Flashback

There are some images that we directly correlate with either events, people or momentous occurrences. I had one of those recently that took me into a double flashback of sorts.

I had just boarded my 6.30am train from Montreal Central Station to Ottawa. I removed my coat jacket and placed it onto the hangar, asked for a coffee and stared out the window. The train exited the platform and this beautiful sunrise dawned. The next few minutes made me wonder why I don't travel by train, especially in ones with such big ass windows. I looked down the alleyway of the Via rail Business Class compartment....

.... I asked myself, "When was the last time I was in an inter-city train?"

It was two years ago, Dec 2009, when I was travelling from Mumbai to Mangalore and back. The time before that was around Dec 2005 from Tver to St. Petersburg.

In all these flashbacks I noticed a stark contrast in my life status and maturity. Back in 2005, I was this clueless student three years into my Bachelors degree, not really sure what the next couple of years would bring. I felt like I was just tied down and following the path with the bread-crumbs all over it.

Alternatively, in 2009, I was almost done with my Masters degree in the USA, much more mature and street-smart (I would like to believe). I was looking forward to the challenges awaiting me in that trip, the semester after it, the the job-hunt eventually.

And now, I am working for one of the biggest companies in my industry, impacting daily airline operations and making a business trip in business class wearing a nice suit, sipping on nice coffee accompanied with a continental breakfast, just hungry for every opportunity I get to progress.

A flashing sequence of memories tied together by trigger cues. Quite a satisfying feeling of progression in life.

To Vegas or not to

I don't know why but for some reason everybody wants to go to Vegas. EVERYBODY!! Either it is their wish to lose a lot of money, or they have the misconception that Vegas has many tourist attractions. What is it about Vegas that attracts them so much?

So many other cities have casinos, what makes them unattractive? If you ask a good poker player, he would prefer going to Vegas only when he is sure that there will be many people who want to lose their money. Well, that is almost everyday. That's why the good poker players go there. The same reason for good blackjack players and other card game players. My curiosity begins when people can find casinos in their backyard, with the same game stakes, same setup, yet still want to go to Vegas to do the exact same thing. Weird!!

I have some rules about going to Vegas that I wouldn't like to break. These simple thoughts usually determine how much you get raked.
1) If I go to Vegas 'to play', I would prefer going alone. Simple. Isn't it? No worries about what the time is, who's waiting for you, whether they are getting bored. You have complete control over your decision-making on and off the table.
2) Play in games that you don't find elsewhere. For somebody who has never been to Vegas, you wouldn't know what is different in Vegas unless someone else tells you or if you analyze each casino website and game format closely. Whatever you find in most casinos across the world, you find in Vegas. But the casinos have more to offer. Did you know that there are almost 20 different 'satellites' to the World Series of Poker every day around April-May? That's what I call different, something you won't find in your backyard casino.
3) The strip ain't everything. If you are a tourist, i.e. not a person who has any skill or idea about any gambling that Vegas has to offer, then you really need to think if Vegas is the place where you want to visit by spending your hard-earned cash. If you think it is, then check out this link, which gives you most of the attractions that you can see.
4) Be as thrifty as possible in Vegas. Yes, I said it. I have seen people have a margarita, then some more, before sitting down at a table. My only suggestion to these people is to try and calculate how much they pay when they order those very same drinks 'after' sitting at a table. If you are going to play, then most casinos offer exclusive game suites with excellent benefits. But you gottta make sure that you play, and play well.
5) Who are you going to Vegas with? If its your new wife/husband, are you telling me you couldn't find a better, more romantic honeymoon destination? If its your entire family, what are the kids going to do while you're sitting at the tables or at the strip club with your uncle/father-in-law and the ladies are at a beauty parlor? If its with friends, will you really get a chance to coordinate with each one of them and party better than if you were in your home city considering each of your friends plays a different game?

Some might feel that I'm being too harsh when I say the above. Well, try this. If you are a good card player, go to Vegas for a week. ALONE!! Stay at the best game suite which might cost 35$ per day plus casino money. Work hard on your game and don't spend too much money off the table. Quit early on bad days, i.e. not days when you lose money but days when you are actually playing bad).

Vegas is a good place, lots of attractions. Gotta give kudos to marketing and the sheer lure-factor that they have managed to create. Going there won't be a complete waste of time, but you can bet good money that it will be a waste of money.

