Anonymously Yours

Bye Daddy

2010-02-20T23:44:00.000-08:00

To the man who taught me how to read, who encouraged me when others seem wonder, to one who tied my shoe laces till I was 8,and scared every boy away till he gave away to a person he believed in.

To the man who I am supposed to look like,who made me laugh when I wanted to scream, who made me scream but forgive him immediately because I knew he was right,

The one who ensured he read out my horoscope as soon as it was published for the year, who forgot his anniversary but remembered my birthday.Who loved sweets being a diabetic and was fanatical about working clocks.

Who drove me to my exam, irrespective of the fact that it was a flood day in Chennai and didn’t even raise his voice, when the car got carried away and we were left without our chappals.Who diligently wiped my specs and checked if I had money even when I was earning more than he did

The one who educated his girls well beyond his means, and didnt even utter a grumpy sign everytime I asked him for 50 paise for a map or a couple of lakhs for a course

To the one who was the wind beneath my wings, lifted me high, but ensured I always had a safety net just in case I fell

To the one who said every thing will be allright, just believe in the higher power.

To the only one, who I call Daddy …

I love you. I always will. RIP

Anu

Miss you MJ

2009-06-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

I am probably the 10 millionth blogger to say this Gosh ,I feel a sense of loss that Michael Jackson passed away. I grew up in Chennai, not exactly the most happening place in the 80’s , but my small taste of “America” was MJ and the Grammy’s. My cousin was back from the US and he had brought back a VHS tape of Thriller

As a 5 year old .I remember wondering what all the fuss was about, till he switched it on. Then after the initial scream when the zombies came out, I couldn’t believe the dance moves. So started the fascination, more for my sister than for me. After that it was late nights waiting to see the Grammy’s airing at 11 PM on DD. But Thriller to me was always special when my cousins used to darken the room, and invert their eyelids, play the song and dance (though I must say that’s the reason, I need to have a light on in my room even now ).I loved the zombie dance and still do that move sometimes when I get totally zonked out at work.

I used to try the moonwalk during Family get-togethers, much to the amusement of my relatives and horror of my parents. The MJ poster on my sisters wall came down, but somehow his music was always played throughout. Right from “Off the wall” to “Invincible” every album was bought and replayed at least 20 times on the first day. I remember breaking the cover of thriller ,with MJ in a white suit on his side, and being worried if my sister would kill me :)!!. Growing up, though his music assumed a significance that went beyond a song and dance routine. “Man in the Mirror” was a study in human introspection and “Heal the World” an anthem for World peace. “Billy Jean” and “Dirty Diana” were details of mistakes made while “Beat it” and “Bad” was a push back against aggressors in life. His music spoke to his personal life from “Leave me alone” against the paparazzi to “Childhood” about his loneliness and child abuse, he said "childhood", was the most honest song of his career.

I love all his songs, but “The way you make me feel” and “Smooth Criminal” can get anyone’s foot tapping. I remember we got the video for Smooth criminal during the holidays when I was 10. I watched it 50 times atleast. The story was crazy, but the dance could make even my dad break a move.There is a part in the video, when he slants to 60 degree angle, and they said it wasn’t through special effects. Tried that out a couple of times and nearly broke my nose. “Black or White “ came out when MTv first came to India, and the morphing technology at the end of the song blew my mind. I didn’t care too much for his History or Invincible albums. But “They Don’t really care about us” Im sure influenced quite a few music directors in Bollywood.

Its sad the last 15 years of his life was intersected with taints of abuse and plastic surgery wackiness, but this is all I say, I loved his music early on. It gave me the basis of western music, through which I developed most of my other tastes. The current artists are good but MJ’s genius comes once in a century, and I don’t think I am going to see another like him in my lifetime

So Goodbye MJ, hope the next life is better for you than this one was.

This song is how I would want to remember Michael - young and full of energy ,his songs hopefully his only legacy which live forever.

Shake a leg today today ppl,

Anu

I am woman, hear me Roar

2009-06-11T15:35:00.000-07:00

I think I had it!!! I am so disappointed with some people that I would love to scream!! Four months back I had a beautiful bouncing baby. I didn’t care what sex the baby was, just that she was healthy and had every one of her little toes and fingers in the right places. But as I progress more into the world, I just hear more about how quickly I should try for a second one. Why? “well for the boy of course!!”.

I thought gone was the time when getting a girl or boy mattered. Woman nowdays are strong individuals, not dependant on their families and living life to the fullest. I can almost expect the "must have a boy" sentiment from the older set, but it’s the younger lot which scare me. I have friends (Gosh I dread calling them that now) who say “Cho chweet” when they see lil V in the same sentence as “You wish she was a boy , don’t you”. To all of them I say this “IT DOES’NT MATTER”. When the baby looks at you with the complete trust, it’s your heart and soul which are deposited in its care. As a mother do I care if they wear pants or a frock- NOPE but do I care that they remain safe and healthy through life – a big resounding YES. People always asked me when I was pregnant would you like a boy or girl. There is no harm in wanting a son or daughter based on opinion, but after you deliver the child, its pathetic to lament!!. The child whose born is not purely defined by its gender, its defined by the love it receives. That love cannot be tampered by whether its going to like playing with barbies or with rangers.

Especially in days when we have ladies like Sonia Sotomayor being elected to US supreme court , its sad that Generation Y apes its parents for a child preference. I love dressing up my daughter in frills and lace, and if I had a boy unfortunately for him, I would have done the same :D!. One of my older aunts lamented when she heard I had a girl.. “You have to give her away in 25 years when she gets married”… well if I had a boy I would have given him away at 15, when he saw his first playboy :))! Seriously how many men do you know who live with their parents forever. I knowall my girl pals who support their parents emotionally or financially.. cant say the same of the guys.. Nope, Im not saying the guys are bad, just that their priorities change mid life with family. But girls seem to cling on to the old and new and form the thread. As a grown woman, somehow I feel that though I accepted the additional responsibilities , but never leave the initial ones behind. Its funnily the way of the world, woman have always been the binding force in any family. So all those Indian and Chinese couples who genetically try to get a male heir are missing something precious, and by their act alone they don’t deserve a little girl

Take a girl child away at a time, and then the world would be a cold place with each man frozen in his own island.

I just want the younger generation to wake up . It’s hard breaking the glass ceiling with 60 year olds standing in your way, it worse when you have 30 year olds during their job. The reason I write this post is that I never want “V” to feel ashamed for a tiny nano second that she is a girl. I want her to stand proud in her feminity and grace. She has so much color and joy to spread around and that shouldn’t be tampered with the darkness of archaic views of gender preference.

So this is what I need to say to all those mothers who think baby girls are secondary

“I feel sorry for you as you don’t know what a miracle a girl baby is
I feel sorry for you as you miss her spontaneous smile when your wondering if she should have been a boy
I feel sorry for you as you will never sit with her and dream about dancing ponies and flying rainbows
I feel sorry for you as you will not understand the joy of girl talk with the one who sees the world through new eyes
I feel sorry for you as you won’t see your best friend growing in front of your eyes
I feel sorry for you as you can’t seem to let go of your inhibitions so you can soar to new heights with her
I feel sorry for you as all said and done, your the one who let herself down”

Well.. after that rant.. a little smile may be in order
(Guys.. this is just for fun ,Promise :) )

WHY WOMEN ARE SUPERIOR

We got off the Titanic first.
We can scare male bosses with mysterious gynecological disorder excuses.
When we buy a vibrator it is glamorous. When men buy a blow up doll it's pathetic.
Men's clothes make women look elfin and gorgeous. Men look like complete idiots in women's clothes.
We can be groupies. Male groupies are stalkers.
We've never lusted after a cartoon character or the central figure in a computer game.
Taxi's stop for us.
Men die earlier, so we get to cash in on the life insurance.
We don't look like a frog in a blender when dancing.
We know the Truth about whether or not size matters.
It's possible to live our whole lives without ever taking a group shower.
We don't have to fart to amuse ourselves.
We never have to wonder if his orgasm was real.
If we forget to shave, no one has to know.
We can congratulate our teammate without ever grabbing her ass.
If we have a zit, we know how to conceal it.
We never have to reach down every so often to make sure our privates are still there.
We have the ability to dress ourselves.
Our friends won't think we're weird if we ask whether there's spinach in our teeth.
We know that there are times when chocolate really can solve all of your problems.
Gay waiters don't make us uncomfortable.
We'll never regret piercing our ears.
We can fully assess a person just by looking at their shoes.
We can talk to people of the opposite sex without having to picture them naked.

Keep Smiling ppl
Anu

Forgive thats fine but forget??

2009-05-15T10:08:00.000-07:00

A colleague asked me yesterday “Suppose you meet a friend from 20 years ago, and they had hurt you by their behavior then. Would you bring it up or let it go?”

My first thought was to tell her to let it go, its been 20 years after all. But then I really got to thinking, It had been "20 years", and she was still hurting, shouldn’t she get it out of her system. We can easily accept an apology but the pain heals very slowly and sometimes never at all. I finally told my friend to bring it up and get it off her heart. If she voiced it loud, she would feel better I hoped. My sister said to me once “If I keep quiet it’s my headache, but if I talk it becomes the other persons headache”. Selfish maybe, but self preservation is the key here.

