My Rearview Mirror!

Tonite when the bell strikes 12 times, the curtains will come down on the first quarter of my life!

As I turn 26, I’m ready to turn my life in any direction I feel like. Though my friends have been getting kicks outa teasing me since I am officially getting old, the number 26 doesn’t freak me out in the least bit (ref:  I dint deal with 22 well at all and am slightly scared the freaking out may be a leap year thing I do!) So, I’m gonna be 26, look 23, act 18, talk like I’m 15 and think like a 7 year-old. Doesn’t get funner than that! The truth is I am actually pumped up to be 26. For all you music junkies, as far as I know, Eddie Vedder formed Pearl Jam when he was 26 and given that this last year has been all about music for me maybe the time has come!

Now the only freaky thing about 26 is that when I was looking back at 0-25, I realized the next look back may well be 26-50!!! (what do people have to get done before 50??? Everything??????)

Well, even though thanksgiving was last month, and I really dint give any thanks then (ref: its hard to be grateful when you have stuffed yourself rotten, and the only thought on your mind is: “Should I unbuckle my belt, undo the button, and unzip half way or would that be rude?”).

So turkey aftermath:

When I opened my eyes: I don’t remember when I first opened my eyes, but I’m sure whenever it happened I saw the two most awesome people in the world. Miku, and Dada! Folks, who while performing the daunting task of parenting, never ceased to be my best friends even for a second. Hats off to the two people who managed to keep a kid who wanted to break himself and everything around him in one piece, a teenager who had the potential of dropping out of high school, to get a Master’s in Electrical Engineering, and a guy who while leaving home at the age of 18 thought that he’d never miss home, count every minute of every hour till he gets to go home just to see them (17^th Jan, 2006). If I would try to talk about each of them in one line: Dada is the most dedicated and honest human being I have ever met in my life, born with more will power than I have ever seen anyone possess, saved at least a million people as a surgeon, literally worshipped by his patients, and yet, the funniest dude ever with whom I can discuss anything. Miku, on the other hand is the most normal person I have ever known, more caring than anyone I know, more talented than anyone I know but devoted her entire life to making me and I owe almost everything I am to her (plus I have mommy’s pretty eyes).

Who opened my eyes: Friends walk into our lives at different times, and the different times they enter the scene immensely affects the role they play. My friends from high school and me back in the day helped each other get through the tough time of being a teenager, fights with authority, arguments with parents, falling for girls, and it was more of a fun relation, but after several years when friendship stood the test of time, they now represent the stability in my life and the fact that even though everything is fleeting, friends stay back even when the party is over. Back in undergrad, a bunch of friends, we found out and tested the limits of how much fun a group of 18 years olds can dream of having. No rules, no code, just bliss! Oblivious to the fact that we were helping each other deal with being away from home, and completely oblivious to the fact that during the course of this insane party we actually kept each other in check and prevented self-destruction. Years from then, those are the guys and girls who know and can explain my every move, and when all reasoning fails, I turn to them for their explanation of “me!” And then we come to friends in a foreign land, and that’s where friends take a small step over the line of friendship into the role of family. A group of friends opening doors, and walking through them together, and when a door slams on one of us, all the others are there to pick up the fallen one.

But yeah, silently performing these unspoken roles; with all my friends it’s been one wild party; Crazy jokes, insane laughter, introduction to new talents, new music, new outlooks, new cocktails, new religions, and a whole new life. My eyes are open!

Who caught my eye: My first memories date back to around 5 years old, and from that moment of awareness of self, I have also been aware of my weakness/strength for girls. I kissed girls and made them cry when I was in nursery and then the crying soon eased into different emotions when I hit school years! But jokes aside, I have been one of the luckiest people in the world. Every woman I have been attracted to and have spent time with has turned out to be absolutely amazing. I have been known for my weakness for pretty smiles, killer legs, etc etc, but every time I have let my guard down and loved someone it is crazy how much love I have gotten in return, and it amazes me that someone could love me that much; change me in ways I wanted me to changed, make me someone I always wanted to be, accept me the way I am at the same time, and make every moment a moment that deserves a smile and maybe a tear!

Who let me close my eyes: My parents put me on a plane when I was 20 feeling helpless, but turning me over to the ones they trusted the most, my relatives. Without naming anyone, my kin let me be who I was, and let me close my eyes and not worry about anything; rescued me from things as trivial as a car tire burst, as important as college admissions, and as traumatic as illness in a land where falling ill seems to be a sin! I learnt that you don’t have to be on American Idol to be a true idol (for my cousins), I learnt that family isn’t about talking about how much you love and miss your relatives, it’s all about being there when they need you!

What I hear when I close my eyes: I live for music. I happen to do a lot of stuff, but music is not a hobby, it’s my passion! My guitar has given me company every single day for the last 14 years, but only after coming to college park have I realized what I can do with it. Writing songs, playing music, and hanging with my band Antardhwani is something I can barely put into words, but in short it’s one of the best things that has ever happened to me. Driven by passion and the fun it has been, Antardhwani has played 4 times for crowds despite band members’ hectic schedules, and the loss of band members who moved away, and now has several music compositions to splash over our first CD (someday ....). Besides fusion music, Alap and me, have more than 25 songs to show off on our unnamed, unlabeled, unheard band which one day will play the music we breathe for!

