My Unwind Zone

Social media takes over.

2009-12-22T12:22:00.003+05:30

Here I am in Sydney. More than 5 months later, I do not have a job, I have shifted to a new place and have been roaming around a lot. I have learned a lot, matured and I learn a lot still every passing day. I love it here so far. I might just stay here forever (Which by the way Mom does not want to happen).

But yes, the title says "Social media takes over" and yes it has in fact. I update twitter, facebook and other stuff much more than my blog. I know I had promised myself that I will put in more pics and videos on my blog to make it more interesting. Doesn't happen. Oh wait, I can actually embed some videos here from youtube of what I have been upto lately. So yeah, there you go.

But the fact remains that I update Facebook and twitter of whatever I am doing and wherever I am and not much HERE. So I would come here when I have really something special and something that I wanna share and make sure I have a record of. If you have been coming here often, all I can say is find me on twitter, youtube and facebook & follow me there to check whats on in my life. I know its sad but yes those things are so convenient and so easy so I have given in the pressure and I still promise to be here as much as possible. Till then, you know where to find me.

H@rdeep.

End of ANOTHER Year.

2009-12-08T22:56:00.000+05:30

Here I am in Sydney and its been 5 months. Now I know what it is when they say "TIME FLIES". Its been awesome and interesting. I am finally over with the "honeymoon" stage but if I look back and analyze my time here in Sydney, its been 1 hell of a time.

I mean words would be too less to describe the whole range of emotions I have gone through. So I will post the links of my facebook profile which has all the albums.

http://www.facebook.com/hardeeps

The pictures of course do not show everything that I went through emotionally, but rather show what have I been upto. From camping for the 1st time in my life, to meeting people from all over the world to being an active Couchsurfer, I have done so many things in just 5 months here that I would have never done back in India. Moving to another house, taking decisions on my own, knowing how it feels when you do not have cash and deciding to choose between buying food or the train ticket, to many other experiences which I am unable to remember now or maybe not being able to put in words. I also made awesome friends and learnt so much in just 5 months of being away from home and being on my own.

Life teaches you so much and I have been learning new things everyday. From Ahmedabad to Sydney, it was not that hard, from Sydney to God knows where, it does not look so easy. I have still not settled down here and I do not know how much time I require to do that, but I can say safely it feels like home here in Sydney just because I know so many awesome people, bump into people I know on the streets, have been doing things and living life. I, of course have so much more to do like Bungee jumping, skydiving, Hot air balloon, scuba diving and all the other adventure sports.

Sydney has been wonderful and I sure wanna stay here. Life has been harsh and things have not been all well at times but I am happy that I am facing difficulties with a smiling face and I know they wont be there forever. I have had support from all the unexpected sources and I know now who are my real friends. I have become a lot wiser and even though haven't achieved substantial things what makes me feel good is that I have actually started the journey towards it. I firmly believe that I will look back at this post and say "hey those were the days too" and I will probably laugh and smile about this.

I love the fact that I can blog out the stuff here and can look back at my life and the moments that passed. At times you really need to stop, sit down and talk to yourself about what do you want from your life and where are you heading with it? I am glad I have an awesome family which allows me to do that and its just because of their support that I have been doing things. This post is dedicated to my family, my friends back home and some of the awesome people whom I met here. I wanna take this opportunity to thank you all for being so wonderful and enriching my life in some way or the other.

At times, life becomes so surreal and I see things happening to me just like in movies. People coming and going, things happening and me moving on with it without a purpose and at times like these, I know that I have my family and friends ALWAYS THERE for me. Some awesome amazing people who are so important to me that they made me survive this phase of my life and who I expect and hope will always be there for me. I will never ever forget these people and I hope I somehow get a chance to thank them all in my lifetime.

Nostalgic, Analytical about life and looking forward to a great new year,

H@rdeep.

I am "STILL" NOT USED to this..

2009-12-04T22:56:00.000+05:30

I went to the CS monthly meet today which was at Hotel Clarendon on 156, Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, Sydney. I didn't realize that I would meet Amelie again and that she would inform me that she can't have a farewell party. I mean no way, this girl is the most wonderful person I have ever met and she will be always special because she took great care of me when I arrived in Sydney. I am STILL NOT USED to this thing.

