MOSEY MIND

Where do GAP, M&S cloths come from?

2011-03-16T14:44:00.000-04:00

Labels are like religion in US (and probably every where else these days).
And just like all other religions, the source is always ignored.

During my shopping trips, I've entered anything marked 'Sale' in Commericals or Jayanagar and picked up 'Export Quality' cloths.
Of course I knew these were rejected exports but export material nevertheless. So it's irresistible not to pick up cute top you couldn't find even in shopper's stop!

I had never given a look at the names, until during recent trip to bangalore, the 'export quality sale' cloths were all in OLD NAVY and GAP hangers.

Recently, reading In Spite the of Gods by Edward Luce (post on this later), finally got to know the source of :

The cloths sold in Marks & Spencers, GAP, Banana Republic, Pierre Cardin and Abbercrombie usually arrive from Gokaldas Express who's small units are spread across Bangalore, India. These are just few of their clients who turn out two million garment pieces every month!

The Green Hornet

2010-12-17T15:04:00.000-05:00

I love the movie previews.
It makes you feel like a Premier except for lack of Champagne and Movie stars and Red-carpet and paparazzi.

Okay, there is nothing great about watching a movie fortnight a ahead except you watched it even before firstdayfirstshow (FDFS).

But still, kind of feel good when the whole Multiplex is booked just for this single movie screening.
The blond attractive PR scans our passes. She had a couch bag and nine west boots. Wonder how much they pay her to scan passes and watch the movie with us.

Have surrender our cell phones/Ipads/cameras etc at the counter and we get patted down by man who looks like someone from MIB.

The MIB agent even made the lady in front of me to check-in her tablet. I mean iPad..that stupid thing doesn’t even have a camera. Will she sit and blog about the movie inside the theater.

Well, back to subject. Right after five minutes into the movie, I was devastated.

At first I thought I’ve watching Will Ferrell for first few minutes.
Then it hit me that Seth Rogan has lost oodles of weight. Now he looks like Mini-Will

I really thought I’m going to watch Mr.This Year’s Sexist Man Alive after mini-will. Still wishing even after the Asian Guy turns up.

Oh no, the movie which wanted to watch was Green Lantern. Duh.

Which Moron decides to confuse people releasing movies with identical first names (GREEN)at the same time—that too during busiest time of year.

I won’t spoil by going into details of the story. Here are few comments

The movie was pretty funny. But given a choice I would watch Gulliver’s Travels in theater and Green Hornet on DVD.

Nothing like Batcar. But liked the Black Beauties used by Hornet-Neat accessories and retro fittings in the car. (means lots of guns, explosives, record-player and even a parachute!)

Smoke gun by hero—funny. Gas Mask by villain—funniest!!!

The leading lady is actually older than the hero(s).

Cameron Diaz says her age (almost REAL age!) aloud. Kudos to graceful aging.

Finally, this is one the rare movie(book) where the superhero doesn’t have any powers!!!!! He's just a Poor Little Rich Guy.

Note: Heard from colleague who grew up in 50's that in earlier TV series, the Asian guy in The Green Hornet was played by Bruce Lee.

A year flies by

2010-12-13T15:47:00.000-05:00

So, here I am a year older and hating it. Sigh.

This year has been a whirlwind. Here is a summary of events:
Sep2009-Dec2010:
Had some wonderful guests over visiting from blore-cousins, sil, nieces
Took a weeklong Disneyworld vacation
Visited Blore for a month in Aug and enjoyed the festivities.
Quit my job-That’s a first!!
Led a bachelorette life and almost enjoyed it
Had too many parties
Started on the new job

Never thought discontinuing writing would affect me(mental state) in a way I never thought it could.

It has been over more than a year since I’ve stopped writing and more than two years since I’ve stopped keeping up the appointment at the gym.

Not sure why.

Blamed my ex-boss, blamed the commute and blaming the rented house we live in. But deep in my heart I know it is me and taking a vacation 8000 miles away (aks visiting home) won’t make a difference.

I’ll try to make an honest attempt to revive this blog. Share experiences, new skills, fresh ideas or bother everyone with my rants! At least, crossing fingers that thought to keep stress at a distance.

The art of eating american breakfast

2009-08-31T21:15:00.008-04:00

Friends and cousins visiting for a month or two love to hate the american breakfast. Here is an exert of an email sent to friend with suggestions:

Hey S,

Glad you are enjoying the stay at furnished apartment. Your breakfast stories are hilariously sadding. Here are few tips from experience:

1. The round bread-like object which you suggested is like a chew toy to your puppy is actually called a 'Bagel'. First toast it and then slap on some cheese before consuming it with coffee. Believe me, you will find it addictive.

2. The one without any holes is the 'english muffin'. Follow the same as above to relish it :)

3. It is not a bland like dosa. It must be a waffle' or 'pancakes' consumed with maple syrup. It becomes very sloppy once you add the maple syrup to it. I would stay away from it unless you are craving sweet in the morning.

4. You think oatmeal is your diabetic grandma's BF back home...so let's just not talk about it.

5. Cereals is not just cornflakes...try the small-round ones called 'Cheerios', the square-ones called 'Shredded wheat' which tastes like cardboard unless it is frosted with lots and lots of sugar!

6. Don't eat doughnuts every morning for BF unless you want to put on tens of pounds in a month ~~like me~~.

And finally if you are craving for some spicy, hot breakfast, I suggest a Taco Bell :-)

xoxo.

Toxins overdose

2009-08-10T13:19:00.007-04:00

If processed milk can be hazardous, imagine the effect of cosmetic products. Hmm.
Recently, a friend forwarded the link to this website:

http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/

The cosmetic database gives a list of all daily products we use along with the 'Hazard' based on toxin level of all ingredients of the product.

The deo, day-moisturizer, sunscreen, shampoo, conditioner and even the toothpaste we regularly use have hazard level of 6 or 7 (1 being the least).
And I thought I was protecting myself slapping on some sunscreen!

Browsing through the site on range of products, i've arrived at the conclusion that the amount of products I use to get just the frizz-free hair just might give me some kind of cancer or make me infertile in few years.

Guess it's time to go back to good old shikakai and coconut oil

Awards and a Tag

2009-08-05T21:45:00.017-04:00

Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well
-Voltaire

I thank Preethi for passing on these awards. I'm honored (and happy!). This appreciative gesture means a lot to me.

These awards also came with a tag. There it goes.

1.What is your current obsession?
Blogging, Learning html (my blog has new look every few days!), planning beach trips for the weekend!

2. What are you wearing today?
Like most the days, its jeans and a shirt for work.

3. What's for dinner?
Hot coconut Uppma (I love having breakfast for dinner!)

4. What’s the last thing you bought?
Milk at the grocery store!

5. What are you listening to right now?
Humming sound of AC

6. What do you think about the person who tagged you?
They are excellent cooks and post mouth watering recipes!

7. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
Bangalore

8. What are your must-have pieces for summer?
Sunscreen lotion, White kurtas, sandals!

9. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Of course, pay a visit home!

10. Which language do you want to learn?
Sanskrit (at least to read some hymns) , French (simply), Spanish (if i need to survive in west coast! and Chinese (since they might dominate the world in 10years or less!)

11. What’s your favorite quote?
"If you think you can, you can"

12. Who do you want to meet right now?
Parents and my sisters!

13. What is your favorite colour?
Black and Red.

14. What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own closet?
My 8-year old salwar(which still fits, wonder how)brings lot of good memories!

15. What is your dream job?
Travel associate, Researcher (should be allowed to use 'google'), Beer Taster...

16. What’s your favorite magazine?
Oprah, Cosmo and you can guess the rest!

17. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?
Fine food and drinks with friends.

18. What do you consider a fashion faux pas?
Wearing clothes you are not comfortable with or you don't fit into fully!

19. Who are your style icons?
My grandmother who was impeccable all the time. I still cannot get her style or elegance

20. Describe your personal style.?
Comfortable yet pleasing to the eye.

21. What are you going to do after this?
Start working (i've been blogging on office hours!)

22. What are your favorite movies?
Duet, Geentanjali, DDLJ, HSSH (any 90's bollywood movie), Devil wears Prada and any hollywood sci-fic!

24. What are three cosmetic/makeup/perfume products that you can't live without?
Olay moisturizer/ Eyeliner and Compact/Perry Ellis

23. What inspires you?
People with enthusiasm who pass it along!

24. What do you carry in your bag?
House/car keys, credit cards, mobile, tissues, chapstick, compact, comb, safetypins, rubberbands, receipts (no wonder it's nicknamed as trashcan!)

25. What do you do when you “have nothing to wear” (even though your closet’s packed)?
Wear an outfit I don't like grumbling but go for an awesome accessory (necklace, bangle or Bag!)

26. Coffee or tea?
Coffee anytime!

27. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?
Drink vodka and pass out.

28. What is the meaning of your name?
Mythri means friendship.

29. Which other blogs you love visiting?
Too many to list.

30. Favorite Dessert/Sweet?
Hot carrot halwa or a cold rasmalli

31. Favorite Season ?
Winter in Bangalore, Fall in Boston!

32) If I come to your house now, what would u cook for me?
Instant MTR Rava Idli with green chutney:)

33)What's your current mood?
Undecided-happy filling out the tag but nervous about the afternoon presentation!

The rules are:
Respond and rework – Answer the questions on your own blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, and add one more question of your own.Then tag eight or ten other set of people.
I would like to share these awards and tag....

Ritu
Vaish
Rads
Lafemmereva
Sands
Minal
Devaki
Kokonad

Fictitious memory lane!

2009-08-05T17:07:00.006-04:00

It goes all the way back to the honeymoon days (means more than six years ago) when I penned down the first ~~memoir~~ fiction. Wanted to share this amateur piece of work:

Visiting In-laws and Return of the Bride
-
It was ringing of the phone that jolted me out of sleep. I saw the alarm beside me showing 1am, I grabbed the phone and sat next to window sill covered with snow on the other side.
My brother-in-law’s voice was loud and clear on other side, “did I wake you up, I’m sorry, just wanted you guys to know that the flight just left the airport now”. I murmured an ok and went back to bed.

That’s when my mind started tracking events from past six months. “Was it already six months” I thought. It is as though just yesterday I bid my parents and in-laws goodbye and flew with hubby to this alien land called USA.
Well, right after we settled in, I went back to my usual jean-clad girl. Seeing me only in saris for a month back home, my hubby was astonished to see me so comfortable only in jeans and tee.
Nevertheless, he didn’t complain.

Slowly I too began to backtrack. My medium ‘red bindi’ got replaced by small ‘black bindi’.
‘Fall’ started and I had to flaunt my new boots, so off came my sacred toe-rings(my grandma would have strangled me if she was here!!).
My long gold earring were replaced with silver studs bought at the mall and my gold bangles swapped for funky beads bracelet shopped at the ‘gems show’; so on and so forth the replacements grew and I was back to looking like some happy-go-lucky college grad.

It was already 6 months of marital bliss when by hubby decided it was time to get his parents to visit us in US.
Expect for weekly phone calls, I hadn’t interacted with my in-laws much during one month back home after marriage, so I was anxious to meet them and above of all I was happy that I will have company during daytime when hubby was off to work and readily agreed to his proposal.
After months of planning and preparation by restless hubby, both in-laws passports, visas, plane tickets and medical insurance was ready at last.
Right after all this the reins of the show were passed on to me.
All I had to do was play the perfect hostess, make them at ease, plan for trips or that’s what I thought. The day I started to make shopping list, panic hit me. Finally I decided to go about in steps to be ready for my in-laws.

First step: Shopping (Hubby whined that shopping seems to be the first step for everything for women and I agreed without tetchy!)
The small condo of our which horded two had to be modified to host four people for six months!
So first and foremost I needed to have a twin mattresses and extra comforters. Even thought spring was about to start, you can never believe the ‘New England’ weather. So it was bedding, bedding and more bedding. Then it was more and more of the crockery and the utensils and the toiletries and the list were endless.

Second step: Jewelry
Out came my jewelry box from the safe. All my silver, funky items were replaced by traditional gold bangles, earrings and I slipped on my toe-rings too. After all I wanted to be the prefect DIL. Third step: Cleaning

With so much shopping and so little space, everything seemed crammed. And the closet had to be let out for two more people.
I began to clear the clutter and veil my lingerie and cosmetics.
Hubby thought this whole episode was very funny, doing more shopping and cleaning up after that. I ignored his comments and went on to tackle the kitchen. When I slid into the bed that night, my body ached but my kitchen shone like picture perfect for ‘Vim’ ad!!!!!

This is when I came back to reality, sat up on the bed and remembered the phone call that had woken me up. I glanced my bedroom which I had tastefully decorated (thanks to Martha Stewart and Kmart items!!) and fell back to sleep blissfully thinking everything is perfect for tomorrow.

Finally the D-day arrived; hubby gave me clear instructions to prepare lunch and rushed to office. I prepared my atte’s(MIL) favorite chutney and mava(FIL)’s preferred ‘rasam’ and got ready. Hubby picked up me from home and we were at the airport at noon. My in-laws arrived and after usual hugs and wishes we drove back home.