What keeps my eyes open: I never thot I would say this, but sometimes I am dying to fall asleep, but can’t coz I want to get up and work. Yeah, I’ve always excelled at academics, have tons of journal publications and a patent as an undergrad, but never really cared about anything I had done. Well, things change! The work I do now, Wireless Sensor Networks for tracking to save first responders in the face of an emergency has brought 20 years of answering tests and studying to life. My work will be patented, then published, yield dough, but even if none of that happens it will be a step towards saving somebody’s life.

My name is Amrit. I am turning 26. I have no regrets. I am the luckiest guy alive. There is nothing more I can ask for!

 

With arms wide open!

PS: Rearview Mirror is the name of Pearl Jam’s greatest hits.

Must be said!

Actors are the luckiest people in the world. They get to play almost every role (everyone they wish they could be for example Batman, a lawyer, the devil, and a rocket scientist) in the same lifetime. Even though I am not an actor there are some situations I would love to enact before the curtains close on me:

1) Scene 1:

Location: Anywhere 

Actors: Me and a British Lady around 40 years old or if I was 40 she would havta be 55 (so me+15)

British Lady: Aamrit, how do you do?

Amrit: I do very well, if I may say so myself!

 2) Scene 2 (Adapted from something I once saw)

Location: Elevator

Actors: Moi again and any girl inside or outside the elevator

Girl: Going down?

Moi: You really cut to the chase don't you?

3) Scene 3:

Location: Anywhere

Actors: Bandy and girlfriend

Girlfriend: Bandy, why did you cheat on me? Who did you sleep with?

Bandy:  No, nio, no, WHOM did you sleep wid? The question is WHOM did I sleep wid?

Truly Unselfish!

Sometimes I think all of us are born selfish as a survival skill. You can go through days without seeing someone perform an unselfish deed. I witnessed a girl perform one a couple of days ago and just had to document it to appreciate what she did for the world.

Time and Place: 7:30 pm, University of Maryland, College Park

Weather: 30 degress F, feels like 15 deg

The Incident : I was walking with Shitu and Rashi to Lot 11 to get to my car so that we could go home. It was freezing! We were dressed in layers, and still the piercing wind fought its way thru to provide intense discomfort. Only question on my selfish mind; Why did I not wear more layers? There was a TERP basketball game on campus so there were several people walking from Lot 11 towards the Comcast Center geared with huge jackets, and walking really fast. And, thats when I saw the unselfish deed. A lovely girl around 5' 8'' was walking towards the comcast center with her friends wearing a brown jacket over a tight white t-shirt (jacket open!) and a very, very short denim mini-skirt flauting the most beautiful legs!

Now we all have walked without gloves in the cold and our hands (the most rugged of body parts when it comes to temperature swings) froze to death. But this girl without thinking of herself and her pain, wore a mini-skirt exposing 3 feet of skin to the piercing cold just thinking about the poor men who would be deprived if she din't. That my friends is as unselfish as one can get. Thank you stranger girl for your selfless act of serving "man"kind by wearing short skirts while braving the cold, and radiating a chill of warmth which just might be what gets another through the cold day.

Dirrrty Laundry!

So, most people do laundry on a regular basis. I do the more natural thing when laundry day closes in on me: I buy 3 boxers and stall the situation (I wont reveal for how many days!) and pray for the elastics on all the others, coz as long as the elastic is up and working, those babies stay in the rotation :)

So, come laundry day, I heaped up, and I mean heaped up all the stuff that merited a good wash. I carried things down to the laundry room and had a little flashback. The last time I was there, just before I started the washer I remembered that the pair of boxers I was wearing, my favorite, would remain unwashed and hence out of the rotation. I couldnt afford to leave my lucky boxers out and risk not wearing them for (?) months. So I looked around, took a deep beadth, and shed them both (I can undress real fast for the records!), and then quickly put my pajamas back on (I can get dressed and bolt even faster!)  Its kinda cool going commando. Later, my roommates had fun at my expense when they told me that there was a camera in the laundry (not true).  I chuckled thinking of my last escapade as I complimented myself for wearing a boxer this time that I dint care about at all.

So, things were going really smooth, when I realized that my jammies that I wear all the time and desperately needed washing were on me. MMMM quite the predicament. Anyways, so I promptly took of my jammies and put them into the washer.  As I stood in my boxeres loading quarters into the machine, i heard "Moto" my new motorazr scream for me. Fear came all over me as I realized that I had dumped poor Moto with my jammies into the washer. As I rescued her, I thanked Raj for rescuing her. We now owe him a treat. A pretty eventful laundry session, i decided to make to back to my pad, and decided that shedding my jammies was much less risky than forgetting to put in my boxers. But as a left the laundry room, a whole family seemed to be going for dinner, a couple of girls were going out, and they all looked at me and smiled! oooooops. I wanted to stop them and explain to them what had led to my current state, but whatever. So forgetting boxers was less embarrassing than forgetting jammies. Learn from this episode people!

