The International Students and Scholars Office welcomes the Fall 2011 International Students

You have chosen a school with a commitment to strong international student services, very active student organizations and more importantly an international office that is dedicated to help you with your academic and cultural adjustment concerns. If we cannot help you, we will refer you to the appropriate person or office that can. Keep in mind that it is perfectly normal to feel homesick and encounter adjustment problems to food, climate, classroom style etc. These feelings are typical with new students. How people manage through this time period will vary. Everyone handles change differently and within their own timeframe. It helps to stay involved. This year we will continue to expand on and off-campus activities. Those of you wishing to take an active role may be afforded a great opportunity to earn a nominal stipend. It will also be helpful to get acquainted with your surroundings. Our office will provide tours of the UML campus and downtown Lowell as well as trips to Boston and local areas. You will find Lowell to be a welcoming community already accustomed to a variety of cultures. It has established Southeast Asian, African, Brazilian, Greek, Hispanic, Indian and Portuguese neighborhoods, with various ethnic restaurants and stores. You are just short drive away from beaches, lakes, mountains, and great cities such as Boston, Providence, New York City. Please Note that all official school email, including email from our office, goes to your UML email address. You will need to check your UML email regularly. It will contain important academic announcements, information on critical deadlines, social activities, etc. Our new website will be operational later in the fall and will offer another method of disseminating information. On behalf of the Staff of the International Students & Scholars Office, I wish you a very successful and enjoyable academic year! Don’t hesitate to contact us at isso@uml.edu with your questions. Maria Conley Maria Conley

International Students & Scholars Office Staff: Maria Conley, Director

Monica Rodriguez, ISSO Jason Rowe, International Student Services Coordinator

Laura Edwards, International Services Assistant

ISA is a cultural organization that tries to bring out the rich traditions of Indian

culture. The activities organized are open to the entire UML community in an

attempt to share beliefs and ideas that are part of our culture. ISA renders various

services to its members - working with new graduate students at the start of the

academic year and organizing functions to commemorate Indian traditions and

festivals. ISA, on a social level, provides a nexus between its members through its

various activities.

This academic year, team ISA aims to come up with new ideas to bring the desi

community at Lowell together like never before. Keeping the tradition alive, we

present Mauj - a periodic platform where our members showcase their creative and

literary skills as well as a medium to share the latest happenings and achievements

in the community. We would like to thank all the members who have been a part

of Mauj. It surely has been a team effort. We hope to have more contributors

with each prospective issue. Enjoy reading!

The Candle Light Vigil

On July 13, a coordinated terrorist attack struck Mumbai, India.

Over 30 lives lost, more than 150 injured.

On July 20, the UML community came together for a candle

light vigil, organized by ISA and IDRF with support from ISSO,

to express solidarity towards victims of the tragedy.

We thank Ms. Maria Conley, Director of the ISSO, Ms.

Deborah White, Co-ordinator of Graduate Programs and

Imogene Stulken, Pastor, Protestant Campus Minister for

their co-operation in organizing the prayer service.

A letter signed by the students and faculty of UML

expressing sympathy and extending support towards the

affected was sent to the President of India and Chief

Minister of Maharashtra State.

The Plastics Engineering Department at

UML has a long tradition of accepting foreign students into its graduate programs. Indian students had come to study Textile Engineering at Lowell Tech and since the late sixties students have also come to obtain Master’s and doctorate degrees in Plastics Engineering at UML. Over the years, a network of alumni both in the US and India has been established. Dr. Stephen Driscoll has played a lead role in encouraging this interchange and made more than half a dozen trips to India where he created a long standing interaction with CIPET, a government institute for studying plastics engineering and technology. In the last two years, the university has made a concerted effort to recruit foreign students and it was decided that a trip to India should be made and the Plastics Engineering Department would play a leading role in this task. A trip for recruiting purposes and an alumni reunion was arranged in March 2011. The logical choice for the trip was Dr. Driscoll but since he had a health problem, I agreed to be a part of the trip and was accompanied by two young professors of the department- Dr. Ramaswamy Nagarajan and Dr. Stephen Johnston. Our visit started off by landing in Mumbai where arrangements had been made for us to stay in The Taj Lands End by the beach side. Our arrival gave us one day to adjust to the time change. It was a local holiday, the festival of colors, Holi, during which the people smear colored powders and water at each other as a part of tradition. Our hotel was of the highest quality and was remarkable like I had read about it in several magazines before. In the hotel’s main corridor is an enormous painting which featured in the National Geographic, depicting a splendid procession of a Moghul emperor’s entire entourage with several hundred servants, elephants and horses.

