ok tatz it

I've been writing so much in my head and everytime I sleep, I loose them. To say that my life has been a ride over the past month is an understatement. Pretty interesting events, tons of talking, stress from work. At one point, I wondered if we were all "coded" to do the same things over and over again, day after day. Those who did not follow the "code" where just bugs and would be fixed soon in this world.
I don't want to leave you with just blah so I publish a brief list I made for a veggie bbq..enjoy!

Main Food
Bread
Cheese
Veggie burger patties
Salads and salad dressing
Vegetables for grilling-
Onions
Tomatoes
Mushrooms
Brinjals
Zucchini
Aspharagus
Artichokes
Corn
Red/Green/Yellow Bell Peppers
Pineapple
Cooked Basmati Rice (for grilled veggies) with some flavor (jeera/cardamon), not too spicy

Drinks
Sodas
Water
Orange Juice

Appetizers
Chips n Salsa
Dessert Cookies
Any other kind of finger food
Fruits

Condiments
Salt
Pepper
Sugar
Chilli Powder
Yogurt
Lime juice
Lemon
Olive Oil
Ketchup

Utilities
Skewers
Knives, Forks, Spoons and Plates
Trash Bags
Napkins
Knives and cutting board
Table cloth
Glasses
Coal
Tongs for Coal
Tongs for Food
Ice
Ice-Box
Gloves (to handle coal)
Match Box
Starter Fuel
Bottle Opener
Cellotape to tape the table cloth


Marinade for Vegetables
Yogurt
Chilli Powder
Salt
Lime/Lemon Juice
Chaat Masala

Mix all ingredients to get a batter consistency
soak the vegetables and leave overnight.

Running on a treadmill

Some wise man rightly said: " Life is like running on a treadmill, you have to keep running to stay in place".
I've been on a really fast treadmill for the past few weeks. My work has been taking all the time I am awake, well, pretty much. I wouldn't call it exciting work that sends a rush through me and tingles me when I finish it. It is just work, simple. An action item changing status to "done" when completed.
I travelled a bit. I was in Pittsburgh for the weekend. How was it? Refreshing. That is the word I would use. I loved the small city, its umpteen bridges spotted all across the city, ped walk on the bridges(yoohoo!).
Back to the base on monday and I've been ticking non stop..there are a host of things I need to share..but not now..
I've miles to go before I sleep..

trends

When I need to know the latest trends in IT, I have dime a dozen web sites that offer the hottest news right from the mouths of the inventor(?).
But what about other fields..like physics/chemisty/pharmacy..where can I search for the latest news on these fields?
wondering..

in need of a Lawyer

How many times have you felt miserable after taking your hair cut? I am asking this to both men and women out there. Agreed, men out there really dont' bother too much about the new hair cut. If it had turned out to be their worst nightmare, they just wear a cap for couple of weeks with all their outfits. This continues till hair eventually grows back into its old self.
As for women, it is just not that simple. All we might need is just some trimming of the bangs. For the ignorant/innocent, bangs is the lock of hair that falls on face that looks very chic and is as uncomfortable to maintain.
Now the naive me went in for just this. Simple and straightforward. I showed her my old picture and some other similar ones from "her handbook". I explained to her how much to cut, when to stop. She reassured me and oh heavens, I fell for that!
First half of the time undert the stylist's scissors, I opened my eyes and tried to help her. I slowly realized that she either wasn't listening or had no clue what she was doing. All I could then do in the second half was just close my eyes to the horror. On opening my eyes, I looked in the mirror. Someone I once knew was looking back at me. There was absolutely nothing I could do about the situation. Stylist apologized and offer to better my "style"(?!!). I was only more terrified about going back there.
So, I walked out..strongly resolving never to walk back in again. The thing is, I need a lawyer..a lawyer who can fight for crimes committed against innocent women like me. I showed her pics, gave her all my complete requirements. If she couldn't do it, she should have jolly well declined the service. She nodded as though she clearly understood what needs to be done, as if she was confident about the style. Yet, she destroyed it all. At the end of it, the client/customer is the one who is totally helpless.
I will be spending the rest of my time under caps, head covers, bandanas, bobby pins, hair bands..and my struggle would all go unnoticed. the thing is, I need a lawyer..

Bloogle?

Did I just log into Blogger using Google a/c? What are these guys doing? Like I had predicted, I am afraid they are turning into a 'portal' of services. I am willing to bet on anything that blogger will start providing blogging services for users of the social networking website: Orkut.com
That was one thing that was missing from Orkut and was available in Friendster as well as Yahoo!360..lets wait and act surprised..

Newspaper neatness

There are certain things I would never be able to stand, and an improperly folded newspaper goes right on top of the list. It is not so much the paper itself, but rather the form and fashion in which it is delivered.There is nothing that goes better with a lovely continental breakfast than a crisp, well folded, hot off the press newspaper.

