June 2011 to August 2011

June 2011 was one of the months where I have worked the hardest.The protocol was ready and the time had come to use it on actual samples. But that meant 30 days of getting to the lab at 7am and staying there until almost midnight with a couple hours for lunch break. I didnt mind it a bit though. When my samples appeared on the microscope in glowing red, green and orange it was the most beautiful sight ever. So, I got my results after a month of living in the lab and it was a pretty good amount of data for my undergrad honors thesis :-)

I will never forget 30th June, the last day in Canada. It was a mixture of happy and sad. I was happy because I was going back home and I was also sad because in 6 months I had built a life of my own in Calgary. I didn't have to be so sad because I knew I would be returning in September but I still did. So, the night before I spent it packing and cleaning up the UofC rez room. At 9am sharp my supervisor arrived to pick me up. We went to the lab, sorted out the data, transferred it to the lab computer and by 2pm I was on my way to the airport. Oh, I forget to mention the "liquid nitrogen vanilla ice-cream party" we had in honor of my last day at the lab =D It was fun and the icecream was delicious, I just wish I was more awake to enjoy it better !

And I arrived home 2 days later. My first step out of the Mumbai Airport and the first thing I do is take off my jacket (+36C temp) and notice that my lungs are laboring to breathe (>80% humidity). But I got used to it soon, after all I have been born and brought up there !

The next 2 months went in doing all the typical Indian things: street-side food fest, all the festivals, rain-lots of it, visiting relatives elsewhere in the country (who knew when I would see them again) etc. And the day to leave arrived and this time I was really sad... =(

February 2011 to May 2011 - The Big Transition Part II

Still coping with the cold. What was not helping were the comments from locals telling me that this was the worst winter ever in Calgary after many years and that its not always like this.

Along with the cold, the other challenge was the project I was entrusted with. It involved developing an entirely new protocol based on a technology I had heard about only by reading books. If you asked me, it sounded like fairy tales when I had read the theory & principle of it back in India. The feeling of developing something new based on what you thought of as fairy tales was entirely something else and needless to say an amazing learning experience !

On the social front, I made friends, not as many as I'd liked to, but atleast I had one friend, Taruna, who I know I will always have no matter what :-) She is now in the same department as me and I see her at work everyday !

We went to trips organized by CISSA - West Edmonton Mall, Drumheller and a tour of the city of Calgary. I will never forget the Calgary tour. Specifically, I will never forget that walk from Peter's Drive-In to the CISSA bus in -25C. Me & my friend partially lost our way from Peter's and it took us half an hour to locate our bus. What my palms & fingers went through during that half an hour cannot be forgotten and whats even more unforgettable is the thawing experience. I have been kinder to my "baby cells" in the lab ever since!

I had a good time and my first glass of red & white wine at the end of April in the Biochemistry Department Advance in Banff. Had my first glimpse of the Canadian Rockies. They were so majestic and beautiful :-)

And then it was spring time in May. The temperatures were soaring and this encouraged me & Taruna to venture out into the city by ourselves. In this way, we went to Prince's Island Park (I kept thinking the name was Prince Edward Island Park...too much Twilight influence?), watched many movies together in the cinema as well as at our rooms (Paranormal Activity 1 & 2 being the notable ones :-D ), went to Kensington by the riverside and visiting many more little parks around campus reveling in the beauty of spring flowers.

January 2011 - The Big Transition Part I

On New Years', I was single. And completely engaged with innumerable shopping trips with a heavy heart. And my sleepy brain was trying to comprehend the magnitude of coldness at -20/-30/-40 degree Celsius. January is Canada's coldest and snowiest month.

Finally the big day arrived. I felt uncharacteristically calm with little flutters of panic that had something to do with going through innumerable checks at the airport...and handling 3 huge bags. Surprisingly it was no big deal. My parents were dewy eyed and I was impatient to leave. And before I knew, I had passed through many many lines and desks and was waiting near the boarding gate to board my flight. There I was dutifully messaging both my father and ex-boyfriend-turned-best friend about my whereabouts. After about half an hour, there was a call for passengers to board the flight. Since my seat was right at the back I got to go first. I sat in the plane and again gave the status update to both my contacts outside the airport. Then I switched the phone off.

The plane started to roll slowly...took many turns and finally barelled forward and took off into the skies. I enjoyed watching Two and a Half Men on flight and eating food which was pretty edible. I arrived at London and started the wait for 6 hours to get my next flight to Calgary. I roamed around many shops in the meanwhile but didn't touch any food apprehensive of the names of the food items since they did not make it clear if it was veg or non-veg! And of course the pound value scared me off. The flight from London to Calgary got delayed since the aircraft had some mechanical problems. This took a while for me to come to know since the announcement was in a very strong British accent and absolutely incomprehensible to me. Finally, the kind lady who checked our boarding passes told me.

I was overjoyed to see I had a window seat in this flight. As we flew up, I got a glimpse of entire London. I saw the Thames river and the bridge built over it and also the London Eye or Big Eye whatever they call that big jhoola. I must say that London is as cramped as Mumbai. I had a good time watching the view of the clouds as we were flying above them. Total paisa vasool. :-D Then I made the mistake of deciding to watch a romantic movie and cried most of the time till dinner came. I was so full with food and exhausted, both mentally & physically that I fell into deep sleep when we were flying somewhere over Iceland, probably Reykjavik. When I woke up, my half eaten dinner had been cleared up by the air hostess and the pilot was circling over Calgary waiting for clearance to land. I glanced out of the window and it was dark. The city was lit up and it looked beautiful.