The main purpose of our stay at the hotel was to host an alumni reunion. With advance publicity by our Office of Development, a group of about 70 alums showed up for the event. Our former Dean, Dr. Krishna Vedula, now acting as a special assistant to Provost for International Partnerships flew in for the occasion. It was great to see many alumni and their families. They have to be commended for braving the horrendous traffic about which we learned more during the later part of our trip. A great time was had by all and there is talk of doing this in the future. It should be noted that in the US, we have over three hundred Indian alumni who meet annually at our National Technical Conference. Many of our alums are entrepreneurs who have companies founded by them or by their parents. We left the beautiful Taj hotel and drove to Gujarat to visit some of the local companies. The traffic is essentially free for all. Trucks, cars, rickshaws, all in turn compete with pedestrians, livestock and dogs. The distance to the companies was about 100 miles but the driving time could take up to 3 or 4 hours depending on traffic. It was a surprise that everybody uses their horns unlike in the US. One of our first visits was to Rajiv Plastics, a company owned by the family of our alum, Hemant Minocha. It is a master batch company which has multiple plants in India. They supply color concentrates and plastics additives throughout India. Hemant is quite an entrepreneur and illustrated how our alums combine their book gained knowledge with the industrial experience that they gained in the US to make innovations in their own country and help create an impact on the economy. We also visited Nilkamal Plastics in Silvassa. This is a $200 million company owned by our alum Nyan Parekh.

The company is into plastics furniture and materials handling products used in modern manufacturing and shipping. They have state of the art machines in their plants all over India. While driving we could also observe the landscape and the weather. It was a drastic change to go from winter back home to the heat and humidity there. While we drove we could not help but be impressed by the rapid industrialization. Many foreign car and high tech companies were building plants on land donated by the government. New roads, buildings, transmission lines and total infrastructure were being built before our eyes. Aside from the visits to industries we also visited few universities to recruit future students. One of our first visits was to MIT, a private university affiliated to the University of Pune. We were hosted by Prof.Pramod Joshi and the Dean Prof. Darade Patil. This university can be a great source for future graduate students and may also be a candidate school as a partner for our on-line program. We held discussions on how we could partner and on-line distance learning courses would be one way to give course credits that would lead to a MS degree and at the same time reduce costs associated with residency on-campus at UML. A second institute in Mumbai that we visited was the Indian Institute of Packaging, an industry sponsored institute that specializes in packaging. Our host was Dr. M.C. Dordi and the visit was arranged by our alum Hemant Minocha. The institute has modern laboratory facilities for the characterization of packaging. They follow international testing procedures and provide industrial seminars several times a year. UML may want to seek closer cooperation perhaps again with on-line seminars or courses. We also visited the United States-India Educational Foundation (USIEF), an educational advising center affiliated with the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). We were hosted by Ms. Sucharita Narayanan. Their offices act as a clearing house for candidates who want to study in the US.

We went well prepared with presentations, brochures, business cards to create awareness and encourage students to explore opportunities at our university. Our trip was very short and we were fortunate that many of our alums were kind to show great hospitality and treated us that we could experience the local cuisine. We also did some

sightseeing and shopping for souvenirs. We did get to see the India Gate and the famous hotel which was the tragedy of the terrorist attack where reconstruction is still ongoing. The visit was too short to experience all the history but we had a

chance to visit the Archaeological Survey of India museum which gave a detailed history of India. I remember learning about some of the ancient culture when I took a course on ancient civilizations. I also learned a little about various gods and liked the god, Ganesh the most. All in all I found the people very friendly and most gracious. We have been thinking of how to increase our interaction to continue this in future. Plast India is a worldwide trade show that occurs every three years. We thought we could send at least one or more professors to attend and hold an alumni event and perhaps also present a seminar and expand our recruiting drives to bring in bright hard working students from India. The trip was a great adventure to a new country that I had never visited. I appreciate the great hospitality that we received and I hope our interaction will grow in the future.

