Australia So far.

Its been 6 days today that I landed in Sydney. I landed here on 8th July, 2009, an hour late than the scheduled time of 6.55 p.m. because the flight took off late from the stopover (Singapore). The whole experience so far has been amazing to say the least.

The train ride to Harris Park (thats the suburb where most Indians in Australia Stay) from airport started with this conversation with a converted Sikh who had a business of immigration advise and all. As is very common with students coming to Australia, I was asked and the other guy assumed that I was there for either the course of "hairdressing" or "cooking". LOL yup thats the cheapest courses in Australia and people come here to do that just because they can work full time and earn loads of money and get the PR (Permanent Residency) later on.

This elderly guy did gave me some survival tips in Australia & later on that day I did feel the change in temperature from almost 40-45*C heat in Ahmedabad to 10*C cold in Sydney. The next day I got up at 1.30 p.m and I could understand it is jet lag. That day (Thursday, 9th July) I stayed at home and the next day I went to University on Friday. Opened a bank account, deposited money and met a friend "Sourabh" at Darling Harbor near Imax theater. I must say I walked a lot and I should get used to this whole habit of walking as soon as possible to get to terms with my new life. I so wanted to click pictures of the places that day but I thought this is very near to the University and so I will come here a lot and click pics later on.

This was until Friday. Saturday again I was at home and so we went to the mall to get a new cell phone which I could not buy because several docs are needed from the bank which haven't arrived yet, but I got the taste of something I never expected here. People not following rules in the parking lot and thus we being stuck in there for an hour and half. (WOW & I thought that stuff happened only in India). :)

We finally reached home and I could not do much stuff except make some calls to schedule meeting people for accommodation and apply for TFN (Australia's tax File number). On Sunday morning I was supposed to met "Vicky" who I met in the afternoon sometime and saw that I quite like that place where he stays with 3 other people. I am supposed to move in there by the end of this month or early next month. I am going to the University for my enrollment at 9 a.m today and its 2.10 a.m Sydney local time so ya 1st day of University where I will be choosing subjects and all and deciding the number of days I will be attending University. Also looking forward to meet "Parshv" and his girlfriend "Aditi" and then later on at 4.30 p.m again meeting Amelie for the 1st time at Imax.

Hope to have a great and busy day today and click pics too. Also I am gonna be awake applying online for jobs right now so keeping fingers crossed for that. More "REGULAR" updates to follow soon.

Keep checking this space for pics and more.

H@rdeep.

So it happens again. Not a Big deal.

Maybe most of you guys would say I am giving excuses for my failures. But its not about that here. I am just gonna write about what has happened and is true.

I have an amazing family. My Mom & 2 brothers. They have been always with me till date and have done so much that words can fail to describe how thankful I am to them. But when I look back, I know I have been treated as step son and step brother. Why did they do to me at every stage of my life? maybe just because I never complained. And complaining is a far off thing, I didn't even think of it earlier.

I went to the college in the bus for 2 years wasting hours waiting for the bus and then wasting hours while travelling through them. I was never given money for my expenses and was forced to earn it myself while I was still studying and then I could not clear my exams because I could not concentrate on studies well. After years of doing the same thing, I realized THAT is not what I want to do. I LOST INTEREST in it and still did it just because I had given so much time of my life after that stuff.

Today I am going to Australia for further studies because I always wanted to go to US but could not get selected in the "Good Colleges" and just because I DO NOT EARN MONEY & have no savings, I will be made to use an assembled laptop instead of a branded one.

Nothing of this sort happened to my younger brother. THEY SAY I NEVER CONCENTRATED ON STUDIES, THEY SAY I WAS NEVER SERIOUS. So how the hell did I get 71% in 1st year of college. THEY SAY I AM A TOTAL FAILURE AND A STUPID. Just because I don't earn money. I know my family has always been for me, financially only. There is something else I needed that is even more important.

"Emotional Support".

What difference will the assembled PC make? Well if at all it breaks down sometime, I have no warranty and no one to go to. I have no money yet to make sure its fixed. If it does not function properly in some area or stops working well after certain days, I will have no recourse but to use the faulty piece. EVERY PASSING DAY I am made to realize MONEY IS GOD. IF YOU HAVE MONEY, YOU CAN DO EVERYTHING.

