to manage these conflicting life goals and keep myself happy?
5. Is conflict bound to be there no matter what you do or try?

Conflict brings change. Conflict is positive and negative. How do we recognize it?

विरोधाभासका कथाहरु

आज फेरी म छट्पट्टिरहेको छु । मनमा अनेक कुराहरु खेलिरहेकछन् । म अहिले भावनात्मक द्वन्द भनौ या बिचारहरुको बिरोधआभसमा अल्झिरहेको छु । म एउटा बिचारमा मात्र एकाग्र हुन सक्तिन। केही दिन यतादेखि मलाई लागिरहेछ मेरो यस्तो मनस्थिती हुनुमा अरु कोही जिम्वेवार छैन। कुनै परिस्थितीको कारणबाट म विचलित भएको होइन। मलाई लागि रहेछ मेरो मनको अन्योलको कारण म आँफै हुँ । मेरो आफ्नो चाहनाहरु मैले नै राम्रोसँग पारीभाषित गर्न नसक्नाले म यो मनस्थिती बेहोरिरहेछु । चाहे त्यो व्यतिगत भावनाहरु हुन् या व्यवसायिक जीवनको अन्योल मैले राम्ररी तिनीहरुलाई दिनु पर्ने जती समय र सोच नदिएर नै मलाई यो छटपटी भएको हो भन्ने मलाई लाग्छ। मैले मेरो आफ्नो लक्ष राम्रोसँग परिभाषित गर्न नसकेको र त्यस लक्षसम्म पुग्न गर्नुपर्ने गृहकार्य राम्ररी नगरेको अनुभव मलाई भएकोछ।

अहिलेको द्वन्दको मूल बिषय हो - परिवार वा व्यवसाय या दुबै । मलाई परिवार चाहिन्छ । परिवार वीना म आफु हुनुको कल्पना पनि गर्न सक्दिन । मेरा लागि मेरो व्यवसायिक जीवन पनि उतिकै महत्वपूर्ण छ । मेरो वरपर म जस्तै महत्वकांक्षा भ्एका थुप्रै साथीहरु छन् जसले दुबै पाटोलाई सन्तुलित राखेकाछन् । म पनि त्यस्तै सन्तुलनको अपेक्षा राख्छु । मेरो जीवन पनि सन्तुलितनै छ । आपसी समझदारी, एक अर्का प्रतिको सम्मान र मायाले अहिलेसम्म सबै कुरा राम्ररी नै चलेको छ , यसमा कुनै गुनासो त छैन। तैपनी बेला बेलामा यी जीवनका दुबै पाटाले आंफुलाई एकैचोटी खोज्दा दुईटा नाउमा खुट्टा राखेर जीवनको समुद्र तर्न सकिएला त भन्ने लाग्छ । मलाई म डुब्छु कि भन्ने क्षणिक चिन्ताले बेला बेला झक्झक्याउँछ ,पिरोलिरहन्छ, सताइरहन्छ । त्यती बेला यो डरबाट बाहिर निस्केर मैले केही पनि सोच्न सक्दिन । म यसै डर र अन्योलमा रुमलीईरहन्छु ।

विरोधाभासका कथाहरु

कहिले नसकिने, कसैगरी नटुंगिने
बिचारहरुको विरोधाभास वीच अल्झिएर
जीवनका कथाहरु लेख्न खोज्दैछु आज

यी अल्झाइ भित्रका कथाहरुमा
आनेकौं पात्रहरु र तिनीहरुका भूमिका खोज्दै गर्दा
टाटा बसीसकेका,
छन् भनेर यादै नभएका चोट पनि
बल्झिन थालेका छन् आज

ती चोटका कथाहरु,
ती कथाका पात्रहरु,
न भनिसक्नु छन्
न बुझीसक्नु नै छन्
कसैगरी भनिएछ नै भने पनि
सुनिसक्नु होलान् त ती ?

यी कथाहरु भित्र,
यी व्यथाहरु माझ,
जीवनको अर्थ खोज्नुभन्दा
बरु सबै कुरा बिर्सिदिन सके
कस्तो हुन्छ होला ?

बिर्सन यती सजिलो भए
न न्याउरी रुन्थ्योहोला वनमा
न चखेवा नै मर्थ्यो होला तालमा
त्यसैले मुटु बिजाउने कथा बिर्सनु भन्दा
त्यस भित्र जीवनको अर्थ खोज्दै छु म

कविता घिमिरे
म्यन्ह्याटन,क्यान्सस

Summer is almost over

2009-07-28T16:44:00.002-04:00

Few more days and summer will be over. Here,summer refers more to an academic session or a summer term in campus rather than summer season. We are yet to get few high temperature days. Overall this summer has been nice to me. I have been pretty good about balancing my studies, non academic readings, exercising and socializing. However, there is always this feeling of I wish I could be more efficient or I could have managed things better. Overall, I should not complain about the way days, weeks and month went in Kansas after I return.

Have been in a good health, not much heat stress unlike past summers and did not feel as exhausted as I used to feel. May be because I have been exercising more than previous years and feel that my stamina in general has increased. Walking in the city park has been more or less regular and I have also started swimming regularly. I would rather say learning swimming regularly. I would be happy if I continue to walk couple of miles and swim couple of hours in a week. I have enjoyed both so the likelihood of both activities being in my schedule is high:-)

Non academic reading-
I started to read "Tapain" a Nepali novel by Krishna Dharabashi and has not finished it yet. It is high time I should finish it. I have started reading "Siddhartha" by noble laureate Hermann Hess.This summer, I also tried something new - prepared and hosted a book introduction program named "Pustak Parichaya" for a online Nepali radio, Himali Swarharu managed and run from the New York city. The three episodes have been successfully broad casted. However, I have not been able to keep up with this program as I had to focus on other stuff right now. I wish I had more time and could continue doing it.

Work..
Working with the images in the lab is running slowly and smoothly as of now. Last two weeks had been frustrating as I was stuck in one step,image segmentation and computing statistics for the same, for long. Now that struggle is over and I am working on a next step and do not know how long it will take to move forward. There is always this learning process which takes more time than anticipated specially when I am joggling between 2-3 different softwares and different methods. I need to put lots of energy and time to get through this image analysis task. This will go on for at least couple of weeks if not for months or may be it will take months before I will be done with it. There is no way I could be done with this before the fall session begins as I thought It would be. This task is my summer job which is over soon. However, I will continue to work on it as it has generated lots of interest on me and have learn many techniques and theory behind them. I want to complete the task whether I will get paid to do it or not. I will be starting another job soon which also on image analysis. That means I have to manage my time and energy very very efficiently.

New hairstyle

2009-07-21T23:06:00.007-04:00

I did something today to my hair and it had changed my appearance completely. I permed it. I had never tried it before and I have not yet thought whether I did a right thing or not. Have not reached that judgmental state yet. I was nervous before doing it and I am excited after doing it. First look after the stylist finished working on it - I liked it. I wanted to try something totally different and I have been meaning to do it since long. Finally did it today. So far few people I know have seen it. Jane and I both thought I had a particular look because of my skin tone. That is okay with me as I am hoping from now on people won't ask me if I am Indian. Stan thought it was beautiful and wild. I agree with him too:-) My cousin thought I look like Saibaba- well I accepted it.

What about my hubby- he thinks I look different, sweet and ....:-)

What do you think?
right after it was done
I like the side view.

Need to wait few days for the perm to stabilize to see how it will frame my face.