After landing, I went through Immigration (the officer was gorgeous !!!!!) and got my permit. Then cleared Declaration. Found my bags on the carousel and headed out to meet my professor. She was pleasantly surprised to see that I did not look like a zombie ready to drop into bed!

Semester 7 - July-December 2010

Semester 7. The last semester of taught courses. The last semester of assignments. And...the last semester of written exams. What an epic semester! The arrival of this semester impressed upon all of us the end of four long college years (which I did not enjoy at all). And also impressed upon us the fact that it was time to start looking for off-campus project opportunities. July went in timepass with boyfriend and common friends. August went by the same way. September came and I started to feel panicky. About project and about mid-terms!

My father pressed me to apply to Universities and institutes abroad after the lukewarm response (well...rather cold actually) I got from places in India. So the barrage of emails to professors all around the world started followed by a barrage of denials sent in reply to me. But in October something positive did happen...right after mid-terms were done. I got a yes from a professor in the University of Calgary, Canada. I have no idea how to describe the ensuing relief, happiness and also the bedlam that followed. There were 6 tougher-than-life subjects to be studied. There were a 100 documents to be collected to apply for visa and many many forms to be filled up too. And all of this was happening during my semester examinations.

And my father was not satisfied at this. In November, when I was supposed to be studying (actually trying to use whatever little time was left), he wanted me to apply to some places in Mumbai too. I think he had confused this project for my life's first job appointment or something of equal importance since he was making me give up studying for semester exams and seemed pretty oblivious and unconcerned about it. I like to think it was God's good grace that I cleared. In India, nothing good comes easy. So at Haffkine's, where my father desired that I apply (even after my vehement denials), candidates were selected by an entrance test. I wondered if I should study for semester exams which were really important or for this entrance exam which I didn't give a damn about. So, I just read through Kuby once quickly for the entrance test and continued preparing for sem exams.

Now, Kuby rocks. Because I got selected in Haffkine's entrance test. And later I happily rejected the offer since by then the visa had arrived. I was to go to Calgary, Canada in a month. I couldn't believe it was happening...yet it was...

While all this was happening, my patience was always short-circuited most of the time. That was inevitable since there were so many people eating different parts of the brain that I lashed out quite unpredictably. I am not proud of that but it was something I couldn't control at that time. This coupled with the fact that I was moving to another country for the better part of 2011 took a toll on my already unstable relationship. I couldn't stand my heart being pulled in various directions along with my brain and I snapped and broke the relationship. I felt terrible later, of course. But looking at it from a long-term point of view it was one of the few wise, pro-active things that I have done.

Some other things took place too like the class trip to Alibaug which I guess I would have enjoyed better had I been single and with my school gang...

Semester 6 - Jan-June 2010

Since my last post in 2009, I was superbly busy with all the mundane things a professional BTech Biotechnology course demands and also with the not-so-mundane things a relationship demands. Come 2010 and the college life got even more demanding with tougher subjects and don't-give-a-damn teachers teaching them (though I must clarify not all were like that). At that point, even the relationship got rocky and since then it was never stable. So, Semester 6 was not good at all. I felt lucky enough to barely scrape through (read escape) one subject in whose subject I had not managed to get the required grades in mid-terms. I still remember the Herculean efforts I took to study that subject thoroughly! Some of the others were not so lucky and they had KTs thrust upon them.

Funnily enough I dont seem to remember what I did in vacations after 6th Sem. Probably just lazed around..!

Moving on in life...

I realize I have not written my blog for a long long time. I was so caught up with college work and watchful parents that I had forgotten I had a blog! Well lots and lots of things have happened between the last post and my life now. I got committed not long after my last post and broke up two years later. I am still wondering if I will ever cross the 2-year mark or if this just shows the extent of my patience (which I am afraid is not too much).

Something much more important and highly interesting has happened in my life which I will elaborate in my next post :)

College Life....

Just recently we had d BE Farewell at our colg for Kalaraag...i'm really gonna miss some of my friends who r about to graduate...



KUCHH BAATEN BHOOLI HUYI,
KUCHH PAL BEETE HUYE.

HAR GALTI KA EK BAHANA,
AUR PHIR SABKI NAZAR ME AANA,

EXAM KI POORI RAAT JAGNA,
PHIR BHI QUESTION DEKH KAR SAR KHUJLANA.

MAUKA MILE TO CLASS BUNK KARNA ,
PHIR DOSTO KE SATH CHAI PINE JANA.

USKI EK JHALAK DEKHNE ROJ COLLEGE JANA,
AUR DEKHTE DEKHTE ATTENDANCE BHOOL JANA.

HAR PAL EK NAYA SAPNA,
AAJ TO TUTE PHIR BHI HAI APNA.

YE COLLEGE KE DIN ,
IN LAMHO KO ZINDGI MEIN JEE BHAR KAR JEEYE,
PHIR YAAD KARKE MUSKURATE HAIN HUM ...........