It does not matter how you earn it. Kill people, do smuggling but EARN THE DAMN MONEY.

Ya right. MONEY.

H@rdeep.

Iran and Tehran situation.

There is a lot of information on the web today. Videos, pics of people protesting, being fired on by Iranian police and Basij (The armed moral police of Iran) and people dying and their deaths recorded on cameras. Its been 10 days almost and twitter, friendfeed, facebook, Youtube all these sites tel us whats going on in Iran.

But what bothers me more and makes me real sad is that whatever is happening in Iran, innocent people are being killed. People around me with whom I talk about this say its ok. People die in India too, its no big deal. Why are you so concerned about Iran & Tehran? You are over reacting because you do not have any other stuff to do.

Wow. I mean I know that I know no Iranian, I do not have friends or relatives there or no loved ones are being killed or affected, but does that mean I do not have to be concerned?

I am concerned, sad and disgusted and I do feel helpless that I can do nothing about those people who are ruthlessly killing innocent people out there and that I can not help those being killed just because they are protesting against the elections, which they think have had unfair results. How can any one in the world JUSTIFY innocent people being killed?

I do NOT THINK its possible. You cannot justify that kind of barbaric behavior. Where the hell is US now? or UN? or all the humanitarian organizations? What are they doing about this situation? Why is the world just looking at these things happening there silently? Why is no one reacting to it and trying to stop it?

The US would get involved and poke its nose in any damn country's matter EVEN IF ITS NOT REQUIRED, so why is the super power of the world quiet now? Why is UN, Red Cross not sending people to help the wounded and people being killed?

Yes I am concerned because I am a HUMAN BEING and being Human its obvious & very natural that you should be concerned. If you are not sad, if you are not moved looking at the things, hearing the news of innocent people being killed, I do not think you are human enough. I have a conscience, a heart, a soul which gets hurt and I react this way.

I can just pray for the families of those dead and wish that things get back to normal ASAP. And Yes, if being concerned about such people is idiocy, then I am HAPPY that I m an IDIOT. And no, I do not want to change. I REFUSE TO CHANGE & WILL ALWAYS BE THE WAY I AM.

H@rdeep.

India V/s Australia & Pakistan V/s Sri Lanka.

It was Sunday and we all met up at Rashesh's place (This guy still remains a reason for all of us meeting at his place). Mr & Mrs. Chandran, Mr & Mrs. Patil, Mr & Mrs. Pandit, Swami, Amit & me. All of us stayed there till the time he left and then moved to Kukda's place where we were supposed to have dinner and only Prashant, Ritanjali & me decided to actually go.

So far so good, but then I remembered it was the FINAL match of T20 world cup between Pakistan & Srilanka after we came downstairs at around 8.15 p.m and then every1 was involved in watching the match. I do not know how but later on somehow Prashant & me again started the whole debate of India V/S Australia and the whole other sort of things like education, being satisfied with what we have right now and stuff which I do not remember now.

While I love the fact that we both go on with our viewpoints and hardly agree on any matter, there is 1 thing, that I have clearly told Prashant earlier and he still has not improved on, which really pisses me off. I feel any debate, discussion or a healthy talk becomes a conversation only when both the people involved in it get time to present their viewpoints and the other person listens and tries to understand them. With Prashant its cutting me off while I speak, speaking his things in a louder voice and stuff whereby he tries to dictate the whole scene, which is something which I absolutely hate about him. I mean I know 1 of the methods of proving yourself right can be what he does but it does not work with every1 and certainly not in every situation. There are times when you might be considered rude and arrogant when you adopt that kind of practice in a discussion.

If you do not allow the other person to even speak, then you sure do not want to listen to what he is saying and understanding his viewpoint is a far off thing obviously in such a scenario. Its not about proving a point, not about winning or losing, but sadly thats how we are trained every step of our lives in India. Anyways the bottom line is we still share a great relationship as friends. And I am hoping just like the finals of The T20 world cup, this was a FINAL discussion/debate between us. And whne it comes to such discussions with Prashant, I can agree to disagree.