I served them lunch and waited anxious for my results. At last my FIL spoke “the food is excellent, it’s so much better compared to what airlines served us”
I was thrilled like I had passed my first subject in distinction and looked at hubby who was happily enjoying his ‘savige’ payasam!
After lunch I took my in-laws for a guide tour around the condo and our apartment. Seems like MIL was impressed with my decorations and I again passed the second subject with a remark,” since only two of you live, it shouldn't’t be much work around the house cleaning”. I didn’t care about the last statement, I was just happy that they were contented.

Next morning was a Saturday. Even then my alarm rang at 7am (it seemed like pretty early to wake up for a weekend!). I prepared the filter coffee (thank god I had remembered to get that madras coffee filter and packets of ‘kwality’ coffee powder from India), served coffee to in-laws and hubby’s face lit up like a chandelier when he got his filter coffee in bed!!!!
We decided to hit the mall and hubby suggested we can visit the temple on the way and give a small tour of the county too. I got dressed as usual in my jeans and jacket and came out to the living room to join everyone. My FIL observed my face for a while and asked “Why don’t you put on a bigger bindi, I could hardly see your black bindi on the forehead”. Oooops!!! I had forgotten that I have to ditch my back eyeliner and return to the red ‘sringar’ kumkum tube.

I was about to hurry back in to change the ‘bindi’ when my MIL spoke “I thought you can wear one of those saris lying in your closet hanger to the temple”. I had forgotten that hubby had suggested temple on the way to mall.
I stepped out after half-hour later admiring myself that I looked gorgeous in the embroidery sari and the colorful bindi that’s when my hubby sneaked up behind me and whispered,
“Thank god, I’m will be getting my South Indian Bride back for a few months at least”…………..

Label Cloud/Tag Cloud for Blogger

2009-08-05T16:45:00.005-04:00

I hate the Label widget provided by Blogger. So searched round and implemented the code to use the Label Cloud here
Thanks to phydeaux3 for wonderful instructions, got it right on the first run!!

Here's how to add a Label Cloud/Tag Cloud to your blog.

NOTE: Backup your template before making any changes. This is a life(blog)-saver!

Of travelling

2009-08-03T18:18:00.007-04:00

I love day-trips. There are no slogging over internet for competitive prices on flight-hotel-car combo, nada of shopping-lists, packing is almost nil and thankfully no delayed flights!

Hey, I love the rush of vegas (who’s going to travel 8-hour flight I can as well go to Europe instead of travelling coast-to-coast) or prospect of miami beach (where you need to fight over square inches of sand to plop on) in precious few summer days.

So of lately, , we have been setting out on weekends for isolated beaches located in nearby local towns. The secluded destinations we make a trip to provide ~~break from television, laptop~~ tranquility we ‘need’ during the weekends.

But of course, there sheltered places are so easy to miss or maybe it’s just me.
As usual I was the navigator glued to the GPS instead of watching out for road signs (stupid GPS is addictive), so I totally missed the sign which actually read ‘Castle Rock’.
Actually come to think about it, I was ogling at the ‘Castle’ –like bungalow build next to this beach and thought it was the name of a house!

Thankfully K has more sign-viewing sense than moi and stopped the car.

As we got down, I debated that there is is no way there’s a beach down that alley and decided not to tug my heavy bag nor the camera. Lo and behold, the pathway actually led to the rocky beach!
After some rock-climbing we reached the top and it was a wonderful sight.

Sigh, no camera :(

I desperately wanted a poto for FB, so climbed down (that’s always a pain-in-the-butt),made it to the car in one-piece and climbled back up.
Lesson of the day: There’s a Kodak moment when you least expect one!

After an hour of sitting idle and clicking pictures we moved on to the next spot in the town. This was a small park stretched for a view of ocean and Marblehead Harbor on either sides.

Choosing ocean view over harbor we settled on the cute isolated beach under the canopy talking about the past, future and munching on Nature Valley bars. It might have been an hour or just few minutes but it sure did quench the summer-day-out thirst.

View from top of the castle rock

It's an adventure getting to the beach navigating through the sharp rocks.

The weekend concert

2009-07-27T16:35:00.002-04:00

The free summer concerts are very popular in NorthEast where Mr. Sun decides to shower us with sunshine for quarter of a year.
This weekend our town hosted an Irish band. The concerts are usually held in a park but our glorious town has a stage (with waterfall background) in centre of the downtown!
This make-shift stage provides budding and old-time musicians to showcase their talents.
The weather was amazing this Friday evening (imagine it was pouring in the morning) as we walked a mile to partake in the event.
There were around more than 75people, mostly elderly crowd probably driven down from the Senior Centre. But the enthusiasm was amazing.

While K and me at the most clapped to the folk songs, they ~~tap~~ performed Irish-dance, duet for slower melody and sung along with actions for this Unicorn song!

BTW, did you know why Unicorns are no longer seen?Here’s the Irish folk song describing their folly:

A long time ago, when the Earth was green
There was more kinds of animals than you've ever seen
They'd run around free while the Earth was being born
And the loveliest of all was the unicorn

The Lord seen some sinning and it gave Him pain
And He says, "Stand back, I'm going to make it rain"
He says, "Hey Noah, I'll tell you what to do
Build me a floating zoo,
and take some of those...

Green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born
Don't you forget My unicorns

Old Noah was there to answer the call
He finished up making the ark just as the rain started to fall
He marched the animals two by two
And he called out as they came through
Hey Lord,

I've got green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Some cats and rats and elephants, but Lord, I'm so forlorn
I just can't find no unicorns"

And Noah looked out through the driving rain
Them unicorns were hiding, playing silly games
Kicking and splashing while the rain was falling
Oh, them silly unicorns

There was green alligators and long-necked geese
Some humpty backed camels and some chimpanzees
Noah cried, "Close the door because the rain is falling
And we just can't wait for no unicorns"

The ark started moving, it drifted with the tide
The unicorns looked up from the rocks and they cried
And the waters came down and sort of floated them away
That's why you never see unicorns to this very day

Wandering

2009-07-21T17:26:00.003-04:00

You might have noticed the change in appearance of the blog.
Well, I want to update the header/sidebar with my photographs. So catching up on HTML tutorial which will ‘hopefully’ enhance my knowledge to modify the template.

Ahem..let’s see how far that goes.

Taking about learning…..I guess the only formal training I’ve completed is my engineering (thank the lucky stats?).
All through my early years I’ve been jumping learning one skill or other. Here’s the list:
a)Veena: Few months, got scared I’ll lose my fingers (hey, I was seven!!)
b)Classic dance: 2 years of training and a small performance
c)Sketching: 1 year. Had to stay after school on Saturdays and revisit the school on Sundays for the class (which completely erased the concept any holiday)
d)Athletics/Volleyball: 3years. Crestfallen unable to make it to State level or maybe I was just too lazy to get up early
e)Roller Skating: 2 years, same reason as above!
f)Vedic Astrology: 2years

And now you know why the blog is named ‘mosey mind’!

P.S. If you are reading this post, consider yourself tagged and list your ~~unfinished~~-schooling.

IBC award!

2009-07-21T11:40:00.004-04:00

Rads tagged me with this wonderful award. As usual my procrastination kicked in and i've been pushing off passing it on.

These simple rules have to be followed once you recive the award:

Link the person who tagged you
Copy the image above, the rules and the questionnaire in this post
Post this in one or all of your blogs
Answer the four questions following these Rules
Recruit at least seven (7) friends on your Blog Roll by sharing this with them
Come back to BLoGGiSTa iNFo CoRNeR (PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THIS LINK) at http://bloggistame.blogspot.com/ and leave the URL of your Post in order for you/your Blog to be added to the Master List
Have Fun!
The questions with my answers:

The person who tagged you: Rads
His/her site's title and url: http://rads-blogazine.blogspot.com/
Date when you were tagged: July 7th, 2009
Persons you tagged: I tag the following...

Chitra
Preethi
Usha
Ritu
Chitra

Vaish
Syamantek

Female foeticide=Runaway Brides?

2009-07-20T15:11:00.005-04:00

Choosing a pink/blue carriage, nursery wall color are made easier thanks to sex determination available in the fifth-month scan (of course in the western world).

In India sex determination is against the law, I believe its a blessing.
Female feticide has been prevalent in the society-city or rural, it’s always a covert operation.
The statistics reports that the falling sex ratio of the country is a demographic disaster that is waiting to happen... Compared to 1991 when there were no districts having less than 800 girls per thousand boys, the census data of 2001 revealed that 16 districts are having sex ratios below 800 in the country.

Why are these statistics important?
Well, there's a reason we learn History--to make sure we try not to repeat the mistakes again. However, lessons can be learnt by comparing similar circumstances.

Thanks to China’s 30-year-old population-planning policy and customary preference for boys, the male-female ratio is 120:100.
The traditional thinking is best explained described in the ancient "Book of Songs" (1000-700 B.C.):
"When a son is born,
Let him sleep on the bed,
Clothe him with fine clothes,
And give him jade to play...
When a daughter is born,
Let her sleep on the ground,
Wrap her in common wrappings,
And give broken tiles to play..."

Ironically the illegal prenatal sex determination and sex-selective abortions have led to high bride-prices in China.

Except from the article
"China -- With no eligible women in his village, Zhou Pin, 27 years old, thought he was lucky to find a pretty bride whom he met and married within a week, following the custom in rural China.
Ten days later, Cai Niucuo vanished, leaving behind her clothes and identity papers. She did not, however, leave behind her bride price: 38,000 yuan, or about $5,500, which Mr. Zhou and his family had scrimped and borrowed to put together.
When Mr. Zhou reported his missing spouse to authorities, he found his situation wasn't unique. In the first two months of this year, Hanzhong town saw a record number of scams designed to extract high bride prices in a region with an oversupply of bachelors."

Guess, some lessons will be learnt the hard way.
(Reeling into future TOI headline: 'Runaway bride reported from Kurukshetra again. Bride-price and jewels worth 10crores missing')
Ok, maybe that's going too far. But you get the point.

To support against female foeticide, please pledge on Laadli

Air France mid air crash Snopes!

2009-07-06T16:08:00.004-04:00

Over the past month, I've received at least four forwards about the air France break up in mid-air and the final photograph capturing the terrible event.
How legit it is? Well, for starters the moment I looked the picture I knew it was from the most favorite tele-serial I follow. Avid followers of Lost cannot miss Kate trying to put on the oxygen mask.
However, if you not into sci-fi and never watched single episode of this drama you could always land on Snopes to verify the authenticity of the article.
Right, this is the site I landed when I 'googled' air-france-mid-air-crash phase.
snopes has the most interesting write-ups on legends which are thoroughly categorized and sub-categorized(politics, history, religion, urbanlegands...etc)

Here is a scary true fact: http://www.snopes.com/lost/sixpence.asp--who knew the innocent nursery rhyme was code for pirates. tsk. tsk.

Twitter URL

2009-06-30T17:43:00.004-04:00

Well, there's something to learn everyday.
Posting a tweet today with a long url made by count to -11. So googled for info to get all the contents in a single line, here's what I found:
-------------
Twitter messages are limited to 140 characters. If someone mentions a URL in a Twitter message a lot of the available characters are already taken.
Twitteriffic also uses TinyURL. Twitteroo used to generate urltea.com
URLs, but recently it has implemented rurl.org.

According to Google, these are the most popular URL shortening services used on Twitter.com.

TinyURL.com - references
urltea.com - references
snipurl.com - references

rurl.org - references
tweetl.com - references
dwarfurl.com - references

urlx.org - references
kurl.nl - references
tinypic.com - references
shorl.com - references
digbig.com - references
snurl.com - references
shurl.net- references
doiop.com- references
shorttext.com- references
301url.com- references
-------
Happy Tweeting!!!

How to live rent free in USA

2009-06-30T11:43:00.002-04:00

Link: How you can live rent free in the United States of America :-)

Read the article to get all the details...the following are some of the links on the web if you ever decide to leave your day-job and decide to become a free loader(not quite) :-)

Resources mentioned in the article:
The Caretaker Gazette has been around for 27 years, supplement their regular publications with daily or weekly job updates
Workamper News for 21 and supplement their regular publications with daily or weekly job updates
Workers on Wheels for 15 and offers a free e-zine
craigs-list ads
internships at farms
Mature single women can always become sorority/fraternity house directors
Teach English in China and Korea

Cheap travel!

2009-06-24T15:27:00.009-04:00

Well, first of all its not *very* cheap unless you are travelling in trio. But If you don't own a car or hate driving or want to *see* US of A in short span of time or can't carter visiting parents this is of the best site:

http://gotobus.com/

These are typically Chinese run travel tours mainly concentrated in East and West coasts. I've travelled on their Washington, Las Vegas tours and its pretty okay. The travel, loading is covered, we need to pay for the food and the entrance tickets.

DesiCow and DesiCrunch

2009-06-16T16:48:00.003-04:00

The latest practical websites targeted for the 'desi' market:

DesiCow:
Its always a pain to book round trip plane tickets.
Need to make phone calls to friends first and ask for travel agent, call dozen of travel agents to get quotes and except for the friends circle there's no way to know if you're getting the same rate as the guy sitting next to you on the plane back home.

