This post is intended for the UTA newcomers. So if you are not associated with UTA, you can skip to next post safely.

I had very intense discussion with UTA newcomers on Orkut community (with over 500 replies by now). Here is the link to that post: Orkut Thread Link

I am not that active on Orkut, so you can continue that discussion here in the comments. I will reply as needed.

Many people requested for the famous PDFs that I used to host at my old website. Here is for all you to-be-UTA people. Again the password to access the PDFs is the same “brijesh_chauhan” (without quotes)

Useful information for UTA newcomers:

1. Applying to UTA
2. Before VISA
3. Clothing
4. Personal Stuff
5. Kitchen
6. Money
7. Medicine
8. Insurance
9. Books for EE
10. Books for CS
11. Driving License
12. Pre-departure
13. Port of Entry
14. Arrival at DFW Airport
15. Post Arrival at UTA
16. American terms explained
17. Useful Links
18. I-94 Sample
19. General Guidance

This information is a courtesy of UTAgujjus. They put up a geocities website at http://geocities.com/utagujjus. Fortunately, I backed up all pages before that site went down.

Feel free to ask any questions in comments.

Yes, I used to hate holidays. Just because it made me realize how lonely I was.

But not this time. I had a blast this Christmas. I went to meet some friends at Philly and they made my holidays memorable. I will never forget those days. Thanks for being with me.

This is my “about me” field in one of the social networking website,

“I am what I am.
Nobody can change me, except me.

I write my own destiny with every step that I take,
Definying the Rules of Nature,
Corrupting the balance of the wheel of Fate…

I am a Man of my Dreams and
I make My Dreams a Reality..

My story is beyond Time, my Adventure is beyond belief..”

I changed my “Status update” in that website today. And one of my friend just noticed that my “About me” and “Status update” are opposite…My status today read as

“Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own.”

Nice catch Sam.

I am all alone today, nobody cares.

I was just wondering today, 4PM on some idle Thursday afternoon, after a sleepless night yesterday, that I don’t know what I want to do with my life but I surely know what I don’t want to do in my life.

- I don’t want to be an ordinary person like every other creature on earth.
- I don’t want to make a family who moves their house every 6 months, I don’t want to be one of them.
- I don’t want to waste my time driving between my office and my home.
- I don’t want to be someone who needs to think about finances before buying a new Car.
- I don’t wanna be left behind.
- I don’t wanna be ignored.
- I want to be what I used to be?? May be….

“go to work, send your kids to school follow fashion, act normal walk on the pavements, watch T.V. save for your old age, obey the law Repeat after me: I am free”

I don’t know what it was. May be a thought in my mind, may be my subconscious mind, may be an idea, may be a new meaning of life.

But whatever it was, it gave me answer to my question “Purpose of my LIFE” (Read my previous post if you haven’t read it yet)

It says

“Life is Simple, not easy.
Don’t try to understand life.
Just live it.”

Then I asked, what is the purpose of my life?

It said,

“Don’t look for your purpose. You won’t find it. Creat your purpose. Purpose serves as a principle to organize your life around. You should Give meaning to life not wait for life to give the meaning.”

But I don’t understand all this, why do I creat a purpose for my life. Why do I need that. It’s like creating a purpose for life and then chasing my whole life behind this purpose. For some period it will be my passion to run behind it, then it will become my habit and then it will become the only thing to do in my life. I don’t want to do that.

Found this video on Youtube…

Purpose of Life

Today it seems like my life consists of just “going with the tide” – and that I have no particular destination. When I look at my life, I have to ask myself, “Is this all there is?”

The pursuit of material things sometimes seem meaningless to me. I often feel as though life is passing by.

My time is consumed by things that need to be done, rather than things that are important to me. People put demands and responsibilities on me that are opposed to what I want for my life.

I have been trying to live up to everyone else’s expectations while my own plans and dreams go unfulfilled.

I think I am not alone. Many people just feel like me. You might agree with my thoughts. There’s more wisdom than meets the eye in John Lennon’s famous saying: “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”

Frankly, life is too short for us to waste most of it on the acquisition of material things, in trying to impress people we care little about, and on things that will have little or no value to us when we look back on our lives during our golden years.

Sometimes I feel like heaven on earth. These are the times when I meet my old friends, when I am sitting alone on garden bench in the evening and seeing a lovely couple and thinking of my beloved, when I think of all the foolish things I have done in my childhood. But these times come very rarely.

I don’t know the purpose of my life.

I studied in the childhood as everybody does, made good friends there, passed higher secondary school with good grades. Now what? People told me to become a doctor or an engineer. I couldn’t get in to a medical school, so joined an engineering school. Seniors told that ‘Electronics’ is latest trend and there are lots of opportunities in that. So I joined the ‘Electronics’ branch.

Than started my engineering studies at the age of 16. I left my home for studies, left all friends which mean a lot to me, left my city, left the girl next door peeping from behind the curtain. And now I was in a whole new world, new friends, new place, new atmosphere, everything different from what I had.

It was very hard to adjust than, but life goes on. Time healed everything. I made new friends; some of them became part of my life. The time was flying. Four years passed very quickly. I finished my Engineering. Now what? I decided to move to a big city, where I can find some opportunity and a good Job. Again it was time for some tears. Which didn’t came from my eyes, but from heart. (Believe me, it’s very hard at times when you want to cry but you can’t).

Now again, a new world, but it wasn’t that hard as before. I started working in HUTCH (a Cellular company). I got involved with my work, my seniors and my colleagues very easily. I learned the REAL lessons of life. After six months, I changed the company; shifted to new place. Now it was not anything new for my life. I began to realize that it wasn’t the change in my life, it itself was LIFE. The degree of homesickness was not like before. I met several people in my life; some of them are still with me, some in my memories, and one in my heart. I took everything for granted. I thought all these things are called life.

But deep down in my heart I felt like life has come to an end. I was not doing anything that I really wanted. I studied, like everybody does. I started working for a company, like everybody does, got some good amount of money, like almost every engineer does.

Life had become more like a routine to me; Working for whole week, going to movies, going out to restaurants and all that. What can be more frustrating when changes in your life feel like routine?

Now I really wanted something different. I thought of going to USA. The idea seemed pretty exiting. So I started to apply for Graduate schools for Masters. I got admission in a good university, started facing this NEW life. But still at nights, a frightening voice comes from within, to wake up, to escape, to fly, to destroy, to breakthrough, to break free. I don’t have the solution, I feel like helpless. I feel numb.

If I look back at my past, I have done nothing which I really wanted to do. I am just flowing with tide; Hoping to get something better, to achieve some useless material thing, just running mad behind goals which are really not mine but planted by this world.

I am still in search of something new, something which will make me happy, something that I really want. But I don’t know what that something is.

Is these all called life? What is the purpose of my life? Why do I exist? Why can’t I do the things I want? Why can’t I be with people I want? Why do I have to leave my friends? Is there anyone who can answer me?

Are you listening God?

These are the questions I am facing daily from my friends. So please go through this. If you can’t find it here, you can contact me.

Q. How is life?
A. Cool

Q. What’s up?
A. Nothing much

Q. Any GF in US?
A. No

Q. When are you coming back to India?
A. Don’t know

Q. Hows your Studies going on?
A. Good till now

Q. What are the plans after Studies?
A. Don’t know

Q. Do you like it there (US) so far?
A. Yes

Q. Are you online on Yahoo 24×7?
A. Yes