On this particularly perky saturday morning, B and myself decided to challenge ourselves with a run uphill followed by a quiet breakfast around Little Italy.
After finally picking a place (amongst the gazillion other options, each of a min. 45 min wait) we settled down and decided what to eat and treat ourselves with. I wished to delight my tingling brain cells with some news right off the press and got to the paperstand when I saw the depravity of the situation.

Behold, right in front of me, laying innocuously were atleast 5 copies of the day's chronicle and to my horror, were completely out of control. Each paper had no clue where its other supplements were.

I tried to ignore the mess around and grabbed one copy and headed back. I managed to hold my composure for sometime....simply sat, smiled and waited for my brunch to arrive. I was trying hard to forget the nagging feeling in my head abt these unruly copies of the paper. Brunch arrived while both of us were soaked in the bits of newspapers left with us. I think somewhere between the distracting taste of the pancakes and the scratching noise of the dogs outside that my attention diverted to the rest of the stack in the basket.

Now, I firmly believe that it is utterly rude of people to mess up the order of newspapers after reading them. Quite simply, when you invite guests over, I am pretty sure you would half expect them to rearrange things around in your house(mebbe I should call it mess) and leave. It is that simple. At bruncheries(you can thank me later for coining this term), the somewhat similar act with newspapers is just not acceptable. Newspapers are a part of the whole eating experience, especially on lovely weekend mornings. Shame on the people who take the pleasure out of this petty little thing(ironically, this petty little thing inspired this entire blog!).

Newspaper reading is like eating a bar of ____________ (fill it with a delight of your choice). You just can't eat half of it. The complete satisfaction comes in finishing the whole piece in one shot. Or may be it is like watching a movie. You need to have the scenes following the right order and you need to watch it in one sitting. Straight forward, ain't it? How do people miss this point, it is amazing to me..

Well, anyway, coming back to where I was, I did try. Went over to the basket and tried to put the newspapers back together in a form that was readable (much to B's horror and embarassment). It was simply not appreciated. Some scorned, others just requested copies of "just the supplements" of the papers I was trying to put together. My mission was failing. I had to accept it and sheepishly walked the remaining copies back to basket. The waitress just smiled (or was it smirked) at me..So much so for newspaper neatness.

Vande Mataram

To all those matyrs
To all those sacrifices
To all those struggles

Jai Hind!

Go green

I realize that the government is trying to get us to think more eco-friendly, more green. But today was one of the weirdest days for this thought. Bad enough, I was driving a green Pontiac, which was constantly followed by another green Pontiac. Then there was a green BMW, a green Civic, a green Volkswagen. To top it all, my friend showed up in her green Corolla!
hmm..Weird

Avani avittam

For all those souls who like me are wondering what to cook on this day:
http://www.panchangam.com/recipe/001.htm

Google rocks! I'll post more details later. Just somethings I learnt about this festival.

And oh, I managed to cook tons for this day. I made Idlis(well, not totally as soft as a flower), coconut chutney to go along, some vadai (a salty version of a donut), some appam (dumpling mixed with bananas), mor kuzhambu, potato roast and of course, rice. My better half was one of the happiest people on the planet last evening. :) Felt good to be a home maker type (is it type A or type B?)
ps: I missed ..I made payasam also (a version of riz au lait)

Vegetarian food and Lunch Meetings

What is with this deal of inviting you for a lunch meeting and making absolutely no accomodation to your dietary needs? I have been into more than one business meeting where they specifically schedule it during lunch and have gazillion options of meat to eat. I mean, seriously, you snatch away the only hour I have during the work day to relax a bit. And on top of that, you serve me food I really can't touch. What sense does that make?
With more and more people choosing to be vegetarian when presented with a choice, I simply dont understand how one can be completely oblivious to this way of life. So there I am, sitting in a meeting, in a time that I am totally against meetings, and with everyone around me munching their food while I type out this blog. :). I am not saying you need to get a list of likes and dislikes in food from everyone attending the meeting before you order food. But atleast when you think about ordering 3 turkey, 3 chicken, 3 ham sandwiches, you can afford to think of adding couple of vegetarian in the list.
Usually, when I go to a completely and strictly meat place, I have a choice of salads which I turn into an entree too. The irony of this situation is that even the salads (all of them..I mean, each and every one of them) had chicken or tuna in it. And it is not everyone who is comfortable "picking" the pieces of meat out of the salad and considering it veggie and happily consuming it down.
One of the nicer women in the group offered me cookies for lunch, but for some sane reason, I was not in a mood for cookies.
I am beginning to wonder if my repulsion to the whole idea is the lack of vegetarian food or the whole concept of "lunch meetings". For me, lunch is one hour where I try to slip away and do something that I enjoy. I might not be even hungy, but I like to just get out of my desk. I like to the cafe and watch people. It is very interesting to observe people walking in to the cafe, analysing the different options they have, some impatience while waiting for the food. I enjoy the chit chat with my colleagues, giggle or laugh about the insanities in life/work, discuss politics (world or work) and in general, it is my personal hour in a work day. Stealing that hour away makes me very uncomfortable and I doubt if my mind works as sharp as it should for a meeting. :).
May be it is the "french side" of me, but I am just not happy with the whole concept!