DesiCow has come up with a solution to see quotes from multiple travel agents in single site.
Just enter the trip details and wait for travel agents to bid! The only issue is we need to deal with the travel agents directly for payment instead of paying through the website.
However, I did get errors on the page trying the check their 'How much others paid' feature. Hopefully with their growing database and traffic the RC version will be out soon.
And thanks to Nitin, Amit and Sameer for opting out on google ads :)

DesiCrunch:
Few days ago when a school friend who moved to Boston (of course after getting married) wanted to file for H1.
She requested me to give a list of consulting companies in Boston. Ask me for a deal and I'll give it but my knowledge of consulting companies is limited since I never had a need to apply for one.
However, being a good samaritan I emailed a college friend who had recently got her papers stamped, got the required info, reviews and passed it on.

Thanks to Desicrunch, they have a list of companies and reviews written by employees readily available for wanna-be-HIs.
Navigate through the site is pretty straightforward for various services.
The forum is up and running but not packed yet. I hope the administrators can provide some answers. Registrations seems to be a bit slow too.
Desi Wiki (part of desicrunch) has useful collection of tit bits (from what to bring to US to theaters in local cities). Beware, some of the new topics that are written purely out of boredom.(right, anyone visiting the website can edit them).

P.S. Thanks to KC for the links.

The 'Doh' moment!

2009-06-15T12:08:00.009-04:00

Last weekend I visited a family friend to deliver some goodies from the vacation.
Here is the expert from the conversation with their twins:

BTW...that's the Paint i've been toying with recently.

Vegetarianism and the humanitarians!

2009-06-03T16:03:00.009-04:00

"Penne Margarita please" I said to the waitress at Bertucci's at today lunch without taking a look at the menu. P nodded his head (sarcastically) "What I know by heart the limited vegetarian stuff they have, so what's the point in going through the menu for 10 minutes for the hundredth time"

This conversation takes place at most of the restaurants we consistently go out for afternoon-lunch sessions.

Vegetarianism wasn’t a choice growing up in conservative family in India, its embedded when we are young samplings!

But having cosmopolitan parents help. I don’t regret having strayed but lacto-ovo vegetarianism is the lifestyle I choose.

So we are back to the original point. The chain restaurants in US contain 2-5 veggie entree' selections.

Bertucci's, Olive Garden, Uno's Chicago grill, Macaroni Grill usually have pasta primavera, eggplant parmesan, veggie pizza and of course the salads/breadsticks.
Mexican restaurant chains like On the Border, Border cafe, Chipotle, Baja Fresh pretty much have one buritto and taco!
You obviously know the two choices you get in pizza chains pizza hut, domino's, papa John's, papa Gina’s.
You are lucky if you catch a Burger King/Subway on a road trip, where soya-patty/grilled veggie subs are severed.

Here's one funny incident on traditional-Niagara-falls road trip during first month of arriving in US of A. The NY pike is one the worst places to find food (read veggie). We are driving 4hour non-stop, had passed BK's without giving a second thought and now all through the stretch were McD's!

Finally accepting defeat from growling stomachs we strolled in to grab a bite at 11pm. Guess what, there are no veggie-burgers or salads served (thankfully their new menu has Southwestern salad without meat). While our friend mr.B bought couple of yogurts. KC decided survive on coffee alone and me....well, I asked the 17-year old for choices.
He instantly gave me a cheeseburger without the 'patty' (bless him!).
Even though KC said what's the use of burger with single tomato slice and cheddar cheese...hey if it helped me survive the night its fine with me!

Another incident during the 9-hour flight! I had rescheduled my Blore-Boston flight and had conveniently forgotten to update the meals option.
So instead of custom 'Asian vegetarian meal' I was to choose between turkey or chicken. I strode up to front asking favor from the plane chef. Guess, what I was given a pasta meal with no meat, dessert and extra bread sticks severed usually for first-class cabin!

Other option not usually explored in local diners are customizing. I've this trick at mom-pop Italian place near work.
They made sure they served me the sauce and pasta dishes without meat and pizza without cheese (but whole lot of toppings!) for KC!

Bottom line: Just ask without hesitation. People are usually humane to make few alterations!

Fish out of water!

2009-05-28T11:09:00.006-04:00

That's not the entire summary of vacation back home, but just a queasy feeling.
The trip is based on notion that time stood still since we departed from homeland seeking fortunes aboard [dramatized sentence].
Alas, no such luck.

People, relationships, circumstances keep constantly changing. How naive to think otherwise.

What am i blabbering about, there's one example:
I was invited for a ceremony on second day of vacation. Yearning to meet up with cousins and enjoy a sumptuous meal I arrived early than usual. The initial greetings were exchanged and there was four hours to lunch to go on.
This is where everybody settle into groups to start chatting. Everyone around me started exchanging details about their latest Saree trends, cellphone trends, kids-schools/summer camps, the daily-soaps, the drama in last week's second-cousin's-brother's daughter wedding, the latest restaurant in the city, the latest local movie. Since my knowledge base about these are bare minimum (or zero) it was like watching a mixed-doubles tennis match!

There were few more such similar funny ones: Recovering from jet-lag I wake-up at 10am to find the household empty except for granny. Of course the house is cleaned, food cooked but everyone is off to work. What else do you do except talk with granny, switch channels or shop. Well, that's vacation for you said someone. True.
Then I reflect that I would have to set off to work first thing in the morning even if the family is visiting me for a month!

The only slot available for family get-together is the weekend but of course then I need to scratch out my friends appointments since they are free only on weekends! Here are list of simple things I miss when I visit (trying to re-encat those memorial nostlic moments before I left Bangalore half-a-dozen years ago):
I miss those late-night chats with neighbors/friends (all the people in my block have moved out since they got nice real estate prices for their homes, friends married and off and living at their in-laws/aboard). And these days, who has time to socialize with neighbors!), just playing badminton outside on an early afternoon, evening outings with just to eat bhel-puri, watching an old movie with family/friends/cousins for 100th time!

In spite of all these, just the sheer joy of seeing the family and spending time sitting idly amidst their company is more than enough for the homesick-soul.
The love showered by all of them gets the battery recharged !!!

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-22T09:23:00.002-04:00

In honor of Earth day, I’ve decided to go green for rest of the day!

1. Use the ‘company’ mug which has been sitting idle for few months on my desk for coffee and water instead of styrofoam.
2. Use the hand dryer instead of paper towels
3. Take my ‘Target’ cloth bag for last-minute holiday shopping.
4. Take a short shower
5. Switch off all equipment (and pull the plug from socket) before I leave for a month long vacation!

The dollar store

2009-04-21T13:57:00.002-04:00

Have you ever walked in front of dollar store leisurely and not go in!

Even though kc forbids me to step-into-one, I cannot resist eyeing those cute little items (maybe it reminds me shopping with grandma for dusherra or in those colorful fairs!).

Once I’m in, there’s no stopping what gets into my cart (exception of food….i throw up if food contains trans fat and that’s how kc checks for authenticity of a restaurants!).

So I start off with adorable looking ceramic puppies, kittens, toys (they usually end up in attic after a season), bunch of gift bags for different occasions (bday boy, bday girl, baby shower…since one friend is three months pregnant. I forget where I store them and eventually buy gift bags just hours before the party!), ohh that pretty little earring/necklace hanger (unused so stored in attic after few months!), potholders ( instead of washing I keep throwing these away!), notepads for my bag (which eventually gets lost without a single word written in it!), magnetic shopping list for fridge (wonder where my last one is?)…..

One by one.They just add up to just less than fifty dollar mark and I realize after going home that I don’t even ‘need’ any of these right now.Oh well….remind me to binge shop at dollar store next time instead of the Macy’s!

Blog discovered writing this post: http://the99centchef.blogspot.com/

And to top this off, the MSN article on what-to-buy, what-not-to-buy at dollar store!Source: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SmartSpending/FindDealsOnline/dollar-store-deals-and-duds.aspx

Deals: Household cleaners:

Household cleaners are the "gateway" product for dollar stores, responsible for bringing most shoppers in, Family Dollar spokesman Josh Braverman says. For good reason, too, as most of the basic ingredients in branded and unbranded cleaners are about the same. Super Window glass cleaner in a 32-ounce bottle was 99 cents (of course) at a 99¢ Only store in Los Angeles. Windex in the same-size bottle was $4.29 at a Vons supermarket down the street. Awesome Carpet Spot & Stain Remover was 99 cents for a 32-ounce bottle at the dollar store. A 22-ounce bottle of Resolve was $3.54 at a Los Angeles Target store.

Duds: Vitamins and drugs:

"We have concerns about vitamins and some medications sold at dollar stores," says Anthony Giorgianni, the associate editor of Consumer Reports' Money Adviser. Vitamins are considered dietary supplements by the Food and Drug Administration, so they receive less oversight than drugs do. Several years ago, Consumer Reports found that half of the dollar-store brands it studied contained less of the vitamins than the labels indicated and didn't dissolve properly

Deals: Shampoos

The good news about shampoos and conditioners is that there is no difference in quality between the cheap ones and pricier versions, says "cosmetics cop" Paula Begoun, the author of "Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me." There are no ingredients to avoid or worry about, she says. Just don't believe all the claims on the bottles.Some of the best buys can be found on discontinued product lines. A bottle of Marc Anthony Aroma Organics shampoo that was 99 cents at a Los Angeles dollar store was marked down from $7.45 to $3.74 at a nearby Vons supermarket.An 11.25-ounce bottle of juicy melon Softsoap was 99 cents at the dollar store. A 7.5-ounce bottle of the same stuff was $2.09 at a Target store in Los Angeles.

Dud: Toothpaste

In 2007, the Food and Drug Administration warned consumers that many brands of toothpaste found at dollar stores carried diethylene glycol, a poisonous chemical found in antifreeze. Although recalls were issued, some of these products could still be on shelves, including toothpaste made to look like your favorite brands. So, it's probably best to steer clear.

Deals: Spices

Food can be hit or miss at dollar stores. Though many stores are stocking more bargains on fresh produce and frozen items, not everything is of high quality -- such as cheese made with vegetable oil, says blogger Billy Vasquez, aka "the 99 Cent Chef," who buys recipe ingredients from dollar stores. And much of the freezer selection -- such as giant boxes of frozen corn dogs -- isn't healthful.Spices, however, are a slam-dunk because they are widely available and at much lower prices than at supermarkets. A jar of McCormick's paprika cost $4.45 at a Vons supermarket in Los Angeles, but at a nearby dollar store you could get the same amount of paprika for only 99 cents under the Santa Paula label.Likewise, McCormick's ground thyme cost $7.09 at Vons, but you could buy Santa Paula thyme for 99 cents down the street.

Duds: Batteries:

Many dollar-store batteries are the carbon-zinc variety, which drain more quickly and are more sensitive to heat and cold than are traditional alkaline batteries. You'll go through more of them, wiping out any savings, experts say.

Deals: Kitchen utensils

Dollar stores are a great place to stock your kitchen with inexpensive utensils, says Anthony Giorgianni, the associate editor of Consumer Reports' Money Adviser. He recently returned a pizza cutter he'd bought for $3 at Target when he found a similar one for a buck at a dollar store. Funnels, whisks, peelers, spatulas and other kitchen tools are also great buys, he says, compared with supermarkets and even discount stores such as Wal-Mart.Blogger Billy Vasquez, aka "the 99 Cent Chef," even buys his kitchen knives at a dollar store. They may not last as long as Henckels, but he says they cut just fine. However, he's had less luck with dollar-store can openers. "They don't seem to work too well," Vasquez says. "I haven't found a good can opener from a dollar store."Latex kitchen gloves were just 99 cents at a Los Angeles 99¢ Only store. Down the street, Playtex gloves had a $2.29 sale price at a Vons supermarket.A stainless-steel potato peeler was just 99 cents at the dollar store versus $4.19 for an Epicura peeler -- the lowest-priced model -- at a Los Angeles Target store.

Duds: Electrical products

"We think it's best not to buy anything that you plug in from a dollar store," says Anthony Giorgianni, the associate editor of Consumer Reports' Money Adviser.Products may not be wired to handle the current they receive. Some also have shoddy insulation around the wiring, which can pose a risk for overheating.

Deals: Party goods and gift wrap/bags:

There's going to be little difference in quality between a paper gift bag you buy at a dollar store and one you pick up at your local drugstore. It's just a question of taste. If you can find something that you like at a dollar store, you're going to save a bundle, says Anthony Giorgianni, the associate editor of Consumer Reports' Money Adviser.Party plates and napkins, as well as birthday signs and party favors, are also great finds. Just don't expect your daughter's favorite licensed character to be printed on them. A 20-foot roll of Disney Princess wrapping paper cost $3.64 at a Target store in Los Angeles; a 25-foot roll of pink gift wrap with hearts and flowers cost 99 cents at 99¢ Only.Gift bags of all sizes were 99 cents at the dollar store, compared with 99 cents to $3.99 at Target, depending on size and decoration.

Duds: Jewelry and vinyl lunchboxes

Jewelry and vinyl lunchboxes and have been recalled from dollar stores as dangerous sources of lead. New consumer-products legislation was supposed impose testing and remove this threat from stores, but experts say it's wise not to take chances.

Milk? No Thanks!

2009-04-20T17:18:00.001-04:00

It started out discussing this article, where a chef in Swiss planned on improving his menu by serving meals saturated with human breast milk.

