Me, My mind and Wilderness

Patience, My dear Watson

2009-08-13T13:21:00.000-04:00

Patience is an admirable virtue. Many times I think not about the people but the things in my life which have waited and still waiting to get my attention. I wonder what they would say if they had a mind to speak up.

One of the most patient creatures is the apple that travels with me everyday to work. Poor thing endures all the hassles of car and train journey every week day and still puts forward its best red face on Friday evening when I eventually eat it on the way back home. I don't know why both of us should go through this torture. I should better start bringing a fruit which I relish.

Every time I buy tindora I promise myself to cook it the very next day and every time I forget or just ignore it. They sit in my refrigerator braving all the fungus that might be threatening them. Ultimately when one of them goes bad, I cook to save the others.

I might be one of the few people who owns the Dosa/Idli Grinder and never uses it. In the past so many years, I can count in one hand how many times I might have used it. I, in fact own two of them. My mother got me a lighter one few months back thinking the small and light gadget might allure me. Trust me, nothing yet has convinced me to grind the dosa/idli flour at home. I buy from the super market when needed.

I can't believe why a machine to fold washed clothes has not been invented yet. I actually end up folding at least 2 or 3 loads of accumulated washed laundry. This, after I realize that I better do the work else we would have nothing to wear.

Coupons and I are poles apart. We are never together at the same time. I remember them when I am not shopping and when I am indeed buying things, they are conveniently forgotten at home. Every Sunday, I keep aside the coupon section aside to take out the ones I need and every following Saturday I trash the newspaper as the coupons would have already be expired.

Half of my email box must be filled up by Tarla Dalal and other cooking emails. The amusing part is when I have to make something different, I always google for the recipes and never go through my emails. I should better unsubscribe myself from all these just to make my email box lighter.

There are of course other endless financial concepts, languages and To-Do lists trying to draw my attention which I’ll look at some other time.

Tech is blind

2009-06-18T15:13:00.000-04:00

Technology can be blinding. Sometimes one can be so engrossed in discovering the new features that one might forget how the old original ones work. Many times as part of enhancing these new cool features, the old ones are moved around a little and the change is never mentioned, maybe because it is considered trivial.

The other day, one of our relatives visited us in a rental car. It has been sometime since I rode a rental car and I was not aware how tech friendly it has become. While bidding them goodbye, I noticed that the car keys were dangling in the start-key notch inside the car. The couple looked relaxed and unperturbed. I thought maybe they have not realised gravity of the situation and was debating to speak up my mind when the guy swiped a card in the door handle and it clicked open. That was awesome. Later he explained that like hotel keys, no one needs car keys now. All you need is a card. Swipe and the door opens. I really need such a cool car especially when I have a history of locking my car keys inside twice.

Every time, I switch cell phones, it takes me lesser time in familiarizing with the new features that to realise how the basic - call/end works. Some phone have two different button for "start" call and "end" call while others have one "talk/call" button which toggles between start and end call. When I got my touch-technology cell phone few months back, I used to fumble to end the call. During the conversation, the cellphone would get locked and the display lights would turn off. Hence when I had to end the call, I would have to unlock and then press a key or two to get the desired result. Listening to voice messages was another disastrous story. While I had cool features of setting unique ring tones for various incoming calls, capturing video, audio and still pics in my cellphone, the basic feature of making a call became complicated.

Today, my work laptop got infected and I got a substitute laptop to carry on my work. I was awed by how sleek and cool the new one looks. I attached the power cable and opened the laptop to power it on when I realised there was no "Power On" key. I wondered if this had the power of switching itself on. I felt ridiculous to ask such a trivial question so I actually studied each key but still could not find the "On" key. Feeling embarrassed, I reached out to pick up the phone to dial the help desk. I tilted my head to support the phone receiver when I saw the small "On" button way up in the edge on the side of the laptop!

Childhood Fascinations

2009-06-12T14:34:00.002-04:00

There are umpteen games that we play as kids which never make to the main stream. Everyone knows about soccer, tennis, cricket, volleyball, football etc. I am talking about those simple, small games which remain fascination for few months or years and then wear off. Later as adults, we start following whatever the main stream sports offer.

And if you research, you would find that these games are played in almost all parts of the world with minor variations and they remain source of joy only for a short while during school years.

There was a game I played as a small girl with five stones. I don’t even know the game’s name but I used to call it “five stones”. Later I read in some book that young children in Africa also play similar game. This was a fascination for me for a year or two in mu middle school and I used to practice playing at home daily. Now, I don’t remember the rules but have a vague idea of how to play. Another one used to be “ghasita”. This was not as popular as its cousin “staapu” or “hop scotch”. It involved dragging the main striker along as one hopped over the squares. Even “staapu” and “hopscotch” are not exactly the same.

I enjoyed playing “pithu” that involved marble stones and a ball. It must be one of the most popular street games. There was a game that our whole class used to play when we were in grade 11 and 12. It used to involve two teams and one team had to run to a certain point and come back while the other team tried to stop them. I forgot the name but I used to love playing it. There was another game which also involved two teams and there were four squares drawn on the ground. The idea was to have one whole team in one square while the other team tries to stop them. Again, my memory fails me in remembering the name.

As a girl, I played even more girlish and sometimes meaningless games – clapping hands, jumping and turning around. Then there were others: “kho-kho” – this is kind of duck-duck-goose, “oonch-neech-ka-papda” – where the team has to choose between up or down. If they chose up, they had to be in an elevated position. If they tried to come down, they could be caught. Anyone remember “Chidiya –ud”?

All these were harmless yet fun filled games. Summer was never boring as one can play these over and over and over again. Then the world advanced and video games became part of our life. I have not played much video game. I used to have couple of computer games when I was in college but never got addicted. Tennis, soccer or cricket is not the same playing in a 20 inch screen where a slight movement of your finger can turn the game against you. Few of the computer games I enjoyed were Solitaire, Minesweeper and Tetris.

Now with Wii and Xbox, gaming industry has completely turned around. Now days, toddlers are getting introduced to Wii before their first soccer class. I am sure Olympics would also start featuring popular games played in current times. Last I heard was they were planning to introduce Tetris in Olympics!

Bon Appétit

2009-06-11T12:32:00.003-04:00

Some dishes are like friendships. You always relish them. I can actually count the number of dishes I have really enjoyed in my life till now. These tastes heavenly and I can still remember the joy of eating them the first time. To name a few:

1. Nirula's Hot Choc Fudge: My mouth is watering as I type this. One of the best deserts existing on the earth. Surprisingly I have not had too much of these but I remember once treating my work colleagues on my birthday.

2. Nirula's veggie burger: It is one of the first fast food I have tasted and boy did I love it. There was one Nirula's pretty close to the University I studied in Delhi. My friends and I would eat burgers on any pretext as lunch, mid day snack, not-hungry-but-can-eat-burger time.

3. Buttered Nan and shahi panner: I don't know how those calories act as appetizer and make stomach want for more.

4. Veggie Quesadilla: I used to love the ones served by TGIF. I don't go to TGIF as they hardly have anything veggie but I heard that now these do not taste the same.

5. Rava Dosa: These have always tasted heavenly.

6. Burrito Bowl: I cannot have enough of this. The best part is it is healthy. I never knew plain rice and raw vegetables can taste so yummy. I think guacamole does the trick.

7. Mango Milk shake: Need I have to say thing here? The king of fruits is definitely the king of drinks.

What makes your mouth water?

Words are all I have

2009-06-09T12:40:00.007-04:00

I can converse in three languages fluently and also have the ability to mix and match the words from these languages into the same sentence. Now I am so comfortable with this mix and match that I often forget the origin of the word. Add to this all the slang of teenage and college days. The result - a new language that can baffle any stranger. In my younger days, we tried to invent a "code" language which parents would not understand. At that time the code would be very simple - reversing the word or switching letters in specific places. Of course we never had an earth shattering secret to hide. So it never mattered if our code language actually got decoded. Later in my teenage days, my normal language became code to my parents.

Language of course evolves with time. Words describe not only the kind of lifestyle but also the change in our mindset. I am sure the current English Dictionary looks completely different from it's first edition. It is also keeping pace and updating new words from different origins, communities and reflecting the time we are living in. I wonder how many of the actual English words are of English origin now.

Did you know that 1 millionth word is going to get added into Oxford Dictionary on June 10 2009? Following are the finalists:

* Chengguan: Urban management officers, a cross between mayors, sheriffs and city managers.

* Jai Ho! From the Hindi, “It is accomplished”: achieved English-language popularity through the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.

* Mobama: Relating to the fashion sense of the US First Lady, as in “that is quite mobama-ish”.

* Noob From the gamer community: a neophyte in playing a particular game; used as a disparaging term.

* Phelpsian: The accomplishments of Michael Phelps at the Beijing Olympics.

* Quendy-Trendy: British youth-speak for hip or up-to-date.

* Wonderstar: As in Susan Boyle, an overnight sensation, exceeding all reasonable expectations.

* Zombie Banks: Banks that would be dead if not for government intervention

Who do you think should get the honor of being the one millionth word in English lexicon?

UPDATE: The millionth word is "Web2.0". Wow, I did not know it was a finalist. Thanks to it, we are able to meet in this virtual land.

For Whom the bell tolls

2009-06-05T12:41:00.016-04:00

HipHop Grandma's post stirred my mind. Like all of us, I have experienced fear after taking a wrong turn on the road or waiting for someone too long. However, many of these fears got diminished with time, maturity and understanding of the situations.

One of my worst nightmares was what I experienced on Nov 1 1984 in New Delhi. The day before, Oct 31 1984 had started out just as any other normal day. At that time and even now my parents live in West Delhi, which has huge Punjabi and Sikh population. I was studying in Grade 4 in school run by a retired Sikh military officer. A year before, my brother had left the school to join a middle school. All of us - my parents, my brother and I used to leave and come home in four different times. We all had spare home keys with us but usually it was me or my mom who would come home first. Few months back our house had got burgled and I developed a fear of entering the house alone. I was able to overcome that fear with time. Hence, many times I would sit in my neighbor’s house waiting for my mom to return and then enter my home.

In the afternoon of On Oct 31, which was a Wednesday, I was sitting in a bamboo chair outside my neighbor’s verandah and doing my homework. I remembered I forgot to get my Moral Science work book from the school after the teacher had corrected it. Just then my mom arrived in an autorickshaw and her face was tensed. She greeted my neighbor and asked her if she knew the news. My neighbor nodded and my mom hurried me home. I understood that the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi was assassinated. My mom had heard of some disturbing violence in few places in Delhi. My brother and dad arrived at their usual time home that evening. But the atmosphere in the neighborhood was apprehensive. Nobody could comprehend what an assassination of a Prime Minister would mean. I told my mom about my work book but she mentioned that I would not be going to school for couple of days as they had declared national mourning.

On Nov 1 1984, the newspapers were filled with news about Indira Gandhi and the future of India. After brunch, I was sitting with my parents in their bedroom. My brother was in the next room. My dad was reading the newspaper. I don't remember what my mom was doing exactly but I was reading a book and actually enjoying a sudden vacation in the middle of the week. I had not fully understood how grim the situation was. Suddenly we heard a faint shouting. The cry seemed to become stronger every second. Then my brother came into the room we were all in and all of us went to the front door, opening the door slightly. Our neighbors were also outside. We did not understand what was happening till we saw a huge mob emerging from the nearby streets. This huge crowd surrendered the last house in our street. That house belonged to a Sikh family. Thankfully, the family had escaped the previous evening. The mob broke into the house and took away every thing they found and finally burnt the house.

I was terrified and nobody had any answer. My parents were speechless by such human atrocity. The policemen were standing and staring and did not do anything to curtail the mob's actions. In the evening, we heard that my school was also burnt down. I believe my workbook must have also been reduced to ashes. The next few days were horrific. We heard and saw so much human hatred that I thought the world would come to an end. The sky was dark and gloomy with smoke. I never went back to that school. I joined my brother in his school in the middle of the year.

With years, things slowly returned back to normalcy. In our colony, they built a temple, Gurudwara and Church next to each other to promote communal brotherhood. I have never got answers to such horrific act but they get repeated often in some form in every part of the world. I don’t know how all these would end. But it made me realize to respect the only religion that should prevail the world - humanity.

Brain Drain

2009-03-24T11:29:00.003-04:00

"Every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain".
--Homer in Simpson

I can't agree with it more especially when I am experiencing it first hand. Nowadays, whatever I read/learn/talk, stays in my head for two days before bouncing off. You can call it effect of getting older, poor concentration, trying to handle too many tasks before dropping them all, you can pick whatever. I won't remember your choice after two days. I used to be pretty good in remembering stuff. I would retain class teachings in my head for a long time. Not only would I remember what the teacher taught but also her/his gestures and mannerisms. The main reason of why I loved imitating them at home and be an entertainment to my entire family. I never needed assistance in remembering my friend's birthdays or nick names.

But things have obviously changed.

Last week, I bumped into a nice girl with a very familiar face. She beamed at me and greeted me with my name. During the initial conversation, I figured out that I worked with her in one of my previous companies three years back but still could not recall her name. She, on the other hand had an elephantine memory. She remembered my colleagues and the group I worked for. Why she even remembered my personal email id!! I had to stop her there and ask her name. I was getting dizzy talking to a person who remembered so much about me while my brain was coming up with a blank screen when I inquired it who she was.

I heard learning art or language can help keeping brain young. I started taking Violin class again. Only drawback, I didn’t remember everything I needed to practice. Once I told my teacher what I practiced at home only to realize that I practiced what was going to be taught that day!

The other day I got involved in daily chores that I completely ignored my stomach. I wound up the day's work and got ready to hit the bed when I heard rumbling. I had forgotten to eat and of course sleep never embraces an empty stomach.

I figured I need to do something about it. So I started jotting down “to-do" list daily. Now only if I can remember where the list is...

Life on a Refrigerator

2009-01-21T17:26:00.008-05:00

Suma tagged couple of weeks ago on the stories told by my fridge. Take a look.

It shows many places that we have visited. There are photos of how my kids looked when they were 2 years old (which is not too long ago). There is a picture of me and my daughter(next to the doll in top left corner) in a county fair. Me and little A were pretty excited as this was the first fair we were attending. I had no expectations but by the end of 3 hours, we had won 20 soft toy as prizes. It was so much for us to carry that we had to get hold of an unused garbage bag to put in all the toys. Incidentally all these soft toys were nice and different. My son at that time was 3 months old and we surprised him by showing a whole soft toy jungle. Since then we have attended 2 more county fairs but no such luck.

Travel makes one young and liberal. We come to learn new culture, get a taste of new cuisine and experience the life of locals. Of the 28 Indian states and 7 Union territories, I have visited 12 of them and lived in one of them. Of the 50 US states, I have visited 20 and am living in one. Hopefully I will be able to cover many, if not all the 195 countries in this life.

I am very excited about collecting a souvenir where ever I go, fridge magnets if possible. In fact I would like to have a world map and fill in the places we have visited with a souvenir brought from there. I remember once when visiting Sumana in Chicago, I drove everyone crazy shopping for an appropriate souvenir. People like to collect different things, one person I know likes to collect caps from places visited and the other likes to collect Tshirts. What do you like to collect?

I pass on the tag to Monika, Prats, Sumana, Arc, Archana and anyone else who would like to pick it up.

PS: I took the photo from my phone camera. Will post a clearer picture taken from a regular camera soon.

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-19T18:45:00.005-05:00

With dreams in eyes and hope in heart
Will the next year turn up something apart

Life challenges us to be strong
We need to stand tall, however things go wrong

We need to listen within, to understand what is being told
To find peace inside us before spreading it to the world

With prayers for happiness, peace, health and prosperity
Wishing you all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Write-a-thon

2008-11-25T09:32:00.002-05:00

Among other things, this generation will be remembered for its obsession to physical fitness. Almost every person who maintains a reasonable standard of living must be working out or at least experienced it once. They in fact burn their calories even before their food is digested. So much is the fascination that even donations are related to exercise of some sort. There are marathons, walk-a-thon, hop-a-thon, bike rides happening frequently all around the world. Recently I heard of a person raising money by climbing the stairs of Sears Towers in Chicago. So now we have climb-a-thon for the enthusiastic stair climbers. I read in a story about charity fundraising through bungee/plane jumping. Not sure if that got implemented in the real life. I realized the library close to my home had a weekend reading. Basically, you come to the library and read for 48 hours to your heart’s content. I doubt whether it was a fundraiser.

My workout till now has lasted a day. I do have taken part in couple of activities at school. Not sure if these will be counted. As kids, we used to have silly contests amongst ourselves such as who takes the lecture notes fastest or who can write in smallest handwriting or how much of lecture notes one can scramble in one page or how many books/comics can be finished in the 30 minute library time. I can’t say how much went inside our heads but these were fun nonetheless. The contests used to continue as who would reach home first without running and things of that order.

This brings out the basic nature of humans of getting involved. People nowadays are obliged not only to give money but also calories for a good cause. I wonder whether we will ever have cook-a-thon (you get to give money as well as food), meditate-a-thon or skip-a-thon. One thing that will never surface out is sleep-a-thon, which anyone will be too pleased to oblige.

Time Travel

2008-10-22T13:49:00.002-04:00

Suma tagged me to reveal what I did 10 years ago and plan to do 14 years hence.

Two questions in each category answer them and then tag your friends from the blog-o-sphere. (Simple enough right) Leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and you are all set.
Yesterday - Your oldest memory - What were you doing 10 years ago?
Today -Your first thought today morning - If you built a time capsule today what would it contain?
Tomorrow - This year ….What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?

Yesterday:
Oldest Memory: When I was a first grader, I had a school uniform tunic, into which I could get in easily but had great difficulty taking it out. Every afternoon after my mom was back from work, we had a comic scene at home when my grad pa will hold my hands and my mom would use her full force to take the tunic off my head.

10 years ago: Oct 1998. My friends and me got our job placements and we went to Shimla on a class trip. There are wonderful memories of endless chat, playing cards late into mid night and singing for 8 hours straight while travelling in a bus.

Today:
First thought in the morning: Woke up smiling. Did not have any dream but something is giving me peace.

In a time capsule: All the wonderful moments in my life which I would like to treasure for ever with the same fervor.

Tomorrow:
This Year: I would become an aunt in couple of weeks. I am looking forward to meet the new arrival.

14 years hence: If I could.... Okay let me be practical. Hopefully I would still be writing something. I wonder if travel to Antarctica or moon would have become affordable.

I tag Arc, Archana, Madhu, Dinker, Subha and any one else who wants to take it up.

Interpreter of dreams

2008-10-15T15:53:00.001-04:00

A beautiful dream is worth thousand thoughts. I have not read Freud and other psychological geniuses but dreams have always amazed me. For most mornings, I forget what I dreamt at night. To be honest I don't know whether I dream or not everyday. I think we need to dream in some time period at night to remember it in the morning.

I used to have a friend whose dreams came true, literally. She would have dreams like one of her friends or family getting sick or how she would fare in a future exam. Once she actually figured out her grandma’s death. This is actually little eerie. Though we all love to know our future, it is the uncertainty that keeps us going. Another friend of mine would have funnier dreams about the characters she read in books. When Delhi was under terrorist threat, she dreamt how she used machine guns to keep her place safe from invaders.

The dreams become bizarre when we try to link things not related to each other. We can laugh at these as we know they do not convey much meaning. But there are some, which help us steer in the right direction. If my mind is disturbed for sometime, many times I have found answer in my dreams. I have actually solved few of my physics problems like that. I have also read that many solutions dawn human mind when mind is at rest. May be that is the state when our conscience is in play and it advices us what is right for us. Whether the answer is in favor or not, there is peace in heart and this feeling can be a cure to depression.

I have never tried to interpret my dreams too much because I feel sometimes over analysis deviate from the path of actual cause. It is just the moment of tranquility in the morning that I look for. We seek for peace outside because there is so much chaos within us but the reality is peace is within us.

Life isn't a bowl of cherries

2008-10-07T13:28:00.002-04:00

Biologist proved long time back that life is always the survival of the fittest. By fittest, you can say the mightiest and the most powerful. Of course others always try to stand up and are successful in their own ways, balancing how much they can fight and how much they can adapt. Let me clarify beforehand that I am not advocating anyone. I am just trying to highlight the fact that we need to look within before shouting.