old emails

What do you do about all those read and processed and replied/forwarded emails sitting in your inbox? I never understand if I should keep them or just hit the delete button. I mean,a few of them, nah, don't care if they are or aren't in my inbox. But when it comes to the other few, I am just confused.
I was doing my usual read -> chk if important -> delete steps to my inbox and then I hit this email. I scanned through it and I realized that I wasn't doing the right thing. It was lovely notes from those friends I have severely lost touch with. I suddenly get reminded of how dear friends we were and how childish it is of me to not write to him/her telling her that I was thinking of him/her. I could almost relive those days and hear the conversations between the two of us or the group of us. Why does this modern day life with faster and more reliable modes of communication only widens the gap between two friends? It almost seems like fones/VOIPs/emails/IMs loose their real purpose of existence.
Well, it is never too late to delve in again, to make solemn promise to myself to stay in touch and may be this time, actually do it right.

to do list

This blog is almost transcending to become my personal to-do list. I am leaving this space to come back and tell you tales of my last wknd, my random other thoughts.

Violent

I am extremely angered. I do not see the point of these mindless killings of innocent civilians. I am referring to the latest Mumbai bomb blasts. It wasn't one, but series of 7 at the local suburban railways. To the terrorist group that are executing these acts, what do you want? Do you think your point will be well taken if you resort to such blood shed and extreme measures? How can you sleep at night after knowing that you would have devasted lives of 100s, killed children who know nothing of the big, bad and mean world, killed expectant mothers, orphaned some children? What is the rationale behind all this? You are pleasing no God through such acts.
I feel faint when I imagine what the families of the dead are going through. It would have been any other regular evening. The victim would have left his office, probably called his loved one en route to the train station to let them know he'll/she'll be home in a few minutes;cursed the crowded life in mumbai;dreamt abt a vacation in goa and waddled way through the crowd. Some wudn't have even luked up from their work they wud have wanted to finish before getting home. And amongst this scene of regular monday evening, a huge blast would have ripped the compartment, victims would have been hurled out or torn to bits. Some would have seen a few seconds after the blast and then closed their eyes to eternal sleep. How can one explain to the waiting soul at home that no one is going to come back? that life would never be the same for them? that there would be the eternal emptiness forever in their lives? With tear filled eyes, heavy heart, some blinded by anger, only one question would reign on mos t of their minds: why? The victims were in no way connected, they were no way responsible for anything that happened in the past or in no way could have influenced what would happen in the future. The victims were no path to the goal of these terrorists. They were just regular people, like you and me. Yet, they were the sacrifice to a purpose yet unknown, they paid the heavy price. This bomb blast is a massacre and so is every other one: in London, in Madrid, 9/11. And all these events just sow more hatred, more divide among people, more blood shed eventually. Where is all this going towards?

whether you are "googling"

or "orkuting" or "xeroxing"..
M-W has recently included a bunch of new words in the dictionary. These words were born out of regular use of technology meshed with normal living. Check this article out
It is not long before Orkut is going to find its place here!

Seriously..Allez les Blues!

After reminding myself to write what I have been thinking, so many sights that I wanted to pen down during my lovely long wknd and host of other such things, I finally found the right spark..Allez Les Blues!
It is a week of absolute celebration in France. Two big reasons: 1. Football Finals 2. Ladies Single's Finals in Wimbledon.
It is definitely a great week for the French. If I was asked to choose one event where the French would win, I seriously don't know which one I would give preferance. On one hand, I have the football equipe (as in team), full spirited, a 'll old? of course, tons of experience, extremely skilled and talented, and of course very handsome(s). On the other hand we have Amelie, 12 long years to get to a chance for the Grand Slam, 7 years wait for Wimbledon finals, tons of effort and hard work and toil (gosh!I am getting tired just penning this down).
Well, in the end, I want the French to win and I know they would. They have the talent, plain and simple.
ps: Even if the Belgian wins in Wimbledon, she is yester french ;)

Digging again

So, I went randomly digging again and found out the plethora of features offered by..well, yes, Google (again!yawn?).
Like I had predicated, they seem to become a portal like Y! or MSN. Except that these guys create the widgets themselves or just add the ones developed by some mom'n'pop softe guys. The simplicity of the webpage is still the key reason I would move to Google Personalized home page from MyYahoo!. Other than that, same foosteps, nothing exciting. The small annoying factor is that the links take you to another page that is not exactly customized by Google itself.
On the other hand, Apple is thinking of Movies in iTunes (my better half claims this is the happening thing in his life!). Now that I have to have to be in a meeting, I must keep my enthusiasm to talk about this for a little later.
In a nutshell, Google is becoming a portal (with a little annoyance?)

Scary!