Did I hear a Ewwwww.

What’s there, it’s after all milk I said and asked “Well, did you ever wonder if other mammals drink 'milk' from a different species as part of their diet?”
No.

“Or wonder if you will drink 'milk' from any other mammal (of course exception of cow, buffalo, goat) like the elephant, dog or an anteater?”

And one more Ewww......

There you go.
Case closed.

Humans building their civilization realized that produce from a domesticated animal is the easiest source for surviving (not calcium as we console ourselves).
So 'milk' has been embraced by all religious, race and in all geographical locations. Amazing!

Recent studies show that milk (and other diary) products provide us with calcium. Who exactly sponsors these research studies? If you are smart, you would have answered it’s the dairy industry.
Just like the mobile industry invests in studies to root out getting cancer from excessive mobile phone usage.

Other such researches show that drinking too milk does cause Cohn’s disease.

Well, researches aside, how about Mad Cow disease?
The scientists do not know which type of virus it is, but they know it is transferred from meat of other animals.

Yes, it is common knowledge that chicken or cow meat is fed to these cows!

And one more final scary piece: Have you seen 'No artificial hormones added' on the milk carton? Well, farmers inject cows with artificial growth hormones to produce more milk.
It has been suggested that these hormones in milk are causing girls to reach puberty years ahead of time.
Even if researches disagree common sense tells us trying to digest artificial hormones everyday isn’t good for us!

Bottom line: Our food has been played around with way to much and could be the cause of a lot of the problems we now face, ie cancer, autism, etc etc. maybe we should go back to growing our own food.
But that's easier said than done!

Note: To see the list of disease you might get drinking milk/if you are lactose intolerant visit notmilk.com!!!!

Rahman: Leo Coffee ad

2009-02-25T16:32:00.007-05:00

This is a nostalgic leo coffee ad from 90's, the jingle score from A.R.Rahman:

Intrestingly, the new ad has been changed to reflect the current times!!!

Slumdog Millionaire ugly underbelly?

2009-01-27T17:44:00.006-05:00

It has been a while I’ve written, unless you count the countless test strategies during past few months. The justification ‘not-finding-enough-time’ is long gone. 'I believe if have passion, you will always enough time'-Although it has taken a long time for this fact to get assimilate.

Well, back the subject. ‘Slumdog Millionare’.

It took a phone call from friend to drive me to watch the movie western critics are going ga-ga over. Was it a commendation ? Well, yes and no. The direction, storyline and movie was good but picturize of poverty not so much.

Hmm…Here are some facts:

The Planning Commission of India using criteria and has estimated that 27.5% of the population was living below the poverty line in 2004–2005, down from 51.3% in 1977–1978, and 36% in 1993-1994[8]. The source for this was the 61st round of the National Sample Survey (NSS) and the criterion used was monthly per capita consumption expenditure below Rs. 356.35 for rural areas and Rs. 538.60 for urban areas. 75% of the poor are in rural areas, most of them are daily wagers, self-employed householders and landless labourers.
Although Indian economy has grown steadily over the last two decades, its growth has been uneven when comparing different social groups, economic groups, geographic regions, and rural and urban areas.[9] Between 1999 and 2008, the annualized growth rates for Gujarat (8.8%), Haryana (8.7%), or Delhi (7.4%) were much higher than for Bihar (5.1%), Uttar Pradesh (4.4%), or Madhya Pradesh (3.5%).[10] Poverty rates in rural Orissa (43%) and rural Bihar (41%) are higher than in the world's poorest countries such as Malawi.[11]
India has a higher rate of malnutrition among children under the age of three (46% in year 2007) than any other country in the world.[9][12]
Despite significant economic progress, 1/4 of the nation's population earns less than the government-specified poverty threshold of $0.40/day. Official figures estimate that 27.5%[13] of Indians lived below the national poverty line in 2004-2005.[14] A 2007 report by the state-run National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) found that 25% of Indians, or 236 million people, lived on less than 20 rupees per day[15] with most working in "informal labour sector with no job or social security, living in abject poverty."
Today slum dwellers make up 60% of Mumbai's population, that is approximately 7 million people.
Slum inhabitants constantly have to deal with issues such as, constant migration, lack of water, no sewage or solid waste facilities, lack of public transit, pollution and housing shortages.

If you think facts are boring to read, here are few of snippets from childhood:
1. The sanitation system shown in the movie was the only kind of system we had in my grandma's village until late 80's. More than mucky feeling, I used to fear I would ‘fall in’ someday!!
One more funny story when we are on that subject-We visited our aunt’s friend in heartland of Coorg during ’95 summer. The hundred acre betel nut farm surrounded the 2000sq ft house and the nearest neighbors were just ten kilometers away!
We arrived at their house after 12hours of driving with couple of breaks along the way. The house was beautiful with all around deck, rooms on either side and kitchen right in the middle in place of courtyard.
However, with all that grandeur there was no sanitation system at all, you just went into the woods with pail of water :-) Back to nature was their policy!
2. I have been to slums in and outskirts of Bangalore, where power, water and sanitation are a luxury. Unfortunately i've also witnessed the gruesome way people in slums bullied out, slums bulldozed down to make way for apartments in late 90's. This is was something I had watched only in movies, but to watch people who take care of your home more than you become homeless is not a pretty sight.
3. The communal riot scene in Slumdog is less horrifying than the one we watched in Bombay!

So why are people complaining that India has been show in poor light?

India, should learn to accept that in spite of covering itself with spanx of skyscrapers, highways, malls still has an ugly underbelly.

Here are some interesting reads/reviews:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1127056/The-real-Slumdog-Millionaires-Behind-cinema-fantasy-mafia-gangs-deliberately-crippling-children-profit.html

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1873926,00.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/4176184/Slumdog-Millionaire-review.html

and a funny one: http://entertainment.in.msn.com/bollywood/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1784624

2008-12-21T17:30:00.000-05:00

Fun in Museum of science???

2008-10-31T18:23:00.001-04:00

It stated out with invitation for our product release part—Museum of Science and Dinner at Cheesecake Factory.

The cheesecake factory sounded good but MOS? What fun will 30-grownups have in a science museum we thought.
Well, as the event approached we brainstormed about what we might do in there. Maybe enjoy a nice experience in IMAX theater or visit the planetarium or get into one of exhibits or applaud for the live shows. Hmm

However, finally the day arrived where we had to carpool (alas, the promised bus service was canalled) and reach the destination before 2pm (half-day of work yippe!). Thanks to Mr.A we drove into city (I still follow the signs and drive. I just depended on my GPS and in Boston that’s not possible since you are usually in and out to tunnels where you lose the signal and thereof lose your way!).

Finally after everyone assembled in the front lobby we were introduced to people from team-bonding company (I didn’t know they have companies which profited from bonding colleagues!).
They divided us into five teams of six people each. Then we were given a sheet of 15questions and map of the Museum marked with question numbers.
The game was to go into each section of the museum and find the answer to the questions in one hour. The answers would give us a encrypt key which would lead to us to our final destination. The team which gets to the place first obliviously wins!

This was not as easy we thought since the questions usually required us to browse through each and every section and sub-section of museum. The questions were like: What slows the light down (Triangular prims-the answer we didn’t get and hence lost), what does red-tailed hawk eat (the ‘birds’ section? What is the model size of train (we had to go ‘models’ section which has info about buiding different kinds of models), etc.

This was really fun running around the museum for treasure hunt than sitting in IMAX! Hmm…team bonding company..nice idea.

At 4.30 we were ready to hit the bar. A short walk from the Museum of Science (thank god the weather was sunny) and we were in Cambridge Galleria mall.

After couple of vodka with cranberry and a shot and guacamole with tacos and avacada rolls we were ready to order! The puttanesca pasta was good and the double-tuxedo cheesecake was to-die for. BTW, cheesecake factory has the hugest portions I have seen. Along with pasta entrée I also got a huge salad (which was a meal by itself!)

Well, after we drove back to office I was sure sober enough to drive home. Thanks to the cheesecake!

Flatbread Pizza

2008-09-25T10:50:00.006-04:00

Pizza comes in different shapes, sizes to cater different taste buds.However, once you eat the Italian style Berticcus or Americanized deep-dish Uno’s you will never go back to ordering from PizzaHut or Domino’s that’s unless you crave just cheese!
Finding a local Italian resturant is your best bet until we eat the 'real' pizza in Italy.
KC suprised me one evening with take-out from Flatbread. The pizza was CoEvolution , that's Goat cheese pizza with lots of Kalamata olives, onions, peppers but without the sause. Even after reheat, it tasted awesome. But the olives tasted like they were out of a can…too salty. But the goat cheese was different and tasted good on the flat bread.

This weekend we went in to have the pizza fresh from the oven (yes…literally it’s a fire-wood oven). The place is decorated with country style door (with weathered look). The chairs and tables also give the place a rustic look with the huge oven decked in the corner and looked like it might hold 10 pizzas at a time.
The specialty of the place is all organic vegetables and to pizza dough without gluten, soy or specialize your pizza to avoid any allergies.

We went in around 3.30pm for lunch (that’s our standard weekend lunch-time) and the weird timing proved to our advantage. The cook demonstrated his four year dough flapping tricks in the open kitchen and in less than two minutes the pizza was all set to bake in the clay-oven.
There are stone benches in front of the oven (guess it’s for Wednesday music nights) to sit and watch the pizza being baked.
The 'Bedford Community Pizza' I ordered which was mainly caramelized onions and mushrooms with tomato sauce and spices on a flat pizza was amazingly delicious. You can never have enough of the thin crispy crust and that’s why I finished the whole small pizza in one sitting. :-)

Hyper-mode

2008-09-03T14:25:00.004-04:00

Working 10 straight hours is tiring, especially with a boss who is as good as Miranda Precisely!

I never thought I would succumb to work-pressure. I’m sort of person who actually eats six slices of pizza if someone(like kc) compels me to lose those last five pounds! Hmmm.

So, here’s the list of items I’ve been doing (in two free minutes )to avoid boredom and jump right back to work to finish everything by tomorrow’s deadline:

1. Drinking ice-cold water/coffee(your body actually reacts thinking you are trying to kill it)
2. Listing to favorite 90’s songs. The idea here is to fool your mind to think about the carefree life in school/collage.
3. Making plans on going out with colleagues.
4. Log onto orkut/facebook/myspace and check out messages, photos from friends.
5. Vent your anger by writing small snippets!

Let's see....

2008-08-27T19:47:00.014-04:00

Its been few hectic months--new job, new place. There are list of things I like about the our new town:
* Our landlords are amazing. The house we rent is cozy and like L said it reminds us of Vermont vaction home in woods we rented few years ago.

* Its nearner to Boston (finally no more tolls on MassPike)

* The indian bakery and store are just 500 yards away :-)

* We are again walking distance from the town library. This is the most magnificant building i've seen for a small town library and thier DVD collection is amazing!

As a kid.....

2008-08-27T19:47:00.003-04:00

1. I thought birds resided in heaven overnight and flew down to earth at dawn!

2. Ate the 'cone ice-cream' backwards (Ofcouse its a different story that there was nomore ice-cream left after few minutes)

3. Made biscuit pudding everday. Recipe: Lay down four biscuits in a plate and pour coffee over it!)

4. Jumped on couch during 7 o'clock news jingle until i fell down and hit my head one fine day.5. Enjoyed eating red-brick and sand (don't even ask me why)!!!!!!!!!!

Revisting childhood..btw, Fastpass is free!!!

2008-07-12T22:26:00.004-04:00

I always knew I would visit Disneyland and meet princess Sleeping Beauty and Ariel ever since I was like six, however i didn't know it would after my twenty-seventh birthday!!

The whole Disneyland experience was like dream-come true expect I liked the Six-flags rides much better :-)

The first stop in the California Disneyland with parents was 'Adventure land' boat ride. Wonderfully created creatures amuse you through their water sprout or the robotic African tribesmen dance around the skulls!! After lot of research (means 'googling') I knew fastpass must be free. So before exploring the 'Tarzan tree house' we got the fast pass (just inset your ticket and a ticket with specified time to enter the fastpass queue) for 'Indian Jones' ride.

Next was watching 'Jack Sparrow' in the Pirates of Caribbean rides :-) Had to explain to dad that this was one of my favorite character for few years now!

I think the Horror house is perfectly made for all ages...the banquets hall with all the dancing ghosts and the monsters mirrors are amazing. I also loved those chairs on which we ride!

Splash Mountain and Indian Jones ride were amazing. Next we passed the 'Sleeping Beauty' castle. I enquired if I could take a picture of any princess inside the caste. However, due to a award ceremony later in the evening....there were no princess inside.

Finally, my mom remembered telling me the story of the puppet during the Pinocchio ride!!

It was funny to see my parents awe at me like I was telling them formulas when I started reciting the names Pluto, Goofy, Uncle Scourge, Ursula,Flounder, King Triton, Bella, Beast, Simba, Zazu, Chip and Dale!! clicking pictures during the Disney Parade!!!
This is definitely the best part of visiting the park---the parade acts like a tranquiler taking you to the magical world!

The worst rides are in Asto and the race track. The cars don't even move more than 10pmh. Mom never bothered to ride any of them!