Friday.. Friday and Friday

2009-07-17T15:46:00.012-04:00

It is Friday again. It seems like I choose to update my blog on Friday. It is not something I planned or have written on my schedule. It just happened to be this way. Things are going well at my end. Happy, healthy and moving. The weekend and begining of the week days went socializing. Neeru came for a visit last weekend, it was wonderful. Lamsal family also drove down from Iowa to meet us and other friends here at Manhattan. All of us were invited at Mukta dai's place for lunch, it was nice. After lunch we all went for swimming and later in the evening had a small gathering at the house, it was wonderful - barbeque, good friends, little bit of dancing and singing and most importantly nice wonderful conversation. I think everybody enjoyed.

Bhanu, Neeraj and me

The oldies :-)

the group

Took off from work on Monday and went to drop Neeraj to the airport later in the afternoon. Unlike, Raleigh where the airport is 15 minutes drive. I had to drive 2 and 1/2 hrs one way to the airport from Manhattan. Trip to airport needs planning. Kesar was going to pick Mahendra from the airport later that evening so Neeraj and I drove with Kesar in his car. After dropping Neeraj at the airport and while waiting for Mahendra we went to Kansas city plaza and hung out for couple of hrs.

Me at the Kansas city Plaza Fountain

Raju, myself and Kesar at Kansas City

Jane and Stan were also gone for a week to California to attend a conference. Therefore, unlike the weekend the week days were quiet. The whole house by myself and puppy. Puppy and I got to strengthen our bond:-) . Giving him medicine was little difficult in the begining, now I know what trick works to fool him. I also gave him bath and walking is our usual routine stuff.

This week, I had difficultly concentrating at work as I had enough distraction during the weekend. The week has not been much productive work wise.

random thoughts...

2009-07-09T01:45:00.003-04:00

Life is going normally. Pretty much set in a routine - school-home -school and few outing during the weekend. First half of the summer session is already gone. Means, I just have couple of weeks left to finish many things I targeted to finish this summer. It puts me in a little pressure and I feel anxious and get restless at times just thinking about it. Will I be able to meet the target? I do not know... I have come to the realization that there is a limit on how much I can do in a day or a week or a month for that matter. There sure is a scope to push myself little harder and add extra hours in my work schedule. However, I am not being able to do it. Working extra hours, this has been my major struggle for last couple of days or little more than a week. It is frustrating. No matter what one is working on it is always harder to cross that threshold. In this context, there is one poem I wrote couple of months back which sounds relevant...

म भित्रको संकल्प

हिड्दा कतै छुट्यो कि ? खसेर पो फुट्यो कि ?
म भित्र को संकल्प, तिमीले कतै देख्यौ कि ?

जिन्दगी नै रोकियो, काम काज छेकियो,
म भित्रको संकल्प, न म भित्रै भेटियो ।

न देखियो चोटामा, न भेटियो कोठामा,
म भित्रको संकल्प, हिड्दै छ कि बाटामा ?

द्रीढता पो टुट्यो कि? थाकेर पो सुत्यो कि?
म भित्रको संकल्प, रिसाएर लुक्यो कि ?

धैर्य जोड्ने कडी मेरो,साहास बाध्ने डोरो,
म भित्रको संकल्प,लौन कता पर्यो ?

‍

जनवरी, २००९
राली, नोर्थ क्यरोलिना

Its friday again

2009-06-26T02:11:00.003-04:00

I do not believe its friday again. I did not realize how fast it went. The week was tough because of the weather. Most of the week it was above 100 F. I could not go walk in the city park except for yesterday. Comparatively it was better and I was fed up of the weather and just wanted to take it as it came. Therefore, I took puppy for a walk to a city park later in the evening around 8:00pm. It was okay, not that bad. So we walked two rounds. Yes, we walked 2 miles, the temperature was still 90 + but we managed. By the time we came home I was exhausted and so was puppy.

I have not read any book this week. I have to read so much otherwise these days I just have to find another way to relax. I think my non academic reading has gone down. And my all time favorite relaxation or time pass is watching hindi movies. Thankful to so many online sites where I could find the kind I want, old and new. watched an old hindi movie, Saaransha ,very nice. I think it was nominated for Oscar as well some 25 yrs back.

Weekend @ Murray's

2009-06-22T22:52:00.005-04:00

8 little princesses I spent Saturday with

I went to Kansas City with Jane on Saturday morning to celebrate Alexa's 5th birthday. Alexa is Jane and Stan's grand daughter. It was a fun birthday. Got to spent lots of time with all three of Adrian kids. They are very cute. I had met Alexa couple of times before and she remembered me and my name too. That was quite impressive. The shy Ezra opened up a lot during this visit and we had silly conversation as well. Tyce was cute as always. Saturday went busy with the birthday stuff.Me with Alexa Murray

Happy Birthday Alexa

On Sunday before lunch Jane and I took the kids to the park we took a walk on the trail for about an hour. It was a fun exciting walk for the kids as they could see lots of insects.
we left after lunch around 2 pm. We stop for about an hour in Topeka to go to the mall and eat. Later, We were stuck in the highway for about an hour as there was an accident. It was a bike and a car involved in that accident. We saw the victim being airlifted, too bad. It was already 6:00 pm by the time we reached home.

Its time to get back to work...

Bits and pieces

2009-06-19T00:35:00.006-04:00

Work...
This week is not much difference than last week. Some hrs were productive while others just went by being lazy. Mixed I guess.On Tuesday, I finished a small map making project I was working on. So far I have finished two such projects, the maps will be used in book chapters respective professors are working on. So work is showing up now, feels good. Reading is taking shape too. I read more papers and book chapters this week than last week. Now have to focus on writing which is always a harder part. Good thing about this week is the microhabitat paper we submitted for publication couple of months back is published in the Journal of Vector Ecology this week. This one is related to the research I did for my Masters thesis. Now I have two papers in a peer-reviewed journal. Now the goal is to publish a first authored paper.

Life in general...

I embarrassed myself very badly on Tuesday morning. I dropped a cup of coffee all over the place except on myself TWICE within a interval of 5 minutes:-( First time, It happened right after I filled the coffee, put sugar and milk and about to carry it to the counter . I think I was carrying too many stuff in my hand keys, purse, cell phone and a coffee, holding coordination did not work out well. Second time, the coffee cup was on the counter, I was about pay and my elbow hit the coffee mug -well I do not know what to say about it. I was so embarrassed, I ran away. I was not nervous, preoccupied or something nearby distracted me. It just happened. I am not a coffee drinker. It was the first time in months I decided to take coffee instead of a soda and here I am spilling coffee all over the place. Whenever I decide to drink coffee again I have to think twice and be extra careful. In between, I did buy a coffee after few minutes from a different place and did not drop it and enjoyed drinking. Nevertheless after the incident I did for a fraction of seconds think about - Is there something wrong with my motor skills? Do I need to see a doctor? Never mind - I tend to do that sometime. Other than that I got something to write about than regular boring stuff.

Puppy...

I and puppy have become good friends. On and off he shows some attitude otherwise we get along pretty well. He like to sit next to me in the afternoon when I come home. He likes to play with me and most importantly he knows I take him for a walk which he enjoys a lot. He is always ready for a walk. Jane and I gave a hair cut to puppy on Monday. He looks handsome with less hair and hopefully feels cooler in this temperature. It is just 940F today. We went for a walk today around the city park. Puppy enjoys meeting new friends every time. He likes to sniff everything and I have to drag him many times.