Speak of the Adrenaline rush and it isn‟t

the roller coasters of Six Flags that comes

to mind. Even if the twisting and turning

of the coasters do leave me electrified each

time, there hasn‟t absolutely been any

“rushing” experience to beat my

rendezvous with Parachuting, more

popularly known as Sky Diving!

Here I was, on a chilly Saturday morning

in April, driving my way to my first “out

of the world” experience. Sleep-deprived

and still woozy from the previous night‟s

bash, the thought of “jumping off an

airplane at 13,000 feet” suddenly made no

sense to me! Documentation, signing up

for a still and video capture happened in a

daze- thankfully, considering the

exorbitant amount of money

I was shelling out of my pocket!

Oh, well!

But the haze slowly lifted and so

did my spirits, as we patiently

awaited the cloudy weather to

clear up. Glimpses of the first few

diving and I knew I was doing

the right thing. Getting suited up and

receiving preliminary instructions also

expedited the build-up! I was attached to

an experienced diver assigned with the

task of saving me from hitting the ground,

if at all I forget to pull the deployment

cord at right time- too mesmerized or

passed out. Either of the overwhelming

case doesn‟t work in your favor!

Finally we were in the air rising slowly and

steadily. Immersed in a téte-a-téte with the

crew, I realized we reached 8,000 feet only

when I was getting buckled up and ready

to jump. The camera rolled and the

pictures clicked away while I felt a slight

churning in my stomach (good I hadn‟t

eaten breakfast). Yet, I could feel my

excitement rising, the sight below being

just lovely, the usual from that height.

And then I was at the door of the plane,

ajar! I was told to cross my hands, lest

I tried to grab the side bars, lock my feet,

and close my mouth-too much information

when I was at the edge but at the same

time, I couldn‟t wait to disembark!

Although I have never been afraid of

heights or speed, a split

second thought did occur to

me though—REALLY?!

But even before I could spell

it out in my head, we

stepped-out, we jumped!

I SCREAMED! Air rushed

into my mouth and my hands

were still across my chest! But then, I

let go… I found myself unfolding my arms

and spreading them out. I looked down, I

looked up, I looked around and I looked

all over! I was free falling at about 120

mph! But there had never been anything

better than this before. I could see the

curvature of the earth, things on the

ground far and near and speedily coming at

me! The camera person was parallel to my

position and sometimes right across from

me. I spent a lot of the free-fall time which

was less than a minute, posing for camera

and the ebullience showed on my face, the

thrill of falling at „g‟!

In no time, it was time to

deploy the chute and slow

down. It was then that I could

feel the ambience, absorb the

surroundings and everything

was perfect. Serenity took

over me, the real me took over

me. At that point, all I

wanted was to grasp the

situation to keep the memory alive in my

head forever, just like a motion picture.

Loosening up a bit, yet sitting snuggly in

the harness, I spiral-dove, right to left and

left to right until I got all dizzy.

This was a coaster-ish experience but

I could regulate my speed, but not without

immense power that I had to apply to pull

down any of the cords that I was holding

on to! For about 15 minutes we were

floating about nearly as the wind would

take us. I could see the drop zone and

ahead we went with the final descent.

Feet touched the ground, post the final

„thank you‟ and the „awesomes‟, I started

shaking! The RUSH!!! The

whole experience was just mind-

blowing, in the truest of sense.

The walk back to the hangar

gave me time to contemplate

over all that had been just

accomplished.

Every time I feel low or

demotivated, I go back to my video. It

cheers me up. The motion picture of

memories starts playing and I relive that

adventure. It helps me re-believe that if I

could jump from a plane, I could do

anything. That‟s my serum for inspiration.

And hey! It‟s almost time to jump again!!!!

Amruta Kalvit

MS Electrical Engineering -2011

So how many of us out there are Facebook addicts? Raise your

hand...Everyone!!! It seems like no matter what I go online for, the next instant

I find myself logged onto Facebook to see the latest status updates, see who’s

posted new pictures or to hear gossip from family or friends. I constantly feel

the urge to comment on various status messages even if I'm not sure why

exactly they’ve been put up. I think of a response, it's typed and posted even

before I realize. Is Facebook a mind warp? What has it done to me? I take scores

of quizzes to know myself better. I am a champion 'comment'ator & analyst who'll

put even Harsha Bhogle to shame! What exactly is it about Facebook that makes me

hooked on to it? Is it the constant input of "new"? Maybe it's the games, Aah, the games- Mafia Wars, Poker & Farmville.

