Hair (Locks) of Love

For the most part of my life I have been told how beautiful my hair (was) is. It was silky and straight as an arrow. I was proud of my hair although I did not have to do much to grow it.

I recently got a perm done on my hair to make it wavy(I did not know she was perming it, I swear, I wanted to style it just for the evening) as I was getting bored of having straight hair forever. Too late, its luster is all gone and my hair is neither silky nor wavy. I have been planning to cut it off as short as I can. I know, my parents/ friends would oppose that. But, well I wanted the new (hopefully better) hair to grow.

I vaguely remembered that we can donate hair. If I am going to cut off at least 6" I might as well donate it. I started looking through hair donation websites. They need at least 8" to donate hair to adults and about 10 -12" for kids. Pantene Beautiful lengths is the only organization that makes wigs for adult women and also is pretty relaxed about the rules on Grey hair etc.

I decided to donate to the kids. The donation to the kids has to be free of Grey hair. So I can donate to adults all life long. I measured my hair and it is about 8 - 9" long. I decided to call off my hair cut for a month or two and let the hair grow. And also I promised myself to take good care of it. If it is helping a kid boost her confidence I will make sure I do my part. If anyone has any good ideas / tips about hair care and conditioning please pass them to me.

The reason I am posting this on my blog is, I read that it takes 6 pony tails to make one wig. So if any one is interested in donating hair. We could do it together and help one kid.

There are lots of websites on the net that talk about the donation process. Choose the one you like and help a kid wears your lovely locks.

Cheers
Sridevi Seshabhattar
11th March 2009

Egg-Jams...

Tests, Assignments, Term papers, Presentations...

I submitted my Take Home Quiz today... yay!!... Phew...

Suddenly a thought crossed my mind, second month into my PhD and I already had written two exams and submitted an assignment... Wow!

Through out the day we had group meetings, meeting with a gas cylinder guy, meeting with hazardous waste guy, meeting for BIMBO, I actually ate at my 'desk' since I did not have time to get out of the office. But the thought about the number of exams was killing me. The minute I got a breather I ran to my desk and sat down with a calculator.

I began making a rough estimate of number of Exams I have written so far, including the assignments, term papers and meaningless presentations. Brace yourself the number is a whopping 591. Yes, indeed!!! It averages to 1.82 exams per month of my life up until now.

I cannot help but remember all my classmates from school and college who went through the same trauma.

Kudos guys, WE DID IT!!! Err...wait a minute... YOU did it!!!...

I still have a long way to go... I guess I will slightly fall shy of a "million" tests once I graduate and become “Dr. Sri Seshabhattar” : ) ;)

Hopefully all the pain will look worthwhile then...

Cheers
Sri, 19th February 2009

P.S: I draw all the cartoons on my blog on a Wacom Bamboo Fun Tablet. Ideas for some of the cartoons are my own and so are inspired from others work.

I Knew Her...

I know Her...
She is my idol
She was inquiring if I was studying well
She was on cloud nine to know I got an admit into PhD
She was scared I was alone
She was supportive about my decision
She was contended with my grades in MS
She was pestering me to study
She was calling me to tell me she emailed me
She was unhappy when I left Her and India
She was confident that I would get my visa
She was ecstatic when I got my admit to NC state



She was elated with my MBA
She was persuasive about my higher studies
She was with me when I was stuck in a mess
She was happy I changed my job
She was worried about my hours at work
She was jumping with joy on my first job
She was really pissed off with my studies
She was putting up with my anger
She was beside me when they gave me shots
She was drained off energy from serving me at the hospital
She was dispirited with my jaundice
She was apprehensive about my major
She was cool with my engineering admit



She was behind me to study
She was putting up with my adolescence
She was convinced I have stuff
She was celebrating my success
She was delighted when I finished High School
She was exuberant when I passed Social Studies
She was reading the textbook aloud while I was fast asleep
She was concerned I will not pass
She was troubled with my Social Studies course



She was taking care of me
She was crying I met with an accident
She was getting me ready to school
She was beating me because my clothes were dirty
She was plaiting my hair

She was feeding me
She heard me cry
She was relieved I don’t
She was going around the hospital
She was worried I had crooked feet
She was beaming with happiness
She was looking into my eyes

She was holding me for the first time
I was New to her... But
I knew Her...
She was my idol

-Sridevi Seshabhattar, 17th February 2009



Happy Birthday Mummy
Many Many Happy Returns of the Day
read from bottom to top :)

Some amateur stuff

Green Spiral - Organic nature of Nature

First art of everyone in the world, hut, sun and grass..
Missing a lake though....

Sony Vaio...Fresh Start...

Sigh...

I was happy on the first day of my PhD; I knew I was going to have a fresh start and things will be different ... I will have a new laptop...(?!)

My office in MS had computers that were at least ten years old with windows 98 that either crashed or ran like it crawled. Oh! By the way did I mention that four of us used to share two computers and two inoperable ones and a couple of undergrads also used them once in a while.

So ever since my PhD advisor spoke to me about a laptop I started dreaming jumping up and down about my ground – breaking research on a new laptop (probably a tablet).





Hmm...Well, as you all have already guessed it looks like my dreams will remain dreams for a long time. I am guessing there is a conspiracy at a very high level.

Conspiracy theory:
• Why was the configuration not approved by the purchases even though my adviser gave a nod?
• Once approved why was the order not placed immediately?
• Why did Intel choose to cease the production and pull out the processors from the market? (Had to wait for the new ones to arrive)
• Why does the guy who places the order not answer anyone’s calls or emails?

Things really are different... I at least had a shared desktop with 10 GB memory and Windows 98....

Boy! I really am off to a Fresh Start... Sigh...
Cartoon: www1.istockphoto.com

It will be 'all right'

I Hope...

It will be 'all right'

This is one of my favorite sayings. The phrase comes in handy while coaching anyone in trouble. It gives hope of a future time when the current problem is dead and gone.

Any situation in the past that made you feel terrible will no longer have the same influence in you today. It is the temporary nature of problem that has to be borne in mind rather than making them permanent.

When stranded in a problem, focus completely shifts to problem rather than the bigger picture. When you tell yourself “It will be all right” the attention will be diverted to a future time where the problem is solved.

The old saying "down the road we will laugh about this" applies. Instead of waiting until a later time, laugh about it now. Tell yourself that no matter what is occurring, it will be all right. Practice faith in this statement in all that you do.

An ounce of hope can turn around any hopeless situation.

Remember this when you feel circumstances in your life are getting you down.

It will be 'all right'

Just By Chance...

Only two things matter the most to me

• Have I taken a chance / risk, whether calculated or otherwise, and put my best foot forward while taking up tasks?

• Did I give a chance for someone to explain themselves before I judge them for their actions?

While the answer to the first question was not "Yes" at all times, the answer to the latter has become affirmative with conscious effort.

Deal with the faults of others as gently as with your own

It is highly important to step into others shoes for two reasons. It gives us a chance to realize that we would have been a terrible misfit in that situation and probably would have acted worse than the person in consideration. Secondly, and most importantly it saves the disgrace of break up or separation in many relation ships which eventually leads to peaceful coexistence.