Looking forward to meeting more people in Australia who can fill in the void these guys will leave in my life,

H@rdeep.

India is a dirty country.

I have always seen and experienced the dirt, the garbage in India right from my childhood. The 1st thing any foreign national notices in India is probably the same. Bad odour, dirt, crap, filthy surroundings is so common here in this country which most people think is fast becoming a super power and is progressing.

Trust me, being an INDIAN I have no qualms in admitting that INDIA can NEVER EVER be a super power. MARK MY WORDS. I have my own reasons to believe this & my own justifications behind that. I do not want any one of you to blindly agree with it but I know I speak the truth and I have a rationale thinking when I say this. I say and believe India is a dirty country because trust me the dirt, the crap that we can see with our naked eyes is nothing compared to the garbage that we cant see and people have in their minds. We can avoid the visible garbage as we can look in a different direction and pass along it, we can avoid the filthy smell by blocking our nose with a cloth, but we cant get away with the filth that people have here in their minds. No amount of ignoring it can help, no cloth can block it.

So what do we do of that dirt which is in the minds of people?
Well, now if only anyone knew the answer of this question, most of the world's problems would have been solved. I experience that dirt everyday and no matter how hard I try to ignore it, it goes over the normal limits and I have to get a medium to let out the frustration caused by it which I am happy I can do here. I can give you tonnes of examples but lets start with what I faced recently. A girl and a boy can have just 2 relationships:- Either they can be siblings or they HAVE TO BE lovers. How pathetic is that? And we live in 2009. Yes thats a taste of India for you.

India can never be a superpower if they keep going ahead with this cheap mentality and the dirt in their minds. I can still believe for a second that even if the outside dirt is still there, India can still become a superpower, but with the inside dirt, NO WAY.

Yes it disgusts me and I cant help laughing out loud when people say "India is FAST becoming a superpower" or "India is progressing". For me India will progress the day people world over would die to marry an Indian citizen just because they want to stay in India somehow (just like Indians do that and have been doing that for years with US and other country citizens). That day I will agree that India is progressing, NEVER BEFORE THAT. And strangely enough, I am so confident I would not be able to see that happening in my lifetime.

So India is a dirty country and it will always be one. As an Indian, I am sad and will always be just because of 1 more reason that is mentioned in the next post. Head over to that one now that you have finished reading this one.

In a mood to write so much more,
H@rdeep.

A Happy Day.

The day started with the call which informed me of the Visa approval. Not that I had any doubts of it being not approved, but it was the final step and I am so relieved now. 3 exams done and so far they have been pretty good as compared to my preparations for them. So thats 1 more reason to cheer.

I feel happy and relaxed these days and feel I finally have grown up and am starting to act maturely in at least some of the cases. (very unlike Me). While I am excited to move on in my life and start a new chapter, I know its not gonna be easy but I am ready to trade off some of the good things here for some other things that look better at least so far. I believe right now that I am not gonna miss people back here, but who knows I might. I am at least sure that I will make loads of new friends there too so wont be alone. I could have written so much more here but I guess so far this is it. There is 1 more post the thoughts of which are all held up in my head and before they evaporate I wanna make sure I document them here. Just random thoughts on what I saw & experienced in some of the previous days, but they make sense.

So over to the next one. See you there. The feelings are obvious.

Happy & relieved,
H@rdeep.

The Indo-American wedding.

It was 1 hell of an event. MOST memorable wedding I have ever attended and been a part of.

Even the Newspapers covered it.

Just click on Indore City Bhaskar and see the 3rd page. Could have written a lot and even 10 blog posts would not have been enough but thought the best is I should be as brief as possible. This event had so much drama that the Hindi movies and TV series are nothing and they can be put to shame if compared to this.

Loads of lessons learned and a few positives from the event too.

H@rdeep.

Get Yahoo Mail in Gmail too.

Ever since I started using Gmail, it has become my communication hub and all my email, chats and everything else has been slowly transferred in it. But I was 1 of those people who used world's 1st free email service Hotmail too and even Yahoo Mail.