Five people you met in Heaven - Mitch Albom

2009-06-16T17:29:00.018-04:00

I was reading this book by Mitch Albom during my trip to NC. I finally finished it today. This book is about experiencing life in heaven or revisiting your past in a little different way. It is about getting answers of many questions you wondered about on several occasions in the course of your life. This is about experiencing life after death by meeting 5 people who are somehow connected to your life, few knowns other unknown face. It is about getting other person's perspective on the life time events which shaped your life and your being. It is about changing your long hold belief and letting yourself free.

Weekend

2009-06-14T23:37:00.013-04:00

Saturday...
Was home all day. did some readings and watched a hindi movie. Not much productive day, I guess. At least not the way I wanted it to be. It takes me longer to understand things from the paper than I anticipate. So need to plan accordingly and not feel guilty about not meeting the target.

Sunday...

I went to watch the baseball game in Kansas city today with the folks from the department and few others. This was my first baseball game. I was excited and it was fun. The game was between Kansas City Royals and the Cincinnati Reds. I did not know much about baseball game before. I do not know much now either but I enjoyed it a lot during the game. The ambiance, music, the crowd and the company was great. Watching a spectator games is an American culture. It is like a big festival and like I learn everybody remembers the first baseball game they went to. As per the game is concerned, I think it is a calmer game, minimum level of excitement as compared to football and basketball.

Me with Dr. Marston and Dr. Goodin

The Royals' Mascot

It was fun because the royals won the game.

Later in the evening we went to eat a Brazilian restaurant at Kansas City. It was great, as always. I had not eaten in a Brazilian restaurant after coming back from Paraguay in June 06. 3 years later I get to eat it 3 times within 3 months time in 3 different states. Dough says its simply being lucky.:-) I enjoyed it a lot. Could not ask for more.

I took puppy for a walk in the evening after I got home. He loves walking and always ready for it.We always go to the city park. It is about a mile when we complete a circle. We have done 1 circle so far. One of these days I want to do it twice.

I am ready for the week to begin. Really in a working mood these days as I am not quite there in getting things done the way I plan.

So much to tell you...

2009-06-12T23:31:00.007-04:00

Friday always gives a nice feeling no matter how much needs to be done in following days. I am happy its friday. It was a normal day, few hrs of work at school, some readings and thinking. I went to grocery with Jane in the evening, met few nepali friends at the grocery store. Makes me realize that I am back to a small town where you run into the known face wherever you go unlike NC.

I finished reading "So much to tell you..." by John Marsden. It a good read, I liked it. The book is a journal of a girl who was going through a painful emotional journey after a tragic accident. The journal was mostly about how she communicated with herself and overcame her strongest fear of not being able to fit anywhere. She stopped talking following an accident which left her with a disfigured face. It was a story of forced detachment. She decided to withdraw and detach herself from the rest of the world around her. Her silence made people around her uncomfortable including her mom.

A young girl who through journal writing was able to change her intense desire to die to live, modify the feeling of hatred to love and converted the feeling of detachment to acceptance. The choice she made for herself did not leave her in peace. She urged for love, craved for attention and moreover was desperate to find a sense of belonging around her. Through this journal 14 year old gave an outlet to her intense feeling of hatred, fear and insecurity and started demonstrating love and care. She dared to feel secure about her relationship with her dad. By witnessing and documenting the events of insecurity in others lives She developed her confidence and got the feeling that she was not the only one who was suffering. Despite of all suffering she realized someone choose to laugh and be involved while others like her choose to keep quite and withdrawn. Someone choose to forget and other choose to forgive. At the end she made a choice to live, let go things and move forward. This is a story of courage, endurance and forgiveness. It is a story of being able to differentiate between hating the person you love or feeling sorry for them. Until the end you do not know that the girl we are talking about here is named Marina. It was interesting as I did not realized that it was not mentioned earlier in the book till I read the last paragraphs. This is a story of intra-personal thoughts of Marina who till the end did not talk in the book but was able to communicate without speaking to herself and the ones she cared about.

Back to Kansas

2009-06-11T19:53:00.005-04:00

I came back to Kansas on Tuesday. Trip to NC was sweet but short. Had a nice gathering at Manandhar's and Subedi's. Good food, wonderful company and the environment. Neeraj got back from home. He came back on our anniversary day, it was not planned but it is nice to be together on the day. Its been 7 years now. So far the married life has been wonderful and happy. Touch Wood ! I left before he was fully recovered from the jet lag. I wish I was there for little longer:-( I had to come back as I took up a GRA position in the department for summer. Did not want to ask for more days of vacation right in the begining. This is what life is about, adjusting and accepting as it comes. Had a nice conversation with Doug, my advisor while coming back from Kansas City airport.

Work is picking up. Academic reading and writing has been slow. Need to spend more time on it. Have started reading three non academic books simultaneously. The five people you met in heaven - Mitch Albom, So much to tell you - John Marsden and Tapai, a nepali novel by Krishna Dharabasi. I tend to start couple of books at the same time, I do not know which one I will finish earlier as all three has been interesting. There story line and writing style are totally different from eachother. 'So much to tell you...' is getting more attention, I guess than other two.

Just came back from a walk in a city park with Jane and Puppy. Need to get back to work. Has couple of chapters to finish reading before I go off to bed.

Going back to NC

2009-06-02T00:18:00.007-04:00

Later today, I am going back to NC for a week. My stay in Kansas has been wonderful. These 3 weeks gave me enough time to organize myself and settle in the office and also in the room. Both the office and the town is not new to me. I lived here for 5 yrs . But still coming back after a year and half and trying to get back to a normal working schedule has its own challenges. It is still a new life in a totally new physical and mental set up. I have to pick up the work almost from where I left it 1 and 1/2 yrs back. Thankfully, things has not changed much in the lab.It is the same group of people and same nice environment. Its same young Rhett and same old Dave, two gentlemen I work with, make fun of and keep each other in track.

Now I have my own room in the first floor in the house. I like the room, spacious with a bed, and a computer desk. I hope to carry a good memories of this room in future. Hope this room will be part of my academic dream and may witness it when my dream becomes reality.

Overall, this planning trip went successful. In fact, more smoothly and wonderfully than I had expected. Every moment gave me the welcoming gesture. I am more confident about certain things now than before. Now the ball is in my court and I look forward to play it with full enthusiasm and confidence and hope to strike a goal:-) Height of optimism, I guess.

Good luck to myself...

Beautiful few moments @ 1642 Leavenworth

2009-05-30T00:02:00.009-04:00

Pictures of few beautiful moments during the month of May @ the house...

Jane brought me a cake on my birthday...

My little friend Puppy and me. His name is Puppy...

One evening we danced in an African music in the house. It was fun...

Making puzzle is the culture at this home. Stan loves it and so do I . So far we put together 2 puzzles 1000 pieces each...

It is Stan's Birthday now:-)

Friday

2009-05-29T23:40:00.003-04:00

Today is friday. I had a nice quiet evening today. We had Pizza for dinner. Jane and I went to get movie. We got "Taken". 3 of us just finished the movie. It was a nice movie. I was so involved while watching. It shows the crime behind women trafficking and how a desperate father rescued his daughter.

Today, my brother, Kish, is going back to Australia after a month visit. I wish I was there at home. I miss him and others. I just talked to him and everyone was there to bid him good bye. Neeru is also in Nepal right now. He is coming back next friday. I am going back to NC on tuesday. It is nice that I will be there when he comes back. I have managed well while he is gone. I miss him though. I am looking forward for friday.