See this new note released by the World Bank(?) regarding the Pollution levels across the world cities. I was shocked to see two Indian cities among the top 10 of the world's most polluted cities. I have always feared the existence of the natural beauty around us for next generations. This report just confirmed my fears!

Think Green

Don't wash your jeans..save the environment
ps: guys from my college, I really did not know that there was such a noble cause behind your behavior!

It is always Christmas

in downtown San Francisco..
It is well lite and decorated and windy and cold (I mean even in summer) :)

"How much..

Tip should I add?"
I simply get completely annoyed with this presumptous question. I have faced this question from cab drivers, restaurants, dry cleaners!! So, what is this whole habit of Tipping?
TIPS: To Insure Prompt Service?
Tips have always been a debated topic with numbers swirling around them. How much? Percentage? Required? I don't agree at all.
I would TIP a person providing me a service only when I genuinely feel good about the service provided to me. But nowadays, there is so much of pressure on just that certain percentage of bill going to put a smile on the waitress' face that it takes the whole pleasure out of giving out the TIP. Don't forget the grumpy looks you get when you tip badly. Sometimes, cab drivers have been so rude as to openly express their unhappiness with the little extra that you put on their receipt. In my support, hey! that guy did not help me with my bag while I was struggling with it, he did not open the door while I figured which of my ten fingers is free to do that..So why should I extend my thanks to him? Thanks for what? Helping me understand that I can use my little finger in my left hand to open the door of the cab? Don't even get me started on waitresses at some restaurants..
I do a service job too and I don't get any tip and neither can I frown for that. Some people seriously need to understand that the service they are providing is their job and bonus would be given only when performing over expectations, not just meeting it.

just been lazy

Of late, my friend has been reminding me about the rehaul that my blog needs. Let me shed some light into all your lives. I have just been lazy. It is definitely not that I don't keep scribbling little notes in my head that I would tuck away to get to a screen and blog. It is just that I have been lazy; plain and simple.
Now that he is hell bent on making me rethink certain things over and give myself a new look..hmm, interesting.
Ever thought abt the similarity between performing artists and companies? The word is Constant Innovation. I am definitely as guilty as charged when it comes to thinking of artists as the lesser mortals. During one particularly long, boring and a silent drive to downtown, the realization dawned on me.
An artist is simply a company/firm all by itself. Just like companies need constant innovation to keep their stocks high and happy, investors smiling and employers contented, so does an artist. While the firm would be the effort of all its employees, an artist is left to fend herself/himself with a l'll help here and there. And then there is the regular Marketing, Finance, HR, PR, Sales..all being worked out by this one person who makes the final call. Of course, she/he is helped around, but the final responsibility lies solely on the artist. Every piece is a baby that is so carefully created, nurtured, polished and delivered to the faithful group of hungry audience and critics. Re-inventing oneself is an extremely crucial factor and there is a very high demand for creativity. While the pressure on a firm might be far lesser, an artist needs to sound different in his/her every piece, in the same CD/exhibition/performance. The risk is high or to see the actual intensity, the risk per owner is high for artists. The best part is that artists these days just dont stay within their core competency. They are out there releasing new products; which in business lingo would mean differentiation of products and services. We have perfumes, shoes, watches, endorsements. A plethora of things that these people are willing to get into. Does a company take this much of a risk? Maybe being bigger reduces the nimbleness that can be had?
It dawned on me..artists aren't people who have a glamorous and an easy life. We are so wrong. They dont work just from 9-5. They are simply all departments, all regions,24X7..
Artists, I salute you..

P.S: This blog refused to get posted! grr..

why?

Just wondering why the holy matrimonial union is called a wed"lock"? hmm..

Lingo

And we prevail..
Bitsian slang gets included in the dictionary.
Check this out
muhahahaha

Geek Predict

Hey Ho Messieurs and Mesdames..Listen to thy..
well, nothing big to say here
Apple is going to be the next big boom. Just simple and straight. And one doesn't need a geek to predict this. It is just obvious. Let me explain.
The entire world is going "ooohs" and "aaahs" and of course "laa..laas" over the products that are brought out every weekend by Google. I am totally with you. I infact strongly believed in the strength of creativity at Google. They have products, a few totally creative and a few improvement over already available ideas (aka, Skype -> Google talk, Email -> Gmail). But there is a missing chord that ties the plethora of services that these guys are offering. As everyone tries to take a wild goose guess about the idea behind the whole range of products, Apple does a much better job at keeping their ideas clear.
Apple is offering simple products with style. They completely revolutionized the music industry which is now keeping MS with MTV in a relay running to offer a treat. It shouldn't be long before apple decides to enter into the communications sphere, offering handsets with ipod. Mebbe they would bundle up with Skype and offer translation services over this handset. The handset could be bumped up with features that completely please and obtain the "standing ovation" from a business/traveller.
Clearly, Apple does it very well: getting people excited about their products/services. While the enthusiasm of not only the employees but also of the customers bubbles, there is no limit to where the company can go.
More l8rs..