We managed to cover most of the rides (thanks to the free FastPass) from 9am to 8pm. Unfortunately, the fireworks was cancelled!. More importantly I realized that even when I'm nearing thirty mom made sure I ate and hydrated all along and dad kept an eye on me and made sure I didn't get lost at Disneyland!

2008-05-21T16:08:00.000-04:00

Spring at Niagara!

2008-05-18T16:23:00.006-04:00

Tulips adoring the wait line at Cave of the Winds, NiagaraFalls.

Why do we blog??

2008-05-11T21:48:00.002-04:00

I think we have become a culture where if things aren't documented, they do not exist!

Hectic Month

2008-05-10T13:49:00.002-04:00

I have a long list of topics to write, but its been a hectic month--travelling, attending interviews, more travelling and trying to enjoy the time with family.

For now, enjoy the Pictures.

Total in 14 days--8pounds!

2008-04-14T11:09:00.004-04:00

The last three days rotated the menu from past few days. On the last day found out that I've lost ~8pounds! And hoping not to gain any back.
At least haven't until now and I'm in Phase 2; i.e: Having chapatti's for lunch/dinner with yogurt, oats for breakfast and nuts for snacks and an occasional coffee/tea/wine/wild rice.
Avoiding Fruit juices, soda, polished rice, candy, ice-creams and my favorite potato chips! (Tyring to avoid gorge on food parents are getting today from namma Bengalooru!).

I will upload some before-after photos shortly!

East West

2008-04-06T00:23:00.003-04:00

I completed reading 'East West' by Salman Rushdie few weeks ago;the book is divided into 3 sections- East (simple language and RKNarayan story-telling style), West ( Yorik is in Shakespearean style) and EastWest (guessed this is Rushdie's style!).

East collection:

Good Advice Is Rarer Than Rubies-This is just a simple story where a guard gives free advice to a woman seeking a visa to England to join her fiance; his advice turns out to be valuable.

The Free Radio:This story is told from an old man's point of view--hard to digest the new culture of birth control, widow marriage. But finally the quest(or wait) to free radio leads a man to stardom!

The Prophet's Hair tells of the theft of the relic of the Prophet ... and events of misfortunes following it!

West:
Yorick-Hamet's tale

At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers-A man's dream and view of society.

Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella of Spain Consummate-Their Relationship depicts Christopher gaining the financial backing for his voyage

East West:
The Harmony of the Spheres follows a friendship through the occult, madness, suicide, and truth - the last being, perhaps, the most difficult.

Chekov and Zulu-Story of two childhood friends who work as Indian diplomats.

The Courter-Follows life of a Indian nanny and her courter in England.

I enjoyed reading Free Radio, Prophet's Hair and the Courter.

9,10 and 11.

2008-04-05T23:59:00.003-04:00

Day 9:
Breakfast/Snack: Cottage cheese.
Lunch: Cabbage+Beans salad
Dinner: Lentil+Green beans soup.

Day10:
Breakfast: Skipped.
Lunch: Leftover Lentil+Green beans soup.
Snack: Peanuts/Almonds.
Dinner: Fav Lentil balls (recpie in pre posts).

Day 11: Saturday...been out shopping. The most tough part was walking across Cinnabon in the mall; for a second there I wanted to buy the delcious cinnisticks with cream and coffee!!!!!
Breakfast: Moong Dal Dosa (Split bean Pancake).
Recipe: Soak the moong dal (Hesaru bele in kannada) overnight.
In the morning, blend the soften dal, green chillies, ginger, cumin and salt together (add water if required).
The batter should be thick (like idli batter) in consistency; add chopped onions before preparing the dosa.
Snack: Cheated--had coffee.
Dinner: Lentil rolls again.
Currently high on protien!!!!

the other social life....

2008-04-03T09:02:00.006-04:00

The life at back home was hectic. Apart from attending collage or going to work, it was mandatory to attend all family functions, part take in festivals without whining, errands to run, friends to meet, cousins to catch up with and manage to take some time to yourself. This WAS life and there were no complaints.

Perhaps the one reason I didn't complain of loneliness or boredom when I landed here was subconscious I wanted a break; but didn't realise it will be a long one (like the quote goes---"Be careful what you wish for") .

Life in alien land is quite different. Silent suburb with just television and pc your window to outside world (ofcourse telephone too), new friends who can meet only on weekends (basically, the social life here revolves around weekends) ; but family functions to attend-nil.

I miss all these subtle things :

Having a south Indian meal(on plantain leaf),

the diverse special desserts and the the hot oil baths on early morningduring festivals,

gossiping with cousins during the 5-hour marriage rituals and the 1-hour queue during reception,

trying to guess weird names for nieces and nephews during 'nakamarka' ceremony,

sneaking out for cuppa of coffee during long hours of 'homas'/poojas....the list endless.

Day 7 and 8:

2008-04-03T08:22:00.004-04:00

Completed 50% of Phase1!! Giddiness affected me on Day7, perhaps it was lack of sleep (slept from 2.30am-8am! and I usually sleep around 8-10hours..he he) or lack of breakfast; but by mid-afternoon i was drowsy too. Headed home early and cooked myself something nice..felt much better.
However, I still have dry eyes from past 3 days; considering if its the pollen allergy affecting my eyes
According to few of my friends and KC, you become 'Americanized' after your 4 years of stay (means you get all sorts of allergies, the immune system is not so good, gotto drink bottled water when you visit India.......). I hope its just an urban legend and 12hrs of sleep on weekend will(might) cure the dry-eye problem.

Anywhoo...read the extracts from the food journal...
Day 7: Tuesday--the weekly meeting was cancelled and it saved me from immersing myself in caffeine!
Breakfast: Surviving on Tea.
Lunch: cooked Black-eye beans + cabbage salad.
Recipe:
Pressure-cooker the black-eyed bean (or any bean of your choice). Let it cool.
Add canola/olive oil to the heated skillet, season with mustard seeds, cumin and green/red chillies.
Add cabbage and fry it until it softens. Add the cooked beans, salt, pepper. Let it simmer on the stove for sometime.
Garnish with coriander leaves before you dig in!
Snack: Peanuts (30)
Dinner: leftover Black-eye beans + cabbage salad + cottage cheese.

Day 8: Wednesday, got up early to cook.
Breakfast: Cottage cheese
Lunch: Lentil (Toor Dal) + Green Beans soup (sambar).
Snack: Peanuts+Almonds.
Dinner: Leftover Beans soup.

Pounds lost: I've lost 5 pounds in 8days!! I know all this might be water weight, but enjoying the momentary happiness for now.

Day 5 and 6.

2008-04-01T00:05:00.004-04:00

I've always had a soft corner towards Saturday than Sunday, obviously because it was back to school on Monday!!
Back to the topic, completed two more days without rice; remember i'm an South Indian on South Beach diet.

Day 5: Sunday, my day out of the home usual. Visited DressBarn, Marshalls (didnt buy any clothes though) and then the local library to pick few DVD's and books to last a week.
By then I was totally exhausted the rushed to the Panera for a quick bite, which eventually became a long one coz I started reading 'Shalimar the Clown' picked up at the library.
Finally it was grocery shopping time (the acutal reason I ventured out of the house..he he)
Breakfast: Cottage cheese with almonds.
Lunch (at panera): Low-fat Black Bean soup + Orchard Harvest salad.
Dinner: Spinach + Roasted Radish soup! (again, its kind of grown onto me now)
Dessert: Ricotta cheese + milk.

Day 6: Monday
Breakfast/Snack: Cottage cheese + almonds (5)
Lunch: Leftover Spinach + Roasted Radish soup.
Snack: peanuts (15)
Lunch: Broccoli with green Chuntey and cottage cheese.
Dessert: yogurt.
Surprisingly, I didn't even crave carbs while making chapatis for KC this evening!

Good News: I've lost 4 pounds :-)

Painting!

2008-03-30T02:22:00.001-04:00

South Beach!

2008-03-29T23:46:00.012-04:00

Three months of gym and I've not lost any pounds; except a dress size :-)
So, watching Mr.B (colleague) loose 20 pounds in 12 days inspired me to take up the SBD! Actually, its the last resort to bring drop one more dress size before the west coast tour with my parents next month!!
I've also started thinking (means eating/drinking) healthy from past one year; is it coz I'm getting close to 30? Don't know. Justified that cutting down rice and all carbs from diet for a while, is the right choice since diabetics runs in my family. So, here goes my saga:

Day 1: Haven't shopped particularly for SBD, but have lot of veggies at home.
Breakfast/Snack: Cheese with almonds.
Lunch: Spinach soup with half onion(that's the sambar).
Snack: cucumber pickle
Dinner: Rajma+Black-eyed bean+green bean soup.

Day 2: No cravings yet!
Breakfast : Survived on Tea.
Lunch : Leftover Rajma+Black-eyed bean+split-moong dal soup.
Snack: Peanuts-30.
Dinner: Cabbage+Capsicum+Onion soup (with black pepper)
Dessert: Ricotta cheese (fat-free) baked with vanilla essence.
Recipe:Pre-heat oven to 450degrees
Mix Ricotta cheese with vanilla essence + soy/almond milk.
Pour it into mini-muffins pan.
Bake for 15 mins! Tastes bit like cheesecake!

Day 3 : Friday--got to avoid Pizza at office lunch!
Breakfast/Snack: Cottage cheese and almonds.
Lunch: Salad (side-ordered with pizza!).
Snack: Ricotta cheesecake (recipe above).
Dinner: Palak with Radish.
Recipe: Boil Spinach, let it cool down (pressure cooker is the best method!)
Meanwhile, cut red/white radish in half-moon size. Stir-Fry it with chili and salt seasoning.
Blend the cooled spinach in a mixer and add it to skillet with fried radish.
This is just like Palak Panner (except, add Radish or Tofu!).

Day 4: Weekend!
Breakfast: Leftover Palak Radish.
Lunch: Lentil Rolls!!!
Recipe: Soak Toor Dal and Channa Dal overnight.
In the morning, blend them with Green chillies, Ginger, Coriander leaves and Salt.
Make small balls and steam them for 15 mins in Pressure Cooker using the Idli stand!!
Very high in proteins and makes me homesick too (this is a traditional Karanataka dish).
Snack: Peanuts+Almonds--guess overindulged!
Dinner: Beans+Radish+Lentil soup (use samabar/rasam powder!)
Dessert: Ricotta cheese with almond milk.

Note to self: Avoid shopping at Target food aisle on weekends.

Signature

2008-03-22T10:23:00.005-04:00

Read this quote browsing through Slickdeals.....Ironic signature for a person looking for deals:

"The Bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of low cost is forgotten!"

New Trend?

2008-03-17T15:37:00.005-04:00

This is the third book I've come across the same theme--Girl blogs discretely (personal stuff/about school/about job, to vent her anger); newspaper/magazine editor is a fan;offers job/exposes blogger after rejection/forced to shut blog!

This is like watching the bollywood movies---girl+boy fight-meet;fall in love;parents reject;runaway/marry/die.

The actual plot of the movie is then built around this theme.

All this just flashed after finishing "Consider Lily" by Anne Dayton and May Vanderbilt. Seriously wanted a chick-lit this weekend to calm me!

Pros: Wow, I never knew Christian girls were so conservative in relationships.Prejudice I suppose. Not much drama when boyfriend and family are involved. Thank god there was no Mills&Boons syndrome (love, fight, like, fight, love,fight, marry!).

Reminding me of grandma a lot at half-time.

Cons: feeble plot; too much gossip material when friends are involved (guess should have seen that coming);

Bottom line: Don't vent your anger in blogoshphere!

10,000BC

2008-03-13T18:37:00.004-04:00

Spent the Saturday evening at Regal watching the latest (?) movie. KC refused to accompany me because he's not a big fan of mammoths. I actually enjoy going to movies alone (why not, anyway you are not allowed to talk to the person next to you!). Only good thing---earned a huge popcorn for the regal points; love the card system!

Okay, coming back:

This is one of those movies whose preview is better than the actual 1.5 hour full-length movie (the other recent one i remember is Harry Potter and Order of Phoenix!).

Spoiler:

The entire movie revolves around our hero (Steven Strait) who sets-off from his home in the cold mountains which was recently visited by woolly mammoths to re-claim his beloved (Camilla Belle) from Egypt slavery! Along the way he be-friends the African tribe(s) (after crossing a forest with man-eating ostriches and saving a saber-toothed tiger!) who join him to rescue their family from the slavery too.

You can guess the ending....(Hint: It's a happy one!).

Note:Don't ever think of comparing this to KingKong; the Mammoths, saber-toothed tiger and ostriches just have two screenshots in the movie and there are no Jack Blacks here....

To add to all this, I come home and check out the actors (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1711829/ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004741/

)...they are way younger than me!Crap...one more birthday coming up next week!

Funny Blabber!!

2008-02-29T22:36:00.002-05:00

Check out this website where you can upload any photo, record your voice and laugh at it http://www.blabberize.com/
P.S: Hilarious llama on the homepage!

Coffee Cake!

2008-02-29T21:21:00.007-05:00

According to KC, this was my 4th anniversary present to him! This is easier than muffins, but takes bit longer to bake. Best enjoyed with hot cup of coffee (filter or cappuccino!) in the bitter winter evenings.

