of chennai

strange that some news articles address the new French PM Dominique de Villepin as de Villepin..it is like Amrutha from chennai being addressed as Ms.from chennai :)

what I definitely wouldn't wear for an evening!

A 'non' to Liberte?

The French's reply to the EU constitution has been very disturbing. While the ROW cries out against the French, I really wonder why the French chose to behave the way they did. I am not sure if we can shake our fist against them as the NON was about 50 odd % which means the scales could have tilted the other way too, if more OUI people had turned up for voting. The response came as a pretty big surprise to me as when I was in France, I noticed how much interest an average French shows in politics. Last summer there were elections for EU heads, and the French showed good amount of enthusiasm for the same. I always felt France and Germany played very important roles in keeping the EU together and working towards a new super power. (Of course, Germany had trouble with keeping its inflation under control in the past and holding on to the Euro as their currency). What worries me now is the performance of the Euro, although reports say that the EMU (European Monetary Union) would function independent of EU. As we wait for the Dutch to reply to the EU constitution, I just hope that they too do not turn it down. I know that the French are not great propounders of globalization. While talking to them, it felt as though they were more anti-gross US brands, rather than globalization. EU would have been a brilliant reply to the otherwise super power. The recent performance of Euro against the Dollar was a good indication that the idea of EU was finally picking up momentum.

I was hoping that the EU idea would succeed(I am not saying that it has already failed, something that I personally dread) and tickle leaders of Asian countries to think of a coalition comme ca. The recent performance of China and India in the global market is one big reason for such a thought.
more on this soon..

Ooh la la Atlanta

A city of its own rules (esp. when it comes to driving), a city of small lights, even smaller lanes and the tiniest of all sign boards for driving (I notice the speed limits on roads are always hidden behind some branch of some peach tree).. a city of peachtree street, peachtree road, west peachtree street, west peachtree road, peachtree boulevard..and all being different! What have I been doing all these days? I am living this life of a virtual home maker or should I say, I have been living a virtual life of a home maker. A truly independent life is imminent (if I can use that word here). I start work in another 2 weeks and greatly looking forward to it. My cozy room houses a parapernalia of things now. Discovering more of myself and of the people around me, noticing the delicate details in lifestyles, not many smiles like in Texas, many more "How are you doing lady?" for which I return a petrubed stare or a fake, weak smile..at times I have gotten "Don't worry, I am not going to harm you(!!!!)" in return (yeah, right, that is reassuring). Been struggling with this wireless network at home, thinking about interesting things to do, getting back with my french classes (yippeee!I have a french as my prof), planning to shake a leg (or both) with salsa, merengue, bright clothes, hot summer. I never knew I was scared of living in a big city (ok, a big small city). An innocent soul landed in Atlanta on saturday, and yours truly tried playing host. One thing for sure, I definitely managed to scare him with my driving. In my defense, it is just a week since I moved to this city, just about four weeks since I am driving and when you land from SF, Cal..you sure do find my driving, half as exciting..as you guessed it right, most of the usual things with a woman driver did sure happen, confused signs, wrong turns, hestitated signals, completely lost, driving in circles! But again, like any woman driver, we managed to get to where we had to, and sure, here I am, at home..all fine :). will be back soon..with more slice of life a l' Atlanta..

et bon..

I finally managed to catch Alliance francaise d'atlanta. Going in a few mins for a test. Really kicked abt this french class, lets see how it works.
ps:was abt to write abt life here, but sorry, this excitment is on my head now! a+

weight and wine

no..not wine, I am not taking to it. But I decided to try and live the next 15 days like the French Women. No restrictions in eating, just cut the size of a serving and have only ONE serving. This way, I wouldn't be left with a heavy heart having to cross a chocolaterie without shelling a dollar, closing my eyes and running across an icecream shop, counting from 2000 on seeing a delicious pastry(duh! thatz the calories I am counting) and other pieces of encouraging acts to stay in line with the BMI of an athlete!

new found interest

in arabic music. sounds close to hindi music with stringed instruments dominating and voices very similar to a r rahman's.