For the current economic condition, all have to take the blame. In the recent prosecution of Richard Fuld in the Capitol Hill, the congressmen were trying to make Lehman CEO as the scapegoat. They know everyone is in a mess and are just pointing fingers to save themselves. It takes courage to take responsibility and not to point fingers. When the going was good, all the politicians and the investment bankers made money. Even when it was not so good, their earnings were not bad. The treasury secretary himself and few other politicians who were CEO of the biggest investment firms have already made their millions and I don't think that they have the right to find someone to take the blame. They are all responsible for this big mess. If they feel so horrible, they can try to give back to the system by not accepting this year's compensation. I don't think it would even affect their multimillion savings.

This reminds me of some excerpts from My Life by Bill Clinton. His impeachment was not depended on what he did but who was in the power. In his second tenure, the Republicans were in majority in Congress. Had it been Democrats, it’s possible the impeachment might not even come through. I am not supporting what he did was right, all I am trying to say is others are equally bad too. The fact is so many people are trying to accuse others when they themselves are swimming in the same waters. Of course this is what politics is but is the human side completely lost?

What we need now is a leader to looks beyond and focuses on getting the results. This is such a simple statement and all would know but I wonder if the system so bad that none of the leader is able to make a break through. Of all the Indian politicians, Abdul Kalam is the only one I respect, maybe because he is not politician in the first place. He is a scientist who believes in betterment of humanity. I know there are many more like him across the world. I wonder if the power of communication could be strong enough to make them come together. In all world crises, it has never been a question of right or wrong but has always been a power play.

An affair to remember

2008-09-30T16:19:00.008-04:00

Prats tagged me couple of weeks back asking me to describe my journey with books.

Do you remember how you developed a love for reading?
I was born into a family of book lovers. For me reading is as essential as eating food.
What are some books you read as a child?
As a child, I read all the classics that my family presented to me on my birthday – Tom Sawyer, Rebecca, Jane Austin novels, TinTin, Asterix, Enid Blyton novels.
What is your favourite genre?
It has changed from mystery, romance to humorous non fiction.
Do you have a favourite novel?
Books do touch us in many ways and expand the mind horizon. At each stage of life, different books have fascinated me. But recently “Match Made in Heaven”, “Alchemist” and Scotland series of Alexander McCall Smith seem to guide me.
Where do you usually read?
In my couch. I tried listening to audio books but somehow I don’t have a resource which has good collection. But any day I would prefer reading a book than listening to it.
Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?
Sometimes.
Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?
How can you do that? I thought the only books that are read differently are the course text books.
Do you buy most of the books you read, or borrow them, or check them out of the library?
Either buy or check them out of library.
Do you keep most of the books you buy? If not, what do you do with them?
Yes.
If you have children, what are some of the favorite books you have shared with them? Were they some of the same ones you read as a child?
I am waiting to reach that stage. Hopefully timeless classics will still enchant the next generation.
What are you reading now?
Kabul beauty Salon by Deborah Rodrigues.
Do you keep a TBR (to be read) list?
Yes. Its a different question whether I get to finish them.
What books would you like to reread?
It’s very hard for me to re read either a book or watch a movie again. The only ones I have re read are Tintin, asterix and Calvin Hobbes.
Who are your favourite authors?
Currently Alexander McCall Smith. But I admire lot more for their way of writing and take on life.

I pass on the tag to Archana, ugich konitari, Suma, Ziah, Tys. Anyone else is welcome to pick it up.

Smack - There you go...

2008-09-24T13:35:00.004-04:00

Though the world is propagating non-violence, which has my vote, I still believe a spank here and there can serve good. It is applicable not only to humans but also to the electronic goods used by us. Good candidate is any person talking nonsense. A good jolt would bring him back to his senses. As a kid I was brought up in a strict environment but was never spanked. We had a chemistry teacher who was known for her piercing pinches but thankfully, I was spared of it.

As any other kid, I grew up in India knowing cricket before learning my alphabets. In an era before the cable TV, radio was the only way to listen to cricket being played abroad. Many times, the frequency would be catching up some other station as well, making the commentary sound gibberish. A smack on its head and radio would promptly catch back the cricket station.

I'll never forget the innumerable times we spent waking up our Ambassador car by either pushing it from the back or just kicking the engine out of frustration. Somehow one nice sturdy bolt always works irrespective of the case in question.

The way the world is evolving, except for humans, everything else is coming up with a user manual. Many times, in fact all times, we do not patience, energy or time to go through all those 358 pages. So when disaster strikes, do what comes instantaneously in your mind. By that time, I am sure you would be so tormented that you always raise hands. I have heard people hitting the audio player to make it work, rinsing DVD with water and drying with a clean cloth to remove the scratches, spanking the washer/dryer if it gets stuck. Ninety percent of the time, things would start working normally.

Recently we had trouble recording in our video camera. It worked most of the times but would get stuck with some strange error. Replacing the battery or the tape did not do much good. When we googled for the error, the solution was to smack the camera softly but firmly. If it does not work, do it twice. Since everyone who reported the error had their camera working, we tried the solution too. Our camera is an obedient one and understood with just one spank.

Post Perfect

2008-09-22T11:41:00.003-04:00

Numbers are one of the greatest puzzles to human mind. They can cause excitement, anxiety and fulfillment. There is something complete about whole numbers. You feel little satisfied and at peace on achieving something, however small it is. That's why I always used to get an itch when Bata used to price most of its shoes at Rs 99.99.

Anyone striving for perfection knows that the journey from 99 to 100 is more difficult than 0 to 99. You can feel the anxiety and excitement built when a cricketer gets closer to century than any other score. I remember when Nadia Comaneci attained a perfect 10. Though the digital displays were not ready to show the score to the world, her splendid display made it crystal clear. In many fields, it is a landmark. Once you have achieved it, no matter how long you go, you know you have earned a marble in the jar.

Once in my student life I had experienced the ecstasy of scoring a perfect figure and years later the disappointment of missing it by few points. Today, I became little dizzy when I realized this is my 100th post. It took me 15 months to write this, a little longer than I expected. But as it is said, joy is found not in destination, but in the journey. It has been a wonderful odyssey indeed and am honored to be bestowed with such good blog friends and the awards – one from Suma and other from Monika. Thank you and I herewith pass on the “Brillante Weblog” to (that is if I could find any who has not received it yet):

Archana – She has a knack of creating an interesting post from almost anything.
Archana – Her tidbits about life and the way she looks at it is very refreshing and encouraging.
Sumana – Her tiny and little not only brightens her life but our day too.
Ceedy – His short stories need to be compiled into a book. Very well thought over and beautifully written.

The Meltdown

2008-09-15T10:21:00.001-04:00

The fire is burning in Wall Street and engulfing one investment firm after another. It seems so much like a raging forest fire which can not be controlled till it burns deep into the financial firm's assets and individual's pockets. As all man made crisis, this was created by man himself through his greed. The fall of the Titan - Lehman can also be accounted as greed. While no one took an extra step to pull it through, they are ready to bid on cheap assets to see if they benefit by it at a later time.

All this news has left me in disbelief. Too many things happened over the weekend, shaking the Wall Street to its core. I feel sad for a firm which was able to pull through 3 or 4 crisis in its 158 years regime but had to succumb to the sub prime mortgage crisis. Actually it could have been any firm, it is unfortunate that it had to be Lehman. I wonder if there could have been any other alternative. Government did not back them up as taxpayers have already incurred enough debt from Bear Sterns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac . All agree that this is one in a millennium crisis and rules of crisis are different from the norm. Could a pool of money from all the giant firms and individual investors like Warren Buffet helped in keeping the company afloat? Of course, with so many players potential of falling along the way, the possibility of rescuing each one of them is bleak. What ever it is, Wall Street doesn't seem to have the same ring in its name - the buzz is gone.

Bitten by Wilderness

2008-09-08T14:16:00.004-04:00

I have never liked bugs, so it very difficult for me to admire them. Except of screaming and trying to get far from them, there is nothing much I do when I see them. I wonder if I would have behaved differently if I was introduced to them in a different way. I learnt there are museums for insects. Of course, with zoos and national parks being there for animals and birds, this seems to be pretty natural. However I wondered who would bother to visit them till my own flesh and blood of 5 years old made a field trip and was pretty ecstatic about it. I see all the kids are pretty excited with bugs. Perhaps they are able to relate to a world where everything else looks big and to the fact that they can be mischievous and still come out of a situation.

Of all the bugs, the only I have admired are ants and butterflies. In my younger days, I have spent hours seeing ants transport food grain. It is amazing how hardworking and disciplined they are. As all kids, I have tried to catch butterfly. Once I did catch but let it free the next moment. I did not like it flutter in my hands. I have seen some of my classmates having butterflies between books. They must be the only creatures who are taken care of well when they are dead.

Once on my way back from school, I got stung by a bee. I had a swollen head for few days but otherwise I don’t think anything else went into my head. Of course lizards are no way bugs but they have bugged my life enough. I would never be in the same room as them. In my school days, once I could hardly concentrate in my school prayer as I was distracted by two lizards chasing each other in the wall.

No talk of bugs would be complete without mentioning cockroaches. These are the only creatures that can compete with humans. As man is making this world more difficult for others to live, cockroaches are the only ones who can survive. So it was no surprise when a cockroach happened to be friend of WALL-E. One of the things I used to dislike was to catch cockroaches for Biology practical. I was surprised when I read recently that there is dearth of these creatures and now they need to be bought for Biology classes.

I never kept track of bug evolution and my knowledge regarding them is less than that of a 5th grader. I didn’t know there are bugs that have invisible wings to help them fly. The only mysterious one in that category that I am aware of is fireflies. But there are lots of its cousins who do not glow and cannot be seen. I got bit by one of these. Now my arms are red and itchy. This did not happen while I was hiking but happened in my own room. I have no clue how these came inside. All I can think is they are smarter and much evolved, why they even know how to become invisible.

Hi Tech, Hi World

2008-08-22T13:32:00.003-04:00

We have become so dependent on electronic devices that we are clueless what to do when they breakdown, even if the solution is pretty simple. We grew up listening to sermons of not to talk to strangers and have enough money at all times because one never knows what could happen. Then the world went electronic and we forgot those sermons.

Most of my childhood was spent in correcting my spelling mistakes and healing the wounds/scars I got from playing. Now with the auto spell checker, one does not need to learn spelling at all. Why, it even helps in figuring if a sentence is framed correctly. Playing with Wii, kids would never dirty their clothes or get a scratch in arms and legs. With no scar anywhere, I wonder what heroic stories they would reel when they grow up.

I have a decent sense of direction but I need to go a couple of times to a destination before the route registers in my mind. So I had every reason to thank God for GPS though I did miss the adventure of wrong routes and getting lost. In case you are one of those who first check GPS before checking if there is enough fuel in the car, all you need to do is go to a complicated circle and see how GPS seems to lose direction.

The other day I went to a hair dresser to get my hair trimmed. Their credit card slider and computer were down. Since I did not carry any cash, I had to go home with disheveled hair. I remembered in my younger days I would carry enough cash to help me out in sudden expenditure.

Though being a boon, cell phones have their own story. Recently I realized that I spend half the time asking my friend to repeat her(him)self. At least now I have an answer to those huge telephone bills.

Now when daily morning coffees have been replaced by the sweet sound of windows coming up, you can imagine the nightmare when the keys of the keyboard start to fall off. Two of the vowels have fallen off and some of the keys do not get typed when I press them. The funny part is "unable to type" key syndrome seems to be going around. So one day I could not press the "space bar", next day it was "shift", then "control". Right now it is "Alt". Now I have to change my passwords not to have the two missing vowels and space.

I can only thank God that the automatic garage opener busted after opening the garage half way. At least I was able to squeeze myself inside the home to get the keys. But now I am better prepared. I remember to take money, house keys and a map to my destination just in case any of these devices cease to function.

Green Thumb

2008-08-04T11:09:00.002-04:00

The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses. I can't agree more. A beautiful garden is a treat to eyes and medicine to mind. What is more difficult is cultivating and maintaining a good garden. I have always admired people, which include my mom, who are able to maintain greenery in their house. Like any other art, it requires time, money and patience. As always some art suite better than others. I would like to have a nice garden in my home but I know that I do not have enough enthusiasm to take me through. I can work on a garden for a day, two, three days. A week has passed and I am still holding on. Fortnight and you are on your own now. After a month, my guilt starts overcoming me and I would feel terrible for neglecting my plants. Again the cycle would start, my enthusiasm driving me for a week or so and then fading after that. However the plants get watered somehow, either by the Almighty or someone at home.

I subscribe to Home Depot’s gardening magazine on line. I keep getting emails on how I can deck up my patio for a particular season. To be honest, they stay in my inbox till the size of my mail box becomes huge and then move to the trash folder. I haven’t watched much of gardening shows in US. In India, I remember the popular “Krishi Darshan” which used to be telecasted when I was kid. There was another serial that used to show how people decorated their garden. People had styled their homes with rose garden, rock garden and even hanging gardens on their terrace. All of them looked astounding.

Some people do have a green thumb. Whatever they sow grows. Few of my family members have it. Somehow, I don’t seem to have inherited it fine. Whatever I sow grows but not very well. Till now, I have generally grown flowers, foliage and croutons to give a fresh look to the patio. I have never been able to survive any of my plants during winter. That is a huge task of its own. It needs more drive and time precision to keep changing the location of plants so that they get their amount of sunlight. This summer, I was more enthusiastic and sowed few vegetable seeds in a hope to fuel my enthusiasm to last longer. When I see the results that can be eaten, I thought I would be more driven to enhance my gardening skills. I planted 5 varieties and made sure they don’t get dry and had enough sunlight. Rain was a great help. For two weeks, I could forget my watering duty and it rained every second day. All was well and I saw small saplings and new shoots coming out of the mud. What I forgot was to label them. I remember to have planted spinach, tomato, cabbage or cauliflower and I don’t recall the other two. So, I have to wait till they start flowering so see what vegetables come out!

Chasing the Darkness

2008-08-01T14:52:00.002-04:00

Someone wisely said that only unknown induces fear. Little acquaintance makes us curious enough to discover it completely. Space has always been unknown. I am not sure whether it is humanly possible to discover it completely. Maybe not but the little doors it opens for us to reveal itself more is exhilarating.

Aug 1 2008 experienced a Solar eclipse. In recent times, this is considered a rare delight. I remember earlier and even now in some parts of the world, people take it as an omen. Rituals are performed to ward off any side effects. Years back, I read a short story "Dhoomketu"(which means comet in Hindi) about a scientist in Calcutta, India who was to present a paper in London on his research findings. On the day the comet was to be seen, he was in the terrace with his telescope while his family were performing rituals and prayers. I was very influenced by the story and liked the scientist for holding on to his beliefs and fighting against the social norms.

On 1986, Hailey's comet flew towards earth. Our science teacher had urged us to see it as we might not get another opportunity in our life time, given that the comet visits earth every 76 years. My brother stayed up late to see but I cooly dozed off. Later when space fascinated me more, I used to gaze stars every night and try to identify the constellations. I was so infatuated that I wanted to take up astronomical science and join NASA. I remember only one friend of my brother took up astronomical science. At an era, when computer science and electronics were so popular, people could not understand his choice. But those who understood would know that he made career out of his dream.

I had stayed up late many nights to catch a glimpse of comet or shooting stars. While trying to figure out falling meteors, I had mistaken planes for celestial objects. Till date, I think I have seen 1 or 2 shooting stars but no eclipse. In fact, now there is a company - Travel Quest International which helps astronomy enthusiasts to experience these rare feats. This company actually takes people on a flight across the globe to experience the solar eclipse. The owner, Aram Kaprielian, is a ardent solar eclipse fan. He is taking people over Asia, North Pole and even Antarctica to see the solar eclipse. By 2010, he plans to offer space travels to outer space. Now, that would truly be an out of the world experience.

Read, get inspired and take on life

2008-07-25T10:48:00.015-04:00

Prats tagged me to list my top 10 literary characters. If it were authors, it could have been easier. I would try my best to remember the character names but there are various unnamed characters in many books that have influenced my life. Every time I read a book, I take something out of it. Sometimes I get impressed by the fictional personalities but many times it is the author’s style of writing. Here goes the list:

1. Tintin: As a kid I used to love this character and actually wanted to own up a dog like Snowy. Growing up, I started to enjoy Asterix/Obelix more but I still remember my fascination for Tintin in my younger days.

2.Enid Blyton characters: Like many others, I grew up with these fictional personalities being part of my daily routine. I can't decide between George, Julian of Famous Five and Fatty in Five Founouters. I liked them all in their own ways.

3. Sherlock Holmes: Sir Arthur Canon Doyle's creation has been my all time favorite. I have read all the four novels and the short stories. As a teenager, I would eagerly look forward to Sunday for watching the tele-series. I actually cried watching "The Final Problem", in which Sherlock Holmes disappears. 3 years back, on our way to India, we had to stop over in London. You can imagine my excitement seeing a 6 feet tall statue of Sherlock Holmes on 221 B Baker Street.

4. Liz of Pride and Prejudice. I loved her independence and romance with Darcy, whom I admired too- Tall, rich and reserved. Years later, one of my friends commented why girls fall for guys who are reserved and don't look at guys who talk and make them laugh! Well, it’s not true but Darcy character is pretty attractive.

5. Tom Sawyer for his adventourous and independent spirit.

6. Anne Frank from Diary of Anne Frank: For a girl who has gone through nightmares of world's worst times, she has indeed been brave and learnt to live life even in those tough times.

7. Erma Bombeck: She is actually a humorist who has written about 15 best sellers. Her main character in all her books is in first person. So, I am assuming this is about her life as I do not know the name of the main character.

8. Jason Bourne of Bourne series by Robert Ludlum. He might not be a popular character but I admire him for his precision and presence of mind.

9. Elliott Goodman of "Match Made in Heaven": I see the life similar to how he does and liked his attitude of never giving up, even when it was a game with God. If you have not read this book, I recommend you to pick it up in your next visit to bookstore or library.

10. Amir of Kite Runner: Though he seemed to be submissive and not standing up for injustice done to his dear ones, he did gain courage and went back to face the battle and win it. There is something enigmatic about this character which draws my attention.

I pass on the tag to Arc, Madhu, Ceedy,Ziah,Monika, Dinker, Subha. I would love to know your list of literary characters. Anyone else is welcome to pick up the tag.

Work of Human

2008-07-21T15:51:00.005-04:00

Architecture is a measure of human progress. It is human imagination personified. Each monument has a unique history of why it was created and how it was built. Any ancient civilization -Greek, Roman, Indus, Egyptian is filled with human created treasures.

Man can create wonders with rock, stones and even glass. The artificial islands getting created in Dubai and Italy are breathtaking. The other day I was watching Travel channel and found that every winter in Sweden, they build a hotel made of ice. They still use iron/metal pillars for some part of the framework. During fall, they get the framework in place. When enough snow has been accumulated, within a month a new building with a different architecture is constructed for people to stay. Check out the link for more information. The pictures are stunning.

Olympics is not far away and the way Beijing is getting decked up with new buildings is phenomenal. I particularly liked the egg-shaped National theatre and the water cube aquatic centre. Apart from the manufacturing industry, the travel industry in China is also set for some huge gains in future.

There are lots of other buildings that we come across daily which are marvels in their own ways. They don't get the public recognition but they hold some significance to you. As a teenager, I used to enjoy walking in Connaught Place (now known as Rajiv Chowk). I liked the architecture of the buildings and roaming around them made me feel free and independent - qualities I always aspired for. I used to visit British Council Library which helped me delve into different varieties of books genre. Libraries were not much popular in Delhi in those days and a building with two floors stacked with books was enough excite me. The other place I used to love going with my mom was "Sahitya Academy Library" in Mandi House. Much of my Indian mythological knowledge is attributed to this library. The whole area around Mandi house would be very rejuvenating for me. There was a beautiful building called "Little Flower theatre", where years later I watched a fantastic play "Love Letters" starring Rajat Kapoor and Shehnaz Patel. The Modern School round the corner would remind me of the yearly "Shankar's Drawing Competition". I would also love to walk in the North Campus of Delhi University. As a kid, I used to accompany my mom to various shows and library. Years later when I myself became a student of the University, I enjoyed attending the college festivals and chatting with friends in the sprawling lawns. The Vivekananda statue in the middle of Arts Faculty used to give a serene look to the whole atmosphere. I still remember the precious last minute preparations before exams sitting in those steps.

Almost all cities in the world are developing rapidly and getting decked up with concrete buildings and monuments. It is pure treat to see the kind of shapes they attain and the materials used to build them up. With rock, stone, glass, sand, ice already being used, can walls made of water be far behind?

BTW, do you know this building in Banglore?

Et Tu?