I mean the most awesome people keep on leaving. I have not been doing anything. No job yet, left with $5 in a different country, just moved to a new place, I do not know what to do? I know I cant an I will not even think of going back before 2 years. But honestly, at times I just break down to pieces. I also know that I have no one here to support me and I will have to be strong, but.............

Anyways thats it. More later.

H@rdeep.

Farewells and understanding and dealing with life.

2009-11-12T11:26:00.000+05:30

I never thought I will meet amazing and awesome people through CS in Sydney, but I have been fortunate enough to meet some of the best people from around the world. Holland, Russia, France, Germany, US, UK, and many other countries. You name it and I have met people from there.

The best part is when I spend time with them, go to parties, events, camping and dance the nights away. Smile, giggle and forget all the worries I have in life. University exams, financial problems, personal problems, missing family, and anything and everything else. These guys literally became my family. I went out with them, danced, ate, laughed, and at times (More these days) even cried.

They all are leaving for their countries and its the farewell time these days. Already attended 2 farewell parties and I do not want to go to more, but the sad part is I will have to. I could see tears in the eyes of people (this girl for sure every time) and I know that our feelings are same. We all TRY HARD to show that we are happy but inside us we are crying and sad just because we are seeing off a friend who before some days was a complete stranger to us. Life is strange and I do not understand (probably I do not WANT TO) that why the hell does every one leave?

I will definitely meet a whole lot of other people from around the world and will go out to events, dance, eat out and do a lot of activities but I know I will miss these guys. I am an absolute idiot that I cannot help being so sensitive and emotional about the whole issue but I hope I learn to deal with this part of life. Its amazing that I meet people from all over the world but understand that we have 1 common language of "LOVE".

Amelie, Evelien, Lisa, Clement, Amy, Freddy, Joannie, Femke, Anne (I am sure I am missing out some names here) and all the other awesome and wonderful people that I met and have given me some amazing memories cant be thanked enough and i promise all of you guys that I will visit each one of you in your countries. Was telling Evelien the other day I will have to spend a whole lot of money because I will have to travel around the world. :)

Thank you for making my life so awesome and stay in touch. you made my life a lot easier in a different country where I knew no one and now I can claim I have a "FAMILY".

Needless to say a very Emotional post,
H@rdeep.

ipadio: 4 months in Sydney.

2009-11-09T02:40:00.001+05:30

Posted via email from Hardeep's posterous

ipadio: Halloween party, HTC rants, final exam update

2009-11-02T14:21:00.001+05:30

Posted via email from Hardeep's posterous

Announcing Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0

2009-10-28T20:42:00.001+05:30

via feedproxy.google.com

DROIDDDDDDDDDDDDD
I m gonna get this beast. YAY

Posted via web from Hardeep's posterous

Google Redefines GPS Navigation Landscape: Google Maps Navigation For Android 2.0

2009-10-28T20:39:00.001+05:30

via feedproxy.google.com

Awesome. I want ANDROID 2 Update NOWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Cynogen get it for me please. :)

Posted via web from Hardeep's posterous

ipadio: Opera house open day update

2009-10-28T16:24:00.001+05:30

Posted via email from Hardeep's posterous

ipadio: Post about world's funniest island

2009-10-19T14:22:00.001+05:30

Posted via email from Hardeep's posterous

Voice Post that didn't work with Posterous Autopost.

2009-10-18T20:23:00.002+05:30

Little joys of being in Sydney.

2009-09-19T12:34:00.000+05:30

To say life has been busy would be an understatement and yes to say life's been interesting and fun would just not describe how awesome it has been in here. Apart from very active on Couchsurfing, meeting people and doing stuff, I am doing things that I never thought I would do.

Last week had 2 individual research assignments to be submitted and after sleepless nights and erratic time schedules, I was so ready to meet up people at a roof top pub when Amelie invited me to the event. And guess what happened today morning? Shyam comes in and informs he is going to play lawn tennis and I can join in. DAMN. This is what I wanted even before I had decided to come here.

So finally I got to play lawn tennis and yes I sucked at it, but hey I am gonna learn and be better. I was good at table tennis though. :)

A good weekend start. And yes tomorrow is this Brazilian carnival and food and dance show, so I am going for that. YAYYYYYYY good times in here. Oh yeah did I mention summer just started. So great time 2 visit beaches now.

:)

Happy, content (except a little worry which should be settled soon)

H@rdeep

Roaming on the streets of Strathfield & being happy.