Parlez vous francais?

A new bill passed in France makes it more difficult to immigrate to France. Also, workers need to sign a bill to learn french(!!) and respect french regulations. Lot more francophones around. :)
Check this out
Yipeee!?

Hindu symbols

For the Nazis and the Zionists?

National Guards on Mexico Border

What is going on in this country?And they expect Mexico to watch these guys standing. Isn't it bad enough we have this happening @ the borders of India and Pakistan (btw, where are the borders now?)
ps:In a training, shocked at this venture, will come back and pen more.
pps: Dallas is hot!

Happy Mother's Day

To all the women in the world
To the special women in my life
To my Mom and my MIL
Thanks for the special touch in my life,
thanks for making this world so much more nicer place to live
thanks for making my life lot more wiser
thanks for just being Mom..

Kudos to these Super women

Israel and Palestine

I have always wondered the kind of life normal people, people like you and me would have in Israel, West Bank, Ghaza. Not only do these people have to live in the ever fear of walking on a live mine, but now, they straight forward have basic rights denied..rights to live with their own family. Look at this:
. The enemity between Jews and Palestinians(aka Arabs) are taken to new heights. Remind me again, are we actually in the 21st century where war is considered the worst route and where we consider ourselves far more civilized than our ancestors. Tell me again, how different is this logically compared to Sati, Untouchability and the likes? Forgive me, I simply fail to understand this bitter enemity and this unreasonable logic.

reminding me about myself

It is funny how I have forgotten what all I could do in the flurry of activities of the past "few" years. I ran through some notes and discovered that I knew how to play a bunch of sports, I had some strong likes and dislikes and I seem to have been a very different person. It was almost like reading someone else's diary!
Brings me to a question: How many of you there do as many things as you did during your childhood days? Do we need a post-it to remind us of what all we are capable of and good at?..

Venezuela

So, quick tips when you meet a Venezuelan:
1. Population from Italia, Spain and Portugal, so they understand a bit of all three languages. Don't swear in any of these :)
2. People speak Spanish and Portugese (with Brazilians :) )pretty well.
3. Don't talk to a Venezuelan only about the beautiful women in his country. Cmon guys, they have more than just that!
4. Ask them about other countries: Columbia, Brazil..dang, not Nicaragua, thatz central america!
5. Talk to them about their cuisine

During the conversation, I realized that like Columbia and Venezuela, there are a lot of beautiful countries in South America. It is such a pity that the traffik and crime rate there prevent people from visiting and enjoying the beautiful landscape..Aah..if only things weren't as bad..

The return of kicking and screaming

What I simply fail to understand is this..HOW? Everytime, and this is proved statistically, Everytime I fly, there HAS to be kids around me. Not just these regular coochicooing kids who giggle,gurgle and smile at you. Kids that just remind us what BRATS we were, when we were little.
This happened again. And yet again, I will write about it. There I was, looking arnd for my seat in the huge BOEING aircraft smiling at the fate of those who had kids around them. I did notice that EVERY row had a kid on flight. I snuggled into my window seat and took a cozy position. Everything was quiet for sometime and then,it happened.
A kid from the seat in the first row decided to spend sometime with the grandparents sitting right behind me. And the kid did come, and the kid did cry and the kid did scream and of course, the usual kick the seat in front of you act did happen. My patient half just smiled at me. It is almost there is an understanding among the kids on the flight. They decide to cry in unison or one after the other.

Well, time to face more kids..

attraction

How is that I have this uncanny ability to attract kids around me, especially on really really long flights? It has to be sometimes between two!The aircraft was divided into three sections. The only section that had kids were..no guesses..don't even get me started!

vocabulary

As I pack my bags to visit my motherland, I am seeing how different an english I now speak and I wonder if I would be able to communicate effectively in India.
For eg: Work out is exercise!
Camcorders are Digital Video Recorders..

am digging to find out more.I might need an "English"ize myself. Bah! I can't blv I have turned into that "American NRI!!"

Indicate!

When you decide to change lanes,
take a left or a right, take an exit or decide not to..
PLEASE use your goddamn Indicators!!!
grrr..how difficult is that?

there is never enough of

handbags, earrings, scarves, tops, bottoms to go with the tops, tops that go with the bottoms we already have, trinkets..is there?

Tax benefits

As time closes in for filing tax returns, an interesting idea struck me.

Women should be given tax benefits for using the services of beauty parlors or spas.

Let me justify:
Most men consider beauty parlors or spa bars a waste of time, energy and most importantly money.We, women, pay a visit to these places for one most important element..Brace yourself men: Peace. Yes, you heard it right, I am saying it again: Peace. For most of the "new-world" woman who is constantly juggling between her work, home, kids, food prep, cleaning chores; a trip to the beauty parlor is the most welcome respite. Help me spot one woman walking out of a parlor/spa with a frown on her face, I will step down my soap box here. Somehow, that place seems like light years away from all the noise, crowd, calls, emails and the limelight is just on one: us. We are treated like delicate lotuses with utmost care. The experience calms every cell in the body and leaves the woman feeling peaceful and a confident.