Brick in the wall

I recently visited Orlando, FL for the Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC) and I took my first step into the conference-world. I probably wouldn't have gone if I hadn't been presenting a paper. But the experience was amazing. Never had I thought that just sitting all day attending presentations, with lunch and coffee breaks in the middle, then talking to the presenters and researchers at the end of the day would be so much fun. I really felt like I wanted to be a bigger part of this world and venture deeper into the rabbit hole. It also made me want to go to such an event even if I wasn't publishing. I also realized how I'm just another brick in the wall, how tiny I was when all the industry professionals got together under one roof.

I did successfully present my paper and defend a few questions thrown towards me, met many different people from all over: Boeing, NASA, FAA, MITRE (CAASD), Eurocontrol, Lockheed Martin etc. Most of the people who attended my presentation really liked it, mainly because it was so relevant to their papers and/or everyday travel. My paper was titled "Impact of Critical Hub Airport Configurations in the Next Generation Air Transportation System". When I started talking about Chicago's O'Hare airport, I asked a question that told me the audience was really interested. The question was, "Has any of you been delayed for a long period on the tarmac at O'Hare?" Everyone just smiled.

The whole AIAA/IEEE community is so dedicated to finding solutions to such problems related to Air Traffic Management, safety issues, etc. It is just amazing! After all said and done, my flight from ORD to CMI took 35 minutes to taxi. It was taxiing longer than the flight time. That is just ridiculous. The guy next to me was speechless when I told him what my presentation in Orlando was all about. I think he felt like choking me because he wanted to get to his girlfriend quicker and the Chicago ATC just wouldn't let him.

I decided to celebrate this momentous trip to Orlando by starting by new professional blog: http://turbulenttarmacs.wordpress.com/ It will be my wordpad for everything related to the industry. I hope to integrate everything into my own website someday, hopefully in the next month ;)

303, W Green St. Apt B203, Champaign IL 61820

I walk to a place that is empty. I look at the ground and see millions of my footsteps on the footpath as I have walked to and fro from there. I know that I am going to nobody. To nothing. But I want to go none-the-less.

I open the door and turn on the lights. Emptiness everywhere. I walk through the apartment just to catch a glimpse of unexpectedness, but nothing surprises me. I sit on the couch and look around. Sigh. I see Dhum frying the onion rings in the kitchen. Pal sitting on her comp and making us listen to some new song. Pinky working all night on his comp while making sure everyone is doing their work too. Dream Catcher watching "Sex and the City" and getting yelled at. I see RM coming and going, ignoring everyone.

I breathe the air of a place where I have spent more time than my lab. A place that I imagined even before I had set foot into it. It had come to be my home. Our home.

They say that change is good. Change must be welcome. But what if I don't want change?

What if I want to turn back time? What if I want you to come back?

What if I want us, all of us, to be there..... just be there.

The University of Illinois

When I got into the U of I at Urbana Champaign, I knew that no other university would interest me. After that I got accepted into 6 other universities, but none of them could live up to the name of U of I. I had heard a lot about it for many years now, about the department, the location, the faculty, the perfect study atmosphere, about everything.
Now that I am on campus, I feel that this university has lived up to it's name and reputation. I am proud to be a part of this esteemed institution.


The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign began in the year 1867. The University is in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana (total population 180,000) in east-central Illinois. Situated about 140 miles south of Chicago, 125 miles west of Indianapolis, and 180 miles northeast of St. Louis.
It boasts of :
37 campus libraries
130 buildings with wireless access
70,000 computer connections on campus
The college of engineering is ranked 5th in the USA while my department of Aerospace Engineering is ranked 7th in 2008.
Facilities - 286 main campus buildings, 2.3 square miles (1468 acres)
559 total buildings, 7.7 sqyare miles (4938 acres)

Sports
10 & 11 Number of men's and women's (NCAA) teams (respectively) with 14 major facilities including Memorial Stadium (62,000 seating), the Assembly Hall (17,200 seating), Atkins Tennis Center, Huff Hall (4,000 seating), Illinois Field (3,000 seats for baseball), Eichelberger Field (1,500 seats for softball), the Illini Track and Soccer Stadium, two 18-hole championship golf courses with driving range and the newly opened Demirjian Golf Practice Facility.

470,000 square feet of recreational space between two newly expanded campus recreation and wellness centers. Includes indoor tracks, leisure pool with slide, climbing wall, basketball and racquetball courts, indoor and outdoor 50-meter pools, and much more; other recreational facilities include an ice arena, outdoor adventures center, inline skating rink, and several play fields.

Population
6,450 Undergraduate students living in 15 Private certified housing units and 63 Greek Houses.
1,700 Single graduate students or students with families living in two University-owned apartment complexes; two residence halls are home for 720 graduate students.

1,000+ Registered student organisations, coalitions, honorary societies, and teams.