But even though I preached this to my colleague, I never practice it. I still have some unforgotten business with a couple of people. Notice I said forgotten and not forgiven. I know people use these words interchangeably. But think about it, its easy to accept an apology, logically work out why the person hurt you and forgive. But to forget is something all together different. For me memories are tinged with emotional content. And any relationship is a sum total of your memories of that person interspersed with your own feelings towards them. So if these memories take on a bitter taste it’s hard to move past that into a pleasant relationship. Its only when these bitter memories are replaced by sweeter and more pleasant ones does the relationship actually move forward. To actually get past that memory is crux of an issue. And to that end both parties have to be willing to trust each other with their emotions again.

There are few friends who I have had hard times with. But I prefer the ones who tell me what they think I am doing wrong immediately. That way the emotion that shadows that conversation is quickly put to rest. But if a person festers a feeling for a decade and then comes out it with all of a sudden, then my own perception of that person changes. This may seem contrary to the advice I gave my colleague, but the idea is this – the bitterness has to be totally replaced, and that can be done by working through the emotions of negativity.

Ironically though I am grappling with the same situation as my colleague is with a pal of mine – Should I come out and tell her that I cant get over our last disagreement or do I just learn that nothing she says is going to change what I think about her. I usually avoid people whom I feel negative about. “Out of sight is out of mind” and I stick to that principle with a vengeance. But what if out of sight cannot happen. I am falling into the same trap my colleague has. Grappling with emotions that aren’t good for her. The logical part of my brain seems to think I have not forgiven my friend. But I know I have, it’s just the memories of our unfortunate fight, keep tinting even the smallest meeting or interaction we have and I cringe everytime we speak.

My mom always told me to choose my battles and my friends wisely. She never told me what to do when the battle was with a friend. As I induce a smile in my voice every time I talk to her, I wonder am I being false or just a good friend? . I think in the end it can be worked out only if I trust that person not to hurt me again. I love this quote of Elizabeth Edwards regarding her cheating husband,which I think applies to every hurtful relationship

"Forgiveness is a gift that I have given him, but trust -thats something he has to earn himself"

Wow, after that I really need a smile :D

It got crowded in heaven, so, for one day it was decided only to accept people who had really had a bad day on the day they died. St. Peter was standing at the pearly gates and said to the first man, "Tell me about the day you died."
The man said, "Oh, it was awful. I was sure my wife was having an affair, so I came home early to catch her with him. I searched all over the apartment but couldn't find him anywhere. So I went out onto the balcony, we live on the 25th floor, and found this man hanging over the edge by his fingertips. I went inside, got a hammer, and started hitting his hands. He fell, but landed in some bushes. So, I got the refrigerator and pushed it over the balcony and it crushed him. The strain of the act gave me a heart attack, and I died."

St. Peter couldn't deny that this was a pretty bad day, and since it was a crime of passion, he let the man in.

He then asked the next man in line about the day he died. "Well, sir, it was awful," said the second man. "I was doing aerobics on the balcony of my 26th floor apartment when I twisted my ankle and slipped over the edge. I managed to grab the balcony of the apartment below, but some maniac came out and started pounding on my fingers with a hammer. Luckily I landed in some bushes. But, then the guy dropped a refrigerator on me!"

St. Peter chuckled, let him into heaven and decided he could really start to enjoy this job.

"Tell me about the day you died?", he said to the third man in line.

"OK, picture this, I'm naked, hiding inside a refrigerator ..."

Keep Smilin ppl
Anu

Spewings of a worried mind

2009-04-23T10:42:00.000-07:00

The last couple of months have been a roller coaster to say the least,. to list the events in chronology – deliver a kid, learn to change diapers/burp at 2am in the morning with eyes closed, have a non functioning gall bladder laproscopically removed, deal for a week with a nanny from hell and finally get back to the job. The job being the easiest in the whole cycle. The only way I got through was the support from friends and family. The offers for help were numerous and instantaneous. To all of them, I can only say thank you. No words can express the gratitude felt, when you see the world closing in around you, but you know you are protected by the ones who care.

So two and half months of being a mother, and funnily I have changed . Not only physically ( the 20 pounds still remain :(! ) but my attitude towards the world has evolved. Hearing of war and violence now seems to reverberate more than it did before. I mean the worst that could happen before is I could get hurt, but to think that your child will even have a shadow falling over them seems to scare the dickens out of me.

On a lighter note, my friends are rolling on the floor laughing on my renditions of carnatic classics. My lil one seems to like MSS songs and the Tamil/Telugu/Sanskrit on my lips seem to be a foreign language. Thank God, it will take another year, before V can close her ears by herself or ask me to shut up.

There were certain things which scared, worried and made me scratch my head through these months and I wanted to post individual posts, but this is summarized version.

The slayings of Kalathats happened in my neck of the woods. No sane man would kill children especially his own and also his 11 month old baby niece. I pray for Abha appu, his wife. When she wakes up ,has to register that she cant touch or hear or speak to her children anymore and the reason they aren’t around, is because their father went nuts and killed them all . I keep wondering if I have passed by Abha grocery shopping or smiled at her kids on the carts. Every family looks so normal but the stress and troubles of being alone in a foreign land can never be forgotten. Maybe if this was India, she could have asked a neighbor for help or walked out knowing her family was nearby. Being alone, with your passport taken away isolated Abha and Devan’s little act of aggressiveness slowly grew to the killing of 6 people. Domestic Violence is real and just because the person is an engineer in a great company doesn’t diminish the monster hiding underneath.

The passing of the Iranian law which makes Marital rape legal. How is this world civilized if men in the name of religion keep trampling on women’s rights? The protesters of the law were stoned and spit on by the men gathered. The laws also want woman to ask the man’s permission before they leave the house. I don’t get it! In a world of rapidly evolving technology and sciences, why should religion be used a weapon against women everywhere. Wouldn’t life be so much simpler if science and religion integrate to create a peaceful world, where everyone is equal.

The Octo mom is another sore point. For those souls who thankfully don’t get US media, this woman gave birth to octuplets . For those going cho chweet, a couple of facts. She’s single, lives with her mother, has 6 kids already ,2 of those kids are on disability and one is autistic and all her 14 kids have been conceived through fertility treatments. This woman now gets charity contributions pouring in for her kids welfare, an organization which pays $135,000 per month to nannies, paparazzi paying thousands for the kids picture and the icing on the cake, she has made enough money to buy a house for $500,000. So I’m really irritated with the Kaiser Permanente team (d0ctors) for letting her have the procedure and keep 8 eggs. It’s plain to see she’s after fame and money and using kids to get there is really sickening. In a country where people are loosing their jobs and surviving on food stamps, she is making a living out of selling her kids on news media.

Finally the soaps that are shown on Indian tamil channels etc. Every plot includes – Scheming mother in law, crying daughter in law /mother, lousy father, amazing father in law, husband and his second wife., The acting is lousy, the scheming is repetitive and the crying can fill up the deserts of Africa with water. So why are so many people addicted to these negative emotions. Why does it become personal when husband throws wife one out and brings in wife two. Don’t we have enough on our plates with recession and ignorant politicians .

So those were my my rantings for the last month, I am trying to be more regular with my posts and comments, so hopefully this is a new beginning.

The following are some quotes from the late George Carlin,which made me smile and think , hope you all do the same

Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth. Death is caused by swallowing small amounts of saliva over a long period of time.

Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

I think people should be allowed to do anything they want. We haven't tried that for a while. Maybe this time it'll work.

I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older; then it dawned on me - they're cramming for their final exam.

I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose.

I'm always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I'm listening to it.

If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little

If you can't beat them, arrange to have them beaten.

Keep Smiling ppl
Anu

The new arrival

2009-02-19T11:18:00.000-08:00

I opened my window on Feb 1st and a Stork just flew in with a baby girl and I had to accept her, as she had my name on her diaper (that’s the version I gave my niece).

But to all those out there who are above the age of 5, K and I are proud parents of a lil baby Girl “V” , born long and perfect two weeks ago. Being 9 months pregnant and later the whole new mom duties( diaper and feeding again and again and again !!:) ) , held me off blogging for sometime. So I’m slowly stealing time to write this post and hopefully will get time later to read the innumerable posts I missed from my blog pals. So bear with me, I will be around though not as frequent as before and if you see a lot of spelling mistakes, I dare you to do better with 2 hours of sleep a day : )!

Some quotes from Erma Bombeck on her kids, I used to find it funny.. but now I am starting to get worried :D!!

• I interviewed sitters for six months. It's depressing when you realize no one wants to be paid for what you’ve been doing for years for nothing.
• I was against coed dorms from the beginning. Not because it was a sensuous supermarket, but because I felt if anyone ever saw my son’s bedroom in its natural state, I’d never get the kid married off and now my worst fears have been realized.
• Babies should enjoy the freedom to vocalize whether it be in church, a public meeting place, during a movie, or after hours when the lights are out. They have not yet learned that joy and laughter have to last a lifetime and must be conserved.
• I do a lot of thinking about how I am going to merchandise my kids. Frankly, in clear conscience, I don’t see how I can let them go into marriage without slapping a sticker on their foreheads that reads: “This Person May Be Injurious to Your Mental Health.”
• I firmly believe that kids don’t want your understanding. They want your trust, your compassion, your binding love and your car keys, but you try to understand them and you’re in big trouble.
• I read one psychologist’s theory that said, “Never strike a child in anger.” When could I strike him? When he is kissing me on my birthday? When he is recuperating from measles? Do I slap the Bible out of his hand on Sunday?
• I found a letter to my sister the other day that I had forgotten to mail. It just needed a little updating to send. After “The baby is…..” I crossed out “toilet trained” and wrote in “graduating from high school this month.”
• My son never fails to amaze me. At age twenty-one, he has come up with a new way to break his neck. It's called a skateboard.