Eggless Coffee Cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 can (14 ounce) sweetened condensed milk

1 cup orange juice

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup melted butter

1/2 cup Pecans/Walnuts.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray PAM oil to a 9x13 inch pan. Mix together the flour, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl. Make a well in centre and pour the sweetened condensed milk, orange juice, vanilla extract and melted butter.

Mix well and pour the batter (to adjust the consistency add more orange juice/condensed milk) into the pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-45 minutes. Allow to cool. Cut and serve with coffee!

Mini-Muffins

2008-02-29T21:21:00.004-05:00

My latest hobby--Baking! Yes, I don't believe it too. The last thing I thought I'll be good at was cooking!
However, its been burning on back on my mind that I haven't used the oven in four years. So searched for some recipes online, made some modifications and tried baking. Here is the journal
1. Mini-Muffins.Last month on a Monday morning (of all days) had a adrenal rush and started baking the first batch of mini-muffins. It was amazing to see the transformation of flour to mouth-watering treat. And I never knew baking was so easy and consumes very little time. The only problem will be putting together all ingredients. Here is the recipe:

Eggless Whole-Wheat Muffins:
Ingredients:

1 cup wheat flour (or you can change this to all-purpose flour).

1 tablespoon Baking Powder

1/2 tsp salt4 tbsp water

4 tbsp corn starch

1 cup whole milk

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

8 tbsp unsalted butter (melted)

1 cup blueberries
Preheat the oven to 400F. Spray the mini-muffin (or muffin) pan with PAM and keep it aside.
In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and salt.
In medium bowl, combine water, cornstarch; whisk until blended. Add in milk, sugar and vanilla and melted butter (I melt a stick of butter in the microwave just before adding). Don't let the butter sit in the mixture too long, it may coagulate. Add the blueberries.
Now, using a wooden spoon stir batter into it until blended, don't over mix. Pour the batter into muffin pan evenly and place it in the middle rack of the oven.
Bake for 15minutes, use toothpick to ensure dourness.Don't let it bake for too long, might turn crispy. Let it cool for 2 minutes.
The muffins were loose from the pan when I removed them from the oven and ready to serve

Predicition:

2008-02-02T18:57:00.000-05:00

SIX MORE WEEKS OF WINTER???

This is the first year I've heard about the prediction of arrival of spring. Read the news here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22963448?GT1=10856

Singhsons! Doh!

2008-01-24T18:10:00.000-05:00

Take a look at this funny video clip--modified indian version of Simpsons!

FW:FW

2008-01-23T15:37:00.000-05:00

Recived this puzzle in the email today for the 2nd time in a month with the excel sheet attached! Guessed everyone must have solved the puzzle, so decided to try it out myself.

There is a bus with 7 girls.
Each girl has 7 bags.
In each bag, there are 7 big cats.
Each big cat has 7 little cats.
Each cat has 4 legs.
Question: How many legs are present in bus?

I'm no math whiz, but I think i'm logically sound! However, from past 2 years I'm discovered my new strength--'Googgling'!
Answers to any suject under the sun, any one's home number in US I can search it within few minutes (yahoo answers helps too!). So decided to test my (re)search skills today.

Lo! In less than 2 minutes I found number to open the spreadsheet!
Btw, let me know if you want to know the answer.....

Chick-Flicks

2008-01-18T17:08:00.000-05:00

I’ve acquired a new routine when I visit the local library. After meticulous search for the latest DVD’s (yep…not member of BlockBuster or Netflix!) I move onto the ‘latest non-fiction’ book section.
Why just the non-fiction. Well, since I’ve invested in variety of investment clubs, its supposed to be mandatory to have finance skills.
Anyway coming back, I usually read the title, then pick up the book and read the summary and finally decide to pick it up.

Last month I picked up these two books—

1. Hindi-Bindi Club by Monica Pradhan:
I confess, picked this up just for this flashy cover (marketing works!) and it promised (?) to uncover the mind of people we call ABCD!

This is a novel revolves around 3 daughters (born and brought up in USA) and their mothers. Their story(ies) of battles and compromises against their conscious, tradition, people around them and most of all with the people they love.
It also contains good recpices. Just like our culture, its food (with the right amount of spieces) that we Indians treasure.
The beautiful part I liked about the book along with recipes and stories was how each character is given a chance to express thier story (creating home away from home, building new relationships while trying to preserve the old ones).

But it was irritating to read subtle things like explainations on what ‘Ganesha’ is or what ‘Bindi’ means. Guess, the book was meant for global readers.
But the abrupt end does not do any justice to the book, unless Monica is planning to write a Part2!

2. Almond Eyes Louts Feet:Indian Traditions in Beauty and Health by by Sharanda Dwivedi and Shalini Devi Holkar.
I passed this book the first time when it was displayed on the rack last week since the summary said it was mostly about beauty rituals followed in India.
However, curiosity overpowered me this week and before I knew it was on my nightstand.

The book is more than Mulanti-mitti face packs and papaya-mint tea.
It starts off with introduction of our storyteller who is a child-bride (which is still rampant in rural India, but somehow shocking to digest when seen in print!) who is being prepared for the wedding. But she is also a Rajput princess, so there are more customsthe tradition has heaved upon her. After the joy of wedding story takes us to life at the in-laws place (imagine having three mil’s but forntualely as she puts it—it’s a Palace!) .

The book captures all those beauty traditions which are orally passed onto to us---the sunday morning oil bath ritual; taking tulsi water everyday after its pooja; home remedies for cold/cough like drinking tumeric and black pepper with milk; neem leaves and cloves for tooth ache emergines; cream of milk with turmeric for winter skin;.........list goes on!

I especially enjoyed reading about her later part of life (after marriage and three children)—it was just the Sex and City but different circumstances and a different place!
Women need to socialize, to talk about their troubles, seek advice and ofcourse gossip. So instead of trendiest place in New York City, we are given a peek into harems; where ladies indulge in taking care of themselves and TALK!

And oh..I liked few of the pictures in the book; especially the old Lux, Pears ad posters and oblivious the gold, silver antiques!

TZP

2008-01-17T15:31:00.000-05:00

So, I was at the local Indian grocery store and picked this movie and headed home for an evening of fun expecting much from Aamir Khans production(directorial debut anyone???). The movie did NOT disappoint me but yet reminded me on how far and long ways Indian movies need to go before meeting or matching the slickness of Hollywood movies. This write-up is no Bollywood vs Hollywood or let alone trashing Hindi moviesif you suspect this, please dont read any further. Thanks for your kindness!

At first, I wondered if the character was autistic and as the movie unfolded learnt he was dyslexic. Was the director pushing the envelope too much here? Dyslexia, here, http://www.healthscout.com/ency/68/267/main.html does not say that kids are emotionally withdrawn or show severe lack of social skills. The kid is obviously too young to suffer from depression and not know who to confide(what?).

Do you need a galaxy of characters and stereotypes to tell a simple story? This is yet another successful attempt at proving that Indian moviegoers are a bunch of idiots for whom the message needs to enforced and reinforced scene after scene. Given the present times, establishment and life in a developing world, an average Indian moviegoer experiences(read suffers) much more and I suspect is more well-versed and astute in understanding and digesting what life throws at him and still manage to hope and, hope for a better day ahead. The best thing Indian directors and producers can do is respect this basic attribute and stick to subtlety. We get it, will you please move onward and forward with the next scene, please?

Cast, in no particular order -
The kid gets the highest marks, his acting and playing the role of dyslexic kid is exemplary.

The kids brother this character seems to have been added as an after thought. He doesnt lend any weight other than help the parents compare and contrast the siblingsobviously, the age gap between them has been largely forgotten.

Dad this character starts out with much hope and ends up being the stereotypical dad you have seen. (stereotype marks = 1) Not to mention the cruel joke he plays on his younger son, that was evil and a highpoint of the movie for dad and son, methinks!

Mom most promising of all the characters you could have seen and playing against the traditional ma, this mom seems to be mum for most part of the moviestuck between a rock and a hard placestereotype (marks = 2)

Teachers stereotype (marks =3)

I have had the misfortune of studying in many schools and under so many different teachers, the vast majority of them didnt even deserve to teach them in the first place. Although, they are not guilty, really. If a nation is intent on mass producing babies year over year, you cannot expect real teachers to pop out of the woodwork, do you? Some people wading through life run into a wall, their life comes to a full-stop and take what life throws at them, teacherhood is one of themcant really find fault with them. I truly believe, there are people who out of passion take up this vocation and they are really hard to findif you find them, hang on to them for dear life.

That said, the portrayal of teachers in this movie is vastly stereotypical and excessively harsh. You can see the writing on the wallredemption will soon come in the form of superman, our super-hero, Aamir Khan. Just to turn the tables a little, superman actually has suffered the same in his childhoodjust like how my father says often(its an Irish proverb), The wearer best knows where the shoe pinches

Truly, you dont need to try hard to prove a point. There is not a single character other than superman who understands the pain our kid is suffering.

Superman, Aamir Khan (marks = 4).

++++++++++++++++
P.S: Moive Review by KC.

Ellu Bella!

2008-01-15T12:01:00.000-05:00

This is my fourth year away from festivities back home. Sigh!

Waiting in the puja room for my granddad to finish the ceremony was agonizing; especially when the new dress right in front of me was out of bounds until ‘ellu bella’ was distributed!

This is one the earliest memories of ‘Sankranthi’.‘Sankrathi’/ Pongal is actually a harvest festival important to farmers across Karnataka, Andra Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Maharashtra where the harvest crops and cows are worshipped, Jaggerry, turmeric and ellu are distributed and grand meal made from the harvest crops (groundnuts, pumpins, etc) are prepared.

However, I think we the city-dwellers have totally materialized it. The most important is ellu distribution (in a silver or plastic container according to your budget!) along with sugarcane, candy made out of sugar (instead of plain old jaggery), fruits.

Even though its commercialized, festival always brings those warm feeling of home, love and fun. Since my grandma was my baby-sitter, I was her helping hand (or I thought so!). So, here goes her meticulous preparation before the d-day as far I can remember:
Each year she calculated her distribution list (usually around 50-100 houses) and ordered the appropriate grocery from the local shop just after the english New Year started.
The jaggery and dried coconut (copra) were cut into small squares (grandma reluctantly allowed the maids cut just the coconut/jaggery since this was sacred!)
Next the Split channa dal, small squares of jaggery, small squares of dried coconut were dried out in bright sunlight for two days.
Groundnut was dry roasted with sand (so that groundnut color remains white even after its roasted!).
And I loved the technique in which my grandma removed the outer pinkish skin of these groundnuts----she put them on a plate, rubbed her hand against them, tossed them a bit blew out the peeled outer sking! The peanuts now looked pearly white!
Now the peanuts were dried in the sunlight while she kept a watch on them (I had to restrain myself from eating these since these had be offered to God before distributing!)
One entire afternoon was dedicated to prepare the sugar candy called ‘Sakara Acchu’ .
One afternoon dedicated to shopping for the latest item (plastic/ceramic plates, bowls, ect which has arrived in market.
I remember distributing sliver items when my sisters and cousin brother were born!

The sugarcane (which will be cut to around 6 inches pieces) is usually bought on the last day.

The day before the festival is packing day----this is huge because we were supposed pack around 50-100 packets or put a handful of ellu-bella mixture in containers and seal them.

Finally on the D-day after the morning bath, prayers and taking the blessing of elders, it was time to freak out!
Dad to drive us around to relatives place (which are visited once a year on this day) all around the Bangalore in our Fiat; I used to love to flaunt the new clothes and jewelry!
And food……I used to be tried of tasting different varieties of Pongal (both spicy and sweet) in a single day!!!!!

The evenings were dedicated to neighbors and friends. We little ones tagged with neighborhood older kids to distribute ellu to every house on the street; even to few 3-4 blocks away, although not the everyday neighbors; they were grandma’s friends who had settled in the area back in the 40’s and 50’s.

Well…..that was ‘Sankrathi’ for me back home. Even though we rarely visit the temple to part-take in the festivities here, I usally make it a point to prepare the Ellu Bella, Pongal and the traditional sambar at home (is it to get that warm, cozy,homly feeling?? Or to keep up the tradition/culture?? I don’t know the answer).

Ellu-Bella:

1 cup groundnut
1 cup spilt channa
1 cup cut jaggery
1/2 cup cut coconut
¼ cup of sesame seeds.

Dry roast the peanuts in the microvware or on stove. Leave them aside to cool.
Roast the seasem seeds until they stop spluttering around. Leave them aside to cool.
Cut Jaggery into small squares (this is the hardest part).
Cut dry coconut into small squares.
Remove the outer pinkish/red skin on the groundnuts (might take a while) and split the grounduts into halves.

Moviethon!

2008-01-11T16:29:00.000-05:00

The last week of 2007 was hectic. With all the packing/moving/cleaning and unpacking movies were the perfect diversion.Mr.G, KC and I caught up with four new movies at the mall multiplex!! (and still haven't lost our minds)

Movie 1: Charlie Wilson’s War.

This is based on the true story (Book by George Crile).Charlie Wilson, an alcoholic womanizer and Texas congressman, persuaded the CIA to train and arm resistance fighters in Afghanistan to fend off the Soviet Union and also made sure the Budget went up a lot higher to fend the war!
Unfortunately, this has backfired and USA is paying a heavy price.