2009-09-08T17:55:00.001+05:30

So what do I do besides meeting up couchsurfers, doing the walks and going to UTS in Sydney? Well guess.......................?

If you read the title you ALREADY know it. Yes roaming on the streets of Strathfield. Now before you think I enjoy doing that and go on with your assumptions, I would like to say here "Hold your horses". Because instead of doing it on my own, its more of a forced thing. Yes, its because the people I stay with (my housemates) have already lost 2 keys of that place and are too lazy to get a new 1 done. So what happens is 5 people have just 1 key among themselves and it happens to me more often that I come back at the place and there is no one there and the keys are not with me.

What happens next? Thankfully 2 other guys (Pankush & Vishal) moved out a month back from the same home after a little clash & they live in Strathfield only. So I go to the other side of the Strathfield station & drop in to their place and write a blog post. LOL Naah. The last part (Writing a blog post just happened today). So if you pass through Strathfield sometime and see a happy go lucky Punjabi boy roaming on the streets there, you have to be almost sure its me. :)

Now comes the next question? Why am I always happy & smiling? Ah I have my own moments of sadness. When I miss Chutku (My daughter), when I miss Prashant and our debates (Thanks to Skype I don't miss them that much though) & when I miss mom's yelling and me and her spending time together. But honestly speaking, those moments don't last long. The whole experience of being sad and then cheering myself up (because of course no 1 else will do it in here) and forgetting stuff through loud music is something I have been used to in here.

Not complaining about anything yet. I am sure people around me would be surprised to see me and would be wondering "Whats up with this guy? He never seems tensed or worried". To them my answer is very simple. I have had my fair share of tensions and worries. Its time I live my life the way I ALWAYS wanted to & now that I am living it that way, what should make me worried or tensed?

Smiling, Laughing & Celebrating life. Love from Sydney.

H@rdeep.

Finally A real ACTIVE CSer.

2009-09-07T19:09:00.001+05:30

So the weekend that just went by was eventful. I actually had plans of Salsa Thursday (3rd September, 2009) and then attending the big meet on Friday (monthly CS meet at Hotel Clarendon, 156 Devonshire St Surry Hills NSW 2010), the House party at Maroubra beach organized by Theide on Saturday and the Watson bay to Bondi beach walk on Sunday afternoon.

Well I did do just 2 of the things. I went to the monthly meet & did the Sunday walk. The pics are here. Just 5 pics of the monthly meet. And a whole lot of the walk.

But the monthly meet and this walk were awesome. So many people knew me at the monthly meet. They were like "oh So you are Hardeep". It was fun being there and I cant wait for the next month's meet. I missed Thursday's salsa because I didn't wanted to go there from Uni with the bag and Saturday's party because I was not prepared to go to Maroubra beach in the evening & didn't have any costume either. I must say attending these 2 things I already feel like a part of the community and feel so good about it. I have just started being an ACTIVE CSer and I am looking forward to a great time in Sydney courtesy CS. Wish I can do something like this which makes real difference to so many people's lives & brings a smile on their face, creates sweet memories and gives them to see "GOOD in Complete Strangers". CS is a proof that good people still exist and its not a rare dying species of human beings. LOL

I have promised myself that I will be doing a lot of travelling and I will be posting more pics and videos soon. There would be beautiful & amazing people in those slideshows. This space has just started becoming so much better. Keep coming back for knowing whats on in my life in Sydney.

Having a great time & living it up "Aussie style"

H@rdeep.

So Much to write.

2009-08-31T14:51:00.000+05:30

The week is about to end and I have so much to write. 1st of all I just wanna thank my family, my friends, my well wishers and every1 who is somehow responsible for me being in Sydney right now. I am doing things I always wanted to do and living life as I always wanted to live.

This is IT. I am celebratiing life here rather than just living it. Gadgets, meeting people, going to places and events, doing stuff and BEST OF ALL being on my own were the things I ALWAYS wanted. Not too much to ask for ha?

