Time for celebration

Friday the 13th was when the Rubber met the Road. Yes, we (I and Aias) took a day off and left early morning for Binghamton. I took him via Rt 17 which was an additional 30 minutes journey and worth the scenic drive. After touching Binghamton around 4ish, we headed straight to the University Bookstore where I bought the graduation gown plus the hood. After meetings friends oncampus, we went to Nirchi's outside the campus for a quick grab. Ok - time for action. One of my senior was keen on frisbee, so we did some sports oncampus with this lots-of-running and I fagged out. Being tired, we all agreed that its now time to check-in to the hotel. Well, guess what - 7 guys in 1 room with 2 twin beds. Everyone adjusted and stayed comfortable. Who cared about it? Dinner was at Olive Garden. Started with a toast of Tequila shots followed by Sicilian Senegrea. They called it Berry Wine. Wish I had some pictures here.

That evening, we went to the Downtown - did some dancing plus lots of drinks and had a blast. Chris had also joined from Virginia with his 91 model pony (Red convertible Mustang) which I rode the following day. Jeez - that car flies. He taught me this nice trick to drive the car until it reaches 3000rpm on second gear and then you floor the gas pedal. Wooooosh - you are 80+ within no time. Thats what I call a car - it was a machine. Good that traction was in place else I would have just taken off. It was fun driving oncampus with all the girls looking at you while you make that engine noise. I felt great.

Imbibed in fun, I slept around 4 and was up in no time ready to go oncampus at 8:30 for the graduation ceremony. Thats what I am talking about- the day I waited so long. Every international student here in US must be eager to wait for this day. Morning was the Watson School ceremony where I was dressed sharp in my business casual as a mobile agent.

The Concluding Dimension of the Masters Ceremony


Mike & Agent


First to be congratulated by the billboard


Then came the cultural American tradition later at 5pm where I wore the black gown and the hood and walked through the right of passage. It was a mark of my student life to professional life.

After receiving the final ultimatum


It was a pleasure meeting Denise and Patel family that day too. Sunday morning was a bit relaxing. I completed my usual 8 hour sleep and got ready to play some sports. We went to Huned's place first where he made some Indian tea and then headed for Cole's park off Exit 3 on 81S.



Old Friends at Cole's Park

Did volleyball on the beach for few hours. We had strong players on both the teams.


Himanshu with his professional serve

We started off with around 10 players and few more joined us later.


Sourabh, Sahana and Amol join us later

It was 3:30pm and time to depart for everyone. Some had to drive as close to Pughkeepsie while some had to go all the way up to Boston.
A final picture to mark the end of the weekend had to be taken.


The Entire group at Cole's park. Something is missing here...?

I had promised Aias to show him around Binghamton and take him to where Williams (Friendship Family) lived which we did next. The clock ticked so fast that it was time to leave. We got home around 9pm to New Haven and now its time for a yet-another looooong week at work. Oh, damn!