Of course, undeniably, a trip to the parlor also makes a woman look like a fairy from those book we have read in our yester years. There is nothing more boosting self confidence to a woman as a prettier self. A peaceful and a confident woman can take life more easily and help ease any tension that may prevail between her and her better half, her friends. A soft smile on her face helps her do a lot more un-quantifiable benefits to the society at large. Men, try quarrelling with your woman after she just comes back from a spa bar/beauty parlor and trust me either she would be so fresh and beautiful that you can't get angry with her or she would be so peaceful from inside that she wouldn't argue with you and would work with you on finding a solution.

It is simple, she feels more loved and works towards spreading love(!). I can't see how war can perpetuate in such a setting. At large, she works towards (drum rolls....) World Peace! (If only they let me take part in Miss Universe contest)

Tell me now, why should such meaningful expense not be rewarded? Why shouldn't we be recognized and appreciated for the larger cause we are working towards? I am not asking too much; just a tax benefit or a standard deduction for the amount spent.

How do you "Thank You"?

Someone really nice just dropped a bar of italian "heaven" at my desk!
Thanks -K for little pieces of "cielo"
Extremely sweet of you!

My childhood game

For those who grew up in early eighties..this was the big hit game among the women folk! Every summer, when I was at my gradma's place, three of us religiously played this game every afternoon. My grandma's place was in a hill, so not so much of a heat-killing summer around. This game was "Choppu-Saaman". Yes, little kitchen utensils, forks, ladle, serving sets, trays, pressure cooker, I even had a LPG gas stove! I used to specially make sure this set was packed along with my clothes in my suitcase. We had a nice tamarind tree in the area and in its shades was our home. Sambhar with mixture of mashed leaves and water, rice made of mud and water, Sabji with mixture of dried leaves and err..not so dried leaves. We just let our imagination run as wild as we used to. The reason we used to play this in the afternoon was that we could avoid the "intrusion" from elders who used this time to take a nap. We did not have doll houses, but "marapachi bommai" which were aborginal dolls in wood without too much of a "shape". But heck! we enjoyed it.
And then there was this one Boy we included in our group. For some strange reason, he never got the hang of the game. He always wanted to be a waiter and wanted to be called Philip. We tried explaining to him a lot of times that this game did not include any waiters. The entire game was just cooking food and making mud cakes. But you should know well how it works with guys. So, there you go, three girls cooking food and this one waiter guy called Philip who went to work(?). Philip served only "Rasna" for everything ordered at his restaurant. [For the not-so-knowledgable group "Rasna" was the most favorite summer-ade coming in different flavors like orange, lemon. Somehow, we never hit the idea of making Rasna and selling them for coupla bucks].
And then we had cycles that were treated as cars(!). So the passenger seat girl runs arnd with the rider (driver?) of the cycle. Yes, girls went to work too (quite a vision, eh?).
Are such games still cool among kids?

Madly

in love..yes, it is like falling in love. madly, desirably, hard in love.
It is your baby, your idea. I have seen men take an idea in its seed stage, carefully grow it, fuss over it and croon it. The idea becomes a passion, it grows like fire swallowing every thought of you, consumes you leaving you without hunger, sleep, fear. You finally found your passion. The one thing in life that would keep you working throughout the day and through the nights.
You took the idea when it was a trembling thought, fed it with your spirit and hardwork, watched it grow, take new flavors, spread wings and soar..But it is not a journey filled with soft and gentle steps. You ran, hiked, climbed, jumped, swam through various trials and trepidations.
But in the end, it is your idea, your passion, your baby.

Amazon's new Music entry

Amazon is planning to get into the music market and sell music over its own player (made by Samsung) for a subscription fee. It is interesting that they point that the player might come with preloaded set of songs based on the user's preference which is derived from his buying activities.
Herez my two cents: Have a player that can connect to the internet anywhere/anytime and allow users to buy music. The music purchased would be charged to a credit card which would follow a simple credit card method of payment. With Amazon having its own credit card, points can be accumulated against this and of course, offers would be given away..yada yada. First level of users can have access to only music, then video clips, then movies. A rough b-plan in making.

