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This is one story that I have told so many people ever since I came to the Netherlands and probably one of the incredible stories (slightly atleast) that I actually can say. So, after working my ass off on my Master's project I was finally rewarded with a paper in an IEEE MEMS conference. Both to my and my supervisor's delight and horror, even though we were happy that my paper got selected no body expected that I would also be invited to present it! The horror part being so because this was a single session conference and I would have to present in front of about 1000 people,the best in the field and I had no prior experience!!
I have never put in so much preparation into a presentation before. In the end, it did go on without me making a fool of myself and the cool part was that I was among the 3-4 female presenters at the conference, so I got a lot of attention!! :D. I was approached by a Dutch professor and he talked to me for quite some time. He later on told me how he was married to a south Indian woman who had the same name as mine and how he was surprised and had decided to talk to me!! (ya! so much for my presentation being good!). He gave me his card and said if I ever wanted to pursue further studies I should consider the Netherlands as a lot of work was being done especially in MEMS(rrright! there was no way I was studying further!). I dumped his card into my drawer and soon forgot about it.
But as it turned out, I din't find any job before graduation and so decided to mail all the contacts that I had made to look for alternate options. The Dutch professor promptly replied and gave me a lot of information about the program here at TU/e, then I applied to it and found the program structure to be really unique and decided to move to the Netherlands. My 'last resort' idea was finally what I decided to pursue. :)
And yesterday, after 1 and 1/2 years, I met the professor again at TU/e (he works elsewhere). It was an amazing feeling for me. It still sounds so weird that just my name in some sense decided my fate ( for at least 2 years). I doubt he would have come and talked to me if I was called differently and how the single conference actually changed the course of my life.To think that I actually hated my name! Who would have thought that of all the people in the world, a Dutch man would associate it with something!!!
Moral of Story - Be proud of long and weird names and attend conferences! :)
Friday, May 29, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Math tuition teacher
I do not know how I get myself into such things but somehow I do. I had met a family at the Indo-Dutch Holi function (an Indian festival celebration). The lady was Tamil (south of India) and her husband was a Punjabi (north west of India). We talked well and promised to keep in touch. After a few days she mailed me saying that her daughter was in the last year of her high school and her final examinations were due in a month's time. She desperately needed some help in math. Having not brushed my math skills for several years I wasn't too sure. The girl needed strong guidance right away and I absolutely did not want to mess up her high school final exams. I tried to reason with her that perhaps it was not such a good idea. She seemed to have more confidence in me than me myself though! She asked me to give it a shot and if it did not work out then she would call it off.
Now, I had my own doubts about high school girls brought up in the western world. Its just the kind of impression that the American movies and soaps have left on me. And plus what if I had forgotten all my math? I was pretty nervous actually. My Tamil friend picked me up and we went to their beautiful Dutch house for a dinner and our first tuition. Amidst all the home cooked food she treated me with, I met her elder daughter and within a few minutes of talking I knew I would be teaching the girl math (no! it wasn't all about the food). For some reason she reminded me of me sooooo much! We connected instantly! The same kind of nervous, little blundering, absent minded, saying sorry a million times girl she was. Very very sweet and absolutely polite!(okie,I agree the second part may not necessarily apply to me..:)).
So that was it. Then began one month of intense math tuitions. My math did come back to me and I tried my best to help her amidst my own tight schedule (err..sleeping and more sleeping). I think the whole deal was as good for me as it was to her. They treated me like family and almost every time I went there, I had awesome Indian food to eat. They would even pack me some for the next day!I also got a good look of how a successful intercultural Indian marriage would work. The kids were cultured and very much Indian. I realized when your basis is strong, language, food, religion and even the place you live in does not matter.
Sigh!! Her exams are done and I will keep my fingers crossed till she gets her results. I am sure she is glad that the tution sessions are over, but I do wish it had lasted longer!
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Paris, S'il vous plaît!