Keep Smilin ppl
Anu

Fa la la la la, la la la la

2008-12-24T22:25:00.000-08:00

Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la, la la la la.

Tis the season to be jolly, Fa la la la la, la la la la. Christmas is one of my favorite days of the year. It brings back memories of family, singing and lots and lots of food. Though part of a Hindu family, I was lucky enough to have aunts and uncles ,who had married into other religions . This gave me the chance not only to experience the joys of their festivals , but also understand and expand my views on god and beliefs. Christmas for me is always in rooted in Bangalore. We used to camp out there with my uncle and grandma for the holidays. The cold winter nights punctuated with laughter, singing and a whole lot of fruit cake, made the environment cozier than Yule log fireplace.

The festivities started with the humongous Christmas tree, my uncle put up. I always used to wish I could grow up and look like the angel on top of the tree. Not to mention the blond hair, I still envy the expression of happiness on her face. All of us had a task assigned, either be it decorating the tree, helping out with the huge Christmas lunch the next day or as simple a joining the group who were singing carol. Though I am musically challenged like my mom, just singing as a group was enough to get the spirits up. The best part of it was my grandmom, who till she passed away when she was 94 was the strongest voice of us all. She could sing in different languages and knew the origin of each song. As she knitted, and my cousins strummed the guitar, the family from every corner of the room would lend their voices to silent night, Rudolf , white Christmas and the finale with Jingle bells. Christmas morning was the best time with gifts being unwrapped and tried out. Each of us got a present, with a wink from my uncle, who was sure Santa was happy with us that year, but next year we better watch out. Of course as my cousins dressed in their Christmas best, went to church, we were left to munch on the cakes and kalkals.We were pretty much stuffed when they returned. But we had to make room for the Christmas lunch. By the end of that day it was a miracle if anyone could walk or even stand without tipping over. But on the other hand, we also learnt the gift of sharing . I call it a gift because from a young age, to understand the power of giving and sharing, made me learn a core lesson, that helped me across other situations.

As the years drew on, and we couldn’t spend every Christmas with my relatives, my mom and I used to wait till 11PM on Christmas eve, to listen to the Carols on radio FM. The announcer used to prattle off the songs for the next hour, with as much enthusiasm as a person who is waiting for the end of a long work day. But as we sang our hearts out to the carols, messed up the words and finally the tune , nothing mattered more than the joy those words gave us. The almost hushed tone of silent nights to the bright gaiety of Felice Navidad seemed to make it seem almost like we were with family. Christmas day was always filled with sunshine in Chennai and I truly wished for a White Christmas.

But after coming to the states and seeing the Christmas celebration in full flow, I must say that it made me terribly homesick. I used to sob every time “I’ll be home for Christmas came on the radio” ,considering the number of times it gets played here, it used to be once every 5 minutes. But again as the years pass, for me so far away from home, it those memories of the Christmas past, that makes it all warm inside for me. So as I take in this year with the terrible Mumbai attacks and the global recession , I take this occasion to thank every person in my life. Their unconscious sharing of their happiness and life, makes each day much better to live in. I also would like to thank each one of you who read this blog too. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and ideas with me. I hope that next year is bigger and brighter for all of us in every aspect of our life .

So before I get too sentimental and start humming “I’ll be home” again, I just wanted to say

“Merry Christmas and Happy New Year”

I would also specifically like to thank Barath for the The Freedom and independent award.. you made my day and my week :D!.

As usual, this goes out to all my blogger pals out there.

For the smile

REINDEER
According to the Alaskan Department of Fish and game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid December. Female reindeer retain their antlers 'till after they give birth in the spring.
Therefore, according to every historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, every single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen had to be a girl.
We should've known! Only women would be able to drag a fat man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night, and NOT GET LOST.

IMMEDIATE DOWNSIZING MEASURES EMPLOYED

The recent announcement that Donner and Blitzen have elected to take the early reindeer retirement package has triggered a good deal of concern about whether they will be replaced, and about other restructuring
decisions at the North Pole.

Streamlining is due to the North Pole's loss of dominance of this season's gift distribution business. Home shopping channels, the Internet, and mail order catalogs have diminished Santa's market share. He could not sit idly by and permit further erosion of the profit picture.

The reindeer downsizing was made possible through the purchase of a late model Japanese sled for the CEO's annual trip. Improved productivity from Dasher and Dancer--who will retrain at the Harvard Business
School--is anticipated. Reduction in reindeer will also lessen airborne environmental emissions for which the North Pole has received unfavorable press.

I am pleased to inform you that Rudolph's role will not be disturbed. Tradition still counts for something at the North Pole.

Keep Smiling ppl and Remember to light a lamp or candle for Peace
Anu

Snatches of Twilight

2008-12-17T18:16:00.000-08:00

The last couple of weeks have been hectic with work and a yucky cold .So though I have been reading my fav blogs , the commenting has been on the downslide. The main damper for me was some people taking undue advantage of a offer of help . I mean if someone offers to help, there has to be boundaries with what you ask them. Asking for the moon, for a person offering a stone, is kinda hard for me to relate to, but I guess that’s the subject of a separate blog. There have however , been lovely moments during these weeks, with a couple of friends and relatives announcing impending additions to their family. Last weekend was some quality time with my cousins which always lightens my mood .

But I have to say the one thing which kept me from blogging was unfortunately that a pal of mine sent across a chapter of Twilight . For the unknown, this series of books, which deals with a teen romance between a vampire and a high school girl. The vampire, tall , white and totally dead , is basically every old mills and boons hero rolled into one. But what kept me reading , aside from the die hard romantic in me, is the morbid fascination of a girl who would give up her soul for love.

For those rolling their eyes already I would suggest, that you flip to your favorite website now, because this post is definitely going to get even more soppy. I was seriously wondering if I should write this post, till I read Sundar’s post in the same vein. Though I’m sure his is more grounded in reality than this post is ever going to be. As I quickly got through the 4 books in the series (yes four !!, I didn’t get to do any work during the weekend :D) , I felt quite deflated in the end. Not that the book, didn’t perfectly fit into the ending, that each teenage girl would dream of, but it kept to the norm of total absolute love, with no hiccups other than the usual jealousy and misunderstanding. A couple of years back, I would have been completely satisfied with that. But as I look around me, and see love in all its different forms, the reality of love never comes across in these books. I mean seriously, how long can one person keep telling you how earth shatteringly beautiful you are or can you keep declaring how you will fall off a cliff for them (Though I must say for K and I those words never have come up in our 3 years of marriage and I’m pretty sure some times, he’s willing to push me off the cliff)

As the book progressed , I was actually waiting for the first fight between Bella and Edward, the two main characters. The saccharine sweetness of their love, was making me hope , that the hero will actually suck the heroines blood soon ! I almost wanted to see the part where she loves garlic and he probably choke on it if its in the lasagna. I mean each couple can relate to that, food items which one loves only to be proportionately hated by the other. In the family get together, each of the ladies was discussing how the respective better half (ahem :)! ) made them nuts. But these idiosyncrasies is what makes life interesting. Working through these differences is annoying, but it has a element of fun in it. Even the movies we see nowadays are slowly changing. First love to mature love, is an element which is coming in more pictures than ever before . But I think though, we shouldn’t completely forget the thrill that we have when we first meet the person, we are supposed to spend the rest of our lives with. The first gaze or the first smile will always be ingrained in each person’s memory, and that first thrill diminishes, but the absolute state of being comfortable which comes through time, and whole lot of disagreements, seems to last through life.

The romance books capture the thrill of the first love, but the happiness that is brought about by a prolonged relationship is much more harder to define, and definitely not a page turner. I see a couple of aunts and uncles, who have been married for more than 4 decades, the subtlety of shared thoughts and endearing quirks , seem to enhance their lives. A lot of debates have been fought about the victories of older lasting love over younger fresh love. I question too, if Romeo and Juliet lived, would she been able to put his long windedness and constantly changing mind and would he really have patience with a 13 year old’s shopping habits.. I highly doubt it!

So what is about first love that makes it the subject matter of innumerable books and movies ?What makes me pick up an old mills and boon romance where I know the guy is macho idiot and the girl a simpering nitwit or even watch for the umpteenth time the episode of friends where Ross and Rachel go on their first date. Well its simple , it makes me smile.
Smile when I remember a first glance or even when I remember what it felt like to be in a summer crush. That silent Goosebumps that creep over your skin unknown to all when you first saw each other , has to be felt and remembered. As time goes one, maybe these goosebumps dissolve into rashes , but the beauty of having gone through that first stage is that you land up with someone, who probably be handing you the balm to soothe those rashes and to me that is the best part !