2008-07-14T13:04:00.002-04:00

The clothing industry survives only because of the women of the world. As long as we are there, they would remain profitable. With different clothing styles to colors to the latest fashion trend, the choices are unlimited. Unless you are wearing jeans and T-shirt, it’s hard to find a dress getting repeated on someone else. Last Friday, I was at the traffic light, waiting for the lights to turn green so that I can move on. I saw a lady from a distant appearing wearing a nice green top and a skirt. I could not see the design of the skirt clearly because of the distance and the other cars being on my line of sight. As she approached me, I could see complete dress and I liked it as it was pretty pleasing to the eyes. I recalled seeing the design of the skirt somewhere. The light turned green and I drove on, only to realize that I was also wearing the same green top and the skirt!

Ready, Set, Relax

2008-07-08T10:09:00.004-04:00

Taking a break is always welcome. You don't need to go on a vacation but slowing down once in a while is relaxing. And if it comes unexpected, you are all the more thrilled.

Today morning, H volunteered to drop the kids. In the morning hustle bustle, he took both the car keys and left. I wanted to reach office early so that I could leave sooner than my usual time. I got ready quickly and for once had not forgotten to leave anything behind, only to realize that I have no keys to drive the car! Since H was already half way to his work, it made no sense for him to come back. So I had the only option left - work from home. I do exercise it once in a while but today was a surprise. Suddenly I felt so light at head. I don't have to drive to work today. I had my breakfast leisurely. It has been long since I relished a toast and tea as I often skip breakfast.

For a change, I really liked being stuck at home with no where to go. At 8:45 am, I heard a faint "beep beep". It sounded like the alarm of the sports watch which I thought was lost. But it stopped beeping before I could locate it. I wondered why it is beeping at 8:45. Maybe the watch was not corrected for daylight saving. Even then, the time would be 7:45 am!! Not sure who is it trying to wake up at time when we are generally out by 8 am.

I was working on my computer when I heard motor start suddenly, followed by some faint footsteps. A peek outside the window confirmed that the odd job men were doing the lawn moving but I still could not figure where the footsteps were coming from. I tried listening hard and figured out that it was coming from the roof. I got scared for a second. I remembered an incident that happened a decade back, when one of neighbor kids played a prank on me by calling in the middle of a rainy night saying that someone was on our roof top. I am much older now but the thought of the incident still sends chills down my spine. I gathered courage and stepped out of the house to see what’s going on. I saw a man fixing the roof top of one of my neighbors and a bunch of squirrels running around. That was a pleasant sight much better than what I had imagined. Now I am getting back to work with a hope that I would be able to relish this leisure day to my heart’s content.

Walk the talk

2008-07-07T16:44:00.002-04:00

"Silence is golden and speech is silver." It is true depending on the situations but talking enhances bonding. Most of my friends are my friends because we have chatted a lot. We have shared dreams, overcome our failures and celebrated successes. In all relationships, I do seek friendship and the only way I have known to attain it is by talking. Anyone of the relationships where talking is less, I do maintain them but with very less trace of friendship. Talking has helped me regain friendships which have been covered by the silence that gets embedded in friendship because of distance and time.

As a small girl, I was pretty quiet and shy to outsiders. This helped me to gain appreciation of being a nice girl from neighbors and acquaintances, much to the annoyance to my brother. I would go home and end up eating his and my mom's head by narrating them all the day's incidents and my opinion on various matters. But I still remained calm and introvert to others. This lasted for only few years. As I grew up I became more extrovert and talkative. You don't need to imagine my college days. I used to shudder when my dad opened the telephone bill.

I have always wondered how guys, who are more on quieter side, maintain friendships. I am sometimes puzzled how can a person talk so less. Do they not feel like expressing an opinion on a matter or argue just for the sake of argument? Maybe they are more evolved and don’t believe in these trivial matters. Maybe they seek something else. After all silence is also a language. But I also believe that everyone opens up in the right company.

What I admire in a person is not how much they talk but how well they talk. Some are able to talk precise and to the point while others just blabber to glory. In fact this reveals a strong personality trait. People who convey in fewer words are more confident of themselves whether they have accomplished the task or not. The ones who keep talking about the same thing or convey the message in more words and time seem to be justifying themselves more that others on how the task was accomplished.

Having good conversation skills definitely enhances one’s chances of climbing a corporate ladder. But this fact seems to be de-emphasized in today’s world, especially in software industry. All it seems to care is whether a problem was solved or issue was fixed but the process of getting there is not talked about.

Toastmasters is a good club to join if you are interested in improving oratory skills. It not only teaches one how to talk effectively in public but also helps in organizing thoughts and conveying them well. Till recently, I was not aware that CEOs and their board have public speakers visiting them regularly to encourage and boost their confidence. After all, success starts at few encouraging words.

Growing up can be lots of fun

2008-06-24T11:16:00.005-04:00

Has it ever happened to you that the things that you thought you would never do, think, understand is exactly what you are doing now and worse, be fairly comfortable about it? It's all part of growing up or getting matured but sometimes I get terrified that I might end up being a person I once abhorred!

As an enthusiastic post teen, I believed work as worship. I would feel guilty if there was not much work on my plate or if someone else was doing much difficult or creative work. I would feel I need to earn my money and less work did not fit my belief. Yes, I was young and stupid. Not that I am old and wiser but now, I don't mind free time accompanied by money paid for having it.

There are so many thoughts, ideas that I used to think occurs to others, only to realize that I am not left out as well. But on further thinking, only thing I can conclude is it’s a human nature and well, life happens to anyone.

Let’s just not even talk about food. All my childhood tantrums of eating only a selective few has taken a reverse turn, now that I eat anything vegetarian. Apart from surprising few who know me since I was a kid, I sometimes surprise myself seeing what I have in my food plate.

Though I respect the genuine concerns that my previous generation has for us and the future of the planet, I don’t seem to be much bothered about it. There are some global issues for which all of us have to contribute but otherwise, things which were considered taboo before are not looked upon the same way anymore. The society in general is becoming more generous and liberal. This of course, impacts human mind and the way it works. The realization that life is not black and white but shades of grey is more profound now.

As someone said, “Life is not what you think it is but what you make out of it.”

Edit: I changed the title as the previous one "Becoming someone you once disliked" was too strong. I don't think we can become someone else whom we abhorred but we start understanding life in a broader spectrum.

Modern Marvels

2008-06-17T22:57:00.002-04:00

Technology never fails to amaze me. Of all the modern marvels that have come out, I like GPS the best. It has helped me regain my independence all over again. I don't need to prepare myself to know direction to the destination neither I need to worry about missing turns or getting lost. The best part is there are no arguments on taking wrong turns. Whether the route taken is right or wrong is never discussed. In fact, the poor thing keeps recalculating to find the nearest way to reach the destination. I recently learnt another new feature by which we can save the location where the car is parked in the mall and roam about freely. When we plan to return back, it would more than willingly help us reach the car, safe and sound.

iPhone is the next. I understand this idea has been floating around for sometime but we have to give credit to Apple for making it available to the mass. Now, all we have to remember is to carry this gadget, for everything else, there is iPhone. The iWear to give a display equivalent to theatre video screen is phenomenal. With iPod already out, I knew something for the video would just be around the corner.

All these are bringing realization to a chapter of English that I read in class 8. I don't recall the fiction completely but it was about a house where all the electronic gadgets spoke to each other and how they tried best to save themselves and the house on the doom's day but no luck.

I am equally marveled by Microsoft Surface. The touch technology does surface out a new way of learning, sharing information. This definitely makes a tremendous impact on the consumer market. Few years ago, in a class presentation on what future beholds us, we had come up with the way online shopping would be evolved. We imagined how we could compare products online. In case of dresses, we can actually have a profile looking similar to us and checkout how the dress looks on that. We also proposed of comparing perfumes online. I am not sure if there is any olfactory plug-ins available. If there are none, there must be something evolving somewhere and it’s just a matter of time when it surfaces out.

Kindle can be any book lover's dream come true. Having accessible to approx 130,000 books and publications in an 8 X 6 palm device is astounding. Somehow, I have never felt reading in an electronic device as gratifying as shuffling the pages of a book.

As Einstein had once said: “It is appallingly obvious our technology has exceeded our humanity”

This post was due long time back but could never see the day of light till today.

To choose or not to choose

2008-06-10T10:21:00.002-04:00

Can you believe being overwhelmed by the amount of choices? After all, have we not always looked for more opportunities and choices? Being bombarded with choices may feel good but the frustration that might result is almost similar to the one we experience when we have no choice at all. The simile is choosing between drought and flood.

If you feel like drinking a hot tea to get rejuvenated, you would be exhausted by just choosing an appropriate one. Apart from the regular black, brown, green , red spanning the entire rainbow spectrum, we now have fruit flavored tea, that too with choice or organic or not.

Forget the tea, maybe a soda would be more refreshing on a warm day in summer. Now you are caught up in choosing between a regular coke/pepsi, orange /grape fanta, vanilla flavored, cherry flavored, herbs flavored and ofcourse calories ranging from zero to the celestial distance between earth and moon. I wonder why have they not come up with chocolate flavored coke?

Speaking of chocolates, that’s once thing I won't complain with the varieties we have. I want to tryout an ice-cream, which is supposed to be chocolate lover's paradise - "Death by chocolate” but first, I have to figure out where it is available. Checkout the link for unusual chocolate flavored items.

I don’t understand why fruits are getting added everywhere. All ingredients for various items ultimately come from Mother Nature but adding fruit in soda, tea, coffee and now soap, mouth wash, toothpaste is just getting too much. Some of the hand lotions smell so good, you are tempted not to taste it else you would end up devouring your own hand.

How deep is your sleep?

2008-06-05T12:02:00.002-04:00

There is nothing as rejuvenating as a good night's sleep, which leaves us cheerful and charged up. The change is lifestyle does have a huge impact on sleep patterns. As a kid, I was used to hearing sermons of getting up early. Now it’s the other way around. Folks are asking me to sleep more. If you ask me, just let a person sleep. The days (s)he is sleeping half a day is well compensated by the days when sleep time equals the flight time from London to Paris.

One summer day, my mom had gone out for running errands. The sun was nice and warm and our playing made us sleepy. I and my brother decided to take turns to sleep so that one of us could still be awake to let my mom in. He took the first turn. Seeing him nice and snug in the bed, I couldn’t resist closing my eyes. We were so comfortably dozing that we did not hear either the doorbell or my mom banging the door for an hour or so. Finally, we did wake up before my mom panicked and was about to call the police.

The first time I did a night out in my college, I was thrilled. It's besides the point that I slept the whole day next day. Once when we became confirmed night owls finishing off assignments and projects late at nights and a morning walk seemed to be a distant nirvana, I and my friend actually stayed awake the whole night to see how life is at 5:00 am in the morning!

If I had exams or had to catch a train/bus for a vacation, I could get up really early. I knew the reason. We had an alarm clock which could wake up the whole neighborhood and sounded really bad. Yes, I know an alarm clock with nice wake up call tune might just put one back to deep sleep. I used to dislike hearing it so much that I always used to wake up before it could buzz.

Most of the distinguished personalities have a track sleep record of sleeping 4 or 5 hours a day. In my childhood, I had heard enough of these people how they got up in the morning to be ahead of the world and accomplished things even when the world was sleeping. But I think I still had a valid point of sleeping such long hours in my school days. You see, I was trying to buffer the sleep that I might be losing in years to come.

All play and no work

2008-06-02T11:17:00.002-04:00

Contrary to the popular phrase "All work, no play makes Jack a dull boy", the reverse is equally true. Work culture has changed 180 degrees in the last half of the century. From working in places walking distance from home to working in a place half the globe across. With the whole world becoming one global village, the opportunities are boundless. Of course, everything comes with a pinch of salt.

The kind of work we do, the people we interact with and also the times when we accomplish it has completely changed. I remember as a kid, I used to be off from school only on a Sunday. In fact, I loved to wear the white shirt and skirt uniform to school on Saturdays. Later, few years down the lane, we were off on 2nd and 4th Saturday. But now, many schools are corporations adopt a 5 week schedule. In fact, now there are rumors of 4 week schedule!

On one hand, there are people with 3-4 hour commute daily and in the same space are people who work from home many times a week. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages depending on one's personality and lifestyle. I knew a nurse who used to work three 12-hour nights and used to have a 4 day weekend every week. And I have friends who end up working till 2am everyday.

There was a recent survey in some media asking if we would prefer a 4 day week schedule to 5 day. Though all of us would love to work less, I think we still yearn to work, just so that we can enjoy our leisure time. I feel the same excitement on a Friday which I did on Saturday, years back, realizing that weekend is around the corner, though the length of weekend has changed. What would you prefer for your work schedule?

Signs

2008-05-23T11:48:00.002-04:00

Knowingly or unknowingly, we are always looking out for signs or signals from life ensuring that we get what we are looking for or future looks good. As humans, we seek assurance, more than anything else. Some of these transcend into traditional customs or observance. As true with anything else, an open mind will break these so called rules but then, giving a scientific or spiritual reason, we just form new ones.

As a kid, I used to consider my blue ink pen and a blue belt as my source of luck. I used to be confident taking exams or going to competitions till I had them. Then I lost the pen and the belt broke. In a previous company I worked in, the manager had two names for a project - one internal to the department and one which was used while talking to the customers. He used to choose the internal ones very carefully, naming them after successful mythological figures, hoping that the projects meet the same fate as these characters etched in time. The higher a person goes in profession, the more assurance does (s)he look for because there is really no scope for failure.

Nowadays, we are surrounded by books and talks on realizing our true potential and succeeding in life. Paulo Coelho's Alchemist is one of the best books I have read recently which has inspired and motivated me. Seminars organized by Toastmasters are definitely stimulating and prepares the mind to at least start thinking in that direction. All said and done, these talks, books, seminars convey a simple message -"Listen to yourself". Still attaining it is one of the hardest feats. The reason being many times, our mind and heart are at conflict. In between these conflicts and thoughts lies the “miracle” or “God”, trying to confluence the two and bringing peace to them.

Sweet smell of the world

2008-05-20T10:30:00.004-04:00

A nice smell can always pep up the mood. Women, obviously have a better olfactory sense than men and that is the reason we see a huge range of women perfumes.

As a kid I used to love the smell of the sauce that was seen in a roadside burger stall. It was not tomato ketchup but some vegetable sauce. It’s smell would always lure me and I would persist my mother to buy me a burger. I had even inquired about buying them but the shopkeeper mentioned they were not for sale. The same is for the bakery. I love the smell of baking cakes and cookies so much that I thought I might as well open one up. The only downside is I would end up eating into my profits.

Having a sharp nose is especially good for chemistry practical. An acetone used to smell like nail polish remover and fructose like vanilla ice cream. If you get one of these in the lab test, you can be assured that you are done as soon as you get the sample. You can just relax the next couple of hours watching others struggling through various tests.

Though I am not much of a drinker, I have always found the aroma of coffee aristocratic. And I have generally loved all the Nescafe ads. They are refreshing, just like what they are advertising. I have tried drinking it earlier but never liked the bitter taste. Finally, I gave in to my olfactory senses and since last week I have been drinking coffee in the morning and boy do I like it!

Amigos

2008-05-19T09:41:00.007-04:00

Friends make up the world. There is an entire spectrum of how people perceive friendship. There are people for whom the entire world is their friend. Many a times, I have wondered how they were able to gain her/his friendship. I think it is just the magnanimous of my friend to stand people of all characters. On the other end, I know people who do not have many friends. I am not sure is it because they are not seeking people or just that they have not found the right ones.

Whatever it is, friends do influence one's thoughts and character. Though family plays a big part in shaping up a personality, many a times it is the friends who fine tune and surface up the talents in a person. All my life, I have been seeking friends and have been fortunate enough to find some wonderful ones. And I do agree that they have broadened my thoughts and the way to look at life.

The reason I enjoy Seinfeld and FRIENDS more than Everybody loves Raymond and others is they are centered among friends, where they talk about themselves and pull others legs - in short, live a life.

Time and space do influence a friendship and either harnesses it further or makes it grow apart. But we do value the few hours we are able to spend with them in couple of months or even years. That's the only time when we are able to cherish the past in the present.

Before you wonder why I am writing such a poignant post on a Monday, I have to tell you that I spent yesterday afternoon with some of my close friends, whom I discovered recently and the evening with my very long lasting friends. That’s not the end to it. The coming weekend, I am going to catch up with my long lasting friends again and it’s gonna be like our college days. Few days back and I believe for the next week, I am going to be living my present remembering my past and future.

As Elizabeth Foley says
"The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart."

Amen.

Sounds of nature

2008-05-07T09:31:00.004-04:00

One thing that truly scares me is the sizzling noise of the wind. Years back, my mom coincidentally planted 4 Ashoka trees the same day I started my school. Since we started a new phase of life together, in my tiny mind, I treated them as friends. Every day I would compare my height with them to ensure we are growing together. For couple of months, our heights were comparable, later they outgrew me by leaps and bounds.

During extremely windy days, when the trees would sway, I used to feel scared that they might get hurt. Then one day, one of them actually broke. I was sad and frightened. The tree grew up again but my fear of trees swaying in the wind did not reduce. The worst is tree swaying like a pendulum - tilting almost to the ground due to the force of the wind and then bouncing back to its original position. Couple of times and you have a fallen tree and most likely an electricity outage. Though Obelix was my favorite character in "Asterix and Obelix", I used to feel for Dogmatix when he howled over fallen trees.

In fact, the sound of wind brings me back various moments of fear I had experienced in the past. Once I bravely sat down alone on a windy night to watch Agatha Christie movie dealing with soul, spirit and mediums. Though I was brave enough to sit through the movie, I was scared to go to bed. I could not catch a wink that night with the curtains in my room swaying to the storm outside.

Few years back, my friends had a sleep over at my place. The local kids played a small prank by calling us middle of the night saying that someone was on the roof top. The rain outside made sure that the memory was well etched in my mind for years to come.

The day had been perfect yesterday till I was almost asleep. Then the storm broke, making the trees sway and windows shatter. I tried to bury myself under couple of pillows to drown the noise but no avail. I woke up in the morning to read about Myanmar being hit by hurricane. With all the technology advancements, there is no way to curb the nature. But then why should nature listen to us when we don’t listen to it?

Aaaa...Chooo

2008-04-29T10:32:00.003-04:00

Common cold, though being pretty common, has no treatment. The capsules and tonics that we drain down our throat make us feel less miserable but they are not a cure. Since my childhood, I get at least two attacks of cold in a year, each time the season changes from hot to cold and vice versa. I have my own ways of battling it by inhaling steam, consuming hot drinks. I am ready to take anything as long as it doesn't get converted to into fever and I need to see a doctor.

Though I regard Doctor as a revered profession, I hate to see one for my treatment. To be precise, I don't like to take medicines. I have never completed my full dose of medicines. Each time, after taking a couple, when I start feeling fine, I stop consuming the rest of the tablets. As a kid, when I was forced to drink tonic, I would eat some sugar along with it, to alleviate the medicine's taste.

I had a strange fascination in childhood. I would prefer to get hurt and have a bandage wound around my leg or hand instead of being down with fever. For some stupid reason, I used to feel bandage of one arm or one leg makes one look smarter - yeah, yeah, like a war time hero. I have bruised myself couple of times and felt good sporting a white bandage around my leg. Though I was in high spirits at that time, now I hate to see the mark that the wound has left behind. Once while playing, my brother accidentally hit my head with a bat. Initially, seeing the stream of blood running from my forehead, I got scared. Later, I felt like a mini hero when everyone I met kept asking me about it.

The other thing I don’t like is getting injections. For the same reason, I don’t like getting flu shots. I am down with cough and pretty bad throat now. I am trying cure it using some home made remedies. The problem with cough and cold is, I don’t get the correct amount of sympathy. Had I got hurt or be down with fever, I would have been asked to stop working and take care of myself. But now, the world goes around as if nothing as happened to me, only stopping occasionally to say “Bless You”.

Wanna know me more?

2008-04-24T21:58:00.004-04:00

Just when I was struggling in my mind on what to write, Thinking Aloud tagged, that too with a minor challenge. As usual, all the tags have always been fun to do. So here we go:

Last Movie You Saw In A Theater:
Rang De Basanti and am really happy about it.

What Book Are You Reading:
Actually I am listening (audio book) to My Life by Bill Clinton

Favorite Board Game:
Scrabble.

Favorite Magazine:
Reader's Digest

Favorite Smells:
Baby smell, bakery, rain on mud/brick

Favorite Sound:
Soft instrumental music.