Final Say: Must Watch.
Cast: Tom Hanks, Amy Adams, Julia Roberts, Om Puri

Movie 2: National Treasures (Book of Secrets)

Since I had missed the Part 1, I wanted to watch this movie on the big screen. Typically Bollywood kind of movie!!
In this follow-up to the box-office hit "National Treasure". Treasure hunter Ben Gates once again sets out to unearth hidden history and treasures.
When a missing page from the diary of John Wilkes Booth surfaces, Ben's great-great grandfather is suddenly implicated as a key conspirator in Abraham Lincoln's death. Determined to prove his ancestor's innocence, Ben follows an international chain of clues that takes him on a chase from Paris to London and ultimately back to America.

It was nice to see that there are indeed two statues of Liberty’s (one in NY and one in Paris).
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Harvey Keitel, Justin Bartha, Helen Mirren,

Final Say: You can wait to watch it on the Home Theater System!

Movie 3: I Am Legend

Initially I was all against watching this movie after reading this report on Wiki. It definitely seemed weary.

Anyway, since we wanted to pass time (from 5pm) until midnight on new year’s eve, decided to catch up with this new release.
Will Smith is really amazing this is movie!!

Story: Robert Neville (Will Smith) is a brilliant scientist immune to incurable virus which destroyed humankind.
Neville is now the last human survivor in what is left of New York City...and maybe the world.
But he is not alone. He is surrounded by "the Infected"--victims of the plague who have mutated into carnivorous beings who can only exist in the dark and who will devour or infect anyone or anything in their path.
For three years, Neville has spent his days scavenging for food and supplies and faithfully sending out radio messages, desperate to find any other survivors who might be out there.
All the while, the Infected lurk in the shadows, watching Neville's every move, waiting for him to make a fatal mistake.
Perhaps mankind's last, best hope, Neville is driven by only one remaining mission: to find a way to reverse the effects of the virus using his own immune blood.

Cast: Will Smith

Final Say: Watch it if you like Sci-Fic (and/or) Will Smith!

Movie 4: The Kite Runner

Since I missed the book, caught with the movie (I know that’s not fair). Loved the cinematography. The Amir and Hassan characters just steel the show in the first part of the movie.
Observation: The average age of people in the theater was 50.

Story: The initial part of story is set inn Kabul, before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Well-to-do teenage boy Amir and his very loyal Hazara servant Hassan (the son of his father's servant Ali) are best friends. Amir and Hassan like kite fighting; a popular sport in Kabul. Hassan is "kite runner" for Amir, he runs to fetch landed kites they have won; Hassan is sexual assaulted one day by bullies in the town; from Amir’s and Hassan’s friendship goes downhill.
A short while later, the Russians invade Afghanistan; since Baba is well-known as anti-communist, Amir and Baba flee to the US.
Years roll by and Amir has published a book; suddenly one day he receives a phone call from Rahim Khan to Pakistan.
The second part of the movie shows new-found courageous Amir (Flying to Pak, crossing border over from Pak to Afgan, dealing with Taliban and bringing over his newphew back to US).
Cast: Shaun Toub, Khalid Abdalla, Nasser Memarzia, Said Taghmaoui, Atossa Leoni

Final Say: Must Watch (if you haven’t read the book).

StreetView!

2008-01-08T13:39:00.000-05:00

Our town has the StreetView (thanks(?) to Google). You can virtually enter the lane on which I live and peer over the swimming pool too.

The clarity is the same as you virtually drive over Salt and Pepper Bridge on Boston or visit the Fifth Avenue in Manhattan!

Google Street View is a feature of Google Maps introduced last year that provides 360° panoramic street-level views and allows users to view parts of selected cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas at ground level.
In the StreetView, the photos displayed were previously taken by a camera mounted on an automobile!!!You the arrow keys and you can even see the car on which the camera was mounted.

Here...take a virtual tour:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

Goose Egg :(

2008-01-07T16:03:00.000-05:00

Since I was whining that we haven’t done anything ‘new’ for a long time, I was excited when Mr. G suggested 'Ice Skating' last week.
After a nice late brunch of Dosas, all the three of us—KC, Mr. G and me headed out to the skating rink in the next town.

The parking lot was full but thankfully it was not the case inside. It’s pretty inexpensive sport for a weekend afternoon--$3 for admission (for 2hours) and $3 to rent the skates!
Note: While renting ask for Figure skates if you are beginner—it will help you balance compared to heavy looking skates are used for Hokey(mainly for speed).
Once we stood up with skates secured on our feet, I was amazed how easy it was to walk on the floor with them compared to rooller skates back home!

The moment we stepped into the rink, it was totally a different story. All the 2 years of learning roller skates (yes; I did take lessons when I was around 9!) seemed like waste of time!
The ice was slippery as hell and balancing on the skates was out of question. Well, with help of the rink’s plastic rails I completed a full round (or square in this case) before the buzzer went off for a break.
During the break, the machine was brought which scrapped a layer of ice. This helps to skate on the smooth surface (imagine playing carom after the board is dusted with white powder!).
But a hellish experience if you are beginner!

During round two, KC was still learning to walk on skates with help of rails (ideally, you should do that on your first day!) but I was over-confident (or trying to be adventurous). Remembering the basics I tied to skate---fell down twice. But it didn’t matter since I had three layers of cloths (thanks to this helpful hint from Mr.G).
But the third fall was almost fatal. As I was moving swinging my arms (you have to use the same motion of opposite arms and legs like swimming) and moving forward; I suddenly lost my balance and fell backwards! There was a blackout for a millisecond; next thing I realize I’m not able to stand up.
Finally after a minute (which seemed like ages!) mustered up all the energy and got up; by then my body totally decided against taking a fourth round around the rink.

Slowly walked up to the entrance and sat on the stands for rest of 20 minutes. Cheering is a good sport too!

Its Monday morning—my head still has a bump (the 'goose egg'), I’ve sprained my neck and it hurts when I move my arms. I spent most of the Sunday sleeping!

P.S: Next time I’m invited to ski; I think I’ll be in the audience!

Library

2008-01-04T17:30:00.001-05:00

The town library is celebrating 100 years! Check out the century old pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/westboroughlibrary/

Unfortunately, these pictures do not contain my favorite spot where I'd love to sit and enjoy a book....the grand chair by the Fireplace!

SmileBox

2008-01-02T18:03:00.001-05:00

This application is amazing. Let's you create your own greeting for free or a premium price!
Price--You have to download their application on your PC.

Make a postcard - it's easy!

Flashback--2007

2008-01-02T17:38:00.000-05:00

2007 has been a roller coaster year for me---personally, financially and emotionally. Here's the list of times (not in the right order though).

Personal achievements (pat on the back!):

I bought a two-bedroom flat in Bangalore with two-year savings.
Assumed responsibility on family front.
Shared a nice bond for almost nine months with my niece.
Got my Greencard (Thanks to KC for this!)
Sponsored my parents for Business visa (they now have 10-year multiple visa to US)
Worked hard in the office and received a ~7% rise in pay.
Invested a huge amount in stock market.
Spent more time with my sisters (as promised).

But I've scummed to few vices and not proud about it, so here goes the 'devil's list':

Tried tobacco and almost addicted to alcohol.
Didn't visit three first cousin's weddings.
Lost contact with few friends (not proud of it)
Didn't learn any new skills at work (expect for Asterisk configuration).

Ninny...the little niece

2007-12-29T01:11:00.001-05:00

This photo was taken by KC during our trip to the Nashoba Winery this summer. Miss my little shopping companion, story-teller, jester and most of all her endless energy reserve!

Visual DNA

2007-12-27T22:17:00.001-05:00

Surfing the net led me to this website called imagini (still in Beta stage). This website lets you express your pics (that's if you not an amateur photographer already!):
http://www.imagini.net/

Suprise Gifts!

2007-12-27T17:59:00.000-05:00

I'm always amazed by people who suprise me with thier thouthfullness during this holiday season--Chirstmas I suppose.

Last year my next door neighbour knocked on our door on Chirstmas eve and gave us a gift card.

This year it was a double treat just before the four day long holiday weekend---Our company gave us shares (ofcouse they are not 100% vested yet!) instead of bonus and the secone one was from one of my colleague who suprised me with a a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. Now...its time to hunt for the thank-you gifts!

P.S: Atleast for me-It's the thought that counts more than the gift.

Word and Excel without Microsoft

2007-12-24T21:02:00.000-05:00

Google offers Docs and Excel if you havent installed Microsoft Word/Excel on you PC.
The catch...you need to log into google!

http://docs.google.com/#

Randon Acts of Kindness??

2007-12-24T13:25:00.001-05:00

I've always noticed that the 'tips' bowl in all restaurants (or especially at Dunkin Donuts) usually full and contains 1-5 dollar instead of usual quarters!

Shopping Online!

2007-12-16T00:23:00.001-05:00

After getting stuck in the traffic for nearly 1.5hours (near Natick and Burlington Malls!) today morning, have been shopping (mostly browsing) online for gifts!

Check out this cute little toaster---Change plates to pop art you are in the mood for; Would love get one although I'm usually eating HoneyBunches of Oates with Almonds/HoneyNut Cheerios/Shreeded Wheat for breakfast.

BTW, to choose gifts based on personalities visit gifts.com (I was labled 'The Hipster'! he he he)

Here are few from my gift list:

JackCards won't let you forget someone's birthday!

2007-12-12T11:03:00.000-05:00

I read about this paper greeting card website in the Wall Street Journal yesterday (yes, there are articles in this paper other than just stock prices!).

'Jackcards' isn't any e-cards site; the review suggested the site over Hallmark cards (who won't let you personalize their cards!)

Once you register on Jackcards, you can enter 'five' of most important people/events and their addresses to whom you want to send a greeting card the old-style.

Notification emails are sent one month prior (and every week from then) so that you can order a pre-addressed, pre-postage (one less trip to the Post Office!) card where you just need to add a personal note,sign and post it!

I loved the site in the first moment (or in this case the first card I saw!)....the Christmas card says..."Happy Birthday Jesus"!!!

Enjoy browsing the cards!
http://www.jackcards.com/

OrkutStyle

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

Get Free Orkut Scrapbook Graphics

Found this webpage 'googling' orkut.

Scary quote...

2007-11-28T14:07:00.001-05:00

"Feeling good is like going up in a roller coaster—you know the drop is coming. It's hard to enjoy being lifted up if you know what's on the other side"

Pleo!

2007-11-17T18:13:00.000-05:00

I chanced upon this cute little robotic pet (one week-old Camarasaurus) browsing through gifts for Xmas.

http://www.pleoworld.com/

According to Ugobe, this Dinosaur will respond to you voice, touch and develops his own unique personality, moods, and habits that are shaped by the time and experiences he shares with each user!
They even have developed a original soundtrack for this product:

Guess, Santa's shopping inculdes this $350 worth cute little blue-eyed toy!

Virtual World....

2007-11-14T16:00:00.000-05:00

Second Life

2007-11-12T23:46:00.001-05:00

Disclaimer: This is not about the re-birth or renewing yourself!

Last month on CSI New York (you can watch it on CBS!) episode featured gunning down a real-life killer through the virtual world, I become curious.

Is there a real big bad virtual world out there? Googling helps (so does Wiki!).
The definition for virtual world is "A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment intended for its users to inhabit and interact via avatars. This habitation usually is represented in the form of two or three-dimensional graphical representations of humanoids (or other graphical or text-based avatars)."

The third website suggested by G was my answer though. Second Life is a virtual world where you can lead your second life virtual (sounds weird, yet true!).

Registration is free (unless you need premium access or buy land/property virtually!). You also need to install their program on your laptop/PC.
Log in and welcome to virtual world. I liked their concept of handling you.

The first time you log in, your avatar is at Orientation Island where (you guessed right) you can learn to move, dress, drive, and make friends.

Next step is the Help island which is in-between main grid and Orientation island---here you need to grab free stuff (clothes, accessories, furniture and even a house if you like!).
You are also given some Liden curreny.
Liden currency can also be bought using the actual dollars (just swipe you Mastercard/Visa) once you are in the game to buy virtual property!

When you think you are ready, 'Teleport' yourself to the Main Island. You need to know where you are going, whom you are going to befriend and where you are going to hang up----So better be prepared to arrive here from the Help Island.

I was impatient and teleported myself within 2 days (bad idea!). But luckily, there are soo many avatars out there to help you on the Main Island (just remember to ask (voice/msg chat)).
One of the girls (whom i met in a place similar to Antartica!) helped me with the the hotspots ----the list consisted of cafes, beaches, discos, resorts, clubs, hiking........
God lord....its wonderful that you can go snorkeling even when you don't know swimming or bungee jump even if you have Acrophobia!!
Bottem line: Unless you are on crutches, better enjoy the real world :-)

Venture with Vampires!

2007-11-03T19:01:00.000-04:00

What is it with the dark world? Perhaps the subconscious wants to unravel the mysterious/adventures which the conscious does not permit or possibly my eyes want to ogle at Van or Mick St John.
I think the former is partly true since it’s the characters I like to watch more than actors themselves!