Yes independence at times can be a big thing for you. I am living life NOW. So much happened in the last week. I met Lisa through couchsurfing just like that when I messaged her about the Split bridge walk and fortunately she was online so she replied back asking "can I meet her the next day for a coffee or something" and we exchanged a series of messages before me met that same night. Isn't that amazing? You meet a complete stranger after exchanging 4-5 messages on a website and the stranger in this case is a sexy & beautiful girl. :)

So instead of meeting the next day for a harbor bridge walk, botanical gardens and Bondi beach thing we met the same night at a salsa dance pub where we did not do the salsa. Hahaha & we talked for 2 hours and met on Friday, 28th August, 2009 at central station to head over to the Harbor Bridge walk which is amazing and then went to Bondi beach which at present is 1 of my favorites in Sydney. Lisa did message me Thursday night itself saying "Oh I have bought this new bikini today which I wanna try out" so Bondi was sure gonna happen.

Lisa and me parted at sometime after 4 p.m in the evening & spending the day with her was awesome. We talked a lot, played on the beach & tried to know each other. Thanks to her, I actually had someone to go to places. Thats the pics with Lisa that i have clicked (The album will be updated when she sends pics that she has clicked). So look out after some days for updates on the album.

I didn't knew the week would have an exciting finish with a late night 3 a.m. visit to Bondi & a tour to Wollongong and a Saturday night out but Vicky got a new car and we finally got off for a drive at 2 a.m. Suddenly at 4 a.m it was decided to go to Wollongong which is a hilly area and has this wonderful beach Coledale. They said the views are beautiful & we will be there just in time to see the sunrise. MAN I love this "out of sudden" random plans which work out & this 1 worked too. The view was amazing on the way towards Wollongong and the beach Coledale is marvelous. Australia has so many beaches which are well maintained and its great to be on there on the beaches.

A lot of pics are here.

Looking forward to a whole lot of such fun filled weekends in Sydney & in Australia. Life has just started becoming better.

:)

H@rdeep.

UTS Infusion 2009.

2009-08-24T18:44:00.000+05:30

An awesome culmination of music, dance, great food, amazing talent and OF COURSE networking and meeting people. Ah did I have fun? of course a whole lot of fun.

Wish I could write much but for the 1st time I will have loads of videos to share instead. Yes go ahead. have a look. And yes I shot some great videos and I am gonna get a great camera once I earn enough money. :)

It lasted 5 days 17th-21st August, 2009 and whatever I could shoot is here.

Enjoy,

H@rdeep.

1st presentation @ UTS.

2009-08-13T16:00:00.001+05:30

This was just a routine presentation in the MPC class and it was a group presentation, but I loved it. It was a case study of "Airtex Aviation" and I had worked on my part which were answering 2 questions pretty well. Of Course Maria and Pooja did a wonderful job too and it all is recorded. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to Qik on Android. Here it is.

The Volume is not there at all or is very low because the Phone was far. I hope I can shoot better videos next time. But the experience is captured on a video and now I can look back at it is an awesome feeling. There are a whole lot of these which will happen so I promise you will see interesting things on here.

:)

Lovely day today so far. Loving UTS. Oh and yeah Do I need to say we totally rocked?
Yes we did.

H@rdeep.

A month in Australia/Strathfiled to Central.

2009-08-13T15:00:00.001+05:30

Its been a month and 3 days more in Sydney now. I shifted to Strathfield on 27th July and stay with these 6 other guys who are never here for the whole day because all of them work and I don't yet. Life has been good so far and its been a regular train journey from Strathfield to Central station to go to Uni.

Well, I promised my next post will have pics. I had initially thought that I will have a photo blog when I land in Australia and click a whole lot of pics and see and visit many places. Sadly it hasn't happened yet, but then I am not gonna disappoint my readers and post some pics finally.

4 different people.

Starting from the top its Vishal, then Vineet, the 1 with laptop is the late night chatter Pankush and the 1 sleeping is Robin. All 4 are punjabis and the other 2 missing here are Shyam and Vicky who were out working that night.

Its been a love hate relationship with all of these people because I have problems with the way they stay in home. They are loud and they need noise around them always. So if none of them is talking loudly, then they will make sure the T.V is on with a volume which can be safely termed as loud. LOL so how do I handle my studies or anything that requires concentration given the fact that I stay with them. Well I changed myself. I stay at the University as long as I can during those days when I have class. (Tuesdays & Thursdays) & the rest of the days I sleep anytime during the day and work at nights. Now, I remember I kept telling people back home that I will adjust anywhere in any situation and that I am actually very flexible. This is the best example of what I meant.

