It's my B'Day tomorrow....

Happy Janmashtmi... Happy Independence Day!!!!

Now yesterday was Janmashtmi, atleast for many of us it was. However, Iskcon in Boston celebrated it on 13th itself (where as Iskcon India did on 14th only) but I still went to the temple. My 1st visit to a temple in Boston & US this time was good. Do not expect this Iskcon to be huge & fancy like the ones you have seen in India, it's made in an apartment I guess. Doesn't even looks like a temple from outside except a small board. I went there and they had just started there evening aarti, a white guy was on harmonium & another white guy was playing dholak too... and they were singing some bhajan or something in weird American accent. I was surprised that they were not doing "om jai jagdeesh hare" but "hare krishna hare rama"; it really seemed boring initially. However in some time I got into groove & started enjoying it (except the american accent) and it felt nice. I am not a super religious, blindfaithed & highly conservative, strict Hindu fanatic guy but I love god... as I am sure those white guys did enjoy too (or they could be Hindu fanatics too, they seemed like it, the way they were dancing & all). It's nice to be at a temple or church or gurudwara or mosque too. I believe in god in all its forms and there message of love & peace, that's what all the religions say. & I love Sri Krishna... I mean he's one of the coolest gods... had so many gopis, was wicked & cunning when needed, was highly intelligent, smart & told about Gita (I am starting to read gita). And if you didn't know I was fasting yesterday for Janmashtmi, ain't am cool.......

Today's Independence Day... it's been 62 years since India got it's freedom from the hands of foreigners (to become free??? or to become captive to our own politicians, government, law, police & corruption too). But I still feel that those people did a great job & amazing work for all of us & our future generations. They sacrificed so much to give us all this & I am not sure if we are doing good enough... But some of us are trying or atleast want to try and as I always say, "We are the one's responsible for it, because we are the government, we are the politicians, we are the police, we are the law & we are the corruption... We the people of this country are the India and not the land & buildings or anything else. So we have to make the difference & we have to do it!!!". Anyways, 62 years is not a long time for a country so we can still be considered young (forgetting one of our oldest history & culture though), but we will do great.... we definitely will. But nothing happens in US, you cant even feel the festivals like Holi & Diwali so forget about Independence day. I remember it back in India & when we were in school it was col. The flag hosting in school & the sweets & ofcourse the holiday, lol!!

Rest is all okay. I have been busy so haven't got a chance to watch the other matches. I saw 'Love Aaaj Kal' & it was really cool... no I am lying; it was actually quite boring. The performances were okay or may be even good but the storyline sucked. And why did they have Saif playing that double role of sardar, why him again? He wasn't bad but what was the rationale in having a double role there? And what the hell was the whole story about, it kinda sucked. I had seen Transformer-2 too recently (i know I was late to see this one) & it was not too good either. Too techy & all animation with no story... just machines dancing around, even comedy was done by machine, babes were machine, WTF!! I am waiting to see "My Name's Khan" & District 9 too and maybe some other movies as well.

I also went to see Harvard University & MIT last weekend, it was nice. Harvard campus seemed very small for the huge name it has but was still nice to see it. I liked Harvard square & the places around though. MIT campus is huge & it is nice too (they have this huge beautiful cafeteria at center but the food sucks), its cool to have a campus next to river. Cambridge is a center of excellence in education, I should write a separate blog about my visit later. However, I am sure that all teh smart people are definitely not just in Harvard or MIT... see ME!!! (okay, maybe u too, lol)

More than enough for today. I gotta leave now. Till then... keep reading, commenting & enjoying. This is RAHUL saying Good Bye & Good Luck... Happy Independence Day & Jai Sri Krishna!!!!!