Worst Feeling In The World:
Helplessness and self pity

What Is The First Thing You Think Of When You Wake? :
If I can sleep for 5 more minutes.

Favorite Fast Food Place:
Chaat place

Future Child's Name:
I'll faint if I come to know I am going to have another one.

Finish This Statement. "If I Had A Lot Of Money I'd...”:
I'll travel around the world to remote places and help needy children with food, shelter and education

Do You Drive Fast? :
No. I am a law abiding citizen. The cop who gave me a ticket for speeding was wrong in his part.

Do You Sleep With A Stuffed Animal?:
No

Storms-Cool Or Scary? :
If trees do not sway hard, cool else I don't want to look outside.

What Was Your First Car?:
White Ambassador

Favourite drink:
Nice cup of tea

Finish This Statement, "If I Had The Time I Would .....” :
Read and travel

Do You Eat The Stems On Broccoli?:
I don't eat the broccoli florets let alone the stems

If You Could Dye Your Hair Any Color, What Would Be Your Choice? :
Auburn

Name All The Different Cities/Towns You Have Lived In
Delhi, New Jersey

Favorite Sports To Watch:
Tennis, one day cricket, world cup soccer, olympics, gymanstics, skatting, basketball

One Nice Thing About The Person Who Sent This To You:
A great personality and I really look forward to meeting her someday. I love what she writes and my day starts with a visit to her blog.

What's Under Your Bed?:
Nothing

Would You Like To Be Born As Yourself Again?
Sure but with some changes.

Morning Person Or Night Owl?:
If I am with a friend or have a work to finish or prepare for an exam, I can be either.

Over Easy Or Sunny Side Up?:
Neither. I like hard boiled eggs.

Favorite Place To Relax:
Any vacation place. If home, I like to have a quite time with myself reading a good book.

Favorite Pie:
Mango pie.

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor:
Hot chocolate fudge topped with chocolate chips

Of All The People You Tagged This To, Who's Most Likely To Respond First?
I think Arch or Archana

And I tag Arch, Archana, Madhu, Ziah, Sumana.

Addicted to eat

2008-04-19T22:26:00.004-04:00

I had these phases during my childhood when I used to be addicted to one type of fruit for a period of few months. I would gobble them up in the morning, afternoon and evening, many times replacing them for my regular lunch/dinner. The fruits I was addicted to were orange, grapes, pomegranate, apple, guava and mango.

My first addiction to oranges was when I was 10 years old. I could gobble a dozen a day. Before my mother could lay hands on them to make some juices, they would be already in my tummy. In that grade, I had a chapter in English - The Seveteen Oranges, where the author, working in a dock had consumed 17 big oranges, including the seed and the skin, in order not to be caught by police. Though I could not have eaten the skin but I was amused knowing that someone else could also consume oranges in that proportion. The story remained in my heart as a tribute to remember my own addiction to oranges.

As a kid, I used to like apples, though now it is a different story. Once I had consumed a whole fruit with the seeds. I was freaked out for a couple of days thinking that an apple tree would grow in my stomach. Growing up, becoming wiser and understanding biology, I knew this would be a pure miracle and a sure-shot place holder for Guinness Book of world records. Years later, I had a chapter in English written by Giovanni about a little girl who had an apple orchard in her backyard. She would climb up the tree whenever she got annoyed with her family. She used to refer it as "Apple Tree Pomplex". In my early teens, I used to find similarity between the rebellious nature of the kid to mine and her understanding family to my people, who gave space and lended ears to a teenage mind.

Of course, mango has been my all time favorite. It’s the king of the fruits in all sense. The looks, smell and the taste- everything about it is majestic. I would eat the mango to its last pulp and suck its seed dry. I love all it's flavors. The best were the ones from my home grown mango tree. It was planted by my grandma and my brother, in his toddler days. After a long time, I had a delicious mango today. I sowed the seed in a flower pot, hoping for the green thumb magic to work again. In the meanwhile, I would cherish eating the rest of the box, remembering my good old days.

Worth(less)

2008-04-14T06:17:00.005-04:00

Having a hefty bank balance is everyone's dream. Nowadays, the banks have program where one can introduce the early saving concept to the kids. There are umpteen books and seminars of how to get rich fast. There is one seminar hosted every quarter by Warren Buffet, which reveals his secret of getting rich and would help us becoming one. I got an invitation for this last spring. I wanted to attend it just for the heck of it but the day/timing did not suit me. Later I realized that Mr. Buffet made half the fortune from the entry fee required in all these seminars.

As a kid, we did not have the formal pocket money concept. We asked for money from parents when needed but if the frequency became more, it was met by cold stares and questions. So somehow, we were always within the limits of our spending expenditure.

When my brother was in his preteens, my dad decided to open a bank account for him. Though I was much smaller, he opened one for me too. In those days, an account could be opened with Rs. 5 initial deposit! Few years later, my brother had some ceremony at home when lot of people gifted him with cash/check. He also won cash prizes on various competitions, which he promptly deposited in his account. In his college, when he got another proper bank account, we decided to close the accounts in our old bank. My brother checked his balance and was very pleased. It was approx Rs. 3000, a fine amount for a teenager just starting college. I eagerly waited to see my bank balance, only to get disappointed. My balance was Rs. 5.75. 75 paise gained on interest accumulated over years! Some interest rates they had!

Jack of all trades

2008-04-09T11:52:00.005-04:00

People always amaze me with their multifaceted skill sets. The amusing part is that the variety of skills they display has no link to each other. But they are able to perform all of them with complete ease.

Few months back, a successful fixed income trader was auditioning for a play that he had written and wished to direct. I was wondering what sort of story a person with an analytical mind can come up with. The script turned out to be pretty interesting. He depicted the job scenario and had come up with a plot on how to recruit people. According to the script, all the job nominees should be taken in a room and asked to talk to one another. No questions asked but in the end, the best candidate would be selected. I am eager to know when the play would hit the street theatres.

Math/physics and music has a relationship dating back to centuries. Many well known scientists play at least one musical instrument. It was no surprise when my music teacher left her well paying software job to start music lessons. A friend of mine had mentioned that her skating instructor was actually a networking professional working in some reputed firm and was teaching skating as a hobby.

My recent astonishment was when our business analyst was away for two weeks. The project that we are working on is in a critical stage and we could not comprehend how he was able to get days off. It was later we figured out that he was away "on duty". It made me wonder how insignificant our software deadlines seem in front of a real battlefield.

The most bewildering news was when we heard that the priest in a local temple has turned into a cop! He is working in both these positions. While he advises the traffic during the day, he gives spiritual discourses to the people in the evening.

Wonder if he gives sermons to the thugs he catches.

Catch me if you can

2008-04-03T10:11:00.004-04:00

Walking is one of my favorite activities. Even though I am not able to devote time for a morning or evening walk, I enjoy whatever walking I am able to accomplish during a day. I do not mind parking my car further away and taking few extra steps to enter my work building.

I think in any other part of the world except USA, people would do this activity, more out of necessity if not by choice. Seeing people walk also increases the vibrancy of a place. No wonder New York City and Mumbai are so electrifying.

In my younger days, I have walked 5 miles from a cousin's house to mine. In a nice evening, the walk would be gratifying and I would enjoy the small markets, parks and the residential complexes that came along the way. As a kid, I and my brother used to walk to school. I used to carry a school bag on my shoulders, holding its large strap/holder across my neck. According to my brother I used to walk so slow that he had to drag me with the strap. I think they stopped making those school bags now, which is good – reducing torture from elder siblings.

Years later, when I started working, I had a manager, who would zoom past like a breeze, actually tornado would be more appropriate. I could never figure out if a slow moving manager was better than a faster one. One can at least be prepared once a slow moving manager approaches one's desk. In case of the faster one, all you experience is a gust of wind in your way. But I assumed if he is zooming past, he would have little time to grasp what is shown in my screen. Now all these do not even matter.

Few months back, I watched the “Walk Marathon” held in New York City in the TV. The lady who came first had just become a new mother. She enjoyed walking so much that not even motherhood stopped her.

Recently people have told me that they see me only as a flicker as I go past them. To the extent that one of them asked me if I was a sprinter in school and if he can call me "PT Usha"! I never realized the increase in my gait. In my family, I know people who walk faster than me. I believe I picked up speed while trying to keep pace with them. In any case, if I can accomplish some exercise by just walking, I should be far from complaining.

I like you, I like you not

2008-03-26T12:15:00.003-04:00

XH tagged me on 10 things I do not like about opposite sex. He tagged me couple of weeks back but it took me this long to jot down few points. Can you imagine that? Few years back, I would have given a long list of things I dislike in guys but now growing wiser and more patient, I do not think any of these characteristic are freaky. I have understood that Men are from Mars and Women from Venus and God knows what we are doing in Earth. Whatever said and done, even if we share lots of common philosophy and ideals, we still look life through different glasses. I doubt if I could cover 10 things about what I dislike in guys. I would be happy if I can cover 5. So guys, who are reading this, please do not bloat under the assumption that I think you are great and perfect, just that I have come to terms with reality, which are mentioned in the above lines.

1. Not picking up the call: It does not matter whether a guy is loaded with cell phone, black berry, pager and other electronic gadgets, there are very few individuals I know who actually pick up a call the instant they receive it. I have no clue what these gadgets add value too other than being girl's equivalent of jewelry to guys.

2. Converse: I understand that sharing and conversing depends on individual's personality. But I have realized whenever I would like to converse regarding something that seem important to me, the other person is always quiet and would not like to talk, maybe because it is not of so much importance to him. Hence the only conversation going on is between me and my conscience, which keep advising me to grow up. In reality, the whole episode is forgotten but the lessons learnt keep bugging me.

3. Assuming things to be done by gals: I dislike if a guy thinks that cooking, cleaning and other stuff are to be done by girls alone. I do enjoy these but do not like to be taken for granted. My feminist self is especially flared up when they give their opinion on changing name after marriage or quitting job after kids.

Other than that, I just reiterate the fact that I think man and woman are two different species but with some efforts and understanding can bring the Heaven to earth.

I’ll tag Arc, Ziah, Prats and Thinking Aloud as I think they can do some more justice to this tag.

With all the bags and baggages

2008-03-24T15:31:00.006-04:00

I like to travel/roam about light, with minimum things in my hand. To be more precise, with just one thing in my hand. Since I need to have a handbag, I like if everything fits into my bag. My bag should not be too huge, which means I need to carry less and/or the things need to be smaller in size.

You can imagine my plight in rainy days. Though I have nothing against rain, I just do not like to carry an extra baggage of umbrella. If you ask me, there is no point in having one. In light rains, one cannot get much wet. Even if one does, it is easy to get dried up quickly. In heavy rains, there is no point to have an umbrella as in any case, one is going to get wet. However, this logic is not well taken by my family. So, I do have a small umbrella, which can be folded into a size of about one foot and can easily fit in my bag. We used to have a bigger sturdy umbrella, which we lost last year. It was a good one and would protect us from any sort of rain. In spite of its good qualities, I would never take it with me just because of its size.

With the same logic, I cannot carry a separate lunch bag. I don't mind taking lunch to work as long as the lunch box can fit into my bag. I know friends, who have nice lunch bags, which hold lunch and snacks for the whole day. These all are good for others but not for me. Lately, I have this trouble of remembering to take lunch boxes home. If I eat my lunch and don’t have the box near my bag, you can be assured that it is going to rest at least one more night at my desk.

Last week, I had forgotten to take my lunch boxes home twice. So, on Thursday when I came to work with my third lunch box, I made a mental note to take all the three back home in the evening. Since it was a long weekend for us (yes, we were off on Good Friday), we were given an option to leave early on Thursday. In all that excitement, I forgot to take my lunch boxes again. Can you imagine forgetting thrice on a four day week?

I came to work today with no lunch as I do not have a box at home to carry it. The first thing I did in the morning was to pile up all the lunch boxes near my bag, so that I definitely take them home tonight. One of them has spent a whole week at my desk! Thankfully, I do clean my boxes after having lunch else there would have been a plague at my work desk.

C'est la vie

2008-03-18T13:45:00.004-04:00

I do have a good sense of direction. But as even experts can falter, I do have a plausibility of losing my way once in a while. This has happened so frequently in last few months that in any unfamiliar road, my toddler checks if I know where I am going.

I have to buy something from a wedding registry at a store for a reception we need to attend this weekend. There is a store branch near my work and home. The one near my home is actually a good driving distance. So, in order to save time, my mind came up with this brilliant idea of purchasing the gifts close to my work. I am not familiar with all the roads close to my office but a little adventure in the afternoon is always fun, isn't it?

To save some more time, I checked online for the items that could be purchased. For whatever reasons, the website did not allow search of non purchased items. I had to browse through the whole registry to figure out what I would like to buy. As luck would have it, any item I liked was already bought.

In the whole hassle, I did not check the exact location of the store and went off to the close by mall where I assumed the store was located. The store was not located where I assumed, but was in a place where it was actually built, which was not too hard to find.

Since I had not figured out the gift I wanted to buy, I had to go to a cash register to get the wedding registry printed out. The lady at the register tried her best to help me get a printout. But for some reason, it failed to show up the items. She conveniently put the blame on the new cash registers which they have acquired and not familiar with. Finally, after about fifteen tries and couple of phone calls, she successfully printed out the item list. To my surprise and pleasure, only the non purchased items were printed. I took the small piece of paper and grabbed the next available store lady to help me get these, only to realize that this particular store carry none of the non purchased items!

Mirror, Mirror on the wall

2008-03-14T11:54:00.002-04:00

I had read it somewhere, if there is a mirror, there is a girl standing next to it. Coming from a girl's mouth, it is absolutely, whole heartedly true. We so much have an urge to checkout ourselves every now and then. So, any passing mirror, to be more correct, any reflective surface, has seen us eye to eye. It doesn't matter whether it is a nice looking mirror, a car window or a spotless glass panel of a building. We can glance at any of these to see if the hair is looking good or the face is looking fine.

In the morning, after dressing in front of a mirror, I do take a last peek at myself on the car rear-mirror before entering my work building. For whatever reasons, irrespective of the work locations and the building floors, I generally look a little blemished. I often wonder how can an hour of work, if any, take the freshness out of me.

Even in a bright nice dress, in which I felt so good in dressing up in the morning, I don't feel the same at office. But after a long, drudgery day at work, when I get back home, I seem to be fresh again in the mirror back home. I assume it has to do with the lighting or the reflective index of the mirror or maybe it is all in my mind. Even when I was young, I used to prefer one mirror over the other in my house.

Having said all these, mirrors do make an excellent adornment for the home. They make the room look more spacious. According to Fen Shui, if correctly placed, they induce positive vibes into the atmosphere.

One of the best gifts I have received is a beautiful mirror. It was gift to me from my dear friends in college. It was a nice oval shaped mirror embedded in a wooden bamboo handicraft. It had a nice reflecting surface and never lied to me. So, you can assume that I always looked good in that. It hung in my room and my day would start and end looking at it. In the next trip back home, I think I should get it with me.

The Art of doing Nothing

2008-03-12T15:43:00.007-04:00

All of us crave for some free time doing nothing. Surprisingly, we enjoy these pleasures in childhood without being aware of it and then crave for it all the years of our adulthood. Not to ignite feelings of any of the readers, but it seems to be that guys seem to enjoy it more than girls, in their adolescence.

I was good at it when I was a kid, when I could coolly shut my eyes and ears off to my mom's sermons. Now it seems difficult. If I shut my eyes, everyone else still seems to be watching me. If I shut my ears, actually I would be happy if I could shut it off once in a while, but somehow it doesn't seem to work or I need to learn it again.

As a kid, I have stared in the bright blue sky hours watching the clouds float by. At nights, I used to gaze the stars and the constellations and had dreams of joining NASA. In our 24 hour train journeys, I used to memorize all the stations, including the small ones, where the train would halt. I had even noticed the animals sitting on the train tracks/platforms when the train stopped. To that extent, I and my brother composed a small poem
"Lalitpur ka kauwa,Itarsi ki gai,..(Lalitpur's crow, Itarsi's cow...)"
I have forgotten the other animals in other stations but it was a very fancy song for that summer vacation. You can imagine how much time we had in our hands to while away. Earlier, the earth used to rotate and make the day and night for us. Nowadays, it feels like we are spinning the earth, making the time go faster.

The best part of life when one can idle is the student days. Nowadays, with all the activities and tuition, even that seems to be a far thought. I have enjoyed summer vacations, which seem to drag endlessly, reading books/comics, playing and pestering my mom. I have not enjoyed such a pleasure for a long time but I know the culprit. It is my mind. The "Nothing" in my mind has changed to "Something" and since then, never given me rest. If it ever turns into "anything", I would be more than happy, or at least be at peace with myself.

Tring, Tring

2008-03-10T16:18:00.011-04:00

Phone has come a long way from being a luxury to becoming a necessity. Earlier days, there used to be one phone at home, which was used not only by the owners but also neighbors, incase of emergencies defined by them. Now we have a cell-phone for each member of the family.

When I was a kid, my dad's office provided a grey color telephone. He used to be very strict about using it. We could not talk much on the phone. Conversations longer that a certain time would be met by cold stares from my mom. The dial used to be the old circular one with numbers. The fun was to hear the numbers actually being dialed to connect to the other person.

The phone did teach me some manners. As a kid, I had this annoying habit of saying "What?" so loudly that it would startle the person hearing it. Many times, if the voice on the other side was feeble and I could not hear I would scream "What?" and the person on other side would just apologize and keep down the phone. The funniest part was even though (s)he would not hear what I said before, (s)he would clearly hear my "WHAT?". Finally, with some sermons from the family and my own common sense, I became more polite on the phone.

The amusing part was the amount of wrong numbers we used to get. One can literally get anyone’s calls from around the country. Of course, it was bothersome, but with some creativity, it was be fun picking up these phone calls. For sometime, we used to receive calls asking whether it was Tihar Jail. After denying it innumerable number of times, my mom finally responded "Which crook do you want to talk to?" This surprisingly put an end to it.

One of the other callers would insist on talking to a certain Mr X , who is supposed to live below our house. We said emphatically that there is no such person but the calls persisted. Finally I told him that we live on the ground floor (1 floor in US standards) and it is impossible for someone to live below us and if he still wants to talk, I would be the last person to go and get Mr X.

I shared many friendships over this phone. One particular day, while in conversation with my friend, I had to keep the phone down and she promised to call back immediately. When the phone rang shortly, assuming that it was her, I picked up the phone and said "Hello Devil!". There was a long silence and finally my dad's friend spoke “Hello beta(child), can you call your dad?". You can imagine my shock. I apologized profusely and requested him not to mention a word to my dad. He, being very kind, obliged and I am still alive to write this post.

This phone has heard various emotions of our life. It became more a part of the family than just being an equipment. Later, when features of caller id and call waiting became popular, we still kept the same instrument but did have another phone with all these features.

We finally had to part with it, when my dad retired. Even though I have used other phones and cell phones with all jazzy features, this phone still remains dear to me. I know its number by heart and wonder many times, to whom does it belong now.

What's cooking, Goodlooking?

2008-03-06T20:58:00.002-05:00

Cooking is an art. With practice and imagination, we can create some delicious gourmet. As a kid I would never enter the kitchen, except to get goodies to munch on. As I grew up, my help to my mom was limited to cutting vegetables and making rotis sometimes. To feed myself, incase of emergencies, I knew how to make a toast, tea and maggi.

In high school, while some of my friends were learning how to prepare the full course meal, I was getting my hands dirty on trying to learn volleyball. Year later when I was in college, we were in a situation when me, my brother and a cousin had to be home by ourselves for 5 days. My parents and uncle and aunt had to be away to attend an important family occasion. Since we were teenagers and loved such freedom, we assured them we would be fine and asked them to go ahead with their plans. There was only one glitch, I and my cousin had exams during those days and also, we did not know how to cook. My brother on the other hand, was just bothered about India's outcomes on the World Cup cricket qualifying match. Also, our parents were returning the next day our exams were getting over, so we did not have much time for any fun. Anyways, we planned to use the best of what was given.

For the first few days, we managed on whatever mom had cooked and bread. The day mine and my cousin's exam got over was the day that India lost to SriLanka in the World cup qualifying match. My brother, due to the gripping match, had gobbled up all the eatables at home. When I reached home famished, the only bottles not emptied were the ones containing pulses and spices. With some courage, I started peeling potatoes to make a sabzi. As the food started smelling nice, I got ambitious and made sambar. I finished just as my cousin entered home, tired and starved. We set the table and were eager to try out the dishes. With the first taste of the morsel, which also happened to be the last one, we realized that even food can be deceptive. Even though it smelled good, it tasted horrible as the spices proportions were all mixed up. We finally had a dinner in a nearby restaurant and that was the end of my kitchen ventures for a long time.

