Lechuguilla Caves, New Mexico, USA

The Chandelier Ballroom - crystals extend to more than 6 metres in length.

I started watching the BBC series of Planet Earth and I began with the episode on Caves.

Since my childhood days, I had a very keen interest in geology – movies like Volcano intrigued me, I’d read lots on seismology and volcano-logy and I even used to say I want one of these. A particular fascination was with rocks and especially, stalactites and stalagmites.

Yesterday afternoon, with nothing in particular to do, I downloaded this series from our LAN and lo! was I captivated! The picture you see here is one of the most beautiful caves -on- no, below the surface of the earth. They extend miles after miles, a hidden network of hidden tunnels formed by the wrath-like eroding power of water and in the case of Lechuguilla and Kap-Kutan caves in Turkmenistan, the deathly and mysterious dissolving nature of sulphuric acid. There are unseemly formations of the base substance, limestone transformed to gypsum, aragonite amongst other forms.

The still pools of pristine water, Lechuguilla Caves

While most caves are slushy and damp with water-ways through them, these caves only have these still pools of water – though acidic.

With no light ever entering these dark crevices, it is amazing to find bacteria that actually survive on the rock itself.

Underground caves in the Central American region once sustained the Maya Civilisation in Yucatan – there are no rivers in the area – because they are now flooded. They are termed as sink holes, the only source of freshwater in a river-less land.

Someday I’d like to go to these caves and witness these miracles of nature for myself.

ps : BBC Planet Earth series – highly recommended

One of the infinitely many delicate crystal formations.

Yet one more...

Blocks of glimmer

The chandeliers - up close

:-/

not in a mood to study – seriously want to be the good girl and study everything properly but no will

fallen in love with shruti pathak’s voice in ‘mar jaawan’ from fashion

trying new hair-do s for some weird reason

bathed every day for the past one week save one day

love my new deo – nike fission for women

someone has been blogging like hell…

lithium

Lithium, don’t want to lock me up inside.
Lithium, don’t want to forget how it feels without…
Lithium, I want to stay in love with my sorrow.
Oh, but God, I want to let it go.

Come to bed, don’t make me sleep alone.
Couldn’t hide the emptiness, you let it show.
Never wanted it to be so cold.
Just didn’t drink enough to say you love me.

I can’t hold on to me,
Wonder what’s wrong with me.

Lithium, don’t want to lock me up inside.
Lithium, don’t want to forget how it feels without…
Lithium, I want to stay in love with my sorrow.

I don’t want to let it lay me down this time.
Drown my will to fly.
Here in the darkness I know myself.
Can’t break free until I let it go.
Let me go.

Darling, I forgive you after all.
Anything is better than to be alone.
And in the end I guess I had to fall.
Always find my place among the ashes.

I can’t hold on to me,
Wonder what’s wrong with me.

Lithium, don’t want to lock me up inside.
Lithium, don’t want to forget how it feels without…
Lithium, I want to stay in love with you.
I’m gonna let it go.

back after a hiatus

alright – its been a long three weeks… here’s all that happened ( tried to put it in chronological order ) :

landed in mumbai on 4th jan eve, had a biodiesel meet at 9 pm itself… distributed gajar ka halwa to friends the first week was filled with hectic classes – this being 48 credit sem ie 25 contact hours in the five days of the week; and after classes, abour 4-5 hours in the biodiesel lab; then came the three treats in a row – the impromptu sat treat that bubbly invited me to and i ditched pot pourri in the process… oh there was an insight meet in the middle of the week as well… then the RANG treat in the tuesday of the second week – MI winners giving a wonderful treat at dominoes, mulund… all through this, goonj practices had started… and the weekend was filled with the hopeless online quizzes by our painful flumech prof… the entire weekend went in that – i think uptil now, there have been atleast 8 quizzes! what a sem! god! anyway after that, there were acads, biodiesel, insight artis, night outs on mugging ES, goonj practices… mails to be read, classified, replied… honestly there wasn’t even enough time to chat peacefully…

set a chat date yesternight for the first time this year! and finally a saturday morning convo today and yay! participating in junkyard wars with roomie and saggi baby