This week: lets talk about death

2009-05-25T00:41:00.017-04:00

This week is going slowly. This is the third week since I came to Manhattan. Work wise, the week has not been much productive except for reading a chapter from a book and downloading few geocover data for the two departments in Paraguay. It seems like most of my summer work hrs will be focussed in this data set. It will give me an opportunity to revisit some of the remote sensing techniques I am about to forget. Not much progress has been made on the proposal writing front. I know, it is frustrating. I am not yet in that writing mode. It is just stuck there. Have to gather extra energy and strength to move it forward. Any way, work and studying will always be there. Some days will be slow and some will be productive and enthusiastic so lets not worry about what is achieved in a day or a week.

Lets talk about something totally different. Lets talk about death today. Death is a reality. All of us know about it. Sooner or later it will knock our door. Other than this much of realization I do not have much deeper thought about death. I hardly think about it. I have little experience about death, except for my grandparents and one of my best friends Maitreyi I have not seen death from close. If you ask me how I feel about it I would say it hurts. It hurts not having them around. Is that all? there must be more...

Anyway, you must be wondering why all of sudden I started talking about death. This is because of the two books I recently read. The first one is "The Last Lecture" by Dr. Randy Pauch and Jeffrey Zaslow. The book is based on the inspirational last lecture delivered by Dr.Randy Pausch who was diagnosed a terminal disease at the young age of 47 in 2007. Randy died in July of last year, less than a year ago due to pancreatic cancer.

While fighting with the monstrous disease Randy was able to deliver his optimisim and hope to millions of people through his last lecture. He was also able to expand his famous last lecture and give it a book form with the help of Mr. Zaslow. He was alive when the book was published last year in May. In this book, he talked about his childhood dreams and how he lived through his dreams. How did he feel when he came to know that he was dying at such a young age? How he dealt with a situation and prepare himself and his family to leave in between with many unfulfilled dreams? It is painful to hear and read about his unfulfilled dream to raise his children and him not being there to witness as they develop their own dreams. This book is a legacy of optimism he developed for his three young children which will shape their lives and the lives of many more who are struggling and looking for a ray of hope to live, and live happily. "Accidental Celebrity" that is what Randy liked to call himself when he got all the attention after he was diagnosed with the terminal disease. The lecture and the book are very inspiring.

Randy with his wife and 3 children couple of months before he died

The link to the last lecture..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo&feature=PlayList&p=55B425DEFE3287E6&index=0

The other inspirational book I finished this week was "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom. The book was recommended by my good friend Pinku and it is a must read. This book is a story of an old dying professor and his young student. Most importantly, this book is about accepting death and not feeling sad about death. It is a heartbreaking story about optimizing your living experience when your days to remain alive were limited. It makes you realize what is important in your life. How do you measure success and happiness? It asks you a question about your priorities in life and leave you wondering about some of the choices you have made in life for yourself and your loved once. It is very inspirational. It reminds you of few basic rules and facts of human life which remains important no matter what you do. In this book the professor and his student talks about the family, emotions, regrets, self pity, happiness, death, world in general and moreover the philosophy behind leading a happy life and reaching out to your dreams. The book is very inspirational and one of the best books I have read recently. I liked Mitch Albom's writing.

These two books definitely change the way I look at life and living... The story of Randy and Morrie are different. Randy's death was more unnatural than Morrie's as the former died young, and did not experience the pleasure of raising children to their fullest. The similarity in their life was they were both professors and have impacted many lives. They believe in giving , giving hope, giving optimism and kindness to the world. Their dreams were different and they share different passion yet their words of inspiration were similar which changed the lives of millions and will do for many more in years to come. Thanks to Dr. Randy Paush and Professor Morrie for your words of wisdom. You still live in our hearts...

Other than reading few inspirational books I was busy socializing this weekend as this was a long weekend, memorial weekend. Most of the weekend went being at home, running some errands and watching few hindi movies. Went to a high school graduation party for Pratik, also attended Smriti's birthday and went to two places for dinner. All the events went well, I enjoyed it a lot, good food, nice conversation, friendly people and some singing and dancing. Social butterfly:-) At the house we celebrated Stan's 59th birthday. Jane and I went for a walk to the city park with Puppy yesterday. It was a nice walk I should do it more often as my physical activity is very limited these days.

Need to upload puppy's picture:-)

How are things going in Kansas?

2009-05-18T21:56:00.005-04:00

Things are going well in Kansas. Its been more than a week since I came. The past week just flew, I was busy settling in the office and socializing with different groups of friends and colleague. I am a people person, like to be surrounded by people.

I am staying with Jane, Stan and their little dog puppy, our old friends. They are from Kansas and had lived in Nepal for couple of years in late 80s early 90s. They had always been kind to Neeraj and me during our stay in Manhattan for these many years. I am enjoying the comfort of their company. I have done couple of fun things together with them in past week - went to church with them, celebrated my birthday, enjoyed their grandsons - Ezra and Tyce when they were here visiting over the weekend. I also enjoyed putting puzzles together with Stan, we finished one and the new one is ready to work on the table and of course talking with Jane about different things and reading books. I got my first lesson of Lawn mowing (LW101) from Stan on Friday. As I write these lines puppy is licking my feet, he loves to sit next to you, he is very cute.

I spent most of the weekdays working hrs in school, settling in, talking with professors, and meeting colleagues and old friends. I started reading books related to my research. It is just the start, have not achieved much in this front. Hope to gain momentum gradually. I hope to read more this week and start working on the other stuff as well.I attended Sohini's and Sumo's proposal presentation. It was not planned but happy to be here before Sohini left for India and Sumo for Maryland.

Over the weekend I attended two graduation parties. One is of Niki Wayant and the other one was for Mike Reppert. Both of them are over achieving undergraduates :-) , wasting their time studying - that is what I call them:-) Niki double major - Mathematics and Geography, Mike triple major -Mathematics, Chemistry and Biophysics. It feels good to see them the way they are. Niki worked in the Remote sensing lab that is how we became friends. Niki and I took a class together she was a sophomore and I was finishing my course work for PhD. Mike is a brother of one of my close friend, Sara. It is good to see both the young kids reaching their dreams when kids of their age are chasing the wrong things. Niki is headed to UNL and Mike is headed to MIT for their respective graduate degrees. Good luck to them.

I also got together with my Nepalese friends as well over the weekend. Busy catching up with everybody. Good to see Rajan and Smriti and her parents after almost two years.

I should stop here for today...

Something I wrote before coming to Kansas...