5,378 international students in 2007 from 123 countries; ranked #4 in the nation’s “top 20 Research Institutions” in number of international students.

42,326 Total students: 30,895 undergraduate and 11,431 graduate and professional students, 53% men, 47% women, 6.0% African-American, 6.0% Latino/a, 11.0% Asian-American, 0.26% Native American, and 12.7% International.

Faculty
2,971 Members; 1,402 tenured, 570 tenure track, and 1000 other faculty.
22 Nobel Prize faculty and alumni winners; many noted scholars, including one Crafoord Prize and 19 Pulitzer Prize winners; others recognized with memberships in prominent national and international societies, academies, and foundations.

Campus
The campus is one of a kind, really beautiful. Soon, I'll write about the campus in detail, the places I hangout, the amazing transport system and the sheer efficiency of everything that is done on campus.

Go Illini!!!!!

I realize that I am here now..... it's been a month..... I just stood in front of the Alma Mater(photo above).... just like I did on the first day when I got here....... I've changed the time on my blog from St.Petersburg time to Central Standard Time....

..............times have indeed changed!

My home away from home

I had a great weekend, full of surprises and excitement. The rugby world cup final was won by South Africa, not England, which was a bit of a surprise and then on Sunday Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was crowned world champion in Formula One, after he won the Brazilian Grand Prix. Even before the race had begun, the only two names on everybody’s lips were Alonso and Hamilton. This, I must say, was the biggest of surprises and one hell of a race. Two of my friends and me actually stayed up till 3 am that night playing the Formula One racing game on our computers through the network. I came second in both races, which disappointed me, considering I rate myself higher. But now that the racing season is over, the hype and fever should stop, at least among us.


In the past week I’ve realized that starting your own blog isn’t all that difficult, maintaining it is. I’ve hardly had any free time on my hands recently, but I’ve been itching to get back to the blog each time I left it. One of the reasons I never started a blog was my laziness to maintain it. But I’ve promised myself that I’ll make an effort. I’ll try and keep things fresh and interesting as much as I can. Maybe 5-6 posts a month should do the trick.




I’ve been in St.Petersburg, Russia for the past five years doing my bachelors in Aerospace Engineering. It’s been a dream-come-true for me to study and live here. The course itself is excellent, but staying in St.Petersburg has been a delightful experience so far. Also known as “The Venice of the North”, “Северная Столица – the northern capital”, this city definitely is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and the easternmost city in Europe. It would always make my top 10. It has over 300 bridges and ranks second in “city with the most bridges in the world” after Venice, Italy. It has white nights during the summer, boasts of one of the best museums in the world – the Hermitage, was the capital of Russia once, is the second largest city in the country(largest – Moscow) and the third largest in Europe(largest – Moscow, second – London). Situated at latitude 59 degrees 57' north, the population of St.Petersburg is around five million as of today, which makes it the northernmost city in the world with a population of more than one million. It is one of the coldest places in Russia, and believe me, it can get really really cold during the winters. The lowest I have ever experienced here would have to be about -32 degrees Celsius back in the winter of 2006. With the heater on, I used to wrap myself in three blankets when I slept in those days. I wonder why so many people still live in Russia even though the weather is such. Take Siberia for example. With temperatures up to -50 degrees Celsius in winter, Siberia has a population of 39 million people. But the truth lies in the facts. And the numbers say that the population of Russia is declining every year. Today, Russia's population of 142,300,000 is only 12.6% that of India and in the next ten years it could drop to
less than 10%.



I’ve always seen Russia as the European version of the USA, only colder and with people speaking a different language around you. Other than that, there are hardly any differences. I’ve heard a lot about the USA over the years through family and friends, who have travelled there. But one thing I’m certain about is this, Russia has preserved it’s cultural integrity and has the capability to operate without interferance from the world. Russian technology is a great example of this. They have their own brand of cars – Lada, etc, aircraft - Sukhoi, Ilyushin, Tupolev, etc and spacecraft – Soyuz, Buran, Vostok, etc.


I haven’t mentioned all the interesting facts about St.Petersburg above, but if I do then I could go on and on. Some, that deserve mention here and make me proud, are the underground railway metro system, the city’s only football(soccer) team – Zenit St.Petersburg, the fact that a part of the film “Goldeneye” was filmed in this city and that it is one of the end-points of the longest railroads in the world – the Trans-Siberian railway.



Russia has given me the opportunity to take my career ahead and to learn a new language while doing so. I’ve made countless friends, had tubs of fun, grown and learnt a lot in these five years. I can comfortably call Russia, especially St.Petersburg, my home away from home.


CHEERS!!!