This one trip has so much to write on that I have been putting off the whole deal for ever.If I wait longer I will forget most of it! So here it goes -
I made the trip to Paris over the 6 day long weekend in the Netherlands (April 30th - May 5th). The trip was for 4 nights and 5 days.
We were 3 of us, and I am still so pissed at myself for not having researched about the place before leaving! Grrrrr!! That honestly is the worst thing to do! (Stupidity1). Luckily, one of my friends who had traveled to Paris before had a very good idea of what to do and he could speak French as well! I also had a great book at hand to explain a lot of things to me in Paris. :) (The lonely Planet Guide of course!)
Day 1
As all trips have their moments of "what the heck!?"ness; this one had it right at the beginning. All the 3 of us in combination forgot to bring our tickets to the bus and we were 10 minutes away from boarding! (Stupidity2) Seeing absolutely no way out, and after having played the blame game a bit, we let ourselves at the mercy of the driver. Thankfully he was a nice guy and he let us in without even checking any identification! Phew! close call!
The bus took us longer than the expected 6 hours and we reached Paris in about 8 hours time, stopping once in between in Brussels.
Paris is amazingly well connected by metros and that is the biggest plus in traveling the city with ease. We bought 10 tickets right there and it lasted us for almost the whole trip. We took the metro to our hostel - "The 3 Ducks" (25 Euro per night + breakfast).
We checked into the slightly creepy looking place, dumped our bags and walked our way to the wonder - "Tour Eiffel", which was built in 1889 as an entrance arch of the centennial celebration of the French Revolution. What can I say? Breath takingly beautiful!! I had to keep pinching myself to prove that I was actually there! The sparkling night view of the tower from the river Seine is perhaps one of the most romantic sights I have ever seen!
Probably just as a reminder of the 'gift' (Statue of Liberty) that the French gave to the Americans, there was a smaller version of the liberty statue nearby.
After the visit we had dinner and we crashed in for the night. The hostel beds were creaky and the loud music going on right outside the room kept me up most of the night!
Day 2
We started the day briskly and began with a good breakfast(the hostel wasn't that bad, we met and talked with some nice guys too). We began by going to Montmartre, a hill which was home to famous writers and artists like Pablo Picasso (Bateau Lavoir).
A picture on our way to the top of the hill; even the ordinary houses and streets looked so picturesque! -
On top of the hill is perched the "Basilique du Sacre Coeur" - The Basilica of the Sacred Heart, a church built (1873 - 1919) as an act of remorse after the defeat in the Franco Prussian war.
Walking by the artists' square full of people getting their portraits or caricatures getting done, we went into the Museum of Salvador Dali, a Spanish, Catalan artist.
This eccentric artist was renowned for his famous painting - Persistence of Memory, in which he introduces the image of the melting pocket watch. One of his famous sculpture is the elephant with spider legs and a pyramid on its back. Filled with bizzare paintings and sculptors, the museum thrilled me. Having never really visited an art museum before, the experience was enriching.
We went by the Jardin du Luxembourg (Garden of Luxemburg)next to cool off a bit. Large parks with fountains and chairs made it a favorite lounging spot for several tourists.
We completed the day with a visit to the Arc de Triomphe commissioned by Napoleon to celebrate his victories.
The body of an 'Unknown Soldier' from WWI is burried under the arc and a flame is rekindled every evening to salute the sacrifices of several such soldiers.
We climbed the top of the arc to see the view from above - 12 large avenues radiating from the arc.
By the end of this day we had resorted to a fun puzzle solving mode while we were traveling from once place to other. Was super fun! And if you are in Paris be ready to walk! I have never in my life walked so much. My feet literally came off. We went back to the hostel and slept peacefully. Loud music outside? what music? who cares!! ;)
Day 3
We deiced that the next day we would visit the Château de Versailles (Palace of Versailles), situated right outside of Paris. We again took the train and reached the place in good time and were pretty happy to begin early. What we din't expect though was a 31/2 hour wait outside the palace to get the tickets!! (Stupidity 3). Getting the tickets before hand would have saved us half a day.