तिम्रो सामिप्यबाट टाढा जांदैछु म

केही दिन पछी ,केही महिनाका लागि
तिमीलाई यहीं छाडेर ,आंफुलाई एक्लै पारेर
तिम्रो सामिप्यबाट टाढा जांदैछु म

केही अधुरा कामहरु छन्
बीच बाटामा लथालिङ छोडेका
केही पुराना वाचाहरु छन्
अनायासमै भावुक भएर तोडेका
आधारातमा बिउंझिदा टुटेका सपनाहरु
दंग पर्दै बुनेका भविष्यका कल्पनाहरु
तेसै अल्पत्र परेकाछन्

पार लाग्ने आशामा
मलाई पर्खिरहेका कामका लागि
पुरा हुने विश्वासमा
मलाई कुरिरहेका वाचाका लागि
ति बिख्रिएका सपना समेट्न
बाटाभरि छरिएका भविष्य बटुल्न
तिमीलाई यहीं छाडेर
आंफुलाई एक्लै पारेर
तिम्रो सामिप्यबाट टाढा जांदैछु म

अधुरा कामका वीच थाकेर ढले भने
पुराना वाचाहरुका माझ पग्लेर गलें भने
बिख्रिएका सपना वीच हराएं भने
छरिएका भविष्य माझ डराएं भने
पक्कै ,तिम्रो सामिप्य खोज्छु होला म
तर आज तिमीलाई यहीं छोडेर
आंफुलाई एक्लै पारेर
तिम्रो सामिप्यबाट टाढा जांदैछु म

कविता घिमिरे
अप्रिल, २००९
राली, नोर्थ क्यरोलिना

Back to Midwest from midatlantic

2009-05-11T00:26:00.004-04:00

My life has reached to the turning point now. The quiet, low profile and relaxing life is getting over soon. No more getting up late, keeping up with new releases and reading the fiction and autobiographies or similar books I guess. Past one year has been wonderful to me. Got lots of me time, spent very valuable moments with Neeru, Roshan, Rajan and Jyoti. Meet few wonderful persons and found very nice friends. Got connected with old best friends. Above all, I rediscover my strength and was just happy most of the time. It had its challenges but the things were dealt more objectively and individually. also got a chance to be connected with few wonderful and renowned professionals like Dr. Emch and Dr. Walsh at UNC, Chapelhill. Working for Dr. Kramer at Nicholas school of Environment at Duke University was a good learning experience. Dr. Kramer and his efficient and hardworking MDAST team taught me many valuable things. I got a chance to prepare myself for forthcoming challenges of life and I guess I am ready to take risk one more time...

Now I am ready to move forward and increase the speed of my day to day life. I am back in Kansas now. I have decide to accelerate my Ph.D and take it to the next step. It is a long process and I have taken it gradually, one at a time and its high time I need to move it a step further. That is what I will be doing this summer. Working on my dissertation proposal. I have identified the topic and have generated few ideas. I have to narrow it down to a answerable question in weeks and months to come. A professionally competent Ph.D dissertation proposal is the name of the mission I need to accomplish in months to come in recent future.

Other than the knowledge of subject matter and techniques I have learn couple of things being a Ph.D student. Ph.D is a gradual process,it has its highs and lows and you have to recognize them and deal accordingly. It takes time and nothing substantial will be achieved by rushing it, do not hesitate to give enough time as it task demands. Ph.D teaches you to be persistent, stubborn by asking you to do the same thing over and over until it becomes the best.

Lets see where this turning point leads me...

Reading mission

2009-04-10T00:17:00.001-04:00

It seems like I am on a serious book reading mission these days. I randomly picked a NY times best seller when I was coming back from Vegas- THE TEN YEAR NAP. It is a story of four women who preferred to stay home and gave up their flourishing careers to raise their children.The concept and the stories seemed realistic. This is one of the important issues women of our generation facing. Career or family or how to maintain the balance when you decide to keep both. I do not have children of my own and do not have to face the issue currently. However, down the line I will be in the same boat as many of my friends are right now, joggling between career and family or preferring one over the other. This is the reason I picked up the book. It has brought up the issue well. How the society put the value on women? How does an individual woman measure her own productivity? The one staying at home is not content and the one rising in the career is not satisfied with their way of life or vice versa . Then what is right or wrong? It is very difficult to answer as there is no either/or answer.

I do not know about other people but I am disappointed with this book. I had some expectation from the book. It raised the issues well but failed to grab them together in an interesting manner. The author has dragged beyond necessity in many place and in few places there were abrupt endings. It failed to engage me. Many pages were difficult to comprehend. This is my first read from Meg Wolitzer, she seems to be a promising writer still this particular one did not impress me much. I left the book unfinished, this rarely happens with me. May be some day when I have a patience to read the book or I will like it but for now -"The Ten Year Nap" is over. A small note to myself just do not pick any random book.

Poem by my 10 yrs old niece

2009-04-09T17:20:00.011-04:00

Senses

These are senses and they help everybody,
They help you be you and me be me.
I smell the flowers trying to bloom,
They remind me of pride and doom.
I feel my bird trying to fly away,
I can tell she`s had a bad day.
I can hear the train roaring past my ears,
They give me memories and fears.
I taste the homemade chocolate cake,
Its as cold as a frozen lake.
I see the shivering golden moon,
Shining above the gloomy lagoon.
These are senses and they help everybody,
They help you be you and me be me.

Aakriti Sharma

Age 10 years

Cambridge, MA

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oL cfef;x/m x'g\ hLjgsf,

ltdLnfO{ ltdL x'g lbg],

dnfO{ d aGg l;sfpg] .

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uj{ / pb]s ;Demfpg],

lk+h8f leqsf] r/LnfO{,

p8f}+ p8f}+ u/fpg] .

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h'g]nL /ftsf] rGb|5fof

pbf; bnbndf kb{f h:tf] .

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नेपाली अनुवाद : कविता घिमिरे

This poem was awarded second in one of the literary program held in Washington, DC couple of months back. I really like this poem and also fortunate enough to get an opportunity to translate it in Nepali. The nepali translation is not a literal translation and meant to convey the message as the original one in best possible ways.

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World

2009-04-08T00:55:00.017-04:00

"We wish to inculcate in our student the habit of reading...." says the headmaster

Any educator who used the word inculcate in a sentence deserved to have better teaching materials -John thought

"Perhaps,Sir, You Will Someday Come Back with Books" - the statement made by the headmaster changed the course of John's life

Leaving microsoft to change the World is the memoir by John Wood, former executive at Microsoft and founder of "Room to read" a non governmental organization which works towards educating deprived children from different part of the world. This is the story of a young entrepreneur who left his flourishing corporate career in the middle and choose to live a totally different life. He decided to devote his life for social cause. He redefined his goals in life and started a mission to deliver literacy to thousands of children across the world. Like a fairy tale it just happened in a short span of time. It all happened during his short vacation in the foothills of Nepal. It happened because of Pashupati whom John randomly met during his vacation. People like Pashupati and their selfless dedications towards educating rural nepal was strong enough to bring back John to foothills of Nepal with books in his hand, dreams in his eyes and kindness in his heart.

Before moving forward on writing about the book I wanted to share my indirect experience about Pashupati. Last year about this time my dad sent me the Nepali translated version of the book. The book was translated by Khagendra Sangraula. I planned to read that book on my way home in last May. I started it also. However, I saw a original version at Chicago airport and just without a second thought I bought the original one and read it during the flight. Original form is always the best. I finished reading the book during my 14 hrs journey from Chicago to Delhi. The book kept me captivated. When I finished the book I wept silently in the airplane. I had to talk about this book and I was looking forward to discuss the book with buwa and Badri uncle. Later we discussed the book but much interesting part is Badri uncle knew Pashupati and he had visited uncle's house several times. So we ended up talking about him. Uncle described his simplicity and dedication towards educating children. One interesting story he told me was Pashupati did not know about the nepali translation of the book until the day it was released in a formal program and John wanted him to release it. To have Pashupati in Kathmandu for the book release they had too find him and it was not easy finding him when he was in his job visiting different schools under his jurisdiction in rural Lamjung district. Perhaps, he might have been caught up in a conversation with other John or Daniel and enlightening them about the status of children literacy in rural Nepal. Finally it worked out and he arrived to Kathmandu on the day of book release without a hint of what is coming up for him later in the afternoon.