Sometimes, its tons of fun when the simplest things you do turn into a story, its awesome to have fun with the simple things in life.

The Grass Is Greener on the Other Side

Yup, we all should immigrate to canada. Multicultural, cool as hell, laid back, pretty, and yes much more laid back marijuana laws thats why the grass is greener on the other side. Setting up my cousin, Nendo of  Sucky, Sucky, Five Dollar fame for an undergrad at Uninversity of British Columbia, Vancouver via a pit stop at Toronto to meet my 7-year old cousin gave rise to the best trip ever.

The kin: My cousin is the cutest little fella alive. He was adorable, I got him a mini-guitar, a toy mustang, and baseball mitts. He loved the gifts. He stuck to me like velcro for 3 days. We hung out in a playground where I taught him to splash mud around, and then roll in it. We made a trip to Niagara, which was breathtaking, and yes, the american side is like sitting in the back seat of a mustang whereas the canadian side is more like driving one, all in all the american side is like going to a party you werent really invited to. The next day was a trip to the mall, where the seven-year old was taught how to spot a pretty woman, and watching charlie and the chocolate factory. The movie was awesome, disturbing though in johnny depp's resemblance to Michael jackson who happens to let children into his home/castle (spot a similarity?) and the overall make-up that depp sported. At times I could hear depp scream "I'm bad, I'm bad, you know it, you know it". and then naming the characater, Willy Wanka, does that have anything to do with wanking his willy? I sure hope not! The songs were very bollywood, with cheesy dance steps but I guess they are directed by an indian dude, and it was a bunch of fun anyways. The next day was marked by boys' day out on the field visiting toronto on a double decker. Abhikun is a chick-magnet. Wherever we went girls came up to us to say how cute we look when we play. I fed them stories of how i am 25, he is 7, and his mom left me when I was 18 and that she was japanese. When they dint believe me I made abhi talk in japanese and converted the disbelievers.  All in all, his company was awesome, he made me his role model, copied everything I did. Told his mom a day after i arrived that a girl on the bus was "his girl" coz  at one point I told him that I was talking to "my girl" on the phone. We gelled his hair so that he could look more like me, and he also said "daaaamn" a coupla times. The finale was while watching charlie and the chocolate factory: I had been sipping coffee all day on an empty stomach,  and had a layer of nasty cough in my throat. We both went to relieve ourselves in the restroom before the movie adnd stood in adjacent stalls.  While taking a leak, I kinda spit into the urinal to relieve my cough, kiddo obviously thought that he needed to do the same, and took a huge spit that dint make it too far so we all know where that fell, then he got extremely upset that he had spit all over his equpiment, it was hilarious. Its fun to a be a role model, was fun to play with a kid, this time it was more fun that it ever has been, I guess I really am 25! Last but not least, the kid has a tongue longer than that of kiss's lead singer, I kid you not. He wil be the best kisser in the world!

 

Toronto the place: The place is too cool for words, the women are too hot for words,  its like a cool New York! I was amazed! I live in the DC area. This place is teeming with Indian and Chinese restaurants. I walked by a Chinese restaurant in Toronto and it was called "Ho Lee Chow!", an Indian restaurant named "Khanasutra." Now, in my opinion that is just bloody cool. I am tired of restaurants being named China Garden, China town, India Bistro, but this place is cool enough to don a name that boasts the intellect of its customers. A welcome breeze was Canada!

 

 Vancouver:Vancouver was simply the bomb. The first day I met up with T, one of my closest guys from my Roorkee days. Lunch with Nendo was at a campus place called the village, where there was indian fast food, taiwanese, chinese, cantonese, mandarin, and greek next to each other for under 5 bucks with pop (canadian for soda). Campus is flanked by a beach besides the mountains necessitating a 16 storey hike down to visit it, simply poetic in its beauty. And yeah, clothing is optional! While we were at the beach, there tons of asian (some clothed), and white (few clothed) people but just one black dude (clothed) there with 4 women(unclothed) for obvious reasons. T and I (clothed) were the darkest people people at the beach besides him. When he crossed us he tells his women, "Ladies, these gentleman have the second and third largest penises on this beach!" and the girls echoed "Hell, ya!". Amidst all the fun, we never lost track that we were there to set up Nendo, but our worries about him were terminated when he was assigned a dorm room on the 6th floor with 22 female, and 5 male floormates. Seems like, sucky sucky aint gonna be no problem no more!

But the funnest part was yet to come.  In the morning before hitting the shower i was playing Pearl Jam (MY MOSTEST FAVORTITEST GROUP EVERRRRRR) and T said that they might be in town, and at 5:00 that evening we found out that they were hitting the stage in a couple of hours. At at the last minute we got floor tickets for the show. The show deserves a separate article, but yeah it was the best show ever, every song had a different ending from the studio recording.

So all in all, nothing could make the trip better, but I had an incentive to come back here so was excited about returning, but the incentive vanished. For a later chat.