The grand palace was built by Luis XIV out of a whim, to show the absolute power and glory of the monarch. He decided to rebuild his hunting lodge into a palace to fit 6000 of his courtiers. A symbol of excessive luxury and self glorification, the work all but emptied the royal treasury.
Several hundreds of artisans decorated every corner of the palace with frescoes, gilt, paintings and woodcarvings with many of the themes drawn from the Greek and Roman mythology.
The famed Galerie des Glaces (Hall of mirrors) with 17 mirrors on one side and 17 windows on the other gave a spectacular view of the gardens outside.
The gardens outside are a sprawling piece of geometrically aligned terraces, ponds, trees and fountains. It also contains the Grand Canal, 1.6km long. How they operated such magnificent fountains in the 18th century is a mystery to me. The fountains were on for a couple of hours with symphonies being played in the background.
Walking across these gardens transported me to another world. I kept thinking of how life must have been for the ones who had actually lived in these palaces.
Battered and completely exhausted we returned to Paris to end our third day.
Day 4
The fourth day was the first Sunday of the month meaning several of the museums in Paris had free entrance. We decided to make full use of this opportunity and rushed early in the morning to the world famous (especially after the Da Vinci Code) - Musée du Louvre. And oh boy! was there a big queue. To our luck they suddenly split the queue into two and we ended up being among the first to enter.
The museum was actually a palace built as a residence for the royal in the early 13th century, later converted into a museum in the 18th century. It contains artefacts, paintings and sculptures from all over the world.
Now, I have to say one must be mentally prepared to see this museum. It contains 4 floors and a spread over 60,000 sq meters of gallery space. The sheer size is absolutely overwhelming (Stupidity 4). It took me so much time to figure out the map and not get lost meanwhile. As suggested by most guide books, the best bet is to see the absolute famous pieces of art then focus on one section of the museum and forget the rest. Because it is impossible to see the entire museum in a meaningful way in 1 day (I have a feeling it actually may take a month).
The Mona Lisa, I have to admit, seeing it upfront with sooooo many other magnificent paintings, it honestly did not evoke any special feelings in me. The crowd though was impossible near the master piece. The best picture we got -
The winged victory of Samothrace -
Aphrodite -
Code of Hammurabi -
Psyche and Cupid -
The prism from outside -
Feeling a little let down, we took a good break for lunch and then attacked the second museum for the day - Musée Rodin by the artist Auguste Rodin, a French sculptor. Now this museum offered me much more than Louvre (I know that sounds crazy) just because I could absorb more both mentally and visually.
Most of his work consisted of realistic looking men characterized with large hands and feet and life like expressions on their face.
Some of his famous work. The Thinker -
The Burghers of Calais -
After the Rodin museum we decided to treat ourself a bit by going to an Indian restaurant for dinner. One of my friends tried to show his "macho" ness by eating a green chilli!! hehe...Fun time for a few hours after that..:D
Day 5
The 'green chilli eating guy' fell a bit sick, but we decided to battle on and see what we could before we left Paris. We went to the final museum of the trip - Musée Picasso, the showcase of the Spanish painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso. I found his work abstract and a little difficult to comprehend (the exhaustion was hitting on me! :) )
We next went to Bastille (or where it was), the notorious prison which was demolished by a mob in the 18th century to show the raising power of the common people against the monarchy. In its place stands Colonne de Julliet (July column).
Our final destination was to the Cathedral de Notre Dame (The Cathedral of Our Lady), a master piece of the French Gothic architecture. I spent a few a minutes sitting inside the cathedral after looking around and with the music, it was simply divine!
