Tuesday, February 21, 2006

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?

Thursday, February 16, 2006

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.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

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!

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

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.