The Seattle Diary II-The meeting...

The AAS meeting in jan was held at the Seattle convention center located in downtown seattle.It was a Sunday,but felt more like a working day.The first thing we did was to grab something to eat at the nearby Starbucks shop.Later I came to know from a seasoned scientist that breakfast is always available at the AAS meetings and I just had to make use of it. They do actually serve pretty good stuff-bagels,fruits,croissants,etc.BTW a little bit of trivia:Did you know that the first Starbucks coffee shop is in Seattle and that there is a distinct difference between the logos seen here and at other Starbucks coffee shops?
The day started of RP's talk on He Diagnostic lines.The work is quite seminal and is expected to contribute to the scientific community in a very distinct way.After the talk I hop on to a couple of more sessions.It is quite a learning process...the very act of sitting through talks,discussing related stuff and exchanging ideas opens up a lot of unexplored avenues.
Its lot of fun when you have just five minutes and you have to convey your research findings to your fellow scientists.It almost becomes an art:The way one can do it. Some were good and others just ended screwing it up very badly.Well,that is life....Meanwhile we go and grab some good lunch at a nearby english pub and restaurant.
Meanwhile plans were made to go to the Space Needle. This would later become my idea of a good place to take your date out.The evening was spent at the Typhoon tasting some awesome teas in the company of some good friends who where basically all nerds in one way or the other..but then really nice ones!

The Seattle Diary-I :What lies Beyond?

I was fortunate enough to attend the AAS Jan meeting in Seattle.A lovely city.A great experience.So I decided to write about it.Even before I started I was wondering how i should unravel it all.Should I talk about the best things first?Should I start from the start and end at the end or start at the end and end at the start?There were so many different perspectives being processed at the same time.I am partly confused.Howvever I need to begin.Here it goes....

It was a Saturday evening and for the first time I was seeing some 2000 to 3000 Astrophysicists from almost all the Universities,Research Institutes and other organizations.What made all these people choose astrophysics over other lucrative careers?Let me state something first.From personal experience :It is not easy being an astrophysicist.It is more tough being a smart one.So unless one had this burning desire to actually know what happens many light years away at size scales that are unimaginable,this kind of a meeting would never happen.If people did not think that this was a worthy exercise it would never be supported in the first place.So,what lies beyond?This seems to be the question which keeps UGs,Graduate students,post-docs,profs and other scientific personnel so busy.The meeting served not only as a platform to get to know what was going on in the field of Astronomy& Astrophysics,but also served as a networking event.All this for one cause:To know what lies beyond.So it was at the reception hosted by the American Astronomical Society at the Hyatt that I got hold of a glass of diet coke for four dollars(#@!%) and continued with my journey to understand more of what lies beyond!

A Time to Think...

The first of Januray has always been special to me in someway or the other.I have kind of been brought up with the school of thought that whate ver I do on the New Year Day would be what I would do the most the rest of the year.So it had always been rising up early that day,visitng the temple with my parents,followed by some good food,reading for sometime and some fun.More or less good things.After having spent nearly half the life time of an average human being,I wonder is all this really true?Of these three decades that I have tread on this earth,it have only four years or so that I have stayed away from Family.I do miss those special days.It was always nice.I am not much of a party freak,even though I am called a "people -person".So this year I decided i would spend it on a much lighter tone.It was just a very small international "close friends" circle.So how does one define close?Well,this is kind of fuzzy.For it never remains the same.We make choice where we want to be.Does it matter that someone we like does not decide to be with us?Not really.So except for a few wishes to some of my friends and family,I did not do much.Its not that I am not thinking about them..it has to just do with the fact that I want to experience the feeling of being happy in one's own presence.Wow,I have not touched that phone in the last 16 hours or so.Apart from the fact that it is kind of a new year resolution to be on the phone for as little time as possible,it has also got to do with me running out of my daytime minutes.Yeah,responsible me! I am thankful to a lot of people who have been responsible for me being present here today.I thank them all..not on the phone,not even in person,but as a silent prayer to God to bless them.Fot they had accepted me as what I was and stood by my side.Recently my social circle has been growing again,and I am kind of scared.Why?Well I am the kind of person who likes stability.Larger induce greater instability..this is what I learnt from a dear from of mine KA.One of those few you can talk to without being afraid of being yourself.Is it just me?Ofcourse not.I dont think so.
Recently I came across this well educated,quite ,good looking(I still doubt it,But my friends think it is so) woman.I did find her presence quite charming.But then it was frightening enough when she was presumptuos about my behavior towards her.Hah!I then had to do some kind of damage control and is now a part of history.On the same note I guess I fell out of the graces of a very sociable cosmopolitian indian human species.Does it matter?Well, life goes on...That is what I have learnt.I am happy to be back on my feet.I was fortunate enough to not succumb to different pressure fronts that I had to face and look up to the new year for health, prosperity and fame.More importantly I seem to be leaning more towards my career as an astrophysicist with more gusto than before and that is a Good Sign.Taking stock,

Moments of delirious sadness
Have ,but disappeared .
What exists is Hope
And in its presence Everything shall be born.