Am I whats right with the world?
Or am I whats wrong with the world?
Something that i am proud of:
I pray everyday.
I love spending lots of time with elders.
I mostly eat at home.
I make it a point to learn something new everyday.
Nothing can stop me from getting what i want. If I want anything for myself, all i have to do is want it and nothing will possibly come in my way.
I dream and i achieve.
I have clarity of thought.
I am deeply committed to making a difference in the world.
I respect women.
I actually listen to people when they are communicating opposed to hearing them and have mind conversations about the things they are saying.
Education for everybody in this world is something that i will give my life to transform.
I have been an avid reader of books nowadays.
I love having an intelligent conversation over a cup of coffee.
I am excited about everything in my life.
I don’t think i have the word anger in my dictionary and you will hardly see me upset or off mood.
I am full of life and want to live it to the fullest, who knows what’s there in store tomorrow.
I feel deeply, powerfully for people that matter to me in my life.
I am considered creative and innovative by people around me.
I am full of ideas and am working on a plan to implement those.
I don’t drink neither do i smoke.
Something that is a harsh reality and i am working on it:
I couldn’t live to my parents expectations to be the top student in my Engineering and Masters Studies.
I have also got C+ grade in my courses for Masters at USC.
I am a failure in my own eyes because i haven’t been able to complete the Kutchi Dictionary project that i took on.
I seek a career change from the Software Industry.
I am impulsive at times and react without thinking.
I need to get 8 hours of sleep daily which has become a dream since the time i came to the US.
My health is good but fitness is bad. Low immunity levels.
These are my random weekday musings.
Am I everything that is right with the world or everything that is wrong with the world?
Paras Mamania
It was 4:30pm on 22nd Dec’ 05 at SFO airport when my flight from Singapore landed. It was a notification to the States that Paras has arrived. I had finally reached my destination. I was all excited and seeing from the flight window, i saw darkness and i was wondering how come at 4:30 in the evening, does it get dark? But, This is America, winter days are till 4:30pm and summer days are till 8:30 in the evening. 
Whoa!!!! Time flies by so fast and today it is 22nd Dec’ 06. I am sitting in my house typing this post letting you know about the eventful year that just went by for me. From studies to traveling places around the USA, i have had my share of struggle and fun this last one year.
1. I successfully completed one year of my Masters studies.
2. I have got a job for myself starting January 07.
3. I have made new friends for life - naming them wont be doing justice to all of them but some of my very close friends here at USC: Yash Veera, Chirag Doctor, Nikhil Parekh, Parag Shah, Shreya Shah, Deepak Singh, Mahesh Bhat, Arjit Bhandari, Ameet Shah, Sushaant Mujoo, Priyanka Walwaikar and not to forget my very own Surti Bhai bandhu - Bhargav Bhalani and yeah some firangi friends too at my work place: Ayberk Ozturk(Turkey), Abraham Romo(American), Diego Prats(Mexico). Cheers to my awesome friends and the wonderful time i have had spending with you guys.
4. I traveled a lot of places around the USA: Starting from East coast (Boston, New York, New Jersey); Midwest (Chicago, Owensboro, Nashville), Mountain(Grand Canyons) and finally in the West Coast (San Fransisco, Yosemite, Las Vegas). Yet to travel a lot of places. Life is too short yaar to see all the beautiful places in this world.
5. My great grandmother expired on my birthday after living a long and worthy life of around 90+ years. I still miss her and her teachings and stories will be etched in my memories for ever.
I miss Mumbai, I miss India, i miss the roadside bhelpuri, paanipuri, Shivsagar and Sudama ni pav bhaji,. Here’s hoping that i visit my hometown soon and catch up with you my friends and family.
Till then Adios and Happy Holidays!!!!
