Over

The first day in Melbourne was sunny and warm. So was the last day.

I will deal with this part as briefly as I can. Allison was the first to say byebye. She said she would like to have me back again. I was happy to have done justice to my expectations as an IITian. Then she left for Brazil for a conference.

With Azmir too, things got a bit emotional towards the end. He came to the airport with us. Besides the good work experience together, we became good friends as well. I will miss him.

We owed Gail a lot, for her hospitality. We often gave her trouble. I with the keys, Kartik once with flooding his toilet (trying to perform an experiment to estimate how much water is wasted). Then there was Goldilocks (Piyush) who slept in Pulkit’s room the night Pulkit left, only to be surprised by Gail in the morning. We shared jokes about us with her. Every morning, we wished her, and she wished us back. We reflected on all these as we bid each other farewell.

Pulkit and Kartik, - we will be seeing each other for some more time, but I doubt whether there would be the long discussions or the leg pulling that we had amongst us. It was great knowing these guys. I developed a lot of respect for Kartik especially. And Pulkit didn't mind being our 'bakra' for much of the time. Thanks for taking it in good spirit, when you could have easily beaten us into pulp. Even SM became Piyush towards the end, and I found that I no longer disliked his company. It is just his ways that may put off a new person he meets. And finally Jai. At the Netaji Subhash Airport, we parted ways, not knowing if we’d ever meet again. In spite of him saying that there should be no morality and only rules that human beings need to follow, I did notice that his deeds and beliefs too had a moral aspect, beneath the crust. I greatly enjoyed his company throughout the trip.

To the readers of this blog, I think it is time to say goodbye from here. Though I would like you guys to keep in touch just as you did through GTalk or otherwise whenever you wished to comment on my blog. It was nice to get your inputs, and that’s what kept me writing till the end. (I am in general very lazy. My sister keeps record of a large list of the unfinished works of Arnab Dhabal, be it art or writing or whatever. I am happy that this won’t get added to that list.)

Wish to come up with something better in the future. Till then, adios.

City Pics

Federation Square

The Yarra

Arts Centre

Graveyard on Lygon Street

(Here we performed some of the GPS-IMU Kinematic Tests because of the large expanse of unobstructed satellite view)

State Library on Swanston Street

Yarra by the Crown

Melbourne Central (I named this the Batman house)

Flinders' Street Station

$100 for a city tour in them. Free city tour in City Circle trams

Gumtree

The modem i had bought was of no use after I leave Australia. So I sold it. I put up an ad on the Gumtree site, and unexpectedly I got interested customers, calling me up pretty soon. The ad was as follows:

If you want to get a new Internet connection, you could not get a better deal. Just install the modem (I have the full pack with accessories and CD). Choose an internet usage plan from Unwired, and start using the internet. As simple as that. And for just $39.95.

This same item has seen bids of more than $70. See links below.
http://www.oztion.com.au/buy/auction.aspx?itemid=5082155
and
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Unwired-Modem-Longlife-Battery--for-sale-or-rent_W0QQitemZ270341134778QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20090207?IMSfp=TL090207126001r12819

Positively contact me before purchasing item. Mobile: 0432115896

Not bad. Selling off an item for 40$ after buying it for 50.

Reflections

Saman filled me with a lot of details about the projects under him, and I learnt about the PhD programmes and all. He seemed to be quite interested in getting me as a PhD student here, even in the Mechanical Department. He stressed on how staying in Australia is better than staying in the US. In terms of research, well, I got the feeling that the people here are a bit prone to publishing papers irrespective of the fact whether they do substantial research or not. And people generally live in ‘peace’. Things tend to go slightly slow here. The facilities are quite good however. And if someone has a plan and motivation, this is the right place. As for my future, I will have to see how my next 3 years shape up……

It is almost time. And I came here to study, to learn. Well, I did learn quite a lot of things. They were mostly technical stuff about serial port communication. And starting from zero knowledge about VB (I mean Visual Basic, not Victoria Bitter), I did a satisfactory job. Allison was extremely satisfied. She said that my program would be extremely helpful not only for the present work, but also for future students. She gifted me a camera, -better than the one I lost. The university too decided to compensate me, and I tried my best to refuse, but the gift voucher of 400 dollars was already bought by the Uni. It was kind of awkward, and as undeserving and unjust as the tram ticket fine.