Few weeks before I was to get married, I had crash course on cooking from my mom. I would stand next to her and nod on all her instructions as she would narrate the proportions of spices to be added, how and when. Everything seemed pretty straight forward at that time and I could not understand why people used to make fuss about good cooking.

Months later, I was here in NJ at our apartment staring at the closet filled with bottles of spices and pulses. Onions and tomatoes were lying on the countertop to be cut. This was the first time I was preparing food for H and his friend, who was coming home with his wife. I felt the same fear pang I used to feel on the days of practical exams. During the whole semester in lab practical, we could do the experiment with help of the teacher or the lab assistant. Exam days would be lonely and scary. At that moment, I missed my mom more than ever. Anyways, I put up a brave face and went ahead. Any art needs lot of time and patience. It was especially true on that day. To prepare a simple meal of pulao, puri and chole, I took 7 hours to complete!

Times have changed. I take much less time and hopefully the taste has also changed, err.. for better.

And Jill came tumbling after...

2008-02-29T06:35:00.006-05:00

I grew up in a place where it would be cold enough in winter but would not snow. I would pray for the temperatures to dip sub zeros so that it could snow. Once it went as low as 1C but no snow. I believe it was happening because everyone else was praying for the temperature to rise up and if God is democratic, then of course my prayers could have never been answered.

As a kid, I used to watch all the thriller series of Old Fox, Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Peroit and many others. Since these were European programs, they invariably had a case to solve which would take them to some ski resort, if not Alps. All this would fuel my imagination more and I was determined to learn skiing. Of course, the prerequisite was there has to be a snow slope, which means snow, which means I need to spread my wings as my hometown did not have any snow.

Years later, I did come to a place where it snows and which is close enough to lots of ski resorts that I could go for skiing on weekends. The ease at which I used to see people skiing in the various TV telecasts, I overlooked how the experience would be for the beginners.

Few years back, I, H and his friends decided to go for skiing in Poconos. Seeing the snow slopes, I was so excited that I said to H that we should make it an annual affair to come here. H quietly reminded me that I should first learn skiing, see how this experience goes and then make plans for future. I was very confident. I could sense the same thrill that I experienced when I started to learn driving. I have driven in crowded roads and driving in an empty one is a breeze. With that logic, skiing down a scarcely populated slope should be a breeze, right? Well, we'll see..

We had to take a 45 min ski lessons before heading up to the slopes. The lesson was held near the ground where the slope was not steep. In my class of 10, except me and H, others were all kids with age ranging from 5-8 years. Their parents were either in the near by slope skiing or down the slope enjoying snacks.

We let the kids try the slopes first. All of them skied with such elegance and grace that it was a treat to eyes. Then it was my turn. I was making a mental picture of how gracefully I would be skiing down the small slope to the applause of the kids when the reality stuck. As soon as I stood facing downwards to ski, I could not control myself and went down crashing. Forget the applause, I could not even face the kids. H, having tried it before was more careful and skied down pretty fine.

The lessons were over and it was time for us to go up the slopes. We needed to hold on to an escalator that goes up and when it reached the top, we had to hop off and ski down the slope. I could feel pangs of fear creeping in. As I reached towards the top, I was reluctant to let go of the escalator, till the attendant firmly took my hands and made me land on the snow with my skis. I was fine as long as I was looking up the slope. As soon as I turned around and faced downwards, even before I could push myself forward, I came tumbling down, closely followed by my skies. I tried twice or thrice but all in vain. My dreams of skiing zigzagging down the slope, whistling a tune (I cannot whistle but that's besides the point) , all went in a puff.

Our annual visit was just annual, as in just that year. Whenever I recite the nursery rhyme of "Jack and Jill went up the hill" to my sweeties, I get a vivid recollection of my own tumble down. Maybe next year, I'll give another try of making my dream turn into reality. In the meanwhile, I will get my first aid box ready.

Me, Myself and people dear to me

2008-02-25T10:33:00.002-05:00

Thinking Aloud and NM tagged me for revealing myself and my dear ones.

Rules For The TagPost 5 links to 5 of your previously written posts. The posts have to relate to the 5key words given : family, friend, yourself, your love, anything you like. Tag 5 other friends to do this meme. Try to tag at least 2 new acquaintances (if not, your current blog buddies will do) so that you get to know them each a little bit better.

I realized most of my posts reflect about my family, friends and things dear to me but have not written exclusively on any one of these. I'll try my best to link to the post which relates closest to the keyword.

Family: This post describes an important era of my life. I do have a separate blog, which talks about how my sweet little daughter colors my life.

Friend: I seek for friendship in every relationship I have - spouse, mother, father, brother, sis-in-law, kids and of course friends. I have been fortunate enough to meet wonderful people in life and gain their friendships. Though I have not written any post entirely on any friendship I have cherished, I would link this, this and probably this one too.

Myself: The tags reveal the most in me. So, here you go. Enjoy this.

Love: There is couple of things I love - books, driving. This would probably give you an idea.

Anything I like: Few posts back, I have compiled a list of things I would like to do.

Now for the tagging part, I would like to tag the following for going down the blog lane and reveal themselves one more time:

Ziah: I know wonder blog that you would link in your family key word.

XH: A new acquaintance, I would like to know more about you.

Any other readers are most welcome to take it up.

And the winner is....

2008-02-21T14:30:00.005-05:00

Winning is a great feeling. I am not talking about winning a Grand Slam title or a Nobel Prize or a Pulitzer award. Err.. I have never won any of these, at least not yet. I am talking about winning tiny-miny prizes on small quizzes.

As a kid, I remember jumping with joy when I won a Rs 2 or Rs 5 raffle on a kids Tambola in a school fest. I guess I ate some chocolates or ice-cream with that money. Now I believe, those currency notes have no value unless 2 zeros are added next to them. I won't be surprised if they don't even exist.

Years later, I used to participate in all the games played in baby showers hosted for my friends and cousins. I would win in each of these showers, the prize invariably being a scented candle. It was not the prize but the idea of participating and winning that used to excite me.
Last year, we had a raffle at my work place where we needed to answer few questions. The first prize, being lunch with the Department Manager(he was a nice, smart guy), two other prizes being books. While submitting my answers, the guy at the desk remarked that all the answers seem fine and I might be a good contender for lunch with the big shot. I told me emphatically that I do not want to win the first prize and would like to win a book. I did win, though a different book. One should not be too choosy about free stuff.

Why all this rambling? Today, I won a CD for answering a question on EBC radio, which I listen to while on my way to work and back home. The question was very simple - Who is considered 20th century best women's tennis player? Who can it be other than Steffi Graf. I am a little more excited as I used to be a huge fan of hers. The CD is just a collection of some dhinchak hindi songs but the satisfaction of winning it, is priceless.

Adieu

2008-02-20T14:56:00.004-05:00

In last few weeks, two of Delhi's local attractions - Appu Ghar and Chanakya cinema have been closed down. Appu Ghar will make room for some of Supreme court premises and a new metro station while Chanakya will be converted into some multiplex project.

Though spending my entire childhood in Delhi, I must have visited Appu Ghar only once or twice. Reasons being first, family is not very enthusiastic about rides, second, I am fine with rides - I like them but not crazy about them and third, we thought we can always go, after all it is just half an hour from home. Not any longer though. I guess this just re-iterate the fact that we should not take life and anything for granted. Today, it is here, tomorrow, it might not be. I have visited its neighbor - Pragati Maidan umpteen number of times for various Book Fairs and Trade fairs.

Chanakya cinema, however is different. In my teenage days, it was one of the two theatre halls which would screen English movies - the other being Priya. I remember enjoying the Hollywood movies with popcorn and soda and my friends in these halls. When we were in college couple of years back, me and a friend, while having enough of the class lectures, decided on the spur of the moment that we needed a break and headed to Chanakya cinema, which was 1.5 hours from our college to watch "Disclosure". Speaking of movies, I remember couple of years later, in a different college and different friends, we again had a spur of the moment decision to watch a movie, which I think was "AirForce One". Since there was only 30 minutes for it to start and the theatre hall was 25 minutes away, we somehow managed to go, buy the tickets and seat ourselves a second before the movie started. I had a feeling that the trailer was getting too long and movie is not starting only to realise that in all the flurry, instead of getting tickets for "AirForce One", we got tickets of some cold war movie where US and USSR were at lock horns with each other. Ssomehow the movie did end or maybe I just fell asleep.

I am sure these places must be hosting memories for millions of people who have visited them. Closing them down gives a tiny pang of an era getting over. It also reminds me that I should short list the places I would like to see and start executing it as well. Life changes and many things may not remain as they were before.

Weighing more than gold

2008-02-17T21:02:00.008-05:00

In my younger days, I was a cherubic( I like this word instead of plump and chubby) kid. I used to be teased by my brother, cousins and friends who were in the lesser side of the weighing scale. I tried my hard to reduce weight. I would play a lot but all in vain. People around me were still thinner than me. I started reducing my food intake, which would annoy my mom as she had never once thought me as a chubby kid. To her I was always a good, healthy child. I wished everyone could see me through my mom's eyes. I even tried fasting once a week but my weight did not come down a pound neither did my size reduce by an inch.

Finally, in college, running behind the University buses so as to reach the class on time, did seemed to work out a little. For whatever reasons, I have always been blessed with slim and trim friends. When we used to read about the Operating Systems ,Win NT,Win 32 and FAT systems, my friends coined a term FAT XX(XX - my weight at that time) for me. Then came the word POF(Percentage of FAT) factor. One thing good was none of my friends had a sweet tooth. So I was never in a position where people around me were consuming sweets and icecreams and I was gaining weight just by ogling at their goodies.

Later when I came to US, by what the average person weighs and looks, my dress size automatically reduced to the lower end of the garment size. My friend, on the other hand have to look in juniors to get something for her.

People, by default now are becoming very weight concisious. I believe with all the nutrition contents listed in each and every thing one buys, it's hard not to be. I had a Chinese collegue, who was very slim and trim and always in control of what she eats. Once, after coming back from her vacation to China, she mentioned she is going on a diet as her size in Chinese outlets have increased to Large. Realising the fact that she was half of me, I noted in my mind that I would never shop in China, that is if I ever visit the place.

Few weeks back, I was window shopping close to my work. I spotted a pretty dress hanging in the window. I went inside to try it out and asked the sales person for my size. She replied that they do not carry such small sizes. I wish I could have recorded this. I did not feel an iota bad of not been able to purchase the dress. She had made my week by saying those words! That's when I understood that problem was never with my fat cells. I just need to be in a place where people weigh more than me.

Home Sweet Home

2008-02-11T10:21:00.000-05:00

The object of my affection is my home in Delhi, where I grew up. I have been in the same house till I came to New Jersey 7 years back. That house has heard me crying as a baby, seen me taking my first steps, dancing as a teenager, slogging through nights for exams, arguments with my mom, partying with friends, jumping with ecstasy on various achievements and understanding life and becoming more sober as situations demanded. Its walls are the only ones who have seen my true emotions and seen me growing up into what I am today.

We have a beautiful house with a lawn and a kitchen garden. My dad, an engineer himself, was it's architect and my mom decorated it. It is very much their dream house and was built a year before I was born. As a kid, when my dad used to tell me that he built (gave its architecture) the house, I thought he literally built it - as in put in the brick and mortar. I used to assume he built at night since he had to work during the day. It was later I understood what he meant. We have not changed the house much except for rearranging it in the interior. So, on the exterior, it looks the same as it was built three decades back. My brother who was a toddler when it was being constructed used to come in his tri cycle with my parents to see how it was building up and learnt to write the alphabets in its walls.

For our primary (elementary) education, we went to a school close by. Till my brother was in the same school, we went either by cycle or walk. Later I used to take the school bus. Those days, sometimes my mom had to go to the University for her exam invigilation duty in the afternoon. She used to make some nice tempting snacks that we could have after lunch - jelly, custard, papdi chaat. Me and my brother will make these snacks as our lunch and hardly finish up our main course. I remember in various occasions, my brother's friends would accompany us home from school and would share these nice treats. I would pray silently if they could stop coming in the afternoon so that we can devour all these goodies ourselves.

For few years initially, my grandparents lived with us. I remember the day my grandfather passed away. I was 7 years old and could not understand what was happening. My parents were very sober and quiet that day. I mustered up some courage and told my mom that I had a test next day and I had not studied for it. Instead of being angry, she replied calmly that I would not be going to school next day. Even though the situation demanded otherwise and I was pretty confused, I still remember the pang of joy I felt about bunking the school. I remember the fun we had during summers when my cousins visited us. It was literally a gala time. I think it would require a different post to write down all the stupid and fun games we played.

After few months, my brother went to a different high school while I continued in the same one. In the afternoons, it was either my mom or I who returned first. One day when I returned home, I could not get in. When my mom came a little later, we assumed that my brother must have fallen asleep watching a cricket match and bunked the school. All these seemed very unusual and only later we realized that the house was burgled. I still remember those days vividly when the police came up with a dog to do the investigation. I was a little scared but learnt another aspect of life. We rearranged the house and made a different room as the drawing room for security reasons. My dad insisted that I should be brave and come home after school. He had made the home more secure and added an extra door in front of the main door. It was made in a way that there was a small place between the two doors. He said if I felt scared, I can be in that place and enter the home when my mom comes. They also kept few books, comics, biscuits and water for me. Every day I would pray that my mom should reach home first. The days my prayers were answered I would dance with joy.

Years passed and Delhi witnessed riots and human hatred. We rearranged our house as situation demanded to make it more secure and safe. I grew up fine, brave and understanding that life is actually not a fairy tale. Me and my brother played miniature versions of various games of cricket, tennis, table tennis, soccer and 5 stones(a girlish game that I taught my brother) inside the house with modified rules. The house witnessed each of my birthday celebration when my mom would bake a yummy chocolate cake and my friends, without fail, would greet me.

We had to rearrange our house one more time because both I and my brother demanded a room of ourselves. We had two choices - a room, well ventilated and well lit with sunlight and the other which was not that well ventilated but had an attraction - telephone. The first one is a very good room, warm in winters and cool in summers. The second one is exactly opposite. Being a teenager, I ended up choosing the second one. My brother, more than happy, would tease me that I lived either in Sahara or Siberia while he enjoyed the cool Mediterranean.

With all this rearrangement of the house, one of my parent's friend jokingly remarked that when they come to our home, they ring the door bell and stand as they would not know which door is going to open to welcome them in.

I remember myself slogging for my 10th, 12th boards and college exams. That was when I actually became interested in Vaastu shastra. I could see that if my study table was placed east, I got better marks than when it was placed north. Though I knew in my heart it was purely attributed to the way I studied. This room saw me sharing life with my good friends. I remember innumerable occasions when instead of finishing off our projects, we would end up chatting till sunrise.

The home experienced more celebrations of my brother's graduation, his job, his wedding ceremonies, homecoming of his bride and of course, me graduating, getting a job and getting married. I miss my home the same way as I miss my parents - the only difference is that my parents can come and visit me.

Thank you Thinking Aloud for tagging me on "The Object of my Affection". I really enjoyed doing it.

I pass on the tag to Archana, Madhu, Sumana, HHG and who ever is interested in taking it up.

Whose life it is anyways?

2008-02-08T13:27:00.000-05:00

Few years back I had seen a movie in which a kid and his pet were trying to save the world which was conquered by some fictional dictator. The dictator had over powered the only one telecasting station in the earth and hence every TV on the earth was showing programs of his choice. He slowly and surely manipulated the whole world to agree with him. Each earthling was hooked on to TV and was controlled robotically by this dictator.

However imaginative it seems like, it is actually the reality. Though we do have numerous TV stations and channels, they all seem to telecast programs of same genre and appear to be controlled by a single authority. Soap Operas, regardless of language are hopeless and describe human relations in one of the most pitiable forms. The reality shows are pathetic and describe anything except what happens in reality.

Festivals are associated with religions and we do not want to be obligated in celebrating each one of them. So, we are coming up with more generic human related celebrations like Friendship week, Earth day, Chocolate day, heart month etc etc. Imagine the kind of marketing and advertising going on for this stuff. If I don't give my friend a card during friendship week, does she seize to be my friend? Don’t all these put a different sort of obligation in our mind? One of the most stupid ones that I have seen is kids as young as 3 years giving valentine cards to each and every classmate of theirs. One can get a valentine kit of set 20 which has a lollipop, sticker and a card to be given to each kid. The lollipop and sticker seems just fine for their age but cards with romantic cartoons and passionate words are crossing the border. I agree we need to foster brotherhood, more to say earthling hood but to what extent?

I think we need the kid from that movie to save us again.

Same pinch.... Ouch.

2008-02-06T19:24:00.000-05:00

Assurance is all we need as humans. Not only do we feel good when once in a while someone praises us and lifts up our spirits, but we also look for similarities with a celebrity for a name, birth date or even a birth month.

My friend is a huge fan of Amitabh Bachchan and is very proud to be not only Libran but sharing birthday with Rekha (for obvious reasons). Most of my Libran friends are just happy sharing their birth month with the Big B. Amazing how a single man can actually lift spirits of hundreds of people doing nothing except being born. Similarly there are Leo, Scorpio and Aquarian friends raving about celebrities sharing birthdates and names.

I know 3 people born on Feb 5. I have known them over different time spans and my interaction with them have been in different levels. In fact, one is a celebrity with no interaction expect opinions formed on hearing and reading various interviews. When I realized yesterday that a colleague of mine with whom I used to work years back was also celebrating his birthday, it made me think about how nice these people have been and how I feel good just by knowing them. All three are very matured, calm, compassionate and broad minded. I felt that if I ever meet anyone else in future born on the same date, I would definitely strike a cordial friendship with her/him.

It is just a great feeling to share something as simple as a name or birth date with a celebrity one admires. Hoping to share a great space with a great personality, I searched for people born on my birth date. Maybe next time, I can rave to my friends about the nice celebrity club I belong to. I searched the net for the people I would have loved to share something in common but in vain. Finally, I seached for people born on my birth date, only to be disheartened. I share my date with two people I absolutely detest and have no common ground with them - Bali Brahmabhatt and George Bush. Who cares about sharing a birth date with a celebrity? We are all individuals with unique personalities.

Small is beautiful

2008-02-01T13:18:00.000-05:00

Nowadays, Small is beautiful. The smaller and sleeker a gadget is, the more attractive it is. And the exercise we give our eyes in reading the small letter font in these gadgets, nutrition contents on a food can and the umpteen numbers of documents with fine prints, why sometimes I feel if we are really reading or trying to make sense of some cryptic scribbles?

One should walk in an IT department of any firm to see kind of fonts people struggle to read. Configuring a screen on tiny fonts not only gives room for more content to be displayed but also gives us some privacy in reading stuff which we do not want colleagues to glance at.

I used to have a colleague few years back, whose screen was configured in bright green background, yellow foreground and the tiniest fonts I have ever seen. I would struggle to read even if I was just a few inches away from the computer screen. I have seen people who, to save paper and not to read a bulkier document, end up printing the whole document in a font which is close to ant's scribble. But having said all these, I think I should be the one who should take the cake for the ability to read a practically blank document.

When I was in college in India, apart from the curriculum books, we had print outs of the notes of maybe the first student who attended the college. The notes were photo copied so many times that the letters were faded into white. But I could still read all the contents, understand the matter and give exams. With all the training I have given to my eyes, I should be the last one to crib about small fonts.

Sweet Challenges

2008-01-31T13:33:00.000-05:00

I always had a fascination for gowns, lehenga, sharara. When I used to read Jane Austen novels, I would imagine all the female characters in the flowing gowns and would drool at my own imagination. I have seen sharara in very few old Hindi movies like Mere Mehaboob.

Apart from lehenga, I don't think the other two are in fashion any more. The trends might have changed but some of these costumes have been priceless and very feminine. For whatever reasons, I did not get an opportunity to wear lehenga at my brother's or my own wedding. When I figured out that most of my friends and cousins except one have got married, I realised that my opportunities to wear the pretty outfit are dwindling.

I had only one cousin at that time to get married and I knew that I would be attending his wedding, whenever it was decided and wherever it was held. So, I thought I should have my lehenga ready just in case, he announces unexpectedly.

In my last visit to India, my major agenda was to get a lehenga. My mom who was aware of my fascination had already done homework and found out the shop which sold nice (non-wedding) lehengas. I bought 2 beautiful dresses - one in baby pink and other in purple with matching jewelley.