Finally I want to thank Ani D for the Lovely Blogger Award.. .. it made my week :D! and I dedicate this to all who actually read this blog... each one of you are lovely in your own special way :)!

And for the smile today

Haunted from the grave
An old man and woman were married for years even though they hated each other. When they had a confrontation, screams and yelling could be heard deep into the night. A constant statement was heard by the neighbors who feared the man the most.

"When I die I will dig my way up and out of the grave to come back and haunt you for the rest of your life!"

They believed he practiced black magic and was responsible for missing cats and dogs, and strange sounds at all hours. He was feared and enjoyed the respect it garnished.

He died abruptly under strange circumstances and the funeral had a closed casket. After the burial, the wife went straight to the local bar and began to party as if there was no tomorrow.

The gaiety of her actions were becoming extreme while her neighbors approached in a group to ask these questions: Are you not afraid? Concerned? Worried? that this man who practiced black magic and stated when he died he would dig his way up and out of the grave to come back and haunt you for the rest of your life?

The wife put down her drink and said, "Let the jerk dig. I had him buried upside down."

Bedside Wife
A man was sleeping on his deathbed. The man woke up to see his wife silently praying beside him.
He said, " Martha, I have something to confess to you."
She said, "No dear, save your energy."
He said, "I must tell you so I may pass on to heaven, I cheated on you."
She said, " I know, I poisoned you."

Keep Smiling ppl

Anu

Say a little prayer

2008-11-27T11:31:00.001-08:00

Since last night, I have been watching Mumbai hurt by flames, gunshots and granades. Its been a constant 24 hours of praying and watching. I am tired with the media though , who are clamouring for details. The Indian army and special forces are doing their best. Telling the media about their immeadiate course of action is definitely not on top their priorities. And will the media please remember that the people who carried out these attacks are still watching the media too.

The brave Indian forces are doing their best to clear out the human trash, who are taking others lives. Let them do their job.Also I wish the foreign media stop comparing your situation to Indian situation. India is a country with billion people, security cant be as strict as in a place with 14 million citizens. The forces are doing their best and really dont need foreign influence right now to help. The Indian forces know the way to handle this situation a little better, so please stop asking them every 10 mins, if they need help. We appreciate it , but really let the Indian people look after their own

Finally I pray for the safety of each mumbaikar and Indian. I hope this god awful experience brings us closer together, rather than tear us apart with accusations. So dont blame a community or class of people, the real enemies are ones, who make you think of hate .This is when Indians remember the Constitution , which starts with "WE the people" .. the power is always in our hands and crazy lunatics cannot take that away.

Keep together ppl,

Anu

Crazy lil things called opinions

2008-11-14T10:33:00.000-08:00

Last couple of weeks have been a bit crazy to say the least. Health hiccups which I hate, doctor visits and their painful prognosis - more exercise.. What’s with Doctors and exercise, its like they have a internal bond with that word and have to say atleast a hundred times every visit (or is that just for me ??) . Though I have enjoyed reading my blogger pals post, work has been so hectic, that I start a comment only to come back to the same page a couple of hours later, with no clue what exactly I had to say.. Well after all this boohoo for me , the last weeks have been exciting in terms of news of the world, and the following are a couple of blogs which I would have posted, if I wasn’t so annoyed with my doctor and my boss.

Obama and McCain : Well, I cant add to praise from every quarter which has followed Obama and his amazing journey to being President elect. I know people in India who wept at his acceptance speech. Though I did watch his speech with a feeling that Change was indeed now a part of America’s future , I must say that McCain’s speech accepting his defeat to me , was a little more moving. A greatness of a man is in how he accepts defeat, and this man did it with grace and humility. Of course Barbie Palin, shedding tears next to him, still made me want to dress her in my Alaska Barbie clothes :) !. However I must express my concern, Obama is qualified, but to rest the responsibility of changing America and its economic recession on his shoulders alone is tantamount to putting the world on a person’s shoulder assuming he is Atlas. Every person is responsible for helping their little community to move up in these scary times.

Proportion 8 : For the non California voters, this was a proposition to simply overturn Gay and Lesbian marriages in the state and pronounce them as “unions”. It was passed , and now California law defines “marriage” as a union between only a man and a woman. Well this is my take on it. Though I don’t really understand the dynamics of homosexuality as a conservative Indian woman, I understand as a human, what this means to the people involved. It’s not just a word –“marriage”, they are rights associated with that term which have been taken away from those people like rights of automatic adoption of their partners child, rights to property and so on. The worst part is I feel is the right for two people in love to share their commitment with the world. If people are so against sexual preferences, then they should start withholding the marriage rights of child abusers and sexual predators. If those guys can do a stint in jail and come out and get married. Why cant humans who are leading fully productive lives, marry without us breathing down their necks.

Bailout story: Yes, the US government decided to bail out messed up Wall street and the banks with our money. I say our, because I’m going to be paying that tax,with the other Americans/immigrants/Visa holders who live in the US, to ensure that the mess that Greed mongers had started is actually wiped clean. I’ve seen my investments crash to quarter of their value, close colleagues lose their jobs and thousands of people face foreclosures, but now the new twist is the people who want the part of the bailout money. So we have the auto industry asking for a portion now, which will be given. My theory is that if you make cars, which actually cross the 24 Miles per gallon mark , it would make sense that people will buy it and you wouldn’t need the bailout. Now we have cities who are asking for the money to help their dwindling pension funds. I don’t mind if this money is used to bring back America from the depression its facing, because that in turn helps the other dependant markets, but if this money is just used to rescue powerful factions which are failing, without helping the market as a whole, what’s the point?.

India’s economic situation : Well the India team was buoyant with the GDP growth 9% last year. But lets be real , with recession hitting America, its not far behind in India, with GDP projected this year at 6%. But I wonder if people back home understand the significance. I have friends who call me to crib about how America has crashed the global market. But hasn’t greed flowed all the way to India. People jumping jobs every 6 months for higher salaries, real estate which sold at Rs. 18 lakh , 3years back, now selling at Rs.30 lakh . Everyone knows the market is inflated, but no one really thought about pulling in Rs.15000 on a new cell phone. I’m not blaming my friends, but we forgot I think in the whole rush of money, we forgot the basic conservative principles we were brought up with. We accepted the American philosophy of buying a home first and paying later ,not really thinking if the income level will be the same later. Well Americans have a bailout plan, if this depression hits India and the other dependant economies (which I pray it doesn’t) are they prepared? I don’t know, but I hope the Indian Parliament instead of throwing chairs and insults at each other, come up with a plan which actually doesn’t involve reservation or class, but basic common sense

"India is my country, all Indians are my brothers and sisters..." :Well that’s what I said for 12 years of my life, as a pledge in school . So what changed ? What makes Raj Thackeray throw out non Maharastrians out of the state and what makes people support it?. I don’t get it!!!. What makes a man from Bihar ,take a gun ,threaten people and be shot dead , and finally what makes a bunch of men on a train kick and thrash a man to death ?? . I can answer all those except the first one . “Fear” – fear that that young man will lose any employment opportunity ,which will help his family back in Bihar, Fear that the helpless man, from a neighboring state, will take their jobs, which they are already struggling to hold on to. Mr. Thackeray, you can utilize this fear now for your political shenanigans but I wonder when you take your dying breath, what fears you will face when you meet your maker.

Happy Birthday Mr. Nehru: Today is Children’s day (Birthday of Jawaharlal Nehru) . I loved this day in school and somehow it stuck to me through life. It was a day where children were celebrated , not because they were special or good at studies, but because they were children . I remember in school, we used to get red roses, to pin to our badges . Well not everybody, because roses were expensive, but those of us involved in setting up the whole cultural event did get those roses :) ! But, it felt good to have a day dedicated to us and better, when the nice teachers, let us get free hours. So today, the kid in me is happy, Im celebrating her and it feels good! I wish that today across the world, every child enjoys the safe haven of a home , the enjoyment of a meal and the excitement of education. How long due we have to wait for that to happen, in all this chaos, I wonder?

Bag Theory: And this particular part is for all my friends and K who think I carry the world in my bag. A college student, who was being mugged, was saved from a gunshot, when the bullet went into her bag and didn’t come out,because it was stuck in all the stuff in her bag . Well, as this finally proves my point, that big handbags are life saving, in more than one way :D!

And now after that ranting post, a few quotes which have to make you smile

When Insults had class

An exchange between John Wilkes and the Earl of Sandwich (both English
Parliamentarians of the 18th century):

–The Earl: "Egad, sir, I do not know whether you will die at the gallows or
of the pox."

–Wilkes: "That will depend, my Lord, on whether I embrace your principles
or your women." (thanks to Nick for the correction!)

"He had delusions of adequacy." - Walter Kerr

"He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." -
Winston Churchill

"Thank you for sending me a copy of your book; I'll waste no time reading
it." - Moses Hadas

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of
it." - Mark Twain

"He has no enemies, but is intensely disliked by his friends." - Oscar
Wilde

"I am enclosing two tickets to the first night of my new play; bring a
friend…. if you have one." - George Bernard Shaw to Winston Churchill

"Cannot possibly attend first night, will attend second… if there is one."
- Winston Churchill, in response.

