Vegas Trip

The Spring Break 2006 was the much awaited break after the legendary India trip...
The reason for the excitement : Trip to Las Vegas and Death Valley...

The grandeur of Vegas... warmth of the desert city... camping at Death Valley.. trek in the Sand Dunes... drive through the mountains.. lowest point on the western hemisphere... gambling & Casinos.. were all reasons for the excitement... but the BIGgest reason ofcourse was beyond all of this..
Its this unique bunch of characters who made it to the trip !!!

To the wonderous world of people who will be joining me on a virtual photo tour of this exciting trip : You really have to know about these people... They DESERVE an introduction....

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Abhishek Raman....
Its slightly unfair to start writing about the person who has the style and stature to shadow the other introductions... With his personality he could give any Kollywood hero a run for his money.. With his thamizh however, he would give all the "enku-taamil-avlova-varadhu" heroines a run for their money...
Stylish goggles, impeccable dressing, flawless hairstyle, smiling face... That's Abhi for you..
Inside the dude lies the heart of a giver.. If you are ever looking for a shoulder to cry on the Theresa in Abhi will always be there.. beside you and ready to give more than what you expected, all that with an unflinching smile..
His style and charm would stay a close second to his listening ears and open arms...

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Anand Janakiraman....

You have a plan.. you want a man... Janak's the one you are looking for..
From as geeky as solving Algo assignment to as cheeky as planning a secret Holi attack..
From as sporty as skiing or ice skating to as dirty as snow fight on the streets...
From as short as a coffee break to as long as shopping...
From as old as sharing 60's tamil movies to as new as designing new technology....
Janak generates this mysterious amount of josh which he's probably stored up unused for his entire life...
Overall, Janak is an evolving person... Adapting his hairstyle, glasses, dress, food, thoughts to the whims and fancies of the Western world but retaining the heart and soul of a typical Nanganallur tam brahm....
Oh.. for Wednesday's sake .. he is also a CARing, ChivAlRous, CARdial, CARvellous CARacter ???

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Archana Mohan...
Anyone who knows Archu would seldom see the 24 year old girl or her sweet voice or her inborn talent to dance. She would either be in this caring home maker mode, cleaning the house and cooking for all, or, the ever-so-diplomatic business woman smartly clad in a blue shirt and a professional pair of glasses explaining data modeling fundaes..
But, what you more often see is the 3 year old kid.. still struggling to get the right pronunciation... penning her own lyrics to popular numbers... looking for a chintoo, mintoo or babloo in people around... believe me, THIS is the pattani you would LOVE to be around with...
Only a previliged few get to take a deepsea dive and see the tornedo deep into her ocean of thoughts.. the others sail smoothly in the still water on the periphery...Its so much fun teasing, troubling, irritating or making fun of her but you quite instantly start to miss the warm hug when she is not around.. I generally don't say this about someone but she's one reason I don't miss my sister much in Minneapolis !!

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Harish Barathvajasankar...

On first looks you would think Harish is this extremely nerdy guy who would seldom think of spending time away from books, school and computers... He even acts like that sometimes... But if triggered, he's this toothpaste-out-of-tube, hyper excited, FOR-THE-MOMENT character... It sometime surprises how someone could go on talking, explaining, dreaming, enquiring, clarifying and BREATHING cars with absolutely no signs of fatigue....

Occasionally he might spill hatred and anger towards something.. but in no time you will realise that he has the heart that wouldn't harm a fly... He could crib about something for real long and still go and work meticulously to sort it out...
For Harish, a long drive on his fav car, speeding where it is not required, racing and teasing others who share the road space, blaring rock music in the car, a long talk about computers and family back home, and a drink with his buddies before hitting the bed.... is probably his idea of a perfect day in his life... Which clearly shows he's gonna have many of them in his life...

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Neelakantan Saikrishnan...

Neela could be a real strong candidate for Mr. Perfect contest.. Anything under the sun, he would have an explanation, an opinion, a thought, an experience or at least a vague idea.... Organising and bearing responsibility come to him very naturally.... He's the perfect people's guy and its very evident : he will be the moderator of community groups, handle the cricket team, play almost any individual and team sport i can think of, be a part of organizing shows and trips, do social service in helping orphanages back in India, volunteer for community activities.... and will have over 400 friends on Orkut...
The IIT stud and a Ph.D. grad student very ironically deals with the not-so-down-to-earth aircrafts... and holds an impeccable academic recordIn spite of his active social lifestyle he would always be a dutiful son, a special brother, and would be there for someone as a caring friend....

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Niroop Shankar...

Niru is the toughest nut to crack... One moment you would think that you completely understand him and at the other you will think that he completely understands you.... The extremely-family-attached guy would have lent a helping hand so unobtrusively in so many things with so little advertisement that you might have to sit back to realise how things could have been so difficult if not for someone like him...
Social restriction or shyness are words that were never a part of his vocabulary and he would befriend ANYONE the first time he speaks to them.. The ardent gamer can learn and master a video game in less than no time... He has a great passion for movies, be it 70s tamil movies or latest crappy hollywood flicks... He's also a natural raconteur and would be a treat for the kids...
Overall ... Niru is sometimes The GodFather.. sometimes The Gilmastaaa.......

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Ramya Rangarajan...
Ramy.. Rangudu... Golu... Chinki kutti...are all part of the IUPAC series for this exceptionally rare element who I refer to as Eli (for her sudden desire for Masal vadai in an involving graph theory lecture).
She is probably the first person who I have come accross who fits perfectly into the character of a prototypical pampered tamil movie heroine ... petite and cute ... can always pose for a photograph as though it was her first one... she can dress for a couple of hours and look like it was worth the trouble... can have a whole wardrobe of clothes and still go shopping... can shop for hours together without getting tired... will shiver with the slightest fall of temperature... can collect soft toys that will fit a room... can eat a whole bar of choclate and run in the treadmill for hours...
But then atypical of any tamil movie character she can pick up a crossword puzzle and solve it.. can get excited about sudoku, algorithms and graph theory... can sit and code for hours together and be extremely effecient at it... and could play an action video game with great interest..
You'll have a tough time to pin down on one thing that makes her special, makes you happily cater to all that she wants, forces you to make fun of her, tease her and bother her...
You wonder.. if it is because the only sentiment that she expresses is happiness which so magically spreads when she's around ?? If it is because she lets you be yourself and express yourself the way you want ?? If it is because of her genuine bubbling enthusiasm and adorably childish nature ??
At some point you stop thinking... That's Eli for you !!

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PS : I started writing this on March 24th, 2005 and today is March 24th, 2006... I might really not be a man of my words.. But I hope I at least pass for a boy with a heart...