And with that, we were just in time to get into our bus back to Eindhoven. As I was heading back I realized how the trip was perhaps the most culturally enriching experience for me ever! It would not be justice for me to describe the beauty of the city which has been sung and glorified by patrons from all walks of life. The city literally has magic in its air! Be it for the Crêpe, the French onion soup or for the several unexplored alleys that I have left behind, I wish I could go back some other time to soak in a some more of this enchanting city.
I made the trip to Paris over the 6 day long weekend in the Netherlands (April 30th - May 5th). The trip was for 4 nights and 5 days.
We were 3 of us, and I am still so pissed at myself for not having researched about the place before leaving! Grrrrr!! That honestly is the worst thing to do! (Stupidity1). Luckily, one of my friends who had traveled to Paris before had a very good idea of what to do and he could speak French as well! I also had a great book at hand to explain a lot of things to me in Paris. :) (The lonely Planet Guide of course!)
Day 1
As all trips have their moments of "what the heck!?"ness; this one had it right at the beginning. All the 3 of us in combination forgot to bring our tickets to the bus and we were 10 minutes away from boarding! (Stupidity2) Seeing absolutely no way out, and after having played the blame game a bit, we let ourselves at the mercy of the driver. Thankfully he was a nice guy and he let us in without even checking any identification! Phew! close call!
The bus took us longer than the expected 6 hours and we reached Paris in about 8 hours time, stopping once in between in Brussels.
Paris is amazingly well connected by metros and that is the biggest plus in traveling the city with ease. We bought 10 tickets right there and it lasted us for almost the whole trip. We took the metro to our hostel - "The 3 Ducks" (25 Euro per night + breakfast).
We checked into the slightly creepy looking place, dumped our bags and walked our way to the wonder - "Tour Eiffel", which was built in 1889 as an entrance arch of the centennial celebration of the French Revolution. What can I say? Breath takingly beautiful!! I had to keep pinching myself to prove that I was actually there! The sparkling night view of the tower from the river Seine is perhaps one of the most romantic sights I have ever seen!
Probably just as a reminder of the 'gift' (Statue of Liberty) that the French gave to the Americans, there was a smaller version of the liberty statue nearby.
After the visit we had dinner and we crashed in for the night. The hostel beds were creaky and the loud music going on right outside the room kept me up most of the night!
Day 2
We started the day briskly and began with a good breakfast(the hostel wasn't that bad, we met and talked with some nice guys too). We began by going to Montmartre, a hill which was home to famous writers and artists like Pablo Picasso (Bateau Lavoir).
A picture on our way to the top of the hill; even the ordinary houses and streets looked so picturesque! -
On top of the hill is perched the "Basilique du Sacre Coeur" - The Basilica of the Sacred Heart, a church built (1873 - 1919) as an act of remorse after the defeat in the Franco Prussian war.
Walking by the artists' square full of people getting their portraits or caricatures getting done, we went into the Museum of Salvador Dali, a Spanish, Catalan artist.
This eccentric artist was renowned for his famous painting - Persistence of Memory, in which he introduces the image of the melting pocket watch. One of his famous sculpture is the elephant with spider legs and a pyramid on its back. Filled with bizzare paintings and sculptors, the museum thrilled me. Having never really visited an art museum before, the experience was enriching.
We went by the Jardin du Luxembourg (Garden of Luxemburg)next to cool off a bit. Large parks with fountains and chairs made it a favorite lounging spot for several tourists.
We completed the day with a visit to the Arc de Triomphe commissioned by Napoleon to celebrate his victories.
The body of an 'Unknown Soldier' from WWI is burried under the arc and a flame is rekindled every evening to salute the sacrifices of several such soldiers.
We climbed the top of the arc to see the view from above - 12 large avenues radiating from the arc.