I have learned many things including how to be on my own and how to treat every person I meet as passers-by (A very important advice from Amelie) & I must say it has helped to fit in a different country and a different environment very quickly. I even have decided 2 important things that i want to do after I landed here.
1. Buy a high end Digital SLR camera which takes great pics. (There are so many people around me who own 1 of that and click amazing pics)
2. Travel a lot. (This is something I always had back of my mind anyways)

Those who know me would think I am having a great time because I always wanted to meet people and stuff. I wont completely deny that but wont completely agree to it either. Not every 1 I meet is a great person & its a pretty big city so there are so many opportunities that you meet people everywhere. The day start from travelling in train and I love the whole energy around me. The way people keep walking & running and doing their work. Hopefully I will visit Bondi and other beaches soon and put up some lovely pics.

Putting up that request at Couchsurfing & hopefully that would happen this Sunday.
More as it happens.

H@rdeep.

Happy B'day to me.

2009-08-07T18:50:00.000+05:30

Honestly speaking, I am not so happy on my b'days since some years and this year I am not so happy that I couldn't even write a post the same day. I mean too lazy. Isn't it?

Back to what I did. Nothing much. August 1 was eventful and so I slept late at 2 a.m again, called family in U.S and talked to every1, woke up late and realized I cannot go for the Bondi to Bronte Walk. So what did I do?

Stayed back at home, tried to know the room mates, did a little stuff on the internet and don't remember what else? But you know what? I am gonna make sure my birthday is a celebration for people around the world 1 day. I keep getting these signs "Now is the time".

Had a lot of people who wrote on wall on facebook and orkut and sent emails. For me as always it was a time to look back at life and ponder what did I do for all these 28 years? And I know the answer is "Nothing substantial".

Anyways, this post has been much more like this and getting repetitive over years. All I can hope is that next year (2010) it should be a little different.

H@rdeep.

Marathon/Couchsurfing day & Walking alone.

2009-08-07T13:37:00.001+05:30

I had a little confusion as to what the title should be so this post has 3 of them. :)

Walking alone is something I have been doing from Day 1 in Sydney & it is symbolic to the fact that you walk alone in life. Honestly speaking, I am used to it now. And today was 1 more day when I realized the importance of planning and time management &stuff. It all started with sleeping late at 2 a.m a night before and then waking up late at 7.45 a.m. when I was supposed to reach at 8.40 a.m at Darling Harbor to catch a ferry with 3 other people Amelie, Patrick (her Boyfriend) and Paola. These are the people I went for dinner on Wednesday 28th July and thus we knew each other well and had planned about whale watching that night only. The dinner on Wednesday was fun and I did stay back and went to a pub that day too. I ate good food at reasonable price.

And I woke up at 7.45 a.m. I had to catch a train which takes half an hour to reach to Central station & then had at least a 10 minutes walk to Darling Harbor. To add confusion to the whole matter, Central Station has 4 exits that I know of. (maybe more). I somehow reached Central Station at 8.47 and then started running from central Station to Darling Harbor and then inside Darling Harbor towards the Aquarium. I actually went to the opposite side which is the maritime museum. And then I kept running again as I was already late and every1 was on the boat waiting for me. Amelie kept calling (which I totally understood and even suggested that I should stay back), but I so wanted to go and I had an empty stomach and had to keep running over the bridge to reach the other side which I finally did manage to reach. I felt I was taking part in a Marathon that day. Honestly I cannot remember when was the last time I ran so much in a day!

Thank God I was on the boat. The people informed us they have coffee & tea on board and we can help ourselves and a little later I did that. HELPED MYSELF, which was the "Biggest mistake" of that day. A coffee/tea empty stomach in the morning is the worst thing you could do to your own body. So after feeling a little better for a while, I was sea sick which means I was throwing up. I did saw the whales though but it was not that much fun as I was not with Paola, Amelie and Pat when we were all watching whales. Thats the important thing. "If I am at an event with fellow couchsurfers, I need to be with them." PERIOD.

So we did saw whales. The feeling of being right in the middle of water and having nothing around you is also amazing. (Gotta be on a cruise sometime soon). Also we stayed back for a little lunch kind of thing and talked a lot and then I even met Paola and Amelie in the evening at The Museum of Contemporary Arts to head over to a pub meeting where other couchsurfers had gathered. LOL I don't wanna talk about the pub meeting much as I have decided I am not going to any of those anytime now onwards.