"I feel so miserable without you; it's almost like having you here." -
Stephen Bishop

"He is a self-made man and worships his creator." - John Bright

Keep Smilin ppl
Anu

A workaholics caution on spontaneous travel

2008-10-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

Considering my birthday just went past, K and I decided to be adventurous and take a quick trip up the Pacific coast line, away from the laptops . Spontaneous and crazy , we thought but it had to turn out like a bad road trip movie. Listed below is the top 10 things that can and will go wrong, if two workaholics take an unplanned trip

10. The age old cell phone that K has preserved conks out the day before the trip. So considering the “emergencies” that might come up, we spend 4 hours calling around for a used cell phone that we can use. Of course K in all this is still waiting to buy the miracle cell phone which will give him the world in a box (and no! its not the I-phone), so it had to be used and not in contract .

9.We reach the inn 3 hours later and during sunset, only to find there is no coverage of any kind on any phone. So K spent the next half an hour walking around the Inn, over hedges and climbing up trees, trying to get a whimper of electronic spark.

8. The only entertainment around the place where we went is hiking , trails and bird watching. None of these which K and I could do after 5.30 pm where it was dark enough to be good for Halloween scare night and we had to return early the next day for the Sunday housework that we usually do

7.The place where we stayed was right out of Robert Frosts poems. Woods were dark and deep with fallow deer scaring the dickens out of K but standing fine in the middle of the road and top it all off, birds screeching suddenly. It was beautiful and scary all rolled into one, but having skeletons at road corners (due to Halloween) kind of made it all the more ghoulish . K and I haven’t walked through a stretch that fast since our wedding day when they yelled that food was getting over and the kitchen was closed.

6. Only one restaurant in 20 mile radius and the vegetarian option restricted to a cheese filled veggie sandwich and French fries. Considering I can't eat cheese it was back to curd rice for me. When your feeling the slight cold coming on and run the cold water on home made curd rice to make the rice loosen up, its at this time that I think back fondly and almost drooling about my moms tomato rasam (soup) with potato fry.

5.We turned on the wood burning stove and thought it was really pretty , till the sweating started. The place turned into a pizza oven in about an hour and we had to open the windows to get a little breeze in. Which is something we should have remembered to close before dozing off at 9pm. We woke up frozen to death at 11 pm and then turned on the stove again. So the alternate process of heating and cooling was followed the whole night, with constant things hitting the tin roof, just to wake us up when we were finally not sweating or shivering.

4.When we finally did get out the next day to go sightseeing, only to discover the fog had rolled in , so the wildlife and the light house we wanted to visit where totally out. Again “Check weather” part of the trip wasn’t checked – “DUH”

3.We decided to drive to high point for what constituted as a Bird Observatory. While climbing in our cozy car up the 10 mile mountain track we saw 2 woman jogging up the track. Reaching the observatory, which was also covered with fog, we noticed a few surfers making their way to cold stormy waters. One of the surfers, looking at our head to foot covered look asked us if he could help, sure we were lost :D ! Looking at him all hale and healthy, we mutely shook our heads saying we were there for photos. We tried following him down, only to turn back halfway. Groaning with the stress of the cold air and slightly uphill walk, we reached our car, only to have the lady joggers passed us full of smiles and good wishes. We looked like we had run the 10 miles instead of them.

2. Driving down, there was a beautiful lagoon filled with a million birds. Slight problem though, the only pictures we could take was by walking through marsh lands. Well considering I was in my summer crocs, I had to wade through funny slushy water to get to part where I could take pics. The joy was kinda destroyed by a sudden lick to my toe. Knowing that the lick was animal, I had to run back through the water to the car and carried enough mud to make a small sandcastle into the front seat of our week old car.

1. K and I forgot one major detail. We have become creatures of habit. We need everything planned and detailed. So even though I’m sure every one of those above details would not have been such a problem if we were not constantly dependant on outside help. Everything from the GPS to the net , which tells us constantly where to go , what to see and how to do stuff, was for once not relied upon . So though we were not lost, the urge to turn on the GPS for the closest starbucks had to be curtailed all the time.

I discovered a few things during this trip, one there was a Vedanta retreat in the middle of nowhere ,second its fun to sometimes not plan everything in life and third – I am so out of shape that’s its sad. The daily work has consumed not only our social activities but a lot of our healthy life as well.If we rewired our entire thinking and of course told our work and bosses to take a hike, this would have been a lovely trip. It still was, because it reminded us that nature is still the most powerful force on earth and more importantly nothing feels as good as home in the end :)!

For the smile

A man was driving along the highway, and saw a rabbit hopping across the middle of the road. He swerved to avoid hitting the rabbit, but unfortunately the rabbit jumped in front of the car and was hit. The driver, being a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulled over to the side of the road and got out to see what had become of the rabbit. Much to his dismay, the rabbit was dead. The driver felt so awful he began to cry.

A woman driving down the highway saw the man crying on the side of the road and pulled over. She stepped out of her car and asked the man what was wrong."I feel terrible," he explained. "I accidently hit this rabbit and killed it."The woman told the man not to worry. She knew what to do. She went to her car trunk and pulled out a spray can. She walked over to the limp, dead rabbit, and sprayed the contents of the can onto the rabbit. Miraculously, the rabbit came to life, jumped up, waved its paw at the two humans and hopped down the road. 50 feet away the rabbit stopped, turned around, waved at the two again, hopped down the road another 50 feet, turned, waved, and hopped another 50 feet. The man was astonished. He couldn't figure out what substance could be in the woman's spray can! He ran over to the woman and demanded, " What was in your spray can? What did you spray onto that rabbit?"

The woman turned the can around so that the man could read the label. It said:"'Hare Spray' Restores Life to Dead Hare. Adds Permanent Wave."

Keep smiling ppl
Anu

With a lil help from aunts , uncles and people I don’t really know…..

2008-10-15T11:10:00.000-07:00

I am tired, just dog tired. Last couple of weeks K and I have been arranging a function which happened over this weekend. It thankfully went on well, with the help of friends and family and basically I was kicked that I survived with 2 hours sleep and didn’t freeze in cold October air (Don’t ask !!!). The last month was exasperating and exhilarating in equal measure.

When I was younger, I used to love family functions, this was the time to dress up and eat well. Of course mom and aunts would be running around, and we girls would twirl around in our pretty silk pavadai’s (skirts) , waiting for the time we could wear the Sarees and heavy jewelry reserved for special occasions. The running around, was primarily to feel the anklets and bangles jangling , against the rustle of silk. Growing up, I started avoiding the functions because it meant helping mom which essentially added up to cutting bucket loads of vegetables and a whole lot of preparatory cooking work. It also meant the older aunts who looked over you, judging when you’ll enter the marriage market and subtle hints on how I should stop gorging on the vadai’s (fried patties) to do so. (Well aunty, I didn’t stop and K still married me – So there :D ) !!. When I turned 25 these functions became concentration of excruciating pain. Every time someone blessed you, it was to find a “Good boy” quickly ( I mean how many of us girls are willingly searching for bad boys ???) . So through this subconscious blessing, you do agree to marry someone you have known for a month consciously thinking that the third degree will stop, but that’s where you are fooled. The next one is of course ( all married woman say this with me) “When’s the baby coming – your getting older”. Well I know , I’m getting older, but a constant reminder about my ticking biological clock, which might just explode because of the strain of my age is kind of worrying :) ! But thinking about it , its this pressure, that makes people go ahead and how do I put this delicately – reproduce. I mean in the current scenario, no one wants to change their life. I love my little quirks that are selfishly mine. I hate early mornings and any type of physical activity .I love curling up with a book anytime, when I don’t have to work. Cleaning is not my forte and cooking for two is my only specialty. With the rising prices, you really don’t want to spend a small fortune on diapers which last a sum total of 3 minutes. So I wonder, if these aunts , uncles and totally unknown persons who are just plain inquisitive were created for people like me. The ones who are perfectly happy to stay in one place through their lives refusing to move or change. If it wasn’t for these folks, I would probably be in my mother’s kitchen chewing on a vadai and reading a old Agatha Christy. Actually thinking about it, that sounds good now (Sigh!)

But its people also known as society which actually bring about improvements or changes in our lives. We might hate them and they may be the most annoying people around, who really just need a life. But to take the next step , these annoying infuriating people actually make you consider options that you probably may not. For all the single woman out there, I am not saying you should follow their every direction, but sometimes just looking at the direction they are pointing at, will maybe take you to a place, that you always wanted but never knew how to get there. It not only marriage or spouse related. I remember when I was younger, one of these busy bodies told my mother, that she should get me married when I was 18 , because there was no way I would pass my high school with good enough marks for college. Well to blow my own horn (as no one else will :D) I scored a perfect 100 in my main subject, just to prove her wrong. So Mrs.R , wherever you are , thank you !

