Glimpses of Cornell

I am remembering Cornell today. So, y'all will have to suffer with me, or rather, suffer me. In retrospect the most prominent things I recall doing there are pretending to work, eating, badminton.

Pretending to work



That is my office. See all those books? Ok, so I am a little behind in my reading. My table used to have three computers: two desktops and a laptop. My research was mostly analytical, so I put the computers to very good use. The oldest one, part of which is visible, was used exculsively for emails. The newest one whose monitor backed the door was for playing games. A cunning placement in case my advisor poked a friendly head in my door. The laptop completed my image as a theoretical mechanician on the cutting edge of science in the late 1800s.

The office was meant to accommodate two people. This is where a good knowledge of Vaastushastra* can really help improve one's office experience. Note how the bookcases and the tables nearly come together in a circle, leaving only a little gap. This way, not only did I manage to seperate my space, but also made my office-mate feel that the access route to his desk was something bordering on a mini steeplechase. The enthusiasm for work in graduate students is always on the ebb, and the prospect of facing a minefield of akwardly placed table corners and overhanging bookshelves after hauling his backside from home probably made my office-mate question the worth of it all. Needless to say I saw little of him, or her, or it.

Maybe someday my office-mate(s) will forgive me. I forgive them for intruding into my office.

*Vaastushastra: The name given to the ancient Indian science of interior decoration.

Eating



I am the one who is concentrating on the important things of life; like eating. This was the Taste of Thai restaurant in downtown Ithaca, home of the best Thai food I ever had. The occasion was the farewell of my good friend Toon (face in the middle on the left).

Their Thai Iced Tea (with, of course, no ice and lots of milk) was something to kill for. If you don't believe me sample a closer look at the food. You can all thank your stars that I eat with my mouth closed. Prof. Netravali is wishing that he hadn't eaten so fast.



Badminton




Me giving pointers to Yi Liang Ho ex-grunt of the Singapore Air Force, but at that time a student of mine in Dynamics. Shows what a swollen head can make you do, for Ho was light years ahead of me in Badminton. He had a beautiful smash. It was a quite a sight. He would levitate a couple of feet, pause in mid air, and there would be an existential moment of surreal quiet followed by tremendous thwack that threatened to perforate your eardrums while the shuttle nearly took your head off.