Virtual Paradise!

When I set about to write this article, I wondered about what I could say about this social-networking addiction that hasn't

been said before.

Facebook, for better or worse, is like being at a big party with all your friends, family, acquaintances, co-workers and some

strangers. There are lots of fun and interesting people you're happy to talk to when they stroll up and then there are the

others who make you cringe when you see them coming. This article is about those kinds of people and many more.

Caution: If you get offended easily, lack a sense of humor or take things personally STOP reading this right now.

Facebook (or FB as it is fondly called) represents both the laudable and contemptible aspects of social networking. It is

almost considered a taboo if you don’t have a Facebook account. It is also by no means just one of those ‘teen-things’. It is

a phenomenon that has hit everyone, even our parents! Facebook (Thanks to Mr. Zuckerberg’s alleged misogynistic ways)

helps our society because everybody wants to be socially active and FB allows us to be this way, no matter where we are.

Facebook- my “LIFE”: Certain people consider Facebook their personal, God-granted billboard to provide their

‘friends’ (in their minds, the entire planet) with real-time updates on what they do, see, hear, eat, drink, feel, smell, vomit

up and suffer from! But mind you, these specimens were just the inception; many others from the UML-DC (Desi

Community) have gone down that road.

The Bad “Hing-Guj-lish” Grammarian: "So sade bout Zaheer par Im so glade friday che". Yes, I know the

punctuation rules are different in the digital world and no one likes spelling words in - Hindi, Tamil or Gujarati. But

dude/babe, you sound like a moron! Now you know why the UML-DC has people with some of the lowest GRE scores

possible.

The Chronic Liker: I know you like to click like in a likable likish world in which like is the new hype with mike on a

bike ready to click like. I like you until I see you like something! Their brains are similar to the size of a

squeaky mouse’s; hence they lack the creative ability to comment on things so they go about clicking

and liking anything under the sun. Their mouse-like brain combined with the computer’s mouse

manifests as this dangerous clicking obsession… "I woke up"- LIKE "I reached the gym"- LIKE "I ate"- LIKE “I” had a terrible

accident"- LIKE. Did u even read what you just liked?

The Crazy Pet Owner: A quick scan of Facebook reveals at least a few thousand profile pages for dogs and cats

along with less common pets such as birds, hamsters, ferrets, turtles, fish and rabbits. (Even Mr.Zuckerberg’s dog is out

there) But creating a Facebook profile for your dog? And writing in his non-existent voice? This is weird! For a lot of pet

owners (lonely people actually), it's totally normal. But these individual profiles are better than posting pet updates and

pictures through your own profile. "Eat, poop, groom, and sleep, repeat!" Well, whom are you talking about? When did

you switch from being human to canine? I didn’t accept your friend request because of this ….. Report as spam!

The Self-Obsessed Photo Freak: Some people have been living in the 18th century and have suddenly been

exposed to what people from the future call the 'Camera'. I know you are old-fashioned but please

can you stop showing us your ugly face from every angle/phone there ever was? He or she has a

profile picture that looks like it was taken for beauty brand ads and a majority of the times, these

people aren't even close to model material. They have one black and white picture taken and they

think they are the next Aaeeshwaryaa Rai.

The “Toddler”: First there was the Egyptian baby “Facebook Jamal Ibrahim” and now an Israeli couple has named

their kid “Like.” What do you think? Would you "Like" the name Like? Anyone who names their kids after a piece of junk

should be slapped repeatedly, until their brains stop functioning. So, if you are going to have a baby, please don't name her

or him after a Facebook button or any other technology, gadget or web service. Unless you use Google Doodle, you'll have

my blessing. I really appreciate the vision and pro-activeness of some of my fellow Facebookers in reserving a patch on

their favorite networking site for their loved ones. But the question still beckons as to at what age will you give these

toddlers access to their own profiles? (16.5-driving age, 18-voting age, 21-drinking age…or a new Facebooking age???)

What if he/she blocks you off as a parent and you lose your censorship rights? There might soon be a day when the nurse

at our local maternity ward may actually make parents fill out a Facebook form (only if a profile with the sonograms of the

unborn wasn’t already created).