I started to ponder on this subject since Friday, watching Moonlight (Season 1) on CBS (Note: I'm addicted to this latest soap for a month now).
When my brother-in-law questioned why isn't Mick (Alex O'Loughlin,the vampire) dead after he has been shot.

I started blabbering, 'Oh vampires die only when hit with silver bullets or if silver enters their blood stream else said to be immortal, they cant stand sunlight, consume human blood and hate garlic too!'.

Astonished with information I listed the movies I've watched and liked so far:

The bits of first movie (btw, i don't remember any names) i watched were a cemetery, long canine teeth, beautiful blond girl and the vampire sinking its teeth into her throat!
Few episodes of Buffy, the vampire slayer. But Buffy and her friends had lot in their plate other than vampires.
The third is pretty recent(2004)-Van Helsing. This story revols around Van who is on an assignment to kill the Count Dracula in Transylvania. Gadgets used in the movie were amazing and Hugh jackman was a treat to watch.
Last month i watched UnderWorld--a world underground where Werewolves and Vampires fight for power. Finally a hybrid is created--Scott Speedman.

All the movies aside. For now, I'm happy watching Mick in Moonlight every Friday at 9pm!

Is the Grass Really Greener on the Other Side?

2007-11-02T22:37:00.001-04:00

My usual night time light reading is a magazine---RedBook, USWeekly GoodHouseKeeping, CountryLiving, Cosmopolitan,Star. You name it, it can be found under my nightstand or the place-i-wont-name.

Today, the book was LadiesJournal, picked during my impulsive shopping trip to the DollarTree which is a block away from my office.

The article was interview with Nicole Kidman (I sometimes wonder if the celebrities keep a list of interviews/shows they have gone through in a year!). It wasn't about the movies or about her husband (of course those questions did pop up) but a lot about the bond she shares with her sister.
Having grown up (or rather should say still growing up) with two sisters I was interested in the article.

Its was amazing to read the relationship Nicole shares with her sister. They have been there for each other during time of crisis.
Like any other thing in the world, relationships too need time and energy to make it work.
In simple words she puts--its being there for the other person in hour of need.

But I think it was the lifestyle question which showed a hint of envy; her ideal of ideal life was just like her mother's or sister's who has settled in her life and stays five minutes away from each other.
With all the fame, money, following and with Tom Cruise as an ex-husband
does she wish she was on the other side on the fence?

P.S: Don't we as well (especially on rainy days)? ;-)

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T15:39:00.001-04:00

Next one...

2007-10-28T22:57:00.001-04:00

Dedicated to some-out-there!

Currently watching

2007-10-28T22:57:00.000-04:00

Watched it about a hundered times too!

Mood: Nostalgic
P.S: Dedicated to KC!

Halloween Shopping!

2007-10-28T21:02:00.000-04:00

Finally decided to do some last minute shopping for Halloween today. Not to the mall, but just the Marshalls across the street.

After 30minutes of shopping decided to get this cute little costume for me and witch hat for my niece.....double witches for trick or treat on the 31st!

Last year I took my friend's kids trick-or-treating while they prepared the house for the late night Halloween party. Believe me its like dream come true for the kids (they were around 3) when loads and loads of chocolates land in their arms (actually cute bags!).

Hope the temperate wont drop a lot by Wednesday (crossing fingers)!

BTW, for info on Halloween: (Source Wikipeida)
Halloween, or Hallowe'en, is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. Traditional activities include trick-or-treating, Halloween festivals, bonfires, costume parties, visiting "haunted houses" and viewing horror films. Halloween originated from the Pagan festival Samhain, celebrated among the Celts of Ireland and Great Britain. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century. Halloween is now celebrated in several parts of the western world, most commonly in Ireland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom.
The term Halloween (and its alternative rendering Hallowe'en) is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the eve of "All Hallows' Day",[1] also which is now known as All Saints' Day.about witches and Irish tales of the Sídhe).

How to add Video to Blooger Blog

2007-10-27T20:36:00.001-04:00

How do you embed a Youtube video on his blog hosted at Blogspot. Read on if you want to know:

First go to Youtube.com and find the video that you wish to embed. Look for the box directly to the right of the video.
Go to the line marked Embed and copy the code from the box(Click on More Info tab).

Now login to your blog and compose a new message.
Click on Edit Html and paste in the code that you copied from YouTube.

It is important that you are on “Edit Html” and that you don’t switch back to the compose mode.
Publish your post.

Love this ballet and the song

2007-10-27T20:36:00.000-04:00

Uptown Girls

2007-10-25T23:28:00.000-04:00

With RedSox's 2nd game today, TV was out of bounds for me.

Grabbed the Uptown Girls DVD borrowed from Library this week for night's entertainment.

This is a simple story, where (Brittany Murphy) Molly (childish party girl who is broke) ends up being nanny to (Dakota Fanning) Ray who acts like a 30year old!

Both are facing the same problem but the way is approach is entirely different. As the movie goes on, they teach their way of life to each other.

The child in Ray comes out when she visits to Canary Island to ride the teacups (both times) and the adult in Molly shows when Ray goes missing. It is heartbreaking to see the way Ray copes up when her father dies.

Nice light movie for any evening.

Totally need this bag!

2007-10-21T23:23:00.000-04:00

But ofcouse this Bottega Veneta is just $1875!

Thanksgiving the Hallmark way

2007-10-20T15:32:00.002-04:00

I'm crazy about reading magiznes more than the novles (or the C++ book which KC reminds me to read everyday!).
This month's Hallmark magazine along with cusines were notes from popular writes thanking the best things happened to them this year.

Things i'm grateful for this year:

For a wonderful understading family (parents,siblings,cousins,aunts/uncles and my in-laws), friends and co-workers.
Got unconditional love from my little niece and blessed with one more niece.
Handled responsiblities the way it should have been.
Had a wonderful India trip, all thanks to KC and AK.
We celebrated NewYear's eve and Anniversary just the way we liked.

Along with this the five small moments which make me happy everday:

E-mails, messages from family and friends (especially on Monday mornings).
Cup of strong coffee with good reading material on lazy afternoons.
Gentle cool breeze in summer and warm sunshine in fall evening walk during evening walks.
Fresh big roll of paper towles!
Better not say it aloud.

Midnight lesson!

2007-10-20T15:32:00.000-04:00

Last night, I had to learn it a hard way.

I confess, I'm not a Pottery Barn freak where items in your house should be assinged (confined is say) to a particular place. Living like a bachelor, i surf on sitting on my bed (thanks to wireless!), iron the clothes (if necessary) just 10 mins before I head out to work and well you can guess the rest.

Last night, insomia decided to pay a visti to me. Woke up at 2am and the next thing to grab my specs was the laptop. Found out that battery was dying and plugged in the wire.

Half an hour later, my laptop starts hibernating! I try to grab the Poland Spring bottle and touch the iron box next to it......ahhhhhhhhhhh! It was hot.

Had puggled in the iron box wire instead of the battery one! doh!

Midnight lesson learnt--never browse (or actually plug in wires) half awake.

P.S: Thankfully, there was no fire in the apartment!

Man made wonder......

2007-10-18T22:21:00.000-04:00

First in my list is Manhattan, New York.

Fell in love with it along with Francie in 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn' and then again with Rachel, Monica and Phoebe in Friends; wondered about the architecture wonder they started created after reading FountainHead and ofcourse in numerous others movies.

The anticlimax---these were the words which I spoke which I actually entered the wonder "Oh my god this reminds me of Bombay (Mumbai)!!".

KC goes "hmmm".

Knocked Up!!!!

2007-10-16T21:47:00.000-04:00

No, no, no, its not me.

I just finished reading this book called "Knocked Up" by Rebecca Eckler.
Dont ask me how this book landed in my hands (Actually KC had accidently requested the book from library instead of the movie!).
The package looked inviting--pink book with cosmo with a nipple on the stem.

I didnt do complete justice to the book, skipped a few pages and finished it between 10-12pm last night and 11am-2pm in the office (there goes today's work!).
The book is about a newspaper columnist Rebecca who is never a mother material (eats fruits loops, parties and drinks every night) is suddenly pregnant at thirty and deals with personal issues which come along with being pregnant!

P.S : You can also read the latest updates on how she is coping with the kid now here.

You'll like reading it if like seeing reruns of Sex and the City!

IM without downloading any Messenger!

2007-10-15T20:31:00.000-04:00

Read an article on Wall Street---where it says the boss dosent need to know if you are chatting!
(I know the latest yahoo mail provides 'web messenger' too; but it takes a long time to load the emails, so I've switched back to classic)

Websites:
http://wwwm.meebo.com/ and http://koolim.com/

The two websites listed where you can log into any messenger through the website. Unfortunately, you cant video IM. But, text enough to (bring a smile on your face)in the office to keep in touch with friends and family who are 1000's of miles away!

The Last of Harry???

2007-10-13T17:05:00.000-04:00

Last week I attended a book discussion--'Harry Potter and Deathy Hallows for Adults' in the local library.
We were just 8 of us in the book club, but it was good to discuss the book face-to-face (not complaining of mugglenet!).
Our hosts had also prepared delicious treats too---Cockroach chocolate (chocolate syrup on peanuts and pretzels), cauldron cake (chocolate cake on Oreo cookie with a black twister) , every-flavour-beans and candy canes!!

Unanimous vote: Everybody loves the Weasley twins; humor among dark magic is very welcome i suppose.
Fred's death was too painful.
The Fairy Tale ending was okay.
And is Teddy the next Harry????

However, there is a open question at end of the discussion:
How did the sword of Gryffindor come back into the Sorting Hat when Griphook had taken it away in Gringotts?

Let me know if you know the answer.

Fall Colors!

2007-10-13T16:50:00.001-04:00

This year, not much luck.

My first year (that was 2004) during Fall in the East Coast was wonderful. Since we hadn't invested in a camera, I collected leaves for scrapbook.

The green maple leaves turn to beautiful shades of orange,red, yellow, brown and then literally fall off the tree.

Its a treat to your eyes when the morning sunlight dance on the treetops.

Two falls ago, we stopped (midway an errand) and took this photo this tree which was next to the gas station on the main street!!

BTW, this is the reason these leaves change thier colour:

Source: http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/leaves.html

Plants take water from the ground through their roots. They take a gas called carbon dioxide from the air. Plants use sunlight to turn water and carbon dioxide into glucose. Glucose is a kind of sugar. Plants use glucose as food for energy and as a building block for growing. The way plants turn water and carbon dioxide into sugar is called photosynthesis. That means "putting together with light." A chemical called chlorophyll helps make photosynthesis happen. Chlorophyll is what gives plants their green color.
As summer ends and autumn comes, the days get shorter and shorter. This is how the trees "know" to begin getting ready for winter.
During winter, there is not enough light or water for photosynthesis. The trees will rest, and live off the food they stored during the summer. They begin to shut down their food-making factories. The green chlorophyll disappears from the leaves. As the bright green fades away, we begin to see yellow and orange colors. Small amounts of these colors have been in the leaves all along. We just can't see them in the summer, because they are covered up by the green chlorophyll.
The bright reds and purples we see in leaves are made mostly in the fall. In some trees, like maples, glucose is trapped in the leaves after photosynthesis stops. Sunlight and the cool nights of autumn cause the leaves turn this glucose into a red color. The brown color of trees like oaks is made from wastes left in the leaves.
It is the combination of all these things that make the beautiful colors we enjoy in the fall.

Just writing...

2007-10-08T15:04:00.000-04:00

Its been a long time since i've updated the blog, so thought of penning (typing) few words.

The summer has come and gone this year and its the fall now....chilly, wet, cloudy. Hope we have a bright,windy day atleast next week.

Been busy at home and at work.
Enjoying the good food everyday (thanks to MIL) and the company of little niece (who lures you back into childhood).
In two months, it'll be back to future---the two of us and the TV (or internet in this case).

Well, Mythri Nagaraja will try to log in regularly to keep you posted.

I believe

2007-09-12T16:51:00.000-04:00

and fear in "the hedonic treadmill,"
A place where constant gratification drives us to greater and greater extremes of indulgence, with less and less real satisfaction.

Crane Beach

2007-08-22T15:46:00.001-04:00

The trip to Crane Beach (located near Ipswitch,MA) provided a great weekend getaway this summer (finally!). One itchy thing is parking fee--whooping $22 and parking lot was bad!

But the parking fee compensates for the beautiful beach. Low tide on this long beach with few seaweeds sticking to your feet.
If you want a perect stop---just walk a little further away from the crowd of people sunbathing around the life gaurd's post (some handsome lifegaurds!!!). Poo and me were in the beach for about 2-3hours after home made lunch and then rested awhile on the beach.

Ninny wanted to swim but was frigthen of the waves i think; but she loved coming just where waves ended with help of KC.

But one nasty wave just drenched her and after that she didnt dare come near but sat on chair and drank soad in style ;-)

Check out some photos:

Six Flags!

2007-08-02T18:43:00.000-04:00

It took second visit to Six Flags to find Looney Toons and the Parade!!!

Definite Interval?

2007-08-02T18:26:00.000-04:00

Should I log everyday....that's next the impossible and the main reason I've been putting off posting.

Finally, made up my mind (and convienced my hand) that it's not mandatory to write something down everyday.
Hoping to blog atleast once a week though!