45 random things

45 of the most random things you probably never needed to know about someone

whats your name spelt backwards?: ladnam ayusana
What did you do last night?: chatted with my love and slept off
The last thing you downloaded onto your computer?: movie – 27 dresses
Have you ever licked a 9 volt battery?: yes
Last time you swam in a pool?: about a month and a half ago – arbit swimming enthu
What are you wearing?: shorts and t shirt
How many cars have you owned?: none
Type of music you dislike most?: heavy metal – the crashes i simply don’t understand
Are you registered to vote?: yes – but have not till yet
Do you have cable?: no tv! in hostel! but yes i do at home
What kind of computer do you use?: lappie mera saathi hp pavilion widescreen
Ever made a prank phone call?: yes! lots! awesome fun
You like anyone right now?: yes – my love
Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving?: bungee jumping
Furthest place you ever traveled?: san diego
What’s your favorite comic strip?: peanuts, calvin and hobbes, archies, garfield – i read them all
Do u know all the words to the national anthem?: yes – since i’ve been 3
Shower, morning or night?: either be it 3 am, 12 noon, 5 pm – whenever!
Best movie you’ve seen in the past month?: the bridges of madison county
Favorite pizza toppings?: oregano and chicken barbeque
Chips or popcorn?: can’t choose… both are equally tempting
What cell phone provider do you have?: airtel
Have you ever smoked peanut shells?: no – would never dream of either
Have you ever been in a beauty pageant?: in school once, i barely remember
Orange Juice or apple?: orange juice – i hate the fruit orange though
Who were the last people you sat at lunch with?: roomie today at shakti
favorite chocolate bar?: dairy milk fruit and nut, toblerone, ferrero rocher
Who is your longest friend and how long?: prerna – 15 years
Last time you ate a homegrown tomato?: never we’ve never had a garden patch to grow things on…
Have you ever won a trophy?: yes – some for arbit things, some for appreciable things
Favorite arcade game?: uh… air hockey if that counts
Ever ordered from an infomercial?: yes – static duster :p
Sprite or 7-UP?: sprite
Have you ever had to wear a uniform to school/work?: yes – school uniform was awesome
Last thing you bought at Walgreens?: i have no idea what that is
Ever thrown up in public?: maybe – on the road once – don’t quite remember
Would you prefer being a millionaire or finding true love?: wouldn’t both be awesome ? though i’d stick to the latter
Do you believe in love at first sight?: yes – love at first scrap rather
SPONGEBOB OR JIMMY NEUTRON?: neither – have no idea about either
Did you have long hair as a young kid?: not too long – shoulder length
What message is on your voicemail machine?: not applicable
Where would you like to go right now?: to noida
Whats the name of your pet?: bernie
What kind of back pack do you have, and what’s in it?: two shoulder strap black, lappie cushioned, very very pseud
What do you think about most?: meeting him and enjoying my work

Fill out this survey yourself
Find a different survey
Brought to you by Bzoink

holidays

december holidays – spending them here at insti… i wonder why blogging frequency takes a dip during hols… the first day after the endsems, i didn’t care about my blog even half as much as i did the day before… well whatever the reason be, the following are what i’m up to mostly :

completion of my UROP by 7th dec (i’ve set a deadline for myself as this friday, the 5th)
going to make biodiesel today at lab scale yay!
got addicted to the songs of yuvraaj since last evening – especially ‘lat ulajhe’
love will be going home day after
feeling extremely tense about deadlines – have to work very very hard these four days
the mess is closed from today for the whole of december – i’m anxious about food
made saggi baby’s birthday card i can’t wait to post it

sameer hill sunrise pics :)

jhonny’s cam pic – a blue sunrise… saw it for the first time in the pic … to beautiful for words even… kudos to jhonny

memories of a wonderful nightout

gmail!

its better and with themes and different stars and right side chat and auto hiding status msg options and google calendar on the gmail page itself its totally awesome ( thanks to heretic hero for the initiation )

btw, my theme is graffiti thought i’d save a bit of energy by choosing a darker one given that the gmail page stays open most of the time on my lappie…

among other news, the math endsem yesterday was sweet ( never thought i’d use that adjective to describe how i fared in an endsem, and more so for a math one ), had cornetto after a million years after the exam at staff c ( jhonny treated chandrika, deepika and me ofcourse ) and went off to watch the russian cultural programme in the LT … kaatoed infi lukkha… watched 4 episodes of scrubs – after 7 seasons i’m finally at par with the television chronologically  

and now its saturday morning with back to back exams on mon and tues – so just last four days of studying in the entire sem and painfully, 3rd sem is over

why can’t we give love?