So, I was all set for my cousin to announce his wedding plans. And I was hoping it would be soon so that I could get the chance to flaunt my dress. As luck would have it, we did not have to wait for long and within six months, my cousin got engaged and his wedding was to be held in few months time in Houston, Texas.

We booked our tickets and I started packing our bags. During all these excitement, we realised that I was expecting. My wise cousin asked me to check up with the doctor whether I could travel. Well, travel I would, my bags had been packed even before the bride and the groom started their shopping and I knew exactly what to wear on each occassion. I still checked up with my doc and assured her that I would be fine. So, all was well. We had to leave the following day. I opened up the box to keep cosmetics and brushes and last minute stuff. I saw the pretty lehenga and was beaming at the thought that I would be wearing it soon. I took out the dress to try it out, only to realise that I had outgrown my outfit. And the phase of life I was in, I could not even reduce my weight. Ahh. Life's sweet challenges.

Sun, Sun, Mr Golden Sun, Please shine down on me.

2008-01-16T09:19:00.001-05:00

Weather definitely affects our moods. A bright Sun peps us up and rain clouds can tingle our heart.

I had always admired Sun. One reason is he really makes my day. If he is out, I don't mind who accompanies him - wind, rain or snow, I know I would enjoy my day. Other is, I attribute the life of entire earth to him. But for him, we would have been molecules floating around in space. I believe for the same reason, I find him powerful, yet humble - a quality that I admire a lot. He is the natural disinfector. He can make a room look bright and inviting. He makes the natural wonders of the earth so beautiful. Whether he is setting or rising up, be it Grand Canyon, Himalayas, Alaska or any beach shore in any part of the world, we would be awed by the beauty. One of my favourite days is the one after it had snowed and the sun is out bright. It is a treat to eyes.

Few years back, on our drive back home from college, me and my friend, Arc witnessed a beautiful sunset, an image which has been ingrained in my mind. I remember few other sun sets I have seen from the terrace of my home. They always give the same feeling - a sense of hope. No matter how down I can be, I can always emerge up strong - the way Sun rises up every morning. He is one of the reasons I named my daughter. Her meaning translates to dawn - a new hope, a new beginning.

By now, you must have guessed the reason of my high spirits. Yes, the sun is out shining bright and also we are off to Chicago for a nice, warm vacation. (It is biting cold in Chicago, but meeting friends and family always gives a warm feeling).

You Betcha!

2008-01-10T11:39:00.000-05:00

I have this crazy habit of betting. No, not in the horse races and casinos but with friends, just for fun. When I was in class 12, I had a bet with a dear friend of mine that I would dine with her on the night of Dec 31 1999 at her home in Delhi. She can cook anything she likes, as in ANYTHING she likes. If I fail to turn up, I had to treat her else she had to treat me. And the treat was a "BarOne" . We had chosen the chocolate "bar one", since it was the only chocolate which I detested. I think they have even stopped manufacturing it. Good. Someone out their definitely has a refined taste.

Those days, turn of the century seemed to be a big deal. Since there were couple of years to go and we were off pursuing our career paths in different colleges in different cities, I had no idea what to expect of that day. Initially we were in touch with each other, then it came down to her visits to my house if she had enough time during the vacation. During our sporadic meetings, we never spoke about the bet and let life take its turns.

Finally, the day arrived. Whatever changes happened in my life, I was still home, the same old sweet home and she was in Pondicherry. The day was a normal one except for all the hype created by the media about entering the new century. I knew I had won the bet since she was not there to treat me but I wondered if she remembered. Well, she did call me at 12:00am sharp on Jan 1 2000 to wish me and to accept that the BarOne was on her. I remember jumping with joy, not for winning the BarOne but what a friendship can hold.

During those years of wait, I managed to have another bet with my dear friend Arc. The bet was that I needed to stop eating chocolates and ice creams for a year. Imagine the atrocity but I was brave enough to take up the Herculean task and yes, I did win. I was treated in a very fine expensive restaurant all at Arc's expenses, which added to the fun.

Well, I still have 2 bets to go and am keeping my fingers crossed. But I know I win it or not, if we just remember the bet and call, our friendship has won, which I sincerely hope that it does.

The chocolate keyboard

2008-01-10T11:07:00.000-05:00

Who would not love this?

Utterly, butterly, Oops

2008-01-02T14:03:00.000-05:00

Everyone loves well groomed hands. This is one of many aspects of life where the Onida advertisement seems so true "Neighbour's envy, Owner's pride". Years ago, I used to associate long, thin hands to those of an intellect mind. Maybe because the fictitious character, Sherlock Holmes, whom I used to admire in my younger days is supposed to have one. In the Sherlock Holmes series where the lead character was played by Jeremy Brett, the first thing to catch my eye when Holmes would snap the fingers saying "Exactly Dr Watson" were the long fingers.

As a kid, I remember having very slippery hands. I had so many disasters at the dining table, spilling the water all over that my dad nick-named me "Butter Fingers". For a few years, my mom refused to serve me water with dinner. I used to have a friend in my high school, whose hands used to tremble even in summer. The doctor could not detect anything wrong and she has been doing perfectly fine. What used to amuse me was the precision with which she would dissect a rat in our Biology practicals, while my hands, otherwise looking so firm would be trembling within. Though I feared the worst in my pregnancy, my hands were so stable that even a butter did not slip through them.

I had forgotten about this aspect of my hands till today. I had come to office after a long weekend, ready to start work with an enthusiasm that only New Year spirit can beget. I got myself a nice cup of hot chocolate and logged on to my computer, only to spill the hot drink on the keyboard. I guess this is what is starting the New Year with a splash.

New Year Wishes

2007-12-28T11:56:00.000-05:00

New Years are always fascinating, they give us a chance to start everything afresh or with a new outlook, like a reboot of a human system.

As a kid, I used to watch the new year programs, however crappy they were, till midnight and wish a couple of close friends whoever I could contact with traffic on the phone lines being at its peak. At that age, growing was exciting, maybe because all the dreams were associated with "When I grow up, I'll be able to do....." . When I was in primary and middle school, years seemed to be long and never ending. My brother joined college when I was in middle school and I used to envy him for the freedom he acquired. There were rules which I needed to follow, that were optional for him. What I did not realise was that he had gained responsibility which I had no clue about at that time.

In college, I still retained the excitement but gave up watching the crappy new year programs. I was still looking forward in taking up life and discovering it. I had painted a picture of life with colors of success and happiness and was more than willing to be the buyer of such a beautiful painting.

Now I don't realise that a year has started and it comes to an end already. When I commented this to a coworker today morning, he said "You know what is that phenomenon called, right?" . I wasn't sure so I asked him and he said smilingly "Getting older gracefully".

With 2008 around the corner

Here is a wish to all my fellow blogger

Have a fun filled fulfilling year

And may you smile each day ear to ear

I am so happy to have found you here

You definitely make me cheer

With heart full of hope and mind full of dreams

May success and happiness fill us till the brim.

A force called life

2007-12-27T15:16:00.000-05:00

A force so powerful
and knowledge so intense

I am scared and
overwhelmed with the content

Situations would change
and things might be clearer

All I can do now is learn to cope
and have a heart full of hope

For Life is a great teacher
and Time is a big healer.

The time starts now...

2007-12-20T10:32:00.000-05:00

Thinking Aloud tagged me for my plans of next ten years. This has been a real good exercise on racking my brains for making some personal goals.

- I am happy I have made a start in writing but I would like to take it to the next level and make something concrete out of it.

- I would like to go on a vacation with my family every year. I would also like to camp/trek/ hike/bike every summer with them. I am sure these bonding and understanding would be very much needed when the kids grow older and require (demands) their space.

- I would like to organise my life in many aspects - my routine, home, work and relationships.

- I would like to be in a stronger position professionally.

- It has been a childhood dream for me to own a small library at home which would hold a good collection of timeless classics and modern bestsellers. With all the technology advancement and Kindle being here, I still love to feel and flip the pages of a book.

- Playing sports has always worked as a synergy for me. I would like to play Tennis and Volleyball more often and if possible, make Tennis as a weekend must-do-chore. I would also like to watch live tennis matches in all the 4 Grand Slam courts and be a regular for the US Open.

- As a kid I learnt the Indian classical Violin.I was able to renew my wish and am learning the western classical now. Playing Violin gives me some peace and pleasure. Hopefully, I would continue this and inspire my kids into some sort of music.

- I would like to watch more of the theater plays and musicals.

- I would like to spend more time in cultivating a home garden. Till now, I have not been able to save any of my plants from the severe winter chill but I want this to change.

- Life teaches us lesson at various stages. But I would like to have a better grasp of what is reality and what is dream. Many times, the line has blurred for me causing confusion.

- Family and friends have always supported and inspired me. I would like cherish the strong bonds and like to strengthen few ones.

- I would like to read mythological stories and philosophy from different parts of the world.

- I would like to give back to humanity in some way. I am not able to decide how but hopefully, it would be clear in couple of years.

- Last but not the least, finish the embroidery that I started 5 years back !

I would like to tag Arch, Madhu, Sumana, Archana, Dame's Diary, Ziah and VivekRam

Anyone else interested are most welcome to take it up.

For your ears only

2007-12-15T21:40:00.000-05:00

This is the Violin recital at Rutgers Community Music Program on Dec 15 2007.

Game, Set,....

2007-12-12T13:31:00.000-05:00

As humans, it is our nature to dream. We dream about what we want, what we could have changed or our plain future, which may not even attain reality. What we dream changes with each stage of life. The surroundings and the people we interact also affect our dreams.

Dreams, as humans are at purest form when we dream them young. I think that shows the pure fantasy, affection for something we crave for. As a kid, I was always interested in sports. There were quite a few which I would follow and some which I enjoyed playing. One of the sports was Tennis. I used to watch all the Grand Slams and follow all the popular tennis players. I could not have chance to play it when I was young but now I do posses a tennis racket.

One of my silliest dreams when I was in pre-teens was to be a ball girl in Wimbledon! I could watch Steffi Graph, Boris Becker, Pete Sampras , Martina live in action. At that time part time jobs as a teenager was more popular in western world than India. I used to imagine that I would be working in Wimbledon part time while studying in school for a promising career in Medicine.

All these fantasies purely because of love for Tennis. As so many other girls, I used to asses a tennis player not just by her/his skills of playing the game but also how they were as a person. I used to adore Steffi, Matts Wilander, Stefan Edberg. I never used to like Agassi much in his younger days, all because of his ever changing girl friends. Now I agree that Agassi and Steffi make a very good pair. Hopefully, their kids would inherit some of their genes. In fact, whatever they inherit, I am sure they would be good in Tennis.

As I grew up, reality sunk in and dreams bit the dust. I am not in medical field, in fact I dread going to docs and I have never been to Wimbledon. But I am glad that I do have a tennis racket and hopefully pursue my dream of learning Tennis some day. Also when my kids are much older, I hope I become a regular visitor for the "Super Saturday" at Flushing Meadows for US Open.

Edited to add: I changed the Title as I already had another post by "Dream On"

Blacked out, blanked out

2007-12-10T13:20:00.000-05:00

As a kid, when I grew up in India, power cuts were part and parcel of daily life. In spite of occasional irritation, it was taken in stride as there was nothing much that can be done about it. We know the country has less resources and more people. Just make the best of what we have and go ahead with life.

I have studied for my exams in candle lights. That's when understanding of Physics became more intense. I think 1 candle light is 1 watt. At home, ideally we used to have bulbs/tube lights of 75 or 100 watts. But of course I had lit much lesser candles to read. We knew a home is not complete without torches and candles.

As a much younger kid, small power cuts were more fun. I could give excuse of no light for not doing my homework or studying for exam. I remember many incidents when I frightened my cousins in dark. If there was a cool breeze blowing , we would all sit outside. It was a nice family time as there was nothing else to do. My parents would often narrate tit bits from their lives. My mom would invariably always fan us with a newspaper or a thin magazine and never be bothered about the resulting arm ache.

If these power cuts ran into hours, then it became a huge problem. Everyone would start losing patience because of the uneasiness caused by the heat, sweat and mosquito bites.

Coming to US where power cuts were practically unknown, I soon forgot how to deal with these minor causalities. The first power cut that I experienced here was in Aug 2003 when the whole New York and parts of New Jersey was plunged into darkness because of outage in power grid. It was sort of a minor disaster as we realised how much we are dependent on electricity. No microwave, no gas stove which means no cup of tea or fresh food, just thrive on leftovers. Garage door cannot be opened to take out car. Trains not running. Credit card and ATMs cannot work. These are the times when we long for a simple life where we can still sit outside, enjoy the breeze having a cup of tea in hand.

Since that day, I always have torch, candle and some no microwaveable food handy. We had a couple small power outages but none in that magnitude. Today winter storm is taking over northern US. Some parts are badly affected and some people are experiencing power outages. In a chilly weather where one can freeze in couple of minutes of winter exposure, I cannot imagine power outages.

Virtually Happy - Second Life

2007-12-07T13:57:00.001-05:00

After a previous post on "Virtually Happy", I could not resist sharing with you this link

http://secondlife.blogs.cnn.com/

In the virtual world, people are trying to get real by going to music concerts, attending seminars and even experiencing Tsunami!

I don't want to go on rambling but the whole idea is still confusing to me.

If I could only ...

2007-12-05T09:40:00.000-05:00

"Whatever happens, happens for good."

These are powerful words, often not realised on time. But is it completely true? Isn't the fact that whatever has to happen, just happens. Good or bad is too meek a word for a powerful executioner like life. Becoming nostalgic either brings us back sweet memories or some pain. But it definitely proves that we were strong to go through the phase.

As a kid I used to read the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew detective novels. Usually, in any given plot, these teen detectives would look for clues. Most of the times, only one clue looked promising. Even if there were multiple, it would not take long enough to figure out which one was worth pursuing. Later, they came up with a series, in which the reader was given a choice which clue to pursue. If one thinks A is correct, go to page x else go to page y. It would be the same story, with multiple plots and multiple endings. It was possible that more than one plots would result in the same ending.

I heard this idea was trying to be implemented in movie halls. One can watch a movie and follow the plots which one think should be happening. In a sense, the audience is directing the movie their own way. I am not sure if it ever got implemented.

The idea is difficult and challenging. The reader/audience can easily get confused as to which path to follow and what decisions to make. I think it would only result in more chaos.

Maybe that is why the wise Creator did not give us an option of directing our own lives completely. But He did give us a mind to dream.

If I could only live a simple life and not complicate it too much with my thoughts.
If I could only live the present in flesh and mind.
If I could only turn back time and save for what I still had.

Virtually Happy!

2007-11-30T13:02:00.000-05:00

With the crunch of space on earth, I think we have only our mind to expand. With Internet and the world becoming one global village , with culture, custom and cuisines getting intermingled between different parts of the world, this seems to be only true. So, the reality is we are virtual - we feel virtual, we seek virtual, we live virtual.

The Chinese real estate magnate, Anshe Chung made a million by selling house virtually http://secondlife.com/ . Initially, I found the idea to be weird. I thought we are happy in our home because we live in it. We enjoy because we can feel it, as in, walk on the floor or carpet, sit on the sofa. But by the amount of money Anshe made, I am obviously wrong. The concept is same as buying a house in real life. Choose a good neighbourhood, create the design, get the finest furniture and home decor and feel happy seeing it.

Then, came the concept of owning/adopting and pampering virtual pets http://www.virtualpet.com/vp/links/links.htm . I am not a animal lover. I have nothing against them but I cannot take care of them. The only pet I believe I would be able to have is a fish. I have friends who have pets. From what I understood, they own pets because they love animals, want a companion, feel good (cuddling, playing and pampering them) and be responsible. I am not very clear how you can feel all these virtually.

Well things don't end here. There are online sites, where all one needs to do is get registered online to get engaged or get married virtually. And there are the concepts of soul mate, soul friend, work spouse. All these clearly emphasis that happiness is just a state of mind.
I think we have already started living a second life - one is real , what we see in the mirror, the other is virtual, what we see through our mind's eye.

A table is a table

2007-11-29T15:25:00.000-05:00

Our daily conversation dictionary is ever expanding consuming words from the environment we dwell in and the professions we work in. We start speaking a mixture of language without us even being aware of it.

In our teens, in Hindi we used to refer to a boy as "banda" and girl as "bandi". Initially my parents used to be pretty annoyed hearing it. Though there was nothing wrong in saying it, they did not like mutating the language. As we all absorbed from our surroundings, my parents imbibed some of my vocabulary and now pleasantly refer to a guy as banda.

When I was in college, all the computer jargon were slowly getting into our conversation. In one of the classes , the professor had written a sentence in the blackboard which had the proper name "RAM" (as in Hey Ram!). My friend, Inder who was a computer geek even then could not understand how RAM (Random Access Memory) was constructed into the sentence. Later a friend cleared the confusion saying the word was puzzling as it was in "capslock"!!

Later when Internet invaded India, I got my first VSNL student account and got connected to the world. Most of my friends were living in the same city as me and I had very few cousins/friends with whom I exchanged emails. Slowly the abbreviations and short forms creeped into my emails. It would read something like this
"Dear xyz,
How r u? V r fine. Talk 2 u l8r. "

My mom was terrified that my English is deteriorating and shovelled out the "Wren and Martin English Grammar" to polish my lost language. As she accepted the new generation language, she is having more fun in writing it. In fact, now the emails that I get from her are more abbreviated. She sometimes comes up with her own abbreviations and I rack my brains to make some sense of it . Her email now reads thus
"D J, (Dear Joy)
HRU ? vent 2 CP. will go 2 DH 2mr. Got some nice SKs for u.
(How are you? Went to Connaught Place. Will go to Dilli Haat tomorrow. Got some nice Salwar Kameez for you)
Luv "

If I were to take my high school English test again, I don't think I would be able to pass it now, especially the comprehension section. With all the text messages and SMS, writing English sentences has become more terse and cryptic. Already, I can't understand the text messages or orkut messages written by teens any more. Maybe the blogs might also be written in this new mutated terse English.
S uf nu, I m jst tkful tat blogger has spellchecker 2 karect me
(As of now, I am just thankful that blogger has spellchecker to correct me.)

Driving me crazy

2007-11-20T10:42:00.000-05:00

To be very honest, the only thing I know about cars is driving it. I am pretty challenged if a conversation revolves around anything except this. I have had few experiences of car breaking down. Thankfully in all occasions, either a friend was around or I did not have to leave home. As long as it does not part with me midway, I am fine with it.

Last winter, one evening I was driving back from work and was stuck in a pretty bad traffic jam. There was a 5 way circle (Golchakkar) which I needed to cross. There was no traffic light and basically everyone had to respect each other and yield in order to cross this. In a nice afternoon, this drive would be a breeze. But not today. People were getting aggressive in squeezing their way through. I was no angel.

After about 1 hour, I was able to come at least close to the circle where I had to turn right. Just then I saw a huge truck in my side. I could see that it was coming closer to me. The driver was also trying to say something, making gestures. On a normal day, I am pretty good at roads and yield to people. If someone wants to go straight but is in a left only lane and lets me know, I am more than happy to let him/her go before me. But it was different today. I tried not to look in that direction. I could see that he was trying hard to catch my attention but I still ignored. He even pulled down his window and braved the winter chill to tell me something. But all I gave him was a deaf ear. It took me long to come to this distance and I am not going to yield to anyone. Finally I came closer to the circle, turned right and zoomed past. The truck was soon out of sight and I heaved relief.

We have grown learning to be aware of strangers. I am somehow very careful regarding trucks and trailers just by their gigantic size. Maybe I should stop judging drivers by the vehicles they drive but I feel I am more comfortable with a person driving a car than a truck.

I was only happy to reach home. In the morning, I again started my car to go to work. I realised that something did not sound/feel right. I stopped and checked and figured out that I had a flat tyre. There was a big nail in the tyre beneath right passenger's seat(In US, it is left hand driving) . I then realised what the driver of the truck was trying to tell me for which I paid no attention.

It seems that in dire consequences, one is supposed to drive a car with flat tire for maximum of 5 miles and that too at a very low speed of approx 10 mph. Well, ignorance is bliss. I reached home driving a car with flat tire for 30 miles at a speed of 45 mph.

Dare to dream

2007-11-15T11:03:00.000-05:00

Inspiration can do wonders
Teaches even a mouse to roar like thunder

In a world of humanity
When dreams can attain reality

What one needs, is seek out
To the people around who are trying to reach out

For if you dare to dream
The world conspires to help you achieve it!