Leaving Microsoft to change the world is all about personal discovery and passion, discovering and redefining your passion and following it. It is an inspirational statement which encourages the younger generation to follow their passion. John was taken aback by the fact that there are children who do not have enough books to read and learn from. They did not have an access to Clifford or Alice in wonderland or Cinderella's tale which would provide enough foods to their wild imagination while growing up. He realized when he saw hand full of books locked in a cupboard like precious ornaments, how fortunate he had been to have a room full of books while growing up. He loved to read as a child and he saw in the eyes of children what he would have missed had he not had access to those books. This is the turning point in his life which lead him to leave what he was doing and to begin his new journey...

Neeru is reading the book so we have been discussing it and I am enjoying it one more time. It feels good to read this book because it gives hope to us and remind us that despite of the war and turmoil there is so much we can do and we need to do for our own country, Nepal.

Cherry Blossom festival in Washinton, DC

2009-04-06T17:55:00.012-04:00

The travel is not over. This weekend we went to Washington, DC to observe Annual Cherry Blossom festival. We started late on Friday afternoon around 5:30 pm. Reached DC around 10:00, stayed with Aseem and Abhilasha. We had a home made vegetable biryani and raita. It was delicious. Aseem claimed he made it but I think It was Abhi who did the good job. On Saturday four of us went to the Mall area to see the cherry blossom festival. We were thoughtful in not driving our own car, instead used the bus and metro which proved to be very wise decision. The metro was jammed pack and there were thousands of people in the mall area. Roshan and Rajan joined us in front of the Washington monument.

(me)

(me with my two sweet cousins Rajan and Roshan)

The cherry Blossom festival was great. Beautiful. Cherries blooming on the trees around the tidal basin, colorful tulips on the ground, the parade and thousands of people here and there clad in colorful outfits taking pictures, flying kites. It was a beautiful sunny day and the sky was cleared by the down pour of the earlier day. The fast blowing wind gave an extra kick. It was very windy. Otherwise the day was just perfect. We enjoyed it. Took lots of picture.

(nepal jodi)

After the festival we went to Himalayan Heritage restaurant and had a delicious nepali food. Aseem and Abhilasha enjoyed the aalu taama and Saag. We enjoyed the samyaa bajii. We were tired by then so decided to go home. Rajan had to leave for a work so Roshan came along with us. We picked up the car and Neeraj, me and Roshan came to Polo Indian Cusine to meet Krishna and Sujata. The restaurant was packed. It was 7:00 in the evening and we decided to return back around 9:30 to eat together. Polo India is owned and managed by my close friends so it is an unspoken rule or tradition that whenever we are in DC area we have to eat there and it has so happened that every time we were there it proved to be the busiest day in months. By the time we managed to sit together and eat it was already 11:00. We spent the night at Krishna and Sujata's place. The apartment was in the Connecticut Avenue in the second floor. In the ground floor there were two bars. I was worried about not being able to sleep well with the sounds and noise from the street and the bar. However, we were so tired it did not bother at all.

(Aseem, Abhilasha and me )

We went to visit Anup dai and Deepa Bhauju on our way back to NC in Virginia on Sunday morning. We spent couple of hrs with them, had a lunch together . It was a nice, sweet visit.

Neeraj is reading "Leaving Microsoft to change the World" by John Wood. We had a good discussion about the book on our way back home. We have recently developed this habit of reading while we are together on the road. One reads while the other one drives and so far it has worked out well. This was for the first time Neeraj and I had shared interest in reading and I am happy that we opened the door to the new world in our life:-)

Las Vegas: AAG conference and more - Part II

2009-04-03T04:49:00.007-04:00

The conference was not over yet. Niki and Rhett had a presentation on Friday morning. I could not make it to Rhett's presentation as he let me pass it. It was at 8 :00 am. I went to Niki's. Right after the presentation I had a lunch with Dr. Goodin. We had one on one talk about my PhD and related stuff. Few unanswered questions from both the sides were answered. During that luncheon meeting I realized that how hard it become to communicate rather simple things when you are far apart. I met Dr. Goodin after 8 months and not much has moved forward in terms of my progress towards my degree. Therefore, we decided we need to have more one to one discussion in person rather than on phone or via email. So I am going to Kansas. When ? For how long ? It is still a thought and plan under consideration.

On friday afternoon after the lunch Neeraj and I finally got the time just by ourselves. Dr. Goodin and most of my friends left by Friday afternoon. In the afternoon we went to the strip area. The strip is about 4 miles long area in Las Vegas Blvd. On either side of the road stands many signature buildings of Vegas. Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, Eiffel tower restaurant, the popular treasure island and the mirage.

The weather was just perfect. It was bright and sunny. The flowers were blooming and we made it just on time to see the famous Bellagio water fountain. It was so beautiful and the music was superb.
we took lots of pictures. and I wanted to take more but the battery was down. I went to the ladies room, sat there for more than 15 minutes charged 1/4th of the battery and joined neeraj who was enjoying his Margaritaa and the steak. After not being able to tolerate the smell of ladies room I came back and asked the hostess if she could charge the camera's battery for us. I could have done that before running to the rest room:-). After about an hour when we finished eating I asked her to bring my battery, she did but uncharged:-( I still wonder what she did. Was she stupid enough not to know how to plug the pins? My trip to ladies room paid:-) sometime chances taken without a thought pays rather than a thoughtful task. Any way few more picture we took after the battery was charged. I would have missed it...

this is one of my favorite ones from the whole trip. What a marketing strategy. There were people giving him money and taking pictures with him. I paid him to take this picture. He was sitting in one of the overhead bridge along with other beggars. He definitely made more than others at least during the moment I witness him.

we were walking in the strip, back and forth bus ride from fremont street to strip till 2:00 am in the morning. Could not drag oneself beyond that. By the time I was ready to sleep it seemed like Vegas had just woken up ready to start it fresh day.

Eshausted us by walking for couple of hours up and down the Las Vegas Blvd. Probably the last picture of the day.

Las Vegas: AAG conference and more - Part I

2009-04-03T02:37:00.016-04:00

We just returned from our 4 days trip to Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world. It is one of the very popular tourist destinations of the world. It is mostly known for its casinos, gambling and other form of entertainment ( Am I being decent here? need to be at times:-)). We planned our trip to Vegas couple of times but it just did not work out every time. This time also if its was not for AAG conference we would have postponed it one more time. This year the annual conference of Association of American Geographers(AAG) was held in Vegas. Therefore our trip to Vegas was two fold. To attend the conference and also have some fun. I was happy that Neeru could join me during the trip. It looked unlikely in the begining. Because from mid March to mid April he had already scheduled travel plans and arranging break in between was not an easy task. I am glad that it worked out the way I wanted:-) So we finally went to Vegas and had lots of fun.