But the sad part is I missed the Bondi beach to Bronte walk the next day because I was tired like hell & could not wake up to be there at 1.30 p.m. I mean thats kinda bad. I was supposed to be at Bondi in the afternoon.

Anyways, the day was fun and then it was my birthday on 2nd August. What did I do that day?

Read on. Thats the next post.

Having fun for sure in Sydney and living it up.
H@rdeep.

1st lecture and meeting more people.

2009-07-29T12:33:00.001+05:30

I started off for the 1st lecture at UTS Haymarket campus yesterday (July 28th, 2009) and it was peak time (before 9 a.m) for the trains. I had less than 5 dollars and also went to the ATM to withdraw money. It was 8.50 a.m by this time & then the announcement started that the trains are running 20-25 mins late which meant that I would be late in the very 1st lecture by 30-45 minutes.

Wow What a start!

But then good things followed later on. I met this lady beside whom I sat & she looks fabulous, is friendly and is a lecturer of Accounts for 10 years. See thats what you call "good luck". We did have a little chit chat and I hope to stay in touch with this lady more often during my course here at UTS. The professor Mr. Phillip Spence seems a very strict professor but then it was still ok. The next lecture was interesting.

This professor of the second lecture has been teaching at UTS for 31 years and I am surprised nobody told him that he SHOUTS a lot. I mean without the microphone he is real loud and I am somewhat sure that if he gets a microphone, half of the students would go deaf. His talks were boring and the names he mentioned were unheard of for the entire class. :)

That did not please him and he was definitely not happy about such lack of knowledge of post graduate students. (But then how can he expect us all to know about U.S and U.K and their legislature and Constitution unless we do not belong to those countries), I mean most of the people in the class were international students. Then came the fun part because he did tell us right in the 1st lecture that we need to form a group and select a topic for group presentation right after our 1st lecture. hahhaaha Funny because out of those 29 students just 3 people knew each other and everyone else was a stranger for other people. But still people who know me would have guessed that I did form a group of 5 (which was required) very easily and in fact I made a group of 8. So finally its a group of 5 with me and 4 gals and yeah this was not intentional. It just happened.

Looking forward to more of such exciting days ahead and getting busier as the classes go on.

As always watch this space for more updates including pics and stuff because I really need this space to be interesting enough so that most people come back, :)

H@rdeep.

End of orientation and a hectic week.

2009-07-25T13:36:00.000+05:30

I am finally done with the orientation of the course which lasted for 5 days from 20th-24th of July here at the UTS building 4. The seminars were hectic and fun because I met a whole lot of people and observed a whole lot of things. Clicked a lot of pics, made some new friends and now looking forward to classes from Tuesday

The new facebook account has some new friends from UTS. Sydney is a multi cultural city in true sense. So far I have met people from The Netherlands, US, UK, Russia, Japan, Taiwan, Germany, Mexico, France, Iran, and of course not to forget India and China. LOL Indians & Chinese are everywhere you go, in every city of the world. And call it funny or weird but there are a whole lot of people in here who you would think are Chinese but are from some different country or are maybe Iranian from Australia and more. Its complicated and truly multi cultural. Thats great.

Talking about the University which is HUGE and has many campuses it also has 2 bars in the University campus. YES THEY ARE ACTUALLY IN THE CAMPUS. :)

And I suppose having a beer inside the campus is allowed too. But anyways since I do not drink and do not intend to, its no use for me. Made some really good friends on here and things have been good so far. the pics are up at both my facebook accounts and I am sure its just the beginning. I am also about 2 meet some couchsurfers today at a bar and since I do not drink I will be leaving soon from there too. Also I have set up Google Voice+Gizmo5 on the Android HTC magic and it feels magic that i can talk to US for free from the cell phone on WLAN and 3G. YAY.

Looking forward to a job now so that I can buy more stuff (gadgets of course).
I m used to walking now and even though it might feel lonely at times, I haven't missed India or home in general yet much.

More updates, pics and a whole lot of stuff to follow so keep checking this space.

Excited, Happy and hopeful to good times ahead,
H@rdeep.

Australia So far.

2009-07-12T21:53:00.001+05:30

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.

2009-07-01T21:15:00.000+05:30

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.

2009-06-23T17:59:00.000+05:30

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.