Tuesday, May 22, 2007

 

Graduation Time

Finally on May 11th, 2007 I completed my Masters degree in Industrial Engineering at Texas A&M University and I want to dedicate this achievement to my parents because of whom I am able to reach here today. There was a time when I was too much tensed up applying for US Universities to pursue masters degree from India, mustering all the documention work, consulting with my seniors, taking advises from dad and mom, friends about what to do and what not to do once I reach US and now its all done. It was more than two years back and how the time has gone by, I didn't even realise it. And now I am ready to make a lunge forward into the next phase of life which is entirely different and much more complicated than a student life.
Now when I look back so many things happened in this tiny period of time which makes me feel that it was really worth coming to US. I learnt many things, met so many people from different parts of the world, visited lots of places, got to know about different cultures, went through both tough and easy times, had lots of fun, made good friends and still its not the end of journey! The important thing I realised is that life is full of experiences and full of surprises and you will never know what is going to happen the very next moment. Thats the beauty of it and it all depends on the way one sees and perceives life. I think I am getting too much philosophical here which I am not so coming back to my graduation topic, it was a real fun time all throughout my masters. The very first day I landed here at TAMU campus I was encountered with two unique personalities - Homarjun and Abhishek as I was hosted in their apartment and since then I became part of their daily routines and I have already mentioned in one of my previous posts that how they are unique. Both are IITians and now pursuing their Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and one can easily guess how difficult it would have been for me adjusting with such brains ;)
As part of one of the best Universities of US, I learnt so many things both at academic and personal front. TAMU has a huge campus and student strength is more than 40,000 so it was a big culture shock for me to see around when I was new here. I interacted with the most learned and experienced faculty members from different departments of the school which itself was an experience for me. There are so many things to be learnt from them and every time you talk to them it gives an extra punch to do better and excell in your life. Apart from academics, I also got an opportunity to pursue my sports interests like I played decent amount of soccer and through which I made very good friends not only from India but from other parts of the world also and ofcourse played lots of pool. I travelled and drove to many places in the last two years which now has become my hobby and I am very happy that its part of my life now. I never miss an opportunity going for long drives and seeing new places.
I am also thankful to friends like Homarjun, Abhishek, Baski and Greg through whom I came to learn about western music. Initially it took me a bit of time to get used to such kind of music but now I have become an ardent fan of Western music otherwise I would have been still listening to those crapy hindi songs by singers like Himesh Reshamiya. Now I listen rock and heavy metal from GNR, AC-DC, Led Zepp, Pink Floyd to Metallica, Iron Maiden.
There are still many more experiences that happened in these two years and that I would like to share but I would leave those for some othe time. At last, my graduation ceremony became more special and valuable by the presence of my sister Nancy, her son Arjun and my aunt who came from Canada. I also thank Baski for taking out time and coming to my graduation ceremony. It would have been dream come true if my mom, dad, brother and bhabhi had been here on my graduation but.....Nancy, my aunt and my friends Homarjun, Abhishek, Baski and Jagdeep arranged a party for me and we all had a great time. I have uploaded some of my graduation pictures on the link below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/karambirkalsi/MyGraduationPictures
At the end I would again thank my mom, dad, brother and bhabhi because of whom I was able to come to US and got such a valuable experience.

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