Conference was good. In fact great. I was happy to be the part of the academic environment because I had missed it more than I thought and I realized that when I was there. Though I am working at Duke University, I am not the student there and I missed being student, I guess. I presented a paper titled " Influence of climate pattern on Malaria disease on Terai region of Nepal". The presentation went well. The small conference room was almost full, more than 30 people. I was little nervous too. The comments and feedback I got on my presentation were encouraging. The subject matter of the presentation could be a potential topic for my PhD dissertation. Yes, I am hanging there and have not left yet and hopefully I won't:-) This topic needs a different blog title entirely dedicated to my PhD plans and where I stand. So topic change :-)

We were in Vegas from March 25- March 28. As soon as we landed in Las Vegas airport around 6:00pm I switched my phone on and there were couple of messages which needed my immediate attention:-). It was from my advisor, Dr. Goodin, my lab mate Dave and few other friends from the department. They had a dinner plan. Dr. Goodin wanted to take all his students from the Remote Sensing Lab to near by Brazilian restaurant. Wow! What a start. We rushed to the hotel and stood on the long line to check in the room. Wow! it is not even weekend and I was overwhelmed with the crowd in the hotel lobby. After 1/2 hr wait we checked in the hotel and quickly freshen up and joined other for dinner. If one is a meat lover should definitely try the Brazilian steaks. It was great dinner. It was pretty expensive as well. Surprisingly, the food in Vegas is expensive unlike what I had heard before leaving. Thanks Dr. Goodin for taking care of it.

(Dr. Goodin, his 3 PhD students Dave, Rhett, myself and 1 masters student Roy and his wife)

The picture did not turn out good because the cameraman was drunk and was stuffed with too much meat. I uploaded it any way because it needs to be documented for future reference. It was already 11:00 pm by the time we left and considering we flew from the east coast it was already 2:00 am. I was exhausted with the travel. It was a long long flight and was ready to go to the bed. However I had a presentation to finish, give it a final touch. Its me, the great procrastinator.
me getting ready for the conference

Next morning I had a presentation at 10:00 and before that I was a chair for a session starting at 8:00 am. Somehow managed to be there 7:30 to pick up my badge and set the equipment in the room though I slept pretty late. After the presentation, I went to grab a quick lunch with Heather, Dave and Anne in a near by Greek restaurant. Dr. Goodin also had a presentation that afternoon so I attended that too. Had more than an hour long conversation cum discussion with Heather about my research interest and PhD in general. Most of the thursday was taken up by the conference, research related discussion and few geography gossips. Had chance to catch up with Niki, Sumo, Sonia, Nancy, Ben, Dr. Paul, Debs and JPH. Neeraj was on his own for the day. I felt bad for him but also thought may be he did not mind being alone for a day in Vegas:-) He kept himself busy without complaining. Later in the evening Anne had a plan to go to the authentic beer brewing restaurant near Fremont street. Neeraj and I joined her so did Dr. Goodin, Eric, JPH (Now he is JphD) and Heather. We had fun that night walking in neonapolis in Fremont street and enjoying the aura of Vegas.

Finally got time to hang out with hubby :-)

Anne and me enjoying the Vegas culture.

The traditional Vegas icons,

This is the update till day -2. I will be back with the updates from the rest of the trip...

Travel maps

2009-04-01T03:28:00.008-04:00

Since traveling is an important part of my life I have used my basic GIS skills to map the places I have visited so far. The first map shows my mother land, Nepal; two countries I have spent substantial part of my life , India and United States and other 10 countries I have visited for different missions. The second map is of the United States of America and the states within US I have traveled. It is quite impressive is not it:-). I am quite proud about my traveling experiences. The intercontinental travel has been mostly for my professional and academic purposes and all of them were pretty unusual and had been quite a learning experience. Three continents yet to be explored- Australia, Africa and Antarctica:-)

(Click on the map to get the better view)

This map does not include Hawaii and Alaska. 20 more states to go. Will consider in future to visit new states as we make a vacation plan.

Travel 2009: January and February trips

2009-03-31T22:26:00.012-04:00

January 2009

Has facebook overtaken blogging? It seems like it has, especially when it comes to updating about the travel and uploading pictures. Neeru and I have been to couple of new places this year. We went to Georgia and then to Florida during the beginning of this year for a short family function. Rama aunty lost her father and we went to join the Dhungel family perform the last rituals at the beach. May his soul rest in Peace.

we after the rituals in St. Augustine, FL

us with Jyoti in Saint Augustine, FL

we also went to Williamsburg, Kentucky to drop Jyoti, our niece who goes to school there and was with us for couple of weeks during her vacation. It was nice to have her around. We did lots of fun things together. Starting from late night movies, waking up late in the afternoon, catching up with readings, tasty cooking and of course ladies talk and shopping. I miss her.

February 2009

In February we went to Virginia to attend Praz and mini's wedding. The wedding was on 14th. What a day to get married. I met my childhood friend Pragya and her family after 15 years. It was a wonderful reunion and the wedding was great. We enjoyed every bit of it . The reunion, the ceremony, food and of course the time we ladies spent together while getting ready for the event. I love wearing sari every now and then and this was one of such events where I got a wonderful chance.

me and Pragya: reunion after 15 yrs

Us with the newly weds

The party is not over yet. Wedding reception

Do we have travel plans for each month? It seems like we have. We recently came back from trip to Las Vegas Nevada. That was our trip in the month of March. The trip to Las Vegas deserves a seperate blog, all by itself so will end this one here.

Two books I want to talk about ...

2009-03-30T22:34:00.017-04:00

These two books I have read recently have touched my heart. Both the novels by Khaleed Hosseini. The Kite Runner and The Thousand Splendid Suns. For some reasons I felt that I need to discuss both books together. As if one incomplete without the other. They are very very different from each other. Like siblings they resemble each other and yet their personalities do not intersect . Both the novels carries the story of Afghanistan. Afghanistan, the country once affluent with its cultural heritage and magnificent landscapes later torn apart by series of wars. Both the novels are about relationships and the complexities that lies within. They talk about the "dynamics of relationship" as I would like to put it. They are the story of human emotions-friendship, loyalty, torture, sacrifices, insecurity, guilt and many more. Its about human endurance. You can see the story of one in the other and the vice versa at the same time they are so different and there is no way you could compare the two. Both the novels have been successful in holding the space in my heart. The kite runner is awesome and the splendid suns is extraordinary. If I have to make a choice, I will go for the splendid suns. This is just my personal preference which may or may not change over a period of time.

The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner is a story of two childhood friends, Hassan and Amir. They were close friends, yet the socio cultural space between them was undoubtedly far apart. Both of them fully aware of their position maintained the friendship and kept each other happy until one betrayed the other and their life changed forever. Hassan, a lower class Hazara and Amir, a high class Pashtun or Pathan. Amidst of their flourishing friendship one day Amir betrays Hassan. Hassan, being a loyal friend maintain the silence and take everything peacefully. His coward behavior and the decision that followed left Amir with a strong feeling of guilt & defeat and it haunted him through out."When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth"- Amir knew about it and yet he lied which ruined his life long friendship and the trust. As it happens in reality sometimes, someone gets a chance to "be good again". Amir got lucky. He got a chance and returned to his homeland after many years in search of the element which would let him be good again.

The book has its strong and weak points. Few plots seems more dramatic than necessary. The complexity of the matter in other cases have been overly simplified, which does not happen in real life. May be writer wanted to make it easy in his part. Weakness apart, this is one of the very good books I have read and I recommend it for others.

The Thousand Splendid Suns

This is one of my favorite books. In fact this is one of the best books I have read so far. The book is a story of human instinct some accepted and some unaccepted. It is the story of pain, suffering, violence, shame, courage, war, conflict, love, happiness, sacrifice, betrayal and survival. It is a tale of honor and respect.