This post is actually inspired by my 3 year wedding anniversary and better still my birthday next week (K’s joy is that they are on the same day, so all he has to remember is one date in a full year and my promise is that if he doesn’t, it gives me reason for justifiable homicide !) . With every birthday I analyze my year and figure out all the places where I could have done better. At the end of it I am so tired counting my mistakes, that I just fall asleep thankful I lived another year :D !! But this year , I call my “grown up year”. Why, because every person I met or spoke to , taught me something - not really life saving, but just something which I need to wrap my mind around. I learnt how people can be racist or plain rude, with no clue that are being so, people hold on to words spoken in jest so close that words are mightier than the sword and most importantly, you cant always win and sometimes its better not to. Somehow this year I keep going back to my childhood (No I’m not old enough to start reminiscing with “Back in good old days”!!). And now after this function, I feel that I am standing in my mothers slippers, during the days of the function. Where your so busy trying to just ensure that everything is going just right and sky doesnt fall on your head, you turn around to see little girls in pretty skirts and boys in their best dressed clothes running around, you remember what these occasions mean. Not only a time to bring friends and family together, but to see the next generation running around and understand what those aunts, uncles and other unknown individuals were actually talking about.

Also before I end, I wanted to do a shout out to my sis, whose birthday is a day ahead of mine. She is 7 years older than me and a thousand decades more wiser. So “Happy Birthday P, I’m sure this year every one of your positive thoughts will materialize into actuality ”.

For the smile…

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes.......
After teaching the children about Salvation, the Teacher asked her Sunday School Class: "If I sold my house and my car, had a big garage sale and gave all my money to the Church, would that get me into Heaven?"

"NO!" the children all answered. "If I cleaned the Church every day, mowed the yard, and kept
Everything neat and tidy, would that get me into Heaven?"

Again, the answer was, "NO!" "Well, then, if I was kind to animals and gave candy to all the children, and loved my husband, would that get me into Heaven?" The Teacher asked them again.

Again, they all answered, "NO!" "Well," The Teacher replied, "then how can I get into Heaven?" A five-year-old boy shouted out, "YOU GOTTA BE DEAD!"

Keep Smiling ppl,
Anu

The I in Team

2008-09-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

Considering my last post generated enough heated comments , I thought I might just take on another issue by the horns..or atleast by its tail.
My team is remote, spread across different states in the US and in some cases geographies. So this kind of working has its perks (People don’t notice if your making faces over the phone) and its lows (You may be really good friends with someone, but you have no clue what they look like!). I have worked with fully stationed teams also, I miss the camaraderie that we share over coffee and the team lunch at the end of a project (that one I really really miss, including the time in office after that where all you do is wait for the sleep and digestion to take over :) ! ).

I have to say that working in a remote team has taught me a lot about working and dealing with people. First impressions are not formed on looks or mannerisms but on speech and points put across. Of there are times, when these first impressions are way off base because a person can be silent on the first call, but start warming up after that or they can be really confident , but you realize later that after a few calls, they are stuck with one point alone and don’t have too much to contribute.
I used to be the one who used to sleep through Organizational behavior classes in college, but I have to say the cramming that I did the day of the exam now comes back to haunt me. The real team training I had was in college. It’s really easy to talk about team spirit, but to have 8 different individuals trying to merge ideas into a 6 minute presentation is a whole different ball game. But that’s the essence of team to me. Pushing a point which you think will help, but also ready to let go sometimes of a brainwave, which seems important to you but totally ignored by the rest of the team. But there are some team players who do tick me off because they forget that the point of doing work together is to get to a destination or final product, not completion of their task alone. Listing these team gems in the descending order that they annoy me!

The Garrulous speakers: For a 30 minute meeting, they spend the first 22 minutes, describing what they think the problem is and they might want to do about it. Of course by the time I wake up when they finish, we have to schedule another meeting because nothing has been sorted out. Of course the worse ones are those who have spent considerable time in the organization, who would like to start every meeting from the day they joined. I like history but talking about life in 1962 is not really what I want to listen to at lunchtime on Monday afternoon.

Defensive ones: “I didn’t do /think/ say or even imagine that”. You can’t have a discussion or even a conversation, when a team member is constantly defending their actions or blaming others. Sometimes the easiest thing to do is say “I made a mistake, let us discuss what we can do to rectify it”. It’s that simple. I have a colleague, to whom we are afraid to send a mail to. He acts if each one is a personal attack against him or his person.

Emotional ones: These are the team players who think every word you say is a hidden insult against their person. I had just joined a new project, and was working with someone who had been on that assignment a few decades. I noticed her tone was becoming more remote and one day she had a breakdown on the phone, yelling at me. Finally when she calmed down, and apologized, I asked her what I had said or done to make her loose her cool. Her answer was that I mentioned “I don’t understand” a few times and that to her was insulting!!!!! Now how did that translate to me berating her, believe me I don’t know, but those words set her off. In the end, I finally figured out that she disliked me taking the place of the former colleague and as I didn’t treat her with the same similarity she felt insulted. An office atmosphere is precisely the place, where personal feelings have to set aside. If you have a problem with a person’s attitude or speech, talk to them. This is where interactions cannot be based on liking or disliking of personality but on getting work done.

Hitler’s relative: They are the self appointed and unwanted leaders of tasks or projects, who constantly look over your shoulder. We have the official managers, who do the same tasks but I really dislike the ones who want to be involved in everything each member of the team does. They want to know what each team member is doing at every point in time, be involved in every meeting and finally cause confusion when it comes down to basic responsibility. We had one person on our team who drove the rest of nuts doing just that. Till one of my colleagues, just spoke to her on how the rest of rest of us felt about her being team players. She has quietened down since .

Credit Snatchers and Name droppers: These ones like telling the big bosses, they were part of the core team who came up with the solution. Of course their contribution would have a forwarding note to you. Usually they also love dropping names. Their sentences usually start with “Well when I worked with this VP or director”. But the worst part is when they go directly to the top managers, without speaking to the team or worse snitching about the team. Usually any team has its ups and downs, but the ones who spread the stories I think are the most despicable. You really can’t change these people because they thrive on getting ahead at the cost of the team as a whole.

Also if something is bothering you, Communicate. With the strict guidelines of manner of communication blurring, it’s easier to talk to the person who you are working with day in and out. I believe that there is an I in team. But the point of the I is to relate to the others, so as to grow, learn and contribute. Each interaction is an experience, which may be good, bad or ugly. But to turn into something that you can grow on, that’s where the “I” plays a major role.

And finally a short story that I grew up with and a joke, hope this makes you smile and think

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

QUOTES FROM EMPLOYEE APPRAISAL REPORTS
1.Since my last report, he has reached rock bottom and has started to dig.
2.His men would follow him anywhere, but only out of morbid curiosity.
3.I would not allow this associate to breed.
4.Works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap.
5.When she opens her mouth, it seems that this is only to change whichever foot was previously in there.
6.He would be out of his depth in a puddle.
7.This young lady has delusions of adequacy.
8.She sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them.
9.This associate should go far - and the sooner he starts the better.
10.This associate is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.

Keep Smiling ppl
Anu

P's and Q's

2008-09-15T16:21:00.000-07:00

One of my earliest memories, is of my mom straightening out my dress and telling me to mind my “P’s and Q’s”, as company was coming. Though I had no clue what those stood for , I knew she was asking me to mind my manners and not put my extremely large foot in my larger mouth.

It meant that I have to say thank you even though the guest gave me a really old packet of biscuits and not interrupt people while they were talking. It also essentially meant that if I treated that person well, they would treat me well in return. Growing up I embarrassed my parents enough by saying something at the most inappropriate moment and I continue to embarrass K still , but one thing which stuck me to me was to always say my Please(P’s) or Thank you (Q’s) and to directly look at a person when they are speaking to you. Well, I don’t find that nowadays !!. ...I probably sound like an old lady with a cane, who most recent memory was Gandhi walking on the Dandi March :) !. But I really cherish , the now old age custom of P’s and Q’s. And no, I’m not going to rant over the kids nowadays. I see parents trying to get them to follow the manners and culture, its more a rant now against the adults I see.

Through my job I move with people across geographies. We may not really understand each others accents, but each of those team members, always are polite both in their mails and in their talk. But then I interact with the Indian sub-continent, and the new rush of talent fresh out of higher institutes of learning. Even though they are very good at their job, they assume that conversations can be conducted like an personal email. There are never any P’s or Q’s attached to these mails. I don’t expect them to send me thank you notes when I am doing my job, but when they request additional details, that’s when I would like to see some manners come into play. I know that the office and the means of communication that we use (email, sms) give rise to a more informal subculture. The emails that I get seem to be more an order to personal assistant than a request for information . I probably dont know them from Adam, so I really dont want them to ask me really personal questions about my visa status or if I'm married. This laissez faire attitude is not restricted to their official selves.

Last time in India, I was at dinner with a couple of family friends. Their daughter who had just joined a major IT company, got a call at the beginning of dinner, and continued talking through dinner, and walked into her room after dinner to continue the call, all the time ignoring the guests.. She conducted the call in the dining hall, so we lost half an hour of companionship sitting in silence, listen to her friend and her crib about their project manager . All her parents could do was mutely shrug their shoulders with an apology. My mom would have ensured, that my call was cut the very second it was received, considering we were at the dinner table.

Even when a gift is given or a compliment paid, the reaction now is to shrug it off or act as if it doesn’t matter. Its “cool” to be indifferent. That may work if your 15 and people shrug it off as an adolescent problem, but not when a person is leading a team.
I know that by being informal , we are trying to break down some barriers in communications and geography.
But that doesn’t mean that we forget that manners were integrated into the culture for a reason. That respect is shown and received is through words and acts.

