Life on a Refrigerator

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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.