Yes, it is a work of fiction not directly related to me and my life. However, it asked me the value of my being. I felt the novel represented me in many places. My stubbornness, rigidity, passion, love has been translated into words and said aloud by Mariam, Lialia, Aziza and others. I could see a rebel within me in various pages of the novel. I felt as if Laila is asking me "Okay this is my story what about yours". Aziza wanted to know how I felt and what I experienced being a woman, daughter and wife. "Was it something like my mom's or like Mariam Khala's"- feel Aziza is still waiting for an answer. Being a woman, daughter and a wife I am thankful that I did not have to go through what the central characters in the book went through. Unlike Mariam my birth was celebrated and was a matter of pride instead of shame. Like Laila I was daddy's daughter growing up and my dad also went out of the way to give me the best education. Unlike both Mariam and Laila my husband loves me beyond reasons and restriction. Do I deserve all these happiness when somewhere somebody is in so much pain and suffering ? It is too good to be true. Or the foundation of my life is laid with the brick of sacrifices made by someone like Mariam/Laila many many generations ago ? Who knows the price of happiness I am enjoying now is paid long back. Who knows...

The splendid suns tells the story of sad plight of Afghani women in particular and many others around the world who were never noticed by anyone. This is the story of thousands no ones and no bodies. Having read this book, I wanted to know more about the Afghani women and want to hear more of their stories. I cried several times while reading the book. Two leading characters Mariam and Laila had a strong impact on me. Both the ladies were strong, stubborn and rebellious unlike most of the women from their side of the world. These two refused to compromise and wanted to try till the end and never gave up. They were not distinctively visible in the society but they had their strong belief and they followed it. They tried to break the traditional convention and fought to preserve a more respectful position for themselves and for the one they love, admire and respect. Mariam sacrificed for Aziza. Laila stood for Mairam. Aziza satisfied Mariam's instinct. Laila dared for Aziza. Mariam loved Laila and valued her existence. These three were bonded together. This all happened because man or men for that matter in their life denied the respect they deserved. Their fate, their relationship and their own decision lead to the situation where they were no longer strong and stubborn or daring. There is no doubt about the role of socio political situation and of course the war in amplification of their pain and in intensifying their sorrow and making them submissive. However, the looks are deceptive. You never know when the volcano will erupt.

Mariam and Laila were very different from each other. Mariam, A Harami, as her mother would call her, an illegitimate child, was a matter of shame for her father. She always wanted her father to won her during her childhood, when he was ready to won her and was not ashamed anymore she disowned him. This is the fate and time. On the other hand, Laila was the noor (illumination) of her father's eyes. Revolutionary girl, that is what her well educated and intellectual father would like to see her too be. Mariam was like an old ficus tree , long forgotten.Both ways, she has forgotten the world around her and they have forgotten her. Really, is it that simple. The answer is no. Laila on the other hand was as fresh as the newly bloomed flower attracting the gaze of every passer by. What brought them together- their fate, the war of Afghanistan and the man they share in their life. The only common ground Laila and Mariam shared was Rasheed, their abusive husband. The temperament and anger of Rasheed brought them together and help build their bond. The bond of love and hatred. The bond so strong and deep which lasted beyond their own lives and lives of the people they loved and hated.

There are lots of "what ifs " which keep you wander around different paths of thoughts as you experience Mariam and Laila's life. You will laugh with them and cry with them. You have to read the book to feel them. I love this book. Extraordinary narration. Many thanks to Khaleed Husseini. He has done wonderful job in bringing out those emotions from the eyes of Afghani women which were hidden beneath the "Burkas " to us who take the freedom for granted at times...

Movie: The blue umbrella

2009-03-18T15:13:00.005-04:00

This is one of the movies I watched recently. One of the nicely narrated movies. I liked it. It has done a wonderful job in showing different human emotions, love, kindness, envy, jealousy and more. It showed how a man being a social animal needs social recognition and its society to survive. What ultimately matters in human life is being surrounded by people you love and those who love you and respect you. This is the story of the movie the blue umbrella. I like the songs too.

मेरी फूलमती

2009-03-10T22:42:00.003-04:00

मेरी फूलमती

वावा जस्तै प्यारी, मेरी आमा जस्तै न्यानी,

यही भकी छ सबै भन्दा मिल्ने साथी मेरी,

कम्प्युटर भन्छन् क्यारे वरीपरी सबले,

फूलमती, उसलाई भन्छु माया गरी मैले ।

चारपाटे जीउडाल, चाँदी जस्तो रङ,

नाम उसको फूलमती हो भन्दा पर्छे दंग,

काखमा नै बस्न मेरो सधैं रुचाउँछे,

टेबलमा राख्छु कहिले अध्यारो मुख लाउँछे ।

पढाइ र कामका कुरा राख्ने सम्हालेर,

गोप्य मनका कुरा भने ताल्चा लगाएर ,

मेरा सबै सुख दुख्ख, ठान्छे उसले आफ्नो,

बेला बेला घुर्क्याएर, माया खोज्छे मेरो ।

बिहानीमा खबर ल्याउँछे देश विदेशको,

दिउँसो भरी कामको चाप फुर्सत हुन्न उसको,

बेलुका चैं मख्ख पर्दै, वावा भेटौं भन्छे,

के के गरी कताबाट, आमालाई ल्याउँछे ।

सबै कुरा पारी दिन्छे, सरल यसले हेर ,

साथी बिना जिन्दगी त अधुरो छ मेरो ,

कम्प्युटर भन्छन् क्यारे वरीपरी सबले,

फूलमती, उसलाई भन्छु माया गरी मैले,

फूलमती, उसलाई भन्छु माया गरी मैले ।

कविता घिमिरे

मार्च, २००९

राली, नोर्थ क्यारोलिना

Movies I watched recently

2009-03-02T19:40:00.008-05:00

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

What if everything in your life use a reverse gear? From the very beginning. You come to the world old and leave the world as an infant.How do you feel when the whole world is heading in one direction and one and only your life is headed in the other direction?How you feel, what you experience and live through when at one point in life you share your age with your father and your child too? How could it be possible? Yea it is not possible in real life, not yet at least. However, just a thought makes me wonder about so many things in my own life. This is the theme of "The Curious Case of the Benjamin Button". The most important message the movie deliver is no matter what you do nothing is permanent or last for ever. It is a nice movie I liked it.

The Slumdog Millionaire (Oscar winner for the best movie of the year and winner of other 7 categories)

I watched this movie before it was nominated for golden globe and later to Oscar. This movie came right after I finished reading "Shantaram"by Gregory David Roberts which also describes the story of the Indian slums and how it feels to dwell in slum. Some reality and challenges and few work of fiction. I love the book and the movie as well though the theme and the direction of both are different. The common ground for both was the slums of India. Though I had seen and heard a lot about the slums of India I never gave it a deeper thought. Having watched 100s of bollywood movies the story of slum is not new to me as well. However, these days on and off I wonder about the plights of children living in those areas. Feel sad about their situation and wonder if there is anything I could do to help educate these children. Definitely, the movie has an impact on me.

Despite of the antagonism and non acceptance of the movie in few Indian cities and by bollywood associates we need more writers like Mr. Roberts, Vikas Swarup and movie directors like Danny Boyle to bring positive changes in the livelihood of slum dwellers not only in India but also in other different part of the world.

Gajini

I love Aamir khan. Aamir has been my all time favorite actor since 7th grade when I saw his Qyamat se Qyamat Tak. And my admiration for him is increasing day by day as he comes with unique concept and extraordinary performances - Lagan, Rang de Basanti, Taare Zameen par and now Gajini. I am impressed once again with his mind blowing performance in Gajini. He has done marvelous job balancing a character of a innocent lover and a patient of anterograde amnesia. He has been nominated for Filmfare best actor Award and I wish him good luck in winning this award.