This post is for those people who still have a Yahoo email & want to use Gmail instead as their email hub for all email accounts because now Gmail is their primary email id. My Hotmail and all my other email came into Gmail too with the "forward email to another email" option or the POP3. Later on Hotmail even started free POP3 for all its subscribers and Yahoo is the only email service provider which does not provide both these options yet to its free users. ( I dont understand how many people pay for Yahoo Email and why?). So while I used Gmail for every possible thing like checking all my email @ 1 place, chatting with Gmail and AIM friends, Voice & video talking & even using all the labs features, I still had to go to Yahoo Mail to check my email. Of course Yahoo Mail being so old, having a great user base and being in existence for so long was easily accessible on mail clients like Thunderbird with The Ypops add on and Yahoo's own Zimbra which is now open source, but I still wanted Yahoo Mail to drop in Gmail only. Finally I found that I can do that with Nutshellmail & even though I had heard about Nutshellmail way back, I never bothered to use it because I already use Xoopit for Gmail and Otherinbox too which pretty much sort things out for me.


Yes, you heard me right. Yahoo Mail comes to Gmail too with Nutshellmail. So go sign up on Nutshellmail & setup Yahoo Mail once and enjoy it delivered to your Gmail. Its so damn easy. Have fun like I do having all my email FINALLY delivered to my communication hub.

A very happy & relieved,
H@rdeep.

More of 26/11s waiting to happen.

I always was of the opinion that Indians have done nothing to stop attacks like 26/11/2008 which happened in Mumbai where terrorists took over 2 of the biggest hotels and open fired on railway stations and a house.

The belief gets cemented day by day and I & the whole of India still sees the cowardliness and foolishness of Indian officials and Indian politicians and all those in charge. We have always had proofs these acts were done by Pakistan and they had trained the terrorists themselves & still 1 of the terrorists is alive and gets royal treatment in jail almost after 6 months of the incident which was billed as India's 9/11. Everybody did their best to gain from the situation. Politicians, actors, news channels, correspondents & reporters, practically every1. And the state is "Kasab" the terrorist is a national celebrity today because he is being regularly featured in all the news channels, newspapers and everywhere.

The question that keeps bothering me is "Y the hell he was not hanged in public the very next day?"
But then I know that would never ever happen in future too. They say India is a super power or it will be by 2020. Trust me, it NEVER WILL BE. Indians sure can do anything & they can make any country a super power, BUT INDIA I promise its not gonna happen. And while I can go on with my reasons and justifications, Do I care to even waste time doing that?

No thanks.
Guess the feeling & mood is quite obvious right now.

H@rdeep.

What am I running away from?

I have always said I don't care about what outsiders say. Its the people around me who mean to me more than normal people and their opinions, views and thinking that matters to me. So when I find that these people have a mentality which makes me sick, I cant take it anymore.

My friend Prashant tells me "You are running away." I totally agree. Yes I am. From this pathetic society where the "ONLY thing that MATTERS is MONEY". Yes, you can be a smuggler, an extortionist or a drug dealer, but if you earn good money, you get respect and you have the right to do & say anything. I mean "FUCK THAT". And you know what, this happens right in my home and my dad (yes the person who is very sadly & unluckily the one who gave me birth) has that kind of thinking. So I am running away from this crap and bull shit. I am running away from this pain that I have lived with for almost 28 years of my life & when I look back at it, I feel so damn sad about it that I never took this step earlier. The only thing I am worried about is mom being left out behind here.

This lady has lived through this pathetic situation for more than 30 years now and she is still there for us. On this mother's day, I feel so indebted to her for being there and living through this hell just because our lives become better. Mom, I know I haven't been a great son so far, but I promise you very soon I will be. I really need to get breath of fresh air, to live and experience life on my own and the day I have loads of money earned by working hard for it, I will take you away and make sure the rest of your life becomes heaven.

Sydney is still 2 months away and believe me I can hardly wait for that. I wish time flies and I land in Sydney ASAP. So looking forward to a new life. A very optimistic & positive about the future.

H@rdeep.