When I went to lunch with a couple of friends, I thanked the waiter when he cleared the dishes. My pals looked at me if I had lost it. “He’s doing his job, why are you thanking him, we are going to tip him anyway” was the remark made. It may be the persons job, but maybe it makes it a little bit easier on the waiter, if you don’t act as if you are the “Queen of Sheeba”. But what’s worse is now people think it’s snobbish if someone is nice.
When I was in Chennai buying a few trinkets my last trip, I over heard the sales girls making fun of the American in front of me because she said thank you when they wrapped her purchase. They commented that only white people say thank you for everything. They didn’t get the fact, that the lady ahead was actually thanking them for their services, which I highly doubt their boss did at the end of the day.

Funnily enough in a land where “Athithi Devo Bhava” –(Guest is equivalent to god) , we keep saying that we are leaning towards the western civilization. But culture irrespective of the east or west part of it, remains the same. Be nice to the people around you, informality does not mean that we forget basic human courtesy. I know a lot of people shrug and say “Today’s generation”, but to me manners is a habit which is timeless. Irrespective of the age or the generation you belong to, its never too late to start minding your P’s and Q’s.

Whoever, has read my tirade, deserves their jokes, so here goes

A. One Christmas,mom decreed that she was no longer going to remind her children of their thank you note duties. As a result, their grandmother never received acknowledgments of the generous checks she had given.
The next year things were different, however.
"The children came over in person to thank me," the grandparent told a friend triumphantly.
"How wonderful!" the friend exclaimed. "What do you think caused the change in behavior?"
"Oh, that's easy," the grandmother replied. "This year I didn't sign the checks."

B. Ten Things To Say About A Gift You Don't Like
10. Hey! There's a gift!
9. Well, well, well ...
8. Boy, if I had not recently shot up 4 sizes that would've fit.
7. This is perfect for wearing around the basement.
6. Gosh. I hope this never catches fire! It is fire season though. There are lots of unexplained fires.
5. If the dog buries it, I'll be furious!
4. I love it -- but I fear the jealousy it will inspire.
3. Sadly, tomorrow I enter the Federal Witness Protection Program.
2. To think -- I got this the year I vowed to give all my gifts to charity.
And the Number One Thing to say about a gift you don't like
1. "I really don't deserve this."

Keep Smiling ppl,
Anu

Me,Myself and Tagged

2008-09-03T12:56:00.000-07:00

Well talk about Murphy’s law. "If anything can go wrong, it will!"
The last week started off ominously with a trip to emergency as my headache of 4 days continued to dog me, followed by laptop crashing on a Sunday night, just before I had to send out reports on a Monday morning. So I spent the next 24 hours recreating reports for the postponed meetings, and it ended with K & I being locked out of the house, because both of us in a haze of colds left our keys behind.

But the above week is nothing compared with what the folks of New Orleans have gone through. Three years after Katrina thrashed their city to pieces, they started rebuilding their homes only to find storm Gustav threatening to do the whole thing again. What shocked me into silence was the courage of the city folk of New Orleans, to leave behind their homes to board buses and planes, with no idea where they are going takes not only courage but a sense of utter belief,that if they did it once they can do it again. As a CNN anchor spoke to New Orleans who were driving out, leaving behind their house, I didn’t see one person break down or even waver. The mayor speaking about a forced evacuation, had me holding my breath. Gustav however turned into a smaller storm and not too many people were affected by the storm and its water level. So God is watching out after all!

This week seemed to be the silver lining around my cloud. I got an award from Keshi (Thank you sweetness).

And I was double tagged this week
Tag 1 Days of my life : courtesy Priya
Two questions in each category answer them and then tag your friends from the blog-o-sphere Leave a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged and you are all set.

Yesterday

-Your oldest memory?

-What were you doing 10 years ago?

Today

-Your first thought today morning

-If you built a time capsule today what would it contain?

Tomorrow

-This year

-What do you see yourself doing 14 years from now?

Oldest memory:
When I was 4, my parents had kinda dozed off, and I really wanted to watch Di- Di( a comedy show ,translated from German) on TV. So I got up and put the switch into the socket, the shock sent me spiraling to the sofa. Even now I can feel the zing on my fingertips (but funnily enough that didn’t put me off from watching tv all night long, after the hullaballoo had died down )

10 years ago:
I was in an internship, so it was 18 hour days, but the evenings were fun when the gang got together for 12 am ice-cream, in the only shop open in Chennai during that time.So if you remember a whole lot of noise in Egmore, Chennai at midnight , it was probably me.

First thought in the morning
I hate CR for keeping a meeting at 8am in the morning.. grrr

If you built a time capsule today what would it contain:
Books ,my grandma’s crochet and moms recipes . Though are the stuff for me that last through time.

This year…
Shopping during Thanksgiving.. this year is going to be extra special for my shopping list and really bad for K’s wallet.

14 years from now
Back home in Chennai, hopefully teaching and writing a book… But definitely blogging :) !

Second tag Wonderful Quotes: courtesy SMM

This was the really really hard one. I love books, the feel , the scent and mostly the characters. A book is a land that I live in for the time I’m reading it, so its really hard for me to select my favorite quotes and the worst part is most of my favorite books are back home. So these are the rules
Wonderful Quotes" tag. “The rules are
a) jot down 5 of your favourite quotes from the various books read
b) Tag 5 people at the end. If you don't have the books, then google them.

So now the hard part of my favorite 5 quotes

1.“When humor goes, there goes civilization. –Erma bombeck”
I bought “I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression” for my sister after her first daughter was born, but spent my supposed hours babysitting , reading and laughing . I think Erma epitomizes what I would like to be in an author – humor combined with human emotion is hard to write, but ensures that everyone reads with a smile and a thought.

2.” This above all — to thine ownself be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.”- Polonius, Act I, scene iii – Hamlet
My mom being an literature major, used to give us abridged versions of Shakespeare plays from Scary (Macbeth) to Romantic (Midsummer Nights Dream). But I guess I fell in love with Hamlet at the age of 5 , and every quote from that play has a deeper significance now as an adult. Though as a child, I used to picture my self as the perfect Ophelia who lost her mind over her love , now I know Ophelia would have dumped him for a different prince given half the chance

3. "It is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem. For instance, on the planet Earth, Man had always assumed that he was the most intelligent species occupying the planet, instead of the *third* most intelligent. The second most intelligent were of course dolphins who had long known of the impending destruction of earth” – Hitchhikers Guide to the galaxy
I’m not into Science fiction, but a pal sent me the eBook and asked me read it, which I did during my first month on the job. This book had me laughing so much, that I had to convince my boss that I had tourette syndrome and did not really find the training manuals which I was supposed to be reading hysterical :D !. I still wonder, what my colleagues thought of me that first month, when they were doing their 16 hour days!

4. "I'll thcream and thcream 'till I'm thick — I can, you know"- Violet Elizabeth Bott -William series
This was a series of children’s books which I loved. Enid blyton had already captured me with her English countryside and scones. This series of books took it to a higher level. This quote in particular is dear to me, as it was what I tried a couple of times on my family. From being cute the first two times it became annoying the third time, and my sister threatening to throw me out of the train the fourth. But its still ranks high when I am not going to get my way :D !

5. “Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted” – Randy Pausch – The Last Lecture
Randy’s lecture for me was more a direct conversation. It addressed a lot of spots in my life which I had previously seen as unfair . This book is filled with quotes I love and use in my life. It changed my perspective and the way I looked at people around me.

I have to end with another quote of Randy’s which I think rings true for every situation
“Find the best in everybody. Just keep waiting no matter how long it takes. No one is all evil. Everybody has a good side, just keep waiting, it will come out”

So for the tag - I choose Ani D, Uma, MIP, Vignesh, Priya (Quotes)/ SMM (Days)
Have fun people

Tthe joke for the gals (guys don’t hate on me :D) !

Three men were hiking through a forest when they came upon a large raging, violent river. Needing to get to the other side, the first man prayed: 'God, please give me the strength to cross the river.'

Poof! . God gave him big arms and strong legs and he was able to swim
Across in about 2 hours, having almost drowned twi ce.

After witnessing that, the second man prayed: 'God, please give me strength and the tools to cross the river'

Poof! ... God gave him a rowboat and strong arms and strong legs and he was able to row across in about an hour after almost capsizing once.

Seeing what happened to the first two men, the third man prayed: 'God, please give me the strength, the tools and the intelligence to cross the river'

Poof! ... He was turned in to a woman. She checked the map,
Hiked one hundred yards up stream and walked across the bridge.

