Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Bomb blasts, fuel price hikes, bedroom mishaps, my internship, Georgia and more

I've had a rather interesting day. I woke up, fell off of my bed, got a nice big cut on my right arm and then well, started working. I'm into the fourth week of my internship with CCS. It has been a mixed experience so far. I feel like I'm losing out on a lot of coffee-table discussions and debates with my fellow interns and its a little lonely working alone in Mumbai... The good news though is that I finally have a research guide - Mr.Ajay Shaw. I met him recently and dicussed my project. He has been very helpful and easy to talk to. It feels nice to have someone to discuss my topic with. I'm a little stressed out this week. Mid-term submissions are just around the corner and I'm wondering if my work so far is good enough. The direction of my project now basically depends on a crucial piece of information that I need to extract from the BMC. I'm hoping I can accomplish that before the end of this week.
In the meanwhile I was zapping through news channels to see how people reacted to the hike in fuel prices. News channels like Aaj Tak are giving crappy news. They're accusing the government of exploiting people. Honestly, I dont think they've done their research. The fuel price was inevitable....And this message is for the reporter who presented the 10 pm news on Aaj Tak - The government DOES NOT make a profit by supplying fuel. In fact it offers a lot of subsidies... And the Rs.23 that you said they earn per litre isnt lying idle in government coffers; Its being used for other developmental projects !!!


Today I met Ivane for coffee. He's going to be my future course-mate at LSE. Interesting guy - Georgian by origin, schooling in Greece, adolescence in London, parents in Russia... I had a wonderful time with him discussing things as diverse as the ring on my finger to US politics. I decided to make him taste some chaat bcoz he wanted to know what mumbai street food was like. I thought Talao Pali would be a good place to take him. In the middle of this I received a phone call from my dad updating me about the bomb blast at Gadkari Ranagythan in Thane. Scary !!! I would have been in that very area with Ivane had we left slightly early.

As I type this, the clouds are thundering outside and I can hear the gentle pitter-patter of rain outside my window. The smell of wet soil always puts a smile on my face. Monsoons are here. Next year this time, I'll be busy nerding around at LSE and so this year's monsoons are extra-special. Like Shruti said earlier, unlike the European rain, OUR rain has character :)

Numbers

110 days till I leave for LSE
60 days for my 22nd Birthday
40 days for my internship to end
10 days for Hyun min's arrival
5 days for my mom's birthday
1 day to meet Ivane