(This is inspired by a saying in the book "Alchemist by Paulo Coelho" : 'Dream and the world conspires to help you achieve it'.
I heard it in the morning and I am brimming with high energy and optimism. )

I am Tagged!

2007-11-14T09:42:00.000-05:00

Thinking Aloud did think me over to do the following tag. Thank you and hope you are still around after knowing me better :)

Tag Name :Seven Random and / or Weird Things about Me.

Rules : Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

The Seven Seas:

1. Afraid of aging: As a kid I used to think I would age gracefully. Not that I am not, but I am now afraid of celebrating birthdays. Mind you, I don't mind getting gifts but dread the age.

2. Books: I have always loved books. If I like a book, I tend to read more by the same author. I also get so inspired and overwhelmed with what I have read, that I blurt it all out to my friends. Archana and Madhu must have gone crazy hearing the books I read of Alexander McCall Smith.

3. Not too much into financial: Even though I have worked in financial industry and love math, the financial numbers don't attract me at all. I do want to learn but have never gone beyond half a page of a financial book.

4. Wacky brain: As a teenager and a young gal in early 20s , I used to love all PJs and all wacky mind teasers. When my brother and sis-in-law left for US after getting married, I accompanied them to the 1 hour drive to airport. Instead of being emotional, me and sis-in-law played the Bruce Lee series the entire way. E.g what is Bruce Lee's fav vegetable - Moolee (radish or dicon). After years, my sis-in-law is much saner but my mind still enjoys these wacky games.

5. Try to clean: After two kids, my house is decently(Ok Ok for most parts) clean but definitely not going to win Martha Stewart's best cleaned home. I have this eternal guilt in me of cleaning the house, which drives H crazy. Unlike India where cleaner comes every day, in US we have a cleaning lady coming every 2 or 3 weeks. I feel so terrified what she would think, that I clean most part of the house before she comes. H teases me that to have the house cleaned , just ask her to call us every week.

6. Driving: I actually enjoy driving. I knew I would enjoy it even before I learnt how to drive or got the license. I seriously don't mind making 2-3 trips / day to a mall or shop to get something.

7. Love marriages: I like love marriages esp between couples from two completely different cultures/religion/sect/region. Even though people have voiced their opinion saying that in these marriages, culture, languages etc get mixed up and tend to get lost over generations, I adore it because it brings the basic human quality of love and acceptance.

The seven people who need to cross the seven seas at their own risk are :

1. Arch
2. Madhu
3. Archana
4. Sumana
5. Ziah
6. TysOnIce
7. Sreejith

All you lucky people, plunge if you feel like . Otherwise, it is fine too. All other readers, if you feel like taking up this tag , please be my guest.

Dressed to impress

2007-11-12T10:29:00.000-05:00

We girls love variety. One can sense by the wide range of clothes and accessories. I don't think guy's clothing has even changed in years, may be centuries. If you see, the trend of girl's dresses keep changing every few years. What used astound me was there were clothing which ergonomically will not make sense still girls loved to wear. That was till, I bought a nice smart short sleeved sweater top.

My work place is unduly cold because of some wrong AC settings. One of my colleague, in full shirt was trying to fumble with the AC settings and was pleasantly surprised seeing me short sleeved. He warned me that this place is like Artic and we really need to keep ourselves warm to save us from being frozen. When he realized that the short sleeved top I was wearing was actually a sweater, he just could not figure why was it ever designed and made in the first place? To top it all, it even had a hood!

Hey but hold on, don't we make the world go on, else it would have been so drab and mundane.

Wishes for a bright and beautiful life

2007-11-07T09:36:00.000-05:00

Wish you all a very Happy

D ear
I nspiring
W eb
A migos
L ovable
I ndians (& Non-Indians)

I understand. Oh Well!

2007-11-05T13:55:00.000-05:00

I have been asking H to install a Water Purification unit in the kitchen sink for quite sometime. He has been preoccupied with other stuff and could not get time to do it. We do get filtered water in Refrigerator. The doctors also say the quality of tap water is quite good. But just to put my mind to rest, I got a simple water purifier from the store -"Stop & Shop". I do admit that it was an impulse buy. I was actually looking for something else and saw this in front of my eyes. My mind sent out a pulse of guilt and the next moment , the purifier was in my shopping cart.

I came back home and showed it to H. He asked me whether I did any groundwork to understand different purifiers. I pretend not to listen to him and not spoil my little joy of finally finishing (well, almost) one of the procrastinating agendas. Then he asked me, if there was a way to turn filtered water off, for washing dishes etc. My ears stood up and I realised that I bought a wrong product.

Next day, I went to "Home Depot" since it is a hardware store and should carry wider range of water purification systems. It did not offer as many choices I thought ( For all I know, water purifiers might not have the wide range of selections. That, I would have come to know if I bothered to do some groundwork on these). I did find one good purifier, satisfying all the essential criteria. I was quite happy with myself.

After purchasing, I immediately went to "Stop and Shop" to return my previous purchase. While waiting in the return counter, I realised that I had misplaced the receipt. Since I had bought a day before and it looked brand new, I thought I should not have any problems returning it. Well, the guy at the counter refused saying it was company's policy not to accept without a receipt. I tried as hard as I could but he did not budge. Oh well!

I returned home, only to realise that the new purifier that I got did not fit our kitchen sink faucet. Sweet. So now I have two water purifiers , totally useless to me unless I change the faucet itself !

I finally told H as I did not want to go to the return counters again. He gave me a displeasing stare but agreed to return the things when he gets time. I also meekly mentioned that I lost the receipt to one of the purchases. Since winter is setting in and Fridge filter water is a little too cold, I am currently contended drinking water directly from faucet. I am waiting for H to install the purifier as it is after all a guy's job.

Yesterday, H returned both the water purifiers without any hassle. I was amazed how he could do it. He had told the guys at the return counter that his wife purchased a wrong product and both of them , in two different stores nodded and smiled understandingly, did not even bother about the receipt and took back the items without any problem. Oh Well!

Spring Forward Fall Back

2007-11-05T13:22:00.000-05:00

I used to be baffled by the idea of daylight savings. The clock is moved an hour early in spring and then moved back an hour in end of autumn or fall season. I know it is based on saving and enjoying more sun light during the spring/summer. It does benefit someone somewhere I believe but to me it really does not make any difference. For me, a day has 24 hours and how it is used depends on the situation. If I have lot of work to do, then I really don't care what time of day it is. Just try to get it finished. If I am free, then try to relax and enjoy. I am a person who likes things irrespective of season and time. I can enjoy an ice cream even at midnight and in winters.

The daylight savings just adds more work to me. I need to remember the two days when the clock change. Earlier I used to forget what happens when. Few years back, during one of the spring mid terms, I had kept a portion of the subject to be finished in the morning before the class, only to realise that I have one less hour to do so. During a class in fall semester, I arrived at the class on time to find that it was empty. I was almost going to scream with joy thinking the class got cancelled, only to realise that the Professor would be giving his quiz on time an hour later!

I needed a way to remember all this time manipulations. Finally, I found my answer in a Sunday Comic strip - where they used this phrase "Spring Forward, Fall back". I really like this phrase a lot. To me it reminds me one of deeper philosophies of life - To Spring Forward and grab the opportunities but at the same time, remember to Fall Back and let things go.

Jinxed

2007-11-01T16:44:00.000-04:00

Last year, me, H and A went to a county fair organised by H's office. It was held in 2 sessions on a Saturday in October. The place was about 2 hours from our home. We got the morning slot of 10-1 pm. Although I knew the games organised in a county fair, I was not fully prepared what to expect in a corporate one. We reached at 10:00 am sharp and were greeted by enthusiastic organizers. The ambiance was fun and festive. There were lots of rides and games. H took little A to many rides. I played almost all the games with her or by myself. We ended up winning about 10 prizes and H had to search for an unused large trash bag to carry these home. You can imagine my happiness. I was showing off H my capabilities to play county fair games and he seemed fairly impressed. We came back home with a bag full of soft toy jungle. It was great fun and I had no clue how 3 hours passed so quickly. I was eagerly looking forward to the upcoming fairs.

This year, we got the afternoon slot. One of H's friends came along with us. That's good. The more, the merrier. He was mentioning that maybe we should stay there for an hour. I insisted I would be there for the whole 3 hours. Silently, I wished for the choice of prizes to be different this time. I saw most of the games were the same and prizes were little different. Good. I was all eager to experience the same magic again. In fact, H quietly got a big unused trash bag in order to save the rush later.

About an hour passed and I played quite a few games but no luck. I started feeling frustrated. I told H that he jinxed me by getting the trash bag even before I started playing. He gave me an unperturbed stare and asked me to just enjoy myself. I ate more food and went on more rides this time. Finally after 3 hours and 2 prizes, I was eager to get back home. We all definitely had fun but I did miss some nice soft toys which I would have loved to posses.

Last weekend, I met Arc and Inder after quite some time. I felt ecstatic when Inder started talking about my blog. I did not know he was a passive reader. I told I am very happy to write, that it is giving me some inner peace and I have so much stuff to share and am happy that there is a space where I can put all my thoughts together. I was pretty eager to listen his opinion when he said - "It looks like you have nothing much to do as you write quite often". I was dumbstruck and did not know what to respond. Since then, everyday I log onto my blog but my mind is as blank as how the school blackboard looks after the summer break. There, I am jinxed again.

Hopefully, November would give some respite and my mind should start churning some thoughts.

All that matters...

2007-11-01T12:15:00.000-04:00

In a world where people

smarter than me captivate

bolder than me take the risk

wealthier than me rule

I still have a hold of this life

Which confronts me with problems that is multitude

For all that matters is attitude.

Nature - Please calm down.

2007-10-22T14:08:00.000-04:00

To be very honest, I am little disturbed with all these wild fires engulfing Southern California.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/22/wildfire.ca/index.html

I am really concerned because my brother lives in SD and this wild fire is about 5 miles from his place. When I spoke to him and my sis-in-law in the morning, they seem to be very calm and composed. That's good. Panicking makes things worse.

I remember exactly four years back, I was home with my little baby - then 3 months old. We had just moved into a new home and had some problems with the internet connection. We did not have a cable connection to TV as well. On a normal day, I would need only an internet, I can manage to live without TV.

Then, I got a call from my brother saying wild fire was near their home. I had heard of wild fires but I thought they occurred in far , wild places away from human habitat. I had never felt so scared and helpless. My brother had mentioned that he would only give me a ring in case he needs to evacuate. For the first time in my life, I wished he would not call me. I remember every moment of those 48 hours. Everyone was trying hard to put the fire out but it was humongous. Finally, the wind turned away from San Diego, taking the fire with it towards Pacific Ocean. Only nature could tame nature.

Four years hence, I am getting the same chill in my spines. I am praying for nature to calm down and leave us in peace.

Therapy: What works for you?

2007-10-15T15:05:00.001-04:00

We all need a break from our schedule. 30 minutes is good enough. Back when I was a in early teens in school, I used to love playing sports. I have played most of the games but was in school team for Throw ball(I guess this is played only in India) and Volleyball. Playing was a therapy for me when I needed some relaxation from studies, which never seemed to end.

As I grew up, I don't remember what particularly used to relax me. Good music, a good book, a good movie , a good chat with a friend - all depending on what the space and time permits. Then I realised my love for driving. It used to soothe me. I did not even need music in my car. A nice drive along quiet neighborhood/countryside was good enough for me. Of course, a good music was like icing on the cake.

Speaking of cake, I love cakes and chocolates and cookies. In fact, even now I need to have a cookie when I drink tea. I tried hard in cutting down on all these for health reasons. I am reasonably successful in cakes and chocolates. But I gave it up on restricting cookie intake. After all, if one is not able to enjoy small pleasures of life, what's the fun? I recently read the book - "Chocolatherapy: Satisfying the Deepest Cravings of Your Inner Chick ". I realised that even though I really crave for all these nice , fattening stuff, they are not my therapy.

I am not a shopaholic either. My shopping spree is generally over in 30 minutes. I go to a mall/shop, look around for what I want and if I like something and price is within my capacity, I am done. Unlike others, I never used to consider shopping as a therapy for me. Well, that is till recently. In the past couple of months, whenever my work has got overwhelming and I needed a small break, I have gone and shopped for clothes for myself. Though it has just been 3 times, it has done wonders to me. I am happy about my new clothes and am rejuvenated and back in action to complete my task. I can say the same for blogging. Whenever I post something, my spirits are high and I am ecstatic. Maybe, now it is time for some tea and cookies.

Meditation as the way of life

2007-10-11T09:48:00.000-04:00

Since time immemorial, meditation has calmed the human mind and spirit. It has been introduced in various forms in different parts of the world over different times. But idea is the same - to get in touch with oneself. Many of my friends have benefited from Vipassana. I myself have not got a chance to try it out yet.

When I was a teenager, my dad learnt yoga. At that time, my brother was away in hostel and my mom too busy with her daily chores . Since I was the only one who seemed to be pretty idle, I became the recipient of my dad's yoga teachings. The yoga consisted of 3 sections - Pranayam (yoga breathing), exercise and meditation. The whole act would take 1 hour. For me 1 hour is too much of an effort for anything like yoga or exercise. The max I can give for anything like this is 20 -30 minutes. I started learning mainly because of the yoga exercise. But later I realised it does not help you lose weight but tone your body. The meditation helps to tone mind and accept yourself as you are.

The main concern for me was my dad was an early riser and would practise at 4:00 am . He would insist that I get up and learn at the same time. You can imagine my plight. On most days while meditating, I would drift off to sleep. The whole practise lasted for less than a month and then I gave up. Sporadically I would practise yoga for 30 minutes at a time convenient for me but with time, that too weaned off.

Later, my dad tried to pull me into morning walks. Again he would go for a walk at 5:00 -5:30 am in the morning. As a teenager, I had never risen before 6:30 am unless in cases of dire emergencies like exam (But now life has changed and it is a different story).

I remember once he pulled me off my bed and we went off for a walk in the near by park. The sun had not risen yet. So we had to make our way through the moon light and the park lights. In the park, I could see people sitting in groups and practicing exercise or meditation. I admired them for their courage (waking up at 5:00 am to mediate needs courage, at least for me) and their interest in keeping healthy body and mind. At some distance, I could see more profiles sitting in groups together. The only difference was these people looked lot more huge and bulky. I thought the groups were divided depending upon the size of a person -maybe kind of exercise depends on the weight and shape of the person. I moved closer to the group only to realise that it was actually a herd of buffaloes sleeping. That's when I became fully awake with my eyes wide open. I tiptoed back silently, not to disturb them from their sleep and joined back my dad in the side walk.

This is when I understood that whatever I wanted to realise in life, I need to do it fully awake else I can bump into things which might result in not-so-happy situations. Being fully awake in body and mind definitely makes one calmer and peaceful.

License to drive

2007-10-05T10:04:00.000-04:00

My driving experience started in India. At that time, we used to own a white Ambassador car . My dad used to very attached to it and would say it/she was like his daughter. What ? When you have such a sweet daughter like me, why on the earth would you ever consider a gigantic Ambassador car as your daughter! My brother on the other hand would tease me that both me and the car were the "motuest(fat) things in the world!" Grr...

I learnt lot of driving from my mom and brother. In fact, I was the one who knew the difference between gears - 4 and reverse in the car. Anyone who has experience driving an Ambassador would know what I am saying. These two gears are so close in this car that many times, one would be looking back after putting the reverse gear only to see the car move forward ! I would differentiate between the clicks of the gear. When my mom wanted to reverse the car, she would wait for my approval to take her feet off the brakes. And mind you, the gears would be so hard, you need to put half your strength just to take the car out of the home.

For getting the driver license, I got enrolled into a driving school. The driving schools taught only in Maruti cars as they were getting very popular at that time. After having some experience driving Ambassador, driving Maruti was like driving a toy car. When the instructor asked me to put the first gear, remembering my good old pal at home, I used half my force to do what I was told. The instructor looked at me astonished "Do you learn karate? If you use this much force, the gears of this car will be damaged". It was a relief to know that driving will not result in putting Iodex(cream to relieve muscular pain) in arms.

Driving a Maruti was pretty easy and fun. Somehow, I was able to cajole my dad to buy a Maruti car. We bought a nice blue car from my mom's friend. They had kept the car in a very good condition and it was well equipped with music stereo and AC. What more can a teenager ask for! I have very fond memories of my college days driving it around. And yes I got my first license on Oct 9, a decade back. I remember I had to miss my dear friend Inder's birthday but having a license to drive was a gratification of it's own.

11 years hence I am still missing his birthday today on Oct 9 2007.

Happy Birthday Inder! Wishing you a wonderful life with your wonderful wife, Arc.

Rare Gems

2007-10-03T10:41:00.000-04:00

The environment in which we dwell has a great impact on our mind and growth. I truly admire good people whose goodness gets rubbed on to us and strong people who inspire us to go that extra mile against all odds.

While growing up in Delhi, I knew one very pious and nice family of 4. Their house used to homely and there was a certain calm and sereneness in the atmosphere. Theirs was the only home where a cat and dog would drink water from the same bowl without fighting. I believe the goodness got rubbed on to the pets too. They used to have plants from various parts of India growing in their deck. Irrespective of the specific conditions a certain plant needs to grow, they all grew well in their home. Both Uncle and Aunt were well educated. They understood philosophy of life was to be good and spread goodness. Their quest for knowledge was phenomenal. They had a room to collect grocery "lifafas" (bag made of local newspapers) . According to Uncle these contained some very interesting tit bits and he would read them during his past time. The Aunt was very talented and she would promote art in all forms - pottery, local handicrafts, paintings from various parts of India. Those days, local artists would sometimes knock at the doors requesting people for buying their works. These artists were not well to do and needed money to support the family. If anyone knocked at their door and his works were good, the Aunt would buy most of the paintings and call all her friends/acquaintances to look at the art and buy if interested. She would even try to help them establish their own business or recommend them to local arts store.

We are now more tolerant to the various religions and castes India boasts off. As a child I have experienced some very bitter religious clashes in my neighborhood. In those days, this family adopted a kid who was Muslim and had become an orphan. The kid had come to their home for some food and they asked him to stay with them. His name was "Mahiyam". They taught him and sent him to school. He grew up into a fine young man. Their own sons were also very nice to him and I am sure this kid got the greatest gift from god - parents. After all, just giving birth does not qualify one to become good parent.It is giving a good life to a child that makes one a good parent.

An era to be remember

2007-10-02T14:57:00.000-04:00

Oct 2. I always used to remember this day - one because it was a holiday from school and second, it was Birthday of one of the greatest political and spiritual leader of all times. I have read and written essays on Gandhi (in both Hindi and English) in my school days so many times that I could have recited his entire life history while I was asleep. My parents remember the day too but in the reverse order of importance. Even though they were very young when India gained independence, they admire the qualities and virtues of Mahatma. The generation of my grandfather and grandmother would definitely understand what freedom means. They were the ones who crossed the border from being ruled by British to Free India.

As life and generations change, so do values and virtues of what is important to us. Today while I was dropping my daughter to school, I told her it is Mahatma Gandhi's birthday. She asked me who was that. I was giving her a very brief introduction of him when she asked me what is freedom and independence struggle? I could not give an answer to her understanding. But it set me thinking. Over times, the struggle for independence and freedom has changed from country, to states, to families, to self. The next generation would never understand what a freedom struggle for country mean and this day might be lost as any other day of the year. And I understand that I must have forgotten days that were important to my parents. But life goes on.

People are born to change the world, some succeed and some just follow. It might be beyond human's comprehension to remember all the people who contributed to the betterment of the world. But as individual, we can still remember the people whom we think made the life different. Mahatma Gandhi is just one of the many people, I admire for simplicity and virtues.

As he said "Be the change you want to see in the world." And here is a link to hear a short speech in his own voice : http://www.harappa.com/gandhi.html

Until Death Do Us Part... Is it so?

2007-09-26T11:17:00.000-04:00

My colleague mentioned about the German politician who has proposed an "expiration date" of 7 years to marriage. Uhh?
http://inthekut.wordpress.com/2007/09/21/marriage-for-life-or-just-in-7-year-increments/

This information started to churn my mind. With time, the way of life and living has changed - for better or worse is an individual's perception. Few decades ago, a person would never tender a resignation letter unless caused by some adverse circumstances. People used to work for the same company till they retire and would be very loyal to the company. "Aapka namak khaya hai, sahib"(I earned my food because of you .. Not the exact translation). I remember in Japan, the son could get the position of his father in the same company. This was because both the employee and employer cared for each other's welfare.