By the end of this day we had resorted to a fun puzzle solving mode while we were traveling from once place to other. Was super fun! And if you are in Paris be ready to walk! I have never in my life walked so much. My feet literally came off. We went back to the hostel and slept peacefully. Loud music outside? what music? who cares!! ;)
Day 3
We deiced that the next day we would visit the Château de Versailles (Palace of Versailles), situated right outside of Paris. We again took the train and reached the place in good time and were pretty happy to begin early. What we din't expect though was a 31/2 hour wait outside the palace to get the tickets!! (Stupidity 3). Getting the tickets before hand would have saved us half a day.
The grand palace was built by Luis XIV out of a whim, to show the absolute power and glory of the monarch. He decided to rebuild his hunting lodge into a palace to fit 6000 of his courtiers. A symbol of excessive luxury and self glorification, the work all but emptied the royal treasury.
Several hundreds of artisans decorated every corner of the palace with frescoes, gilt, paintings and woodcarvings with many of the themes drawn from the Greek and Roman mythology.
The famed Galerie des Glaces (Hall of mirrors) with 17 mirrors on one side and 17 windows on the other gave a spectacular view of the gardens outside.
The gardens outside are a sprawling piece of geometrically aligned terraces, ponds, trees and fountains. It also contains the Grand Canal, 1.6km long. How they operated such magnificent fountains in the 18th century is a mystery to me. The fountains were on for a couple of hours with symphonies being played in the background.
Walking across these gardens transported me to another world. I kept thinking of how life must have been for the ones who had actually lived in these palaces.
Battered and completely exhausted we returned to Paris to end our third day.
Day 4
The fourth day was the first Sunday of the month meaning several of the museums in Paris had free entrance. We decided to make full use of this opportunity and rushed early in the morning to the world famous (especially after the Da Vinci Code) - Musée du Louvre. And oh boy! was there a big queue. To our luck they suddenly split the queue into two and we ended up being among the first to enter.
The museum was actually a palace built as a residence for the royal in the early 13th century, later converted into a museum in the 18th century. It contains artefacts, paintings and sculptures from all over the world.
Now, I have to say one must be mentally prepared to see this museum. It contains 4 floors and a spread over 60,000 sq meters of gallery space. The sheer size is absolutely overwhelming (Stupidity 4). It took me so much time to figure out the map and not get lost meanwhile. As suggested by most guide books, the best bet is to see the absolute famous pieces of art then focus on one section of the museum and forget the rest. Because it is impossible to see the entire museum in a meaningful way in 1 day (I have a feeling it actually may take a month).
The Mona Lisa, I have to admit, seeing it upfront with sooooo many other magnificent paintings, it honestly did not evoke any special feelings in me. The crowd though was impossible near the master piece. The best picture we got -
The winged victory of Samothrace -
Aphrodite -
Code of Hammurabi -
Psyche and Cupid -
The prism from outside -
Feeling a little let down, we took a good break for lunch and then attacked the second museum for the day - Musée Rodin by the artist Auguste Rodin, a French sculptor. Now this museum offered me much more than Louvre (I know that sounds crazy) just because I could absorb more both mentally and visually.
Most of his work consisted of realistic looking men characterized with large hands and feet and life like expressions on their face.
Some of his famous work. The Thinker -
The Burghers of Calais -
After the Rodin museum we decided to treat ourself a bit by going to an Indian restaurant for dinner. One of my friends tried to show his "macho" ness by eating a green chilli!! hehe...Fun time for a few hours after that..:D
Day 5
The 'green chilli eating guy' fell a bit sick, but we decided to battle on and see what we could before we left Paris. We went to the final museum of the trip - Musée Picasso, the showcase of the Spanish painter and sculptor Pablo Picasso. I found his work abstract and a little difficult to comprehend (the exhaustion was hitting on me! :) )
We next went to Bastille (or where it was), the notorious prison which was demolished by a mob in the 18th century to show the raising power of the common people against the monarchy. In its place stands Colonne de Julliet (July column).
Our final destination was to the Cathedral de Notre Dame (The Cathedral of Our Lady), a master piece of the French Gothic architecture. I spent a few a minutes sitting inside the cathedral after looking around and with the music, it was simply divine!