‘Cause love’s such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care for
The people on the edge of the night
And loves dares you to change our way of
Caring about ourselves
This is our last dance
This is ourselves
Under pressure

♫ under pressure – queen

WAM

work ass off mode! its here ! and here are the results!

bawra mann dekhne chala ek sapna…

Bawre Se Is Jahan Main Bawra Ek Saath Ho
Is Sayani Bheed Main Bas Haathon Mein Tera Haath Ho
Bawri Si Dhun Ho Koi, Bawra Ek Raag Ho
Bawre Se Pair Chahen, Baawron Tarano Ke, Bawre Se Bol Pe Thirakna.

teri deewani…

ishq junoon jab hadh se badh jaaye
haste haste aashiq suli chadh jaaye
ishq ka jaadu sar chadh kar bole
khoob laga lo pehre raste rab khole

no way jose!

scrap chat :

me : no way jose!
mine’s better anyday!

him : mistaken be thou, lady,
who be this jose?
what doth he do,
and what doth he say?

me : jose be a spanish gentleman,
he hath quite a charming name
object did he, unceremoniously, to every little thing
that ‘no way jose’ became his fame!

him : thou art mistaken, my lady
for jose be a portuguese name,
perhaps he fled to the catalan plains
to cheer for barca in a football game.

my favourite advertisements

• doodh-doodh-doodh-doodh
• the sony ad for the icc world cup 2003 – with the ‘om sourav sachin dravid swaha… ‘
• airtel – ‘one finger can break a billion hearts, one voice can move a nation, another can break walls …’
• hutch pug – ‘wherever you go, our network follows’
• fevistik – the one with the rod catching stick
• fevicol – the one with the fevicol hard eggs
• raymond – the one with the white puppies
• dairy milk – the one with mehendi
• chevrolet optra – the one with the private moonlit dinner and skylight
• airtel – the one with football across barbed wires
• hitachi – ‘its got to be perfect‘ – the one in the which the husband cuts out perfectly round rotis using an upside down tin
• nike – the one with cricket on the streets, bowling on bus roofs
• hutch – chota recharge – the one with the drop of ink in the exams
• act II popcorn
• mastercard ads they’re subtle and so apt

please add your favourites

diwali – at home :)

unlike last time this time, i decided to come home during the pseudo eight day diwali holidays (kudos to CR shwetabh for arranging for the two off days to make it a total of 8 days in july itself) … last year the hostel was absolutely empty and everyone from my wing had gone home… although, i ended up having quite a unique and beautiful diwali – online – with him…

the two of us hadn’t gone home last time and decided to be together the entire evening since we anyway had nowhere to go and thought that as our first diwali together, we’d make it a special one… i remember, wearing a salwaar kameez and carrying the lappie to the comp room of the hostel because my room’s lanport was screwed up… and since 7 in the evening, after lighting diyas outside my room, till i think maybe 12 30, we chatted… and it was so beautiful… it was so different from a diwali i’d know all my life… the rituals were missing but what i discovered was a sense of togetherness and truly appreciated the fact that diwali with your loved ones is the most special one… true i was away from my parents, but the online diwali was very beautiful – our first diwali and i’ll never forget that evening…

but now that this time i was home, i planned to make up for the unfinished rituals of last time… we bought 108 diyas and this big one that you see… on its left are ‘lokkhi’r pa‘ or goddess lakshmi’s feet, as made in traditional bengali rangoli or alpona… the flowers are by me; lokkhi’r pa by ma… the whole thing is at the entrance to our flat where i’ve spend 12 years of my life and refuse my parents’ request to let them move to other places because i will have no friends there…

well, just like always, baba and i bought prodip or diyas… washed them, sundried them, poured oil, made sholte, and placed them on the balcony sills… as usual realised that the wind one side was stronger than the other side and not one prodip survived on the windy side…

anyway, later we went downstairs – and it was the reunion of the anti-cracker group : ana and me anti cracker duo rather but this time, there was a significant decrease in the number of cracker bursters… seeing the rockets go off, stung me… had chatted with him before coming downstairs and i wished so badly that i was spending it online with him like last time…

went to kalibari with debu uncle and sukanya auntie afterwards… missed out on the aloo’r chop but had feasted on chicken biryani earlier that ma had made

but i did make up for diwali with him later… i came back around 11 to find that his mood had completely changed and he’d had maggi for dinner and had had subhojit over for company… we talked like last time and it was so beautiful…

in a sense, i managed to be with the people i loved the most – my parents and him… it was a different diwali this time… last night was wonderful and evening with my parents too…