From my notepad

Yes, I was silent again. Why? Well, I was doing something. Like always I am back to share what kept me mum- Vancouver
No matter how many times I see snow sprinkled peaks, I can never seem to take them as a regular site. Vancouver, ah! one of the most picturesque (or however it is spelt) cities ever created. Somehow, the seamless mix of Franglais or Frenglish seems to flow through the city as easily as its gazillion streams, wiff around as cool as the breeze. The downtown is yeah, filled with the usual tall rise (raise?) buildings, the hustle-bustle of general crowd running towards a bus or avoiding a car, black laptop bags, women doning now a la mode scarves, high boots..the usual. But when one goes downhill towards work to the office located on the 30th floor against a background of clear blue skies, fresh snow powdering the mountain peaks..it definitely doesn't seem stressful at all. It was a rare sight to see: the blue skies merge gracefully that made me suddenly think that I was in one of those dome like display objects. I was waiting for this giant to come and shake things up and then I would see snow flakes..which would eventually settle.
City public transportation is extremely convenient. People walk around a lot ("not too far, just couple of kms away, you can walk" is what I heard many times), Starbucks don't lid their coffee (careful, butterfingers), public transportation needs exact change in cash, skiing and snowboarding resort is accessible by public transportation and is just 30 mins away from downtown, local newspapers provide top 3 in categories far beyond my imagination (top 3 doctors?), Grouse mountain charges CND$30 just for a general lift, Capilone Suspension bridge charges another CND$25. If you are like me, take the Lynn Canyon providing almost the same experience,cheaper..err..basically no charge :). Otherwise, the city is filled with parks and museums and tons of places to eat.
End of scribbling

Snippet for a traveller

If you are travelling
If you are at Denver International Airport
If you are addicted to coffee
If you want only "Tall, Non-Fat Latte"
If you want your TNFL from only Starbucks
You can take a hike or mebbe a drive. Help! the closest Starbucks is 11 miles away!

PS: Kiran, FYI!

Image Personelle

As I was growing up, I used my clothes color to depict my mood. Someone decided to go the whole 9 yards and bundle up a whole hair cut, make up and the works to match up your personality!Chromopsychology!. After a brief study of your personality, the team begins to give you a complete make over. Et voila! you are transformed from a larvae to a papillion! So, the tips they provide are supposed to highlight your assets. Hmm..interesting.

youthful colors

Sunday was a good movie day. Thanks to pre-planning by Sri, got to see a good bollywood movie after quite sometime.
"Rang De Basanti". Colorful, vivid, vibrant. The actors had done a good job of portraying the carefree attitude of the youth. The english lady was interesting (?). The music was of course phenomenal and very engaging. While the whole plot was captivating till after the intermission, a better ending could have been shaped. It was almost as if the director ran out of time while making the movie and decided to call it the end, no matter how the movie ended. Towards the end of the movie, everyone in the audience were guessing the moves, more out of curiosity than out of interest. Aamir Khan's acting was again out of the world. I was really moved in the scene where he breaks down to the english lady after he and his friends clash with the police. The only other scene that had moved me so much was enacted by him in DCH (a religion for a few of us) where he breaks down to his dad giving up his ego.

In all, the director had done a fantastic job of bringing India so close to us. The movie reminded me of a lot of things that are so unique, wonderful and sooo Indian. It reminded me of the colors we see there and we so much take for granted, of different traditions and customs, of the smell of mud and dust :), of movies filled with songs, of mother's cooking, of government (for staying politically correct, I refrain from explaining this), of public transportation, of railways, of my college life..I lived in India for those 3 hours and was transported back! Great job!

Google Again!

Boy o boy..how many times would I write about this company. Time and again, I am proved right! There is a conspiracy theory that Google plans to accquire New Zealand and produce the movie Lord of the Google that would eventually win an oscar. Pah!
What makes me wonder is if this is truly fresh, new enthusiasm or just recycled energy? We have been having Microsoft around for coupla decades. I remember revering MS for the tools and the technology that it simply seemed to spew. Then came a new dimension - the Internet. Google seems to be doing pretty good job of getting all of us kicked about its new products/ideas.
I do not wish to be a party spoiler now and say that WSJ "feels" the same way about Google as it "felt" about MS, but look what is threatening MS now. Frankly, isn't it immature to see no limit to the magic tricks Google can conjure. I am not buying it, not this time. Somehow, I feel we are standing again on a huge bubble with a sword(my oh my!) hanging just above our head. I don't wish to make it sound this dangerous, but I see the truth in this.
Atleast, for now, the employees are all happy and never hungry, their brains tick more than twice that of mine, somehow there is a youthful exuberance in the company. Hopefully, more tricks or treats are in store!

35 hours per week?

Call it the influence of the French Culture, but I strongly support the idea. I was in for a pleasant surprise to see my views being supported by Bertrand Russell in his book "In Praise of Idleness". He managed to justify 4 hours of work per day is all a man needs to run his living. I think that is probably a little too less. I favor a little more - 6 hours of work (is perfect). Neither too long nor too short. It is like sitting through two indian movies :). That simple.
To effect this, the systems must be automated to shut down after 6 hours of work. It would be interesting to observe if people perform more efficiently under this system. Even in a typical 8 hour day, we spend 1 hour at lunch and 1 hour taking tea breaks b/w our 3 hour meetings. Err..efficiency?
Plus, think about this: The saddest thing of the current lifestyle we lead now is that we never see the sunshine, the landscapes and the beauty of the world we live in. I mean, we should be gifted to get so much of sunshine, guys. Think of the souls that work in the Scandanavian zones. So go out and hug the sunshine.
But then again, decision: On one hand you have life which can give you experiences of different shades and tones. On the other hand you have work for which you take the same route, sit in the same office, perform the different kind of activities to solve the same kind of problems.
And like all good things, life is less in hours and you are always planning to go through it, while "real life" walks past you.

