Demo today

Today afternoon our demo was scheduled. All of us were a bit tensed up because of that. It had worked many times before and there was no flaw, but still.... anyway, the 2 hour demo went off very well. People were suitably impressed by what we had done and gave us a good standing.
Later in the evening, was the banquet cruise along Delaware river. As there was nothing much to see outside on the riverbanks - factories are a eye sore - we were entertained with singing and dancing. Many of us joined in on the dance too. Food was good, served in a buffet.

Poster, storm, ....

We had to get our poster printed for the demo. And the closest kinkos which could do it in time was quite a bit away. At night, they gave us a call saying that they cant print it. There was a storm raging outside, and pouring very heavily. I went out, took a cab to the kinkos. Then got it printed after 1/2 hour of trying. Then just decided to walk back in the rain, after futilely waiting for a cab for quite some time. Now, Philli is supposed to be too dangerous to walk in the night. But, oh heck. The storm was raging, and saw so many overturned umbrellas lying on the streets. It was actually very cool to feel the rain amd wind in the face.

Philli

Today went to Philli for MobiCom. We were giving a demo there of PRAN. Finally, managed to convince Dave - my advisor - about the goodness of the name. Means life in sanskrit, and that was exactly what we were doing in this project, giving life to a piece of simulation code. Anyway, so we had to take 2 robots - worth 5000$ each in big suitcases, along with 10 laptops.

Back in Houston

Reached back to Houston after a long 10 hour flight. Watched a movie in the flight - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Very childish fantasies. Was certainly glad that I had not watched this series before. Hema had come to the airport to pick me up, along with Rakesh and Arnav. She got a new haircut and hairstyle just the previous day, but was too coy to admit it was for me. :-)
Back to Houston. Large, hot, damp. but nice.

Flight back

Today early morning I was to take the flight out of Geneva. With a HEAVY suitcase and a HEAVY duffel bag, and my heavy rucksack, it was a very diffucult journey. Managed to get my stuff down the stairs onto the street to the bus stop, take the bus to the metro stop, and take the metro to the train station, and onto the platform finally. The train I had targeted, i missed. And was totally sapped of energy. Caught the next train, and sure was glad to find trolleys at the airport. And then reached Amsterdam.
Had visited Amsterdam for 2 days before, so had done all the touristy things. Decided to just have pot and relax :-) Had booked into the supposedly most famous hostel in Europe aka world - The flying pig downtown hostel. Made up a canadian friend, who was my roommate i the hostel and went out with him. Strolled along the famous red light district, and smoked some pot. I dint feel anything, but my friend got a severe feeling of dizziness, and we hurried back. Next morning was my flight from Amsterdam to Houston.

Last day at EPFL

My last day at EPFL was spent in a meeting with my professor, saying goodbye to friends, and packing up things. Had accumulated quite a bit of junk in the past 2 months. In the evening, 4 of us had a plan to cook Indian food. But, it fell flat, and we had a nice time eating out with middle eastern food. I have grown so much fond of that food. Then at night, some of my Spanish friends had invited me to a party in our complex. Started at Spanish standard time - 10 pm was 11 pm. There was a lot of drinks and dancing. and guitar playing. 2 people was dancing such lovely salsa, that all of us just surrounded them and kept on looking. And would not let them stop.
Met a nice Swiss guy. He was a avid bicyclist, and I told him about my nice biking experiences the other week. He politely listened, and then told he is going biking tomorrow too. Around lake geneva - 220 km. I said wow. how many days? He is one day. 8 hrs. Can you believe that? 30 km/hr average speed. Some stamina. He was doing his phd at epfl, after having done his masters in US. He came back last summer, disillusioned by the US policies and its people. Amazed by the nonchalance of the people there against the sufferings they inflict on the world. Asked me - how do I ever live there for so long? I replied - yes, it's hard.

At bulidis

Spent the whole day at bulidis house. playing with parthiv and chatting with bulidi. went out with them and bought a few toys, and went around basle. After Prith-da came at night, we went to get food from an Indian restaurant. Very nice food. And had dinner with a very nice bottle of wine wich just the 2 of us finished off.

Interlaken

Today early morning, I left for Interlaken - the playground of europe. Had spent 3 days here 2 years back and absolutely loved it. And today, I was to fullfill my dream of canyoning. reaching at 10 am, I was disapointed to hear that the trip had left an hour before for whole day canyoning - the thrilling one. And the easier one I did not want to do. So, I decided to take bungee jumping instead. I always had vertigo and fear of heights. But, just had to do it once. A jeep load of tourists along with our guides - 2 kiwis/aussies as usual - went up Grindelwald to the steep cliff from where we were to jump. Frankly, I was going tense every moment, see the steeeep cliff with a river flowing below. And the 125 CHF which I had already paid kept me in tow. Some people could not do it after being strapped, and just on the verge of jumping. They just could not take the plunge. There was 2 options for me, one where I was to hold on to a rod, using which I was assured I can play some trapeeze tricks. The other one was being straddled by the feet. Though choosing the hand-trick first, I chickened out and chose the one tied by the feet. Atleast, you will not be expected to be acrobatic when you are hanging on to dear life. My turn came. I was weighed, put with the requisite rope leeway. I steeped forward close to the little half-bridge from where I was supposed to jump. The instructor said - dont take too small a jump, dont take too big a jump, and jump slightly to the right. Freeking... I jumped. A few gods faces flashed before my eyes. And then I was falling slowly, and then gradually at a breckneck speed. At the nd of the rope near the river, the elastic pulled me back to almost as high as I had jumped. And then the same plunge. Gradually, the pendulum up and down became smaller and smaller. And I had the same sensations which one has when in a vertical merry go-around, you go from 12 o clock to 3 o clock. only 100 times more intense. I was worth it. But, only maybe once, considering the money involved. Then gradually, I was lowered down, where a person pulled my down by a pole he gave me to hold on to. It was definitely a lifetime experience.