India vs USA... Women's Junior Hockey World Cup 2009

Most of you will not know, but there is Woman's Junior (under 21) Hockey World Cup 2009 going on in Boston (USA) these days; even I didn't know that. I went to my usual visits to MGH (Massachusetts General Hospital) this week & saw a young India girl sitting there in a sports dress which said Indian Hockey. It's always exciting to see Indians when you are living abroad, special when they don't seem to be ABCDs or the obnoxious types (trust me, many Indians become so obnoxious, mean & just crazy living in US... I guess we Indians love to hate other Indians). So just out of curiosity I asked her that what was she doing there; I thought they were here for some training or something form some school , but it turns out that she was here with Indian woman's hockey to play Junior World Cup 2009. I was surprised to know that there was a world cup happening in Boston/Cambridge & even India was playing in it. There are no hoardings or posters and not even any kind of promotion or advertisement around here for this. But anyways, the girls name was Vandana (from Lucknow) I& found out from her that one of there player Vaishali got injured in there match with Australia (they defeated them 3-2 & also defeated Belarus a day back with 6-0). Then I talked to there Physio Vikas & told them that I'll try to see there match with USA on Thursday (which was today).

I wasn't feeling very well today & had lot of work to do as well so was not sure if I'll be able to go or not. But I was able to wrap-up my work by 6.15pm & I decided to go & see the match (afterall India was playing yaar!!). The matches are being played in Harvard University grounds which is around half an hour away from my place (click here for directions) & I had asked few people but no one else seemed interested to go. It was my first time to Harvard (which is a very nice place & I really liked it) and I managed to reach the grounds. My only introduction with hockey before today was through Chak De India (many of you might know hockey stick as a weapon too though) & because of which I knew that the match is played for 70 mins (remember the motivational speech Shahrukh Khan gives to girl saying "sattar minute"). I was not actually even watching the match but just talking on phone initially. Then I started looking in the ground to identify the girl I met at MGH & maybe take some pictures too. The Indian team was trying to make a goal at that time & the ball was being dribbled amazingly between those hockey sticks by our Indian girls. I suddenly realized that it's not a movie & it's not sure that this will turn into a goal... & it did not. & I was so damn disappointed, really I was. And then I totally forgot about searching for that girl or taking any picture; I was so engrossed in the match. My heart was pounding & breath running as the ball was running on that field (I was literally gonna pass out I felt). I was one of the very few Indians there & the stadium was filled with all Americans cheering fro US team. But I didn't feel lonely, I felt proud.

In the break (there are 2 rounds of 35 mins each) I saw few more Indians there but it really wasn't enough. No cheering, no banners... nothing. We need to do better for our country & our girls. In the first round India was down by 2-1 & after the second round we lost the match by 4-2. I was not really disappointed though, it was nice to see India playing (and we are already into the next round by wining 2 matches) also there was lots of foul play & cheating by the umpires (they didn't give us 2 penalty corners & turned one goal into a foul). It was really sad to see see our Indian girls who looked so malnourished though, US girls looked like body bulders. We need to take care of there fitness, but they still are doing a great job. I met the coach Mr MK Kaushik & he said to me, "sorry, we disappointed you. we couldn't win this. But we will do it in next time & further". I was really touched, really!! I congratulated him on the earlier wins & told him that I am waiting to see them in finals & then winning the world cup too. I also told him that I'll try to bring more friends & fans next time. The next match is on Saturday with England & I'll try to go. You tan check the whole schedule by clicking here. I really hope there are more Indians cheering for our team next time onwards. I know that hockey even being a national sport is not much in India; & on top of its woman's team. I read in an article that when this same team won Challenger's cup, only one of our top 5 newspapers even cared to report it. We really need to recognise the great talent in our country in each & every field & give them due respect. Anyways, leaving the politics apart I really hope that India wins this or atleast performs great & we have a good turnout from us Indians. BTW, you know which song was being played when India made a goal.... ofcourse "Chak de India".

As for rest of stuff, all's okay. My back pain is improving & I am getting better. haven't been out in Boston much yet but I do not have many great things to say about Boston yet. I'll try to keep you posted with the world cup updates & my life too. Till then... keep reading, commenting & enjoying. This is RAHUL saying Good Bye & Good Luck... JAI HO!!!!!