Hot Spicy Fact

I always wonder if I would ever be likeone of those chefs on tv. These people seem so confident with their ingredients, their process, touch of this, dash of that and top it all up with whipped cream..whoppa!
Cooking and me?Well, first I do a survey of what I have in hand. Then, I decide if it is going to be a dry dish or a gravy one. And then just add the ingredients I have, big bang approach. The spices that I add pretty much depend on what I "feel" does good. So, somehow in this process, one day it dawned on me that I could procedurize my show (cooking for the mere mortals) and started following "Food Network". Even today,I can remember the ingredients (vaguely), I can remember the process(not too clearly) and remember the outcome(foggily). Here is one thing that I think I seriously learnt well:
1. When it comes to chillis, the smaller they are, the hotter they are
2. Younger chills are hotter than older ones -> green chillis are hotter than whatever other colours they come in.
3. Sharp end chillis are hotter than round end ones.
Now I would atleast watch out for the shapes when I add these to my creation.

ps: Sorry Sweethearts of 54 FQ, now I know why my pieces of creativity were always saltier and hotter.

aay oo monsieur

While the last posting was about a ghost who I think might come back to haunt me, which I really don't want, this posting is about this particular interesting friend who I seem to have lost in the pages of blogging, scroll bars through emails, screens of chatting. Would you be there in trash?

Ghost?

Ever felt like everyone around you is moving forward, away, far while you are in the same job, same apartment, same clothes (where did this come from?), same thoughts, same (new?) experiences?
I was visiting Hotlanta and boy, this time, it was everything but hot. Every trip to this city has been pleasure. I never seemed to have enough time between "hi"s and "bye"s to everyone I wanted to meet.

When I travel, I watch my old friends turn new, new friends become old and friends who are in between old and new, move to one of the groups. When I meet these friends, I am always surprised at the new things they have to share with me..starting from "I am moving to Seattle, I got another exciting offer" and immediately jump into a complete description of the entire process to plain silence. While I initially started writing this blog with the idea of talking about how everyone has something new in life. Then a "new" experience born out of a trip to a friend's place to watch a movie changed the perspective of this piece.
Things hadn't been smooth between me and this particular friend of mine. After avoiding few of his calls and invitations, I decided to be mature and show up to one of the events-a movie. It is not the complete and detailed description of every event I missed that surprises me. It is the silence that follows "so..whatz up?" that does. I could actually see the chord of friendship snap and I saw it happen this time.
Which leads me to an interesting questions: When do friends stop being friends? When we find the special person in our life, do we spin cocoon around the two of us that we become totally oblivious to the happenings in the rest of the world?How can two friends, who had so much in common in the past, suddenly go out of topics to talk about?What is with this sudden "Hi Stranger" feeling that brews in the coffee pot instead of a warm cup and tons of news to exchange?So what happens to these relationships that just wither away and just hang around as memories tucked in our minds?
I wouldn't particularly consider myself a feminist when I say this: I was under the impression that women loose touch with friends after the big W and the even more bigger event-a new arrival. I wasn't comfortable loosing such good friends to a simple reason: lack of time. I am sure lot of my friends would have the same thing to comment about me. But as usual, Life had a surprise package for me; men do two!!(misspelled on purpose).
As I sit here in this situation, during the wee hours of the morning, wondering about relationships that wither, wilt, would bloom..bla bla bla: I can see two roads to choose from:

I can maturely acknowledge the fact that we have just "fallen out of friendship" and move on or I can continue to brew coffee pots with hi's and bye's but serve it to the ghost-as a friend I knew, is no longer him.

strange activities with Y! msgr

I am recently encountering strange messages from people not at all in my messenger. The messages don't say much, just ask me to check out this online game with the link provided. I mean, these people couldn't be related to me even if I wish to go through eight degrees of separation!Is everything ok Y!?

Rumors

More about companies, what is coming out with what, who is going to perform a magic trick that would let you view the photos sitting in your home computer on your cell phone through a free wireless network making sure that your IP is not listed, who would send out an email of a new voice message on any of your phones, sort email messages based on your relationship with them(huh?)..the new gossips circle around what is Google going to come out next with, what is Y! going to do to rival that and why is Microsoft silent through the whole process like a tiger crouching before a strike..Is there a bubble imminent again? As a company, I have enjoyed following Google, read and analyzed cases about it, tried betting what the next move would be..like so many others around: always impressed :). Yahoo! does better in a different dimension by providing a wide array of services through one portal. Microsoft, I wouldn't comment on much. I haven't used MSN a lot. Somehow, these rumors seem more spicy than who broke up with whom, who is pregnant or not?