My existing Dell B130 laptop battery had started giving problems as to whenever i use my laptop in battery, it used to start from 40% and last only half an hour. I was going crazy with all my friends able to use their laptop entire class and me only half an hour 
But then, i called Dell Tech support (1-800-BUY-DELL) and guess what? after a series of long waits and tests in the bios, that fella from New Delhi, India agreed to replace my battery at 0 cost to me. yay!!! yipee…. He said that it will reach to me in 3-4 business days and again guess what? I had the battery delivered to my doorstep the very next day. That’s called Giving a late deadline to the customer and making him happy by delivering products earlier than the scheduled date. I was impressed. This new battery is “Made in Japan” compared to the existing “Made in China” label.. Hope this one lasts longer. That’s the benefit of being in full warranty… It is 4am in the morning and i have had a very busy day working and tomorrow i have an interview with Reifer Consultants at 2pm so i better go to sleep and catch y’all later.
Today was the career fair in our college and there were couple good companies(Cisco, Deloitte, Goldman Sachs et al) for whom i gave interviews and hope to land up with some interviews for my internship in summer. I was all in formals whole day today. It was after a long time that i had to wear a tie.. 
. My midterms are over, Web Tech was bad and User Interface was good. I messed up in my first exam and there is nothing i can do about it. I better start preparing well for my next exams coming up and also to be prepared for presentations next week in Software Engineering class. Apart from studies, watched the movie “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind - cool movie with Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet and Kirsten Dunst”. Cooking adventures are going pretty lame but making Khichdi Kadhi for myself everyday. Hope all of you are doing well. Ok ok.. back to studies. bye.
I have been living life India times being awake till early morning and been studying hard. I have two midterms coming up… one in the next week and one the week after. classes have been really busy and haven’t got time to do anything else. i had taken a free subscription at Netfilx for 3 movies. I have recieived the movies but haven’t been able to find the time to watch those. Classes are going well. In particular, Software Engineering (CS 577a) has a lot of documentation and a project with a client Discovery Copy (www.discoverycopy.com). We are working on developing a software called the Electronic Data Discovery System which is used in the legal industry. Today was our career fair in school and i submitted resumes to 4 companies. I am more excited and looking forward to the engg. career fair in our college on 12th Oct. Hope all of you have been well. Time for me to go to sleep.
Good Night.
This word got to be killing me.. I have more or less spent my entire weekend doing what i never want to do!! yeah! that’s right. Studying… but one good thing is i have jobs on saturday and sunday and the best part of my job is that i get to study… Yay!!! Yipee!!! It’s like getting paid to study… One of my former interests had been in badminton… a sport which i played a lot during my undergrad years but had lost touch since then. Today, i joined the Badminton club at USC and i played for a fair amount of time with a fellow colleague from Jalandhar - Harjot. I found it tiring at the end of 15-20 minutes but i was glad that i got in touch with my loved sport. I also have brought a racket from India hoping that i would play here and it’s getting to be a reality.. The timings are sunday 2-5 which works for me so i am planning to join. Studies are going alright and i am starting to prepare for my upcoming midterms and salsa dance classes are also lot of fun on wednesdays….
Now, back to studies.. Hope all of you are doing good.
You never said I’m leaving
You never said goodbye
You were gone before I knew it,
And only God knew why
A million times I needed you,
A million times I cried
If Love alone could have saved you,
You never would have died
In Life I loved you dearly
In death I love you still
In my heart you hold a place,
That no one could ever fill
It broke my heart to lose you,
But you didn’t go alone
For part of me went with you,
On my birthday that God took you home.
Yesterday was Samvatsari Divas and it is the day of universal forgiveness. We forgive people against whom we have grudges and we ask for forgiveness for any wrong we have done to anybody knowingly or unknowingly.
Here’s one Stotra in Ardhamagdhi (language used in early years) and it’s english translation for all of you to understand.
Khamemi savve jiva - We forgive all the living beings,
Savve jiva khamantu mein - We seek pardon from all the living beings,
Mitti mein savva bhuvesu - We are friendly towards all the living beings,
Veram majjham na kenvi - And we seek enemity with none.
“Micchami Dukkadam” - We ask for forgiveness from all.