Keep Smilin
Anu

Citius Altius Fortius - Faster, Higher, Stronger

2008-08-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

I’m not a sports person. My idea of a game involves cards and me winning a lot of money. So being brought up in an Indian family, where people including my grandmother yelled at Kapil Dev for a bad delivery, had an effect on me. I tried to lean away from any physical activity which was not part of my daily routine as much as possible. I wasn’t even deterred when my mother brought out her Table Tennis champion’s cup, or my dad his memories of heading the cricket team. I didn’t even cringe when my games teacher shook her head sadly, when I couldn’t even pick up the shot put, let alone throw it a couple of hundred meters, like my sister could. So it was a family joke, when I became captain of a house team in school and had to attend the early morning tryouts for basket ball or volleyball. Considering my height, I just stood around in the basket ball court waiting near the basket, till someone handed me the ball. Then I just reached up and threw it in. However my team mates had to position me on their side, or I might just have thrown in the other teams basket with no clue that I was in the wrong placement. When I met K, a cricket enthusiast who represented school and college and has a cupboard full of tournament cups and India blazers, my only question was if I could own the remote of the house, so ESPN will be played to the minimal. I think his agreement, was one of the reasons, I agreed to the marriage: D !
Whenever there was any kind of sports on TV, I would be the one with my nose buried in the latest novel or magazine. Of course, when computers and college entered my life, it became simpler to just ignore that part of life. But there has always been a weakness for one sport, that I harbor secretly -“Gymnastics”. My memories run back to the day, when USSR ruled the events. Long limbed graceful ladies, who could a somersault and look like a dainty princess doing it. The men on the rings, with their bulging muscles pretty much made up my picture of prince charming. Be it early morning or late nights, I would sit in front of the TV, gazing at the floor gymnast blending ballet and acrobatics to give us an awe inspiring performance. I have to confess, that I did try out for the gymnastics at the school gym. This was after I saw the Nadia Comaneci Story on TV , on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Her perfect 10 against all odds, made me think that I could do it too and I spent the rest of the afternoon, trying to stand upside down on my bed , and must say thats a bad idea after sunday lunch . But one look at the warm up process (running around the gym for 5 minutes) tired me out. That’s when I realized that sports required total dedication – heart, mind and soul. It did make me respect my parents more and I became cordial to my sister (for a week, till she told my mother I was reading novels hidden behind my science text ! ).
So coming back to the present, I have been stuck to the television the last week, looking for every event involved in gymnastics finals. China and USA dominating every event, I have however been cheering for the countries which made up the former USSR. May be it’s a pull back to my teenage days or a chance to remember my fantasy prince charming, whatever the reason, I was saddened by their dismal performance. China on the other hand, were scary to watch. Huang Yubin, the China Men’s head coach looked like Hitler watching his troops off for battle. If I had a coach like that, I’m sure I would shoot myself rather than meet him after loosing the event. So its not surprising, that the Chinese gymnasts had a gleam of steel in their eyes , when they attempted each event. Yang Wei, the all round men’s gold medalist looked more like one of warriors from the Great Wall than an athlete. He is someone, who I'm sure even Arnold Swarchenegger wouldn’t say “I’ll be back” to. The US Girls also showed same the steely resolve. Nastia Liukin , the womans overall Gold medalist from the US, could probably slay dragons with her gaze and her legs.But I’m sure her dad, the older Olympian would be there to give her tips to where the dragon had a week spot. I must say though Shawn Johnson, the silver medalist gave me hope. A stocky 16 year old, looked not like a typical gymnasts, but her routines were amazing. For all people who think that the gymnasts are long limbed wonders, this girl proved them wrong by coming in a shorter dynamite package.

I also did get hooked on the running and swimming part of the competition this time . The Jamaicans, especially Usain Bolt blew my mind. The best part is they look like they enjoy running , which in my mind is an oxymoron. Trying to get through 100 metres in 9 seconds, is crazy, but enjoying the run is even crazier. I hyperventilate in cold water , so Michael Phelps in the swimming events also took my breath away. That man has to searched for a pair of gills or he is testament to the fact that there has been a mixture of an amphibian with a homo sapien in some bloodlines. Let me not forget my country heroes, Abhinav Bhindra and Kumar Sushil.. way to go guys.!! I also have to take my hat off to the atheletes who are older like 33-year-old gymnast Oksana Chusovitina from Germany and 31 old hurdle bronze medalists Tasha Danvers from GBR . Those woman give the ones who like me are facing the big 30 hope in the next couple of years, hope that we can look perform and look good while doing it.

This year however I did notice ,that the competition had indeed turned global. We had Romanian immigrants in Gymnastics for USA , people of Asian decent playing for Brazil, Canada and west countries. In the 80's, you saw blond hair and blue eyes and assumed they were Russian or the western countries but now with the mix and movement of the people across the globe, this event has truly become a global showcase. It has a lot to do with national pride, but what comes across more is the hard work and dedication that these individuals have towards their chosen sport. Even if an athlete you don’t know , falls off the beam or had a bad landing, you cringe because you feel some of their pain. As a commentator described , these men and women, work in anonymity for 4 years, to showcase their talent across two weeks. Their work is a true testament to the spirit of human nature and endurance. I salute all these athletes and I think this statement by Pierre de Coubertin on the revival of Olympics games ( which I read in my 8th grade English lesson) sums it up not only for the Olympics but life as well

“The important thing in life is not victory but combat; it is not to have vanquished but to have fought well.”

For the smile from couple of the late night hosts !

"There's excitement in the air over the Olympics...also lead, arsenic, benzene." --David Letterman

"Beijing skies are so polluted that Chinese authorities are planning emergency measures for the Olympics. For example, protesters will now only be run over with hybrid tanks." --Jay Leno

"Now you think I'm exaggerating about pollution, but they had a practice today in Beijing for the Olympics and a javelin thrower threw the javelin up into the air and it stuck." --David Letterman

"China is upset because somebody leaked a video of the rehearsal for the Olympics Opening Ceremony on the Internet. I don't want to give away too much, but it ends with the lighting of a torch." --Conan O'Brien"

"President Bush will be in China for the Olympics. He's gonna be there for the opening ceremonies, and also, while he's there, he will be searching for 'Lo Mein of Mass Destruction.'" --David Letterman

"Yesterday, President Bush gave the U.S. Olympic team a rousing send-off to the Olympics. Again, I don't think President Bush is that up on geography. Like he told the athletes to get there a couple of days early to acclimate themselves to the fact that China is upside-down" --Jay Leno

"And China says it will ban entertainers they deem a threat to the government from taking part in any activities during the Olympics. You make fun of the government, you'll be banned from the Olympics, to which Bush said, "You can do that?" --Jay Leno

"And human rights activists have sent a letter to President Bush, asking him to raise human rights issues with the Chinese government during the Olympics. Unfortunately, they also sent a letter to the Chinese government asking them to bring up human rights issues with President Bush. So, it's pretty much a wash." --Jay Leno

Keep Smiling people
Anu

Your “Kid”ding right?

2008-08-10T22:12:00.000-07:00

Well, anyone who knows me in person , knows that I am either suffering through a migraine or in the process of getting one.. So with two coworkers off on vacation the last two weeks, I have been coupled with overwork and migraines.. related you say… I think so too! . I am back to the blogging circuit,.hopefully this time , I can post periodically and read my favorites blogs better.

Two articles really caught my eye, during the last week and funnily enough they related to the Indian laws and babies. Not really subjects that you would want to connect in any circumstance.

The first was the case of Mehta abortion case. The basic question is does a woman have rights to terminate a fetus which is 25 weeks and has a congenital heart defect (CHD).The middle class parents would need to put the child on a pacemaker from birth and bear the costs of the hospitals throughout its life, the Indian courts determined that as the child might have a fair chance of living a normal life, the case was dismissed. Between the public hoopla on the rights of woman and the fetus and some religious associations willing to adopt the child once born, the human emotion was disregarded.

Did anyone even consider what Nikita Mehta was going through? The first child is something born out of the hopes and dreams. (Being a second born, I know I’m loved too :) ! ) . The news about the child having CHD and then the decision to terminate the pregnancy must be a painful and heart wrenching decision. Even with all the support pouring in, this mother might have to see their child grow up on painkillers, medicines and therapy. The Mehta’s could have taken the illegal route and got a “family physician” to terminate the pregnancy, but through a legal route, they have suffered more pain and accusations for what they considered was the right thing to do. I am also tired of the media, trying to pull as much coverage out of this on the woman’s rights issues. Whatever each of our thoughts are, on legal abortion , the final decision and its repercussions rests with the parents. This would be just a passing article and a discussion point over tea for the rest of us, but those parents, it involves a step which would now continue to haunt them the rest of their lives. So the next time media and the law decides purely on a statistical basis , what is right or wrong morally or legally, the emotional content needs to be first examined. The mother has made a decision regarding her child, shouldn’t that count before the “Powers” of legality and morality step in

As for the second news article, I found it surprising and very depressing. Along with the growing Call centers in India, we have also become the hub for surrogate mothers . A Japanese baby born to a surrogate Indian mother and a Japanese couple , is now India’s first surrogate orphan, after the Japanese couple split before she was born. Now Maji, cannot be adopted by her father Ikufumi Yamada , a well known surgeon, because Indian laws prohibit infant girls being adopted by single man. I understand these laws are to protect young children from perverts , but considering that her grandmother and father are trying to move every stone to get to this child ,it would be a prudent decision to hand her over to the people who love her than into a orphanage with thousand other children waiting to be adopted. Its sad, that when Indian government is trying to reach out to the world, asking them to adopt children from our country, that bureaucracy seems to be our stumbling block. A child with a chance at a happy and normal childhood, is being kept in a hospital in Rajasthan to follow the law, other children on the streets of major metros who need protections from the scum of the city are allowed to roam and beg free in the streets.
Considering law is built around common sense and betterment of the society, isn’t it time for a change?. When do our lawmakers actually sit up and say this system has to be revamped . Atleast let them start with the mothers and children, who are the most vulnerable