The “Brangelinas”: Guys, I totally agree with your motto “Jab Pyaar Kiya toh Darna Kya” but in addition to the

constant "I love my baby chooooo much muah !!" and "I have the most amazing boyfriend/girlfriend in the whole world!!!"

updates, these couples have a lot more to announce. Their updates are filled with the most romantic flowery songs and

almost always include the words "stunning," "luckiest," and "best ever!”. But of course, all these announcements aren't

actually for their benefit, but for ours. We’re supposed to feel jealous of their burning love for one another and their

unbelievable luck to have found each other….. All posts from the Brangelinas have been “Hidden”!

Well there are other categories of people on my list- the Tech Freak, the Political/Social Activist, the one with a childhood

picture, the one with the changed name who is hard to recognize, the Poet/Shayar, the Stalker (that’s me!) but the editors

of Mauj are not as kind as the FB guys to give me infinite space to write on. Now, please excuse me while I go

post a link of what I just wrote on my FB page. I can’t wait to see how many ‘Like’s i’ll get for this!

**Disclaimer: None of the people mentioned above are fictitious, they all bear a strong resemblance to people who are

alive and are a part of the UML-DC.

Born in Malaysia and having lived in several other countries like Brunei, Sweden, Poland and Canada; my words cannot really describe India but I will try by sharing all the beautiful memories I have of visiting India.

India is amazingly diverse from any other place I’ve been to. No story, picture or video could really capture my experience

with the people and their culture.

India is a BIG country and to go there is a BIG experience. Like many others, my first real experience in India began with a cab ride. At first glance, the roads appeared to be filled with complete chaos. Cars, buses, tuk-tuks, rickshaws, horse-drawn carts, bikes, motorcycles, people, and cows were everywhere, moving in all directions. Honking filled the air, people drove with no more than a few inches of clearance, the number of lanes changed instantly, the few traffic lights that we encountered were optional at best and people crossed the street even though there didn’t appear to be a single break in traffic.

As I stared out of the window, with a large bus passing by just a couple of inches from my nose, I realized, even though the roads were more packed with cars, animals and people than I thought possible, traffic continued to move forward at a fairly even pace. The constant honking wasn’t the angry New Yorker style honking– people were actually communicating with one another! It was a fascinating sight to watch. Everything was so fluid and responsive, as it must be when so much diversity fills a single street.

That being said, my favorite part of India was definitely the good food there. I enjoyed eating vegetable biryani, chicken tandoori, samosas and pakora- the assortment of the scrumptious recipes was indeed awe-inspiring. It is often said that ‘Variety is the spice of life’ and this aptly describes Indian food.

You can’t describe India, you can’t fully understand India. You have to feel India. There is this vibrancy in the land and architecture. The kindness in the people leaves you with a feeling of connectedness. One just can’t stop but fall in love with India’s rich history that I experienced firsthand. India trip!, an incredible adventure without a doubt.

Zarif Farhana MS Plastics Engineering

and…then those who won Laurels!!

Abhishek Kumar : Graduate Scholar Award . "It is indeed a great honor for me. I got a very conducive environment for

doing research and am thankful to my advisor, colleagues and friends at

UMass Lowell. I am very proud to be part of Indian Student Association

at UMass Lowell."

Joshna Chittigori- Outstanding Graduate student in Chemistry

"I'm happy and excited to win the award. Projects what I work on involve synthesis of organic

molecules mainly- functionalization of curcumin, present in the Indian spice turmeric to make

use of its novel anti-cancer properties and conjugated polymers for sensing"

Soumitra Satapathi Graduate Student of the Year Award

“It does make you feel very special when your hardwork is appreciated. It

only pushes me harder to achieve my goals and keeps me motivated”

Sethumadhavan Ravichandran: EPA P3 Phase II award

“Being a Graduate student in UML, it was exciting to be in the group of award

winners from the MIT and the Harvard. This award grant of $85000 will be

used in purchasing new equipment for our research group. All credit to my

advisor and fellow Grad students. The credit is „Ours‟.”

Shivshankar Sivasubramanian

“I have not won many academic awards in my life so far. But to be the

winner of a prestigious award that takes into consideration your

contributions to the society, it is indeed a great honor. Many thanks to ISA,

which was really the platform that helped us contribute to the society.”

Congratulations!!