Now times have changed. People switch jobs like they change clothes. With all the corporate games, loyalty has taken a back seat. More people have started working, more ideas are pouring in and the rules have changed. We have become more self oriented in figuring out what is best for us. These thoughts have definitely affected our personal relationships as well. Gone are the days when a love affair in a hindi movie was depicted by just exchange of eye glances. Movies always reflect the reality of life and we can see our lives are indeed changing. Everything now is a deal, the winner bags the best deal. We look for expiration date in all the stuff we buy. But should that be extended to marriage as well? Only time would tell...

Searching, Searching

2007-09-20T11:43:00.000-04:00

Mornings are becoming chillier now. H has to wear a light jacket while catching the train to work. Since, me and kids start a little late, we are still giving our winter clothes some rest. Today morning , H asked me if I had seen his green light jacket. I told him I did see him wearing it when he came home yesterday. Last evening, I had to go out. So, as soon as H returned from work, I was more than happy to hand over the kids' charge to him and rush out. I saw him for fractions of seconds while he was giving me directions on how to reach to my destination. Since he is always in a hurry in the mornings , I am the one who has to search for anything he is looking for. To be honest, this is not the first thing I like to do to start my day. Anyways, I go on a jacket-search and could not find it anywhere in the house. So, I tell him maybe he lost it while taking the kids out yesterday evening. I also give him my piece of mind of how he could keep it in the closet and spare me this misery of searching. After dropping the kids, I came to my work. When I opened my email, I saw one from H saying that the jacket was lying on his office chair and wondered how I saw him wearing it yesterday evening. Well, hmm (blushing).

I want to Help but all I feel is helpless....

2007-09-20T09:31:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I read news about a 70 year lady in Utah being arrested because of not watering her lawn! http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/wireStory?id=3513287
I understand we need to maintain our home and ourselves but isn't this too extreme? She is old and instead of society helping her, it is sending her to jail.

Time and again things like this happen which just leaves us helpless. Few months back, I was talking to a childhood friend of mine. She mentioned she was a victim of identity theft. Someone has made a huge transaction in her credit card. She asked the credit card company to stop the transaction but because of some stupid policy, they could not do so. The culprit has bought stuff in Target but could not get all the consignment the same day. Somehow, my friend got a call from Target saying the rest of the consignment is available for pickup next day. She immediately called up the cops and said there is a possibility of knowing the culprit if he ever turns up. After a long wait and innumerable phone transfers, she was told that what got stolen was her identity and not some concrete stuff. So they cannot help!

Last year, I had visited my gynaecologist for the regular pregnancy visit. A young lady entered the clinic and sat next to me. After some time, we started talking and I learnt that she was new the place. Hers was a pregnancy which needed lot of attention in early stage. She had medical insurance but there were some issues which the insurance company was taking just too long to resolve. Because of this, none of the doctors were ready to see her. She had some problems that day and took a cab to see my gynaecologist. She was just hoping that the doc would check her as she really needed some medical attention. I felt sorry for her. But as it turned out, the doc refused to see her because of all the insurance complications. She did not heed to the fact that the lady herself needed medical attention. I do understand that insurance policies are complex and no one wants to get tangled in all these. But once in a while when a genuine case comes by, can't we go beyond and help them out? I offered her to drop her home and all I could do was pray for her, hoping her condition would improve.

I thoroughly approve of process and procedures. But what use are these when they cannot solve simple human problems. An old lady is being arrested for a reason beyond a common man's comprehension while there are thugs roaming freely on the road. Isn't it getting too extreme now?

Searching for ...

2007-09-19T14:58:00.000-04:00

Looking for wisdom
To enlighten my life

Looking for love
To fill my heart

Looking for tranquility
To rest my mind

Looking for freedom
To get away from boredom

Looking for the peace
To put my soul at ease

Looking for acceptance
To drive away any pretense

My mind keeps searching
For answers and preachings

For it is known
That there is no beginning and no end

That all in all
we are just brick on a wall.

Nature - The artist beyond compare

2007-09-19T09:46:00.000-04:00

It is a known fact that nature is the best artist. Time and again in different parts of the world,it has made a masterpiece which a human can only awe with wonder and admiration. I recently visited one of the masterpieces which was created in 6 million years and still going on.

GrandCanyon - a master piece carved entirely by Colorado river is breathtaking. The canyon was created as the river and its tributaries cut through the layers of rock.

The canyon is overwhelming in size. There are only two ways of exploring it and both would take couple of days. One is walking around the canyon which is approx 275 miles long and the other is a very interesting trek down to the river bed of Colorado river. We did a little trek around the canyon.

We went to Yavapai point to see the sunset and I believe Hopi point to see the sunrise.

Over the years, Sun has without fail risen every day radiating the whole canyon into a colorful landscape. Its intricate and kaleidoscopic landscape is a blissful treat to watch. The quite and serene background leaves you calm and peaceful.

In travel channel, I saw another masterpiece by Colorado River - Canyonlands National Park near Utah. I am attaching an image I found in net while looking for this park and I am certain where your next vacation destination is going to be:

Five minutes

2007-09-10T12:05:00.000-04:00

It is said the first thing that comes to our mind when we wake up defines our day. Mine doesn't seem like it. The first thing that comes to my mind ever since I can remember , is whether I can sleep for 5 more minutes. As a child, I used to dream that when science advances to an extent that humans start living in another planets , I would opt for Pluto because 5 min there would definitely be couple of days in earth . The result, they stopped recognizing pluto as a planet! One of various instances of how my dreams get realised.

As a kid, it was my dad's job to wake me up. He used to be very good in it which definitely did not work in my favor. In winters when my mom called me few times to wake me up, I would just go deeper into my comforter. Thats when my dad would take over. He would just slid next to me in my bed. That itself would be a big jolt to rise me from slumber. Then he would start talking about all the cartoon characters/serial characters I watched. He would try to ask me about their next move in their respective story plots. If I did not respond, he would nudge to make me speak up. All this would irritate me and the goal would be achived. I would be wide awake, ready to hop off my bed. My dad, as a prize, would doze off for couple of minutes in my warm bed. What intrigued me always was he never used to see any of the serials/cartoons I watched. Still he would know the story and the characters !

Fast forward to present. I am in nice slumber when the alarm clock goes off on a sunday morning. This irritates H as he does not like alarm clocks on sunday. More so, if he is the one who has to turn it off. I know I have a huge list of chores to do but suddenly none of them seem important. I can hear my 4 year old and 1 year old stir in their beds. I can easily put my 4 year old back to sleep for 5 more minutes. She can understand how precious these moments of rest can be. My 1 year old is a different story. He is fully awake the minute his eyes open. He comes from his crib and onto my bed. I try hard to make him sleep for couple more minutes but he is hellbent. He finally comes to my face and with his tiny fingers open my eyes. It's nice to see his cherubic face first thing in the morning but I wouldn't have mind to see it 5 minutes later. Anyways I am fully awake now , exactly 2 hours after the alarm went off.

Good Old Days

2007-09-07T11:21:00.000-04:00

One thing I really miss is my college days - the freedom, the casualness, the hopes and the dreams. I made some of my best friends in college. I used to love their company and we still get high when we hang out together. I remember the nights when me, A, I , M were up to "finish off our assignments" but ended up chatting about our lives, ideas and dreams. These were the golden times rare to re-live.

Last week me and V were able to re-live some memory of our younger days. After one nice, long tiring day, both our kids and dear hubbies were sleeping softly and quietly in their beds. I don't think hubbies were sleeping quitely but we were too excited to even take notice of that. V had got two movies to watch during the week. We tiptoed downstairs , got some munchkins, hopped onto the couch , made ourselves comfortable and switched on the DVD to watch Dhoom 2. We enjoyed commenting , dancing , singing along with the Ash and Hrithik. It was 11:30 pm by the time the movie ended and we both looked at each other with red shot sleepy eyes . We had had a hectic day and had some more chores to finish up the next day. But we realised that we would never get this precious time easily. So, I happily got out , made tea for both of us. We drank it to drive away Mother sleep and inserted "Mr & Mrs Iyer" into the DVD player :)

Dear Sir/Madam

2007-09-06T11:23:00.000-04:00

I realised yesterday was Sept 5 . This day is celebrated in India as Teacher's day. I remember we used to have a small celebration in school. When we were in high school, we would buys gifts for all our teachers. This was stopped when we went to Class 12. The school came up with a policy of not to buy gifts to teachers but we could show our appreciation in form of cards/flowers. Though all the teachers who have taught me have shaped me into what I am , I am recollecting few of them today:

Ms Chokandi: She was my first teacher when I was in nursery. She was a terror. I used to be so afraid of her that I used to come up with excuses to miss my school. To be very honest, a teacher for atleast Kindergarten should be loving and caring.

Ms Usha: She taught me in Class 1. She was a very sweet person and loved me a lot. I was thrilled when she became our class teacher.

Ms Usha: Incidently I had another teacher by the same name when I changed school during my primary school. She was a nice teacher and used to teach almost all the subjects. I have fond memories of her. In a final exam for Social Studies, I scored full. She was so thrilled to inform me. But I replied that it is not possible as I had left a question(which was for 1 point). She said she would still give me full score because of honesty. This incident had a lasting impact on me.

Mr Radhakrishnan : He taught us for a very short time , couple of months. But he was one of the best Science and Math teacher. He aroused our curiosity for rational thinking. We actually cried when he left our school.

Ms Raman : She was our Hindi teacher - nice and loving person. She used to borrow my favourite ink pen for correcting papers. Somehow she used to love the pen as much as I did. After I finished my primary school, I actually gave her the pen. It was a tough decision for a small girl. But I felt it less painful when she smiled and gave me a warm hug.

Mr Ramaswamy: Our math teacher. I used to be good in math and all my friends used to tease me with him as it was quite apparent he liked me. I used to be annoyed and upset with my friends. Looking back now, it gives me a hearty laugh. Subha, if you read this you are gonna laugh your heart out.

Ms Madhavan : Our Chemistry teacher in middle school. She was tall and very strict . It used to give us pleasure to tease her. She used to get annoyed with almost each one of us. She had a habit of talking indirectly that we could never get what is she scolding us for. I remember when once a volley ball hit her head , she hid that in the library. We had our own fun time retrieving it. Even though she gave us tough times, she made our middle school years eventful.

Ms Padma: Our Physics teacher. She was a nice teacher with a heavy mallu accent. Incidently she was also a close friend of Ms Madhavan. So annoying her also meant facing Ms M's wrath.

Ms Uma : Our history teacher with a great dressing sense. She had a good command on her subject . She made history very interesting and we used to look forward to see the beautiful sarees she would wear to our class.

Ms Pillai: Our Biology teacher. She had an unfortunate accident due to which she lost her tears. Her class used to be entertaining mainly because of her heavy mallu accent and also she lost no time in picking up student's fault. Almost all of us has faced her anger. She was a feminist. Along with biology, she would also tell us about rights of woman. When we learnt that she has three girls - Tara, Meera, Hira, one of the boys commented "Good she did not have a fourth girl, else her name would be Jeera". :)

Ms Mythili: Our Geography Teacher. Along with geography, she used to be involved in all the cultural activities in school. We had a great time singing and dancing with her.

Ms Aggarwal: Our chemistry teacher in high school. She was a good teacher and a good motivator. I still remember the day I went to meet her after our board exams. There was few days left before the engineering entrance exams. She gave me a a nice motivating talk and pepped me up.

Ms Usha: Our math teacher in high school. A very balanced person with a good command of her subject. Apart from math problems, I had few nice converstaions regarding life and career in general.

Mr Natarajan: Our school principal. Even though he never taught us, I always used to admire his personality and his command of English. Incidently, he was also my mom's teacher and she was his pet student. It was a great honor for me when I gave an extempore speech on behalf of students on his farewell day.

Mr VP Manchanda: Revered teacher with a high command of his subject. When I used to go to college, the traffic in Delhi used to be horrendous. Once he had seen us changing buses in a traffic signal instead of a regular bustop. The next day, he gave us a lecture on our promised future and said life is more precious and we should not risk it to atleast Delhi traffic ways.

Mr VK: A teacher with a great sense of humor. He would actually time the practicals in a way that I do not miss my University bus to get back home.

Mr NK : Arc is going to laugh at this. A teacher whom me and Arc dreaded but we have to admit, his are the only subjects that we can still recall without glancing into a book. Also the fact the night outs we made to complete his projects made our friendhip stronger if nothing else.

Mr AJ: A sweet nice teacher on whom both me and Arc had a tiny miny crush. We used to get excited by the the fact that his initials were a combination of our first names (A and J.. crazy, right. I agree)

Mr SKM: He taught us Computer Architecture and few other subjects. One of the professors, whose class we would bunk and whose assignment we would delay without any hesitation.

Mr Bhattacharya: Our Electronics prof with a heavy bong accent. We would bunk his class and go around the univ eating bhel puri et all. Apart from teaching us, he would also tell intersting stories.

Mr Aggarwal: He was actually an adhoc teacher for teaching us Parallel Computing. Once we were deciding date and syllabus for our exam. When he mentioned the syllabus to be covered, Arc commented that it was too much as we also had other projects/ subjects to work on. He looked at her and commented - I never see you in class but you are the only one to object. We had a hearty laugh and till date tease Arc on this.

Mr Haimovich: He took my first class in this land of opportunity. Even though he never interacted with students much, I have respect for his command on one of the most interesting and captivating subject - Wireless Communications.

Mr Jacob: Revered elderly gentleman who taught us Electrical Communications. Once his TA entered our class and handed out a surprise quiz. We all fared badly. I felt so horrible that I went to speak to the Prof regarding my test. He laughed it off saying it was not even counted towards the grade. He just wanted to shock us :)

Mr Boris: Network Topology Professor, who would talk less about networks in communication and more about networks in life. His class used to be very interesting featuring stories he learnt from his life.

Ms Sirin Tekinay: My idol. A very smart, talented and intelligent professor of Wireless Communication. I would love to be in her class any day at any time of my life.

I should not forget the teachers at my home:

My mom: If I can even be half successful as her , I would be more than happy.

My brother: I learnt more math and physics from him than any one else. I attribute all my scietific reasoning to him.

My dad: In school, it was my mom and brother who made sure I score well. But I do remember the words of wisdom he has imparted to me during my various phases life. He would always be an inspiration to me. I remember an advertisement of Boost that used to come when I was a kid " My daddy strongest".

Dream on...

2007-09-04T13:47:00.000-04:00

Back from Vacation
Was fun and good relaxation

Mind in state of happiness
Brimming with ideas and creativeness

Want to jot these thoughts with clarity
In a hope that they attain reality

There seems to be new hope
In my life, other than just to cope

A new direction
All it needs is a persistent action

A day will come
When I realise my dream

To contribute to this ocean of humanity
My two cents of wisdom and some sanity.

Vacation

2007-08-23T10:06:00.001-04:00

A much awaited vacation
No work and no action

Yearning to go places
To learn the meaning of stranger's gazes

It is something about travel
Which stirs the mind's gravel

Makes me young and new
As my energy is renewed

Even if I feel home here
It makes me happy at the prospect of going there

Waiting for this break
So that I can shriek like a freak

But one things is for sure
Whether it is a sunshine or downpour

Back will I come
To you, sweet home.

Wisdom or the lack of it..

2007-08-22T13:17:00.000-04:00

I was driving towards my dentist's office today morning and it sent me down the memory lane of the various visits I have made till date.

I remember when I was a small girl, I had gone with my dad to a very friendly dentist close to my home. He had extracted my tooth after giving local anaesthesia and my mouth was swollen like a football. While prescribing the medicine, he asked me gently "Beta goli chahiye ki sharbat"(Do you want capsule or tonic?). To give you some clarity, I hate medicines of any form especially tonic. Incidently, "sharbat" in hindi also means juice. And in my innocent mind, I took it as juice and imagined various Rasna flavors making my mouth water. I immediately said "Sharbat". I don't remember how I gulped the tonic down my mouth. Either my mom must have performed some trick or I must have just refused to drink it. In any case, I was fine in couple of days . (Just a thought: If I refused to drink the tonic and I got fine, do we really need medicine? But with mom around, is it possible? )

The next visit to dentist was when I had excruciating pain because of a wisdom tooth trying to come out. The dentist had recommended the removal of wisdom tooth. Incidently, it was a few days before my wedding. Maybe it was God's way to making me wiser or maybe not :)

After coming to US, I had more "regular cleaning" dentist visits. In all these visits, the hygenist invariably pointed out how bad my teeth were. Somehow I found in hard to believe a I do not have any tooth problem except wisdom tooth . But I have that concern in general life too- wisdom. Anyways, that's a different story. She even went to an extent saying, I should have teeth cleaned every 2 months even if I need to shell out money from my pocket. After all, flashing off a beautiful smile is important. Fortunately for me, even if my wisdom tooth gave up on me , my wisdom helped and I stopped heeding to any of her advice.

I had another wisdom tooth attack . My second wisdom tooth suddenly thought it needs to see the light of the day and started piercing through my jaws. Never made to the surface but gave a jolt to all it's neighbors. The dentist argued, why not remove all the remaining 3 wisdom teeth. That would relieve me of any pain (and wisdom ?) . He also mentioned the face won't swell as the medicines used are different. A myriad of thoughts went across my mind - my last swollen face, sleepless nights , icecreams ( in India, you were allowed to eat lots of icecream when tooth was extracted and I used to love that part). Since my chain of thoughts ended in icecream bringing a smile to my face, I said yes without listening to what the dentist was saying. So an appointment was made to remove all my three wisdom teeth.

I came to the office on the appointed date. It was in the morning so that H could go to work. All my wisdom teeth were extracted and I seemed to be doing pretty fine. H dropped me home and went to work. Then, I started feeling pain. Maybe the anaesthasia was wearning off now. I felt tired too. Thought I would eat and then sleep. Now, the hell broke loose. I threw up what ever I ate including medicine, started having head ache along with tooth ache. Wait a minute, wasn't the extraction done to relieve me of pain? My face got swollen and I could barely open my lips, let alone eat or talk. I was all alone in the home. H would call me and I would barely murmur and he could not understand what I am saying. I can still remember how the whole day went by. I appreciated simple facts of life as eating and talking. For the next couple of days to H's delight, I was the one who did less talk and more listen. My family would pull my leg at every opportunity to check if I had any "wisdom" left. Unanimously, they agreed it went away with my teeth.

For the first time today, the hygenist acknowldged the fact that my teeth were looking good and I must be taking extra care now. To be very honest, I have done nothing special to my teeth except brushing. But what she said definitely put me in a good spirit.

Wisdom or no wisdom, I have a reason to smile :)

Window to the soul

2007-08-20T23:10:00.000-04:00

In a life where
people don't meet
feelings doesn't meet
hearts don't meet
destiny doesn't meet

In that times
I met those eyes

Compassion at its epitome
Words speaking of wisdom

Which made my heart smile
And follows me in my life's each mile

Which quenched the thirst
Of my mind's eternal quest

Which is the light in the dark
In the journey that I embark.

Where are we going?

2007-08-18T23:23:00.000-04:00

It must be one topic which must be finding a place in every conversation regardless of language or location. People in general are worried where are we heading and some are certain that the dooms day is just around the corner.

Generations have come and developed the world for better or worse. But people seem to be more concerned now. Maybe because this generation has progressed technologically faster than the previous ones or more importantly because I am living this generation and keep hearing it everyday.

But are we really heading towards a doom's day? That only time can tell.

In my view , genarations change and so do troubles. Each generation has it's own ways of resolving them. Some of these solutions might have filtered across generations but lot are learnt by surviving them. As it is said- practical knowledge makes a person wiser than theoretical knowledge.

The common concerns are less compassion and time for each other, severe competitiveness makes no time to enjoy simple pleasure of life. I feel each generation has it's own interpretation of "leisure" and "fun". True that people seem to be in maddening rush but there are lot of developments that cannot be ignored. Again whether it is for better or worse is the way we interpret it and the way we want to live life. Few to note : Individual dreams can attain reality now, Bonding the whole world through spirituality, going one step above religion.

There is always an "unknown" which lures us, there is always a "fight" that keeps us strong. In past, wars and conservative socities might have made it easier to know the "enemy". Even though we cannot put a face to what we are fighting for, we do feel the same urge to get evolved , become a better human, attain realisation. Deciphering the unknown and winning it is what makes the civilization evolve and sustain life. This will go on and the only thing we can do is survive it and attain the wisdom. Whether we are able to share the wisdom is the only struggle shared among generations.