And with that, we were just in time to get into our bus back to Eindhoven. As I was heading back I realized how the trip was perhaps the most culturally enriching experience for me ever! It would not be justice for me to describe the beauty of the city which has been sung and glorified by patrons from all walks of life. The city literally has magic in its air! Be it for the Crêpe, the French onion soup or for the several unexplored alleys that I have left behind, I wish I could go back some other time to soak in a some more of this enchanting city.
Biking to Belgium
Such a glorious day today turned out to be! I simply love how you can make your own picnics here with bike routes leading everywhere. A bunch of friends from the Univ decided to bike our way to Sint Benedictus Abdij in Achel, Belgium famous for its beer..:)
With the 'mooi weer' (fine weather), we biked all the way to Belgium and nope, no border check, no nothing. We wouldn't have even realized that we had entered Belgium, if not for the message from the mobile phone service provider. After reaching the Abbey we found it to be closed! No need to worry, the beer shop was wide open! The guys were soooo into the cheap and tasty beer that we must have ended up buying around 60 bottles between the 5 of us! I was joking how we must have turned around the economy of the shop!! :D I bought something else that Belgium is famous for, chocolates! :)
Except for my knees complaining over the 35km of pedaling on my wheezing bike, everything else went perfectly well! Gezellig! :)
With the 'mooi weer' (fine weather), we biked all the way to Belgium and nope, no border check, no nothing. We wouldn't have even realized that we had entered Belgium, if not for the message from the mobile phone service provider. After reaching the Abbey we found it to be closed! No need to worry, the beer shop was wide open! The guys were soooo into the cheap and tasty beer that we must have ended up buying around 60 bottles between the 5 of us! I was joking how we must have turned around the economy of the shop!! :D I bought something else that Belgium is famous for, chocolates! :)
Except for my knees complaining over the 35km of pedaling on my wheezing bike, everything else went perfectly well! Gezellig! :)
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Economy shopping in Eindhoven
It was a little difficult for me to collect this information when I was new here, so I decided to share it. Definitely not an amazing list for the pros in the world of shopping, but for students like me to survive :).
1. Supermarkets - cheaper to expensive -
2. Department stores, household goods - cheaper to expensive
3. For Clothes
4. Second hand goods and furniture
Location - Meerakkerweg 2
5. Open Market
The beloved Saturday Market for farm fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, clothing and other good stuff. :)
Location - Woenselese Markt
6. Indian grocery stores
Jyoti Variety Store
Tongelresestraat 87
Omid Store
Geldropsweg 2/C
Rohit Tropische Winkel
Suit Bonifaciuslaan 308 and Bakelsedijk 67
7. Indian clothing
haha! kidding! There is only so much you can expect! :)
Shopping is one my weakest points. I go weak in my knees when ever I get into big shops. I get through the ordeal as quickly as possible generally. I get bewildered and am mostly clueless about what I should buy. Sigh! I need some coaching in this front! :)
1. Supermarkets - cheaper to expensive -
2. Department stores, household goods - cheaper to expensive
3. For Clothes
4. Second hand goods and furniture
Location - Meerakkerweg 2
5. Open Market
The beloved Saturday Market for farm fresh fruits, vegetables, flowers, clothing and other good stuff. :)
Location - Woenselese Markt
6. Indian grocery stores
Jyoti Variety Store
Tongelresestraat 87
Omid Store
Geldropsweg 2/C
Rohit Tropische Winkel
Suit Bonifaciuslaan 308 and Bakelsedijk 67
7. Indian clothing
haha! kidding! There is only so much you can expect! :)
Shopping is one my weakest points. I go weak in my knees when ever I get into big shops. I get through the ordeal as quickly as possible generally. I get bewildered and am mostly clueless about what I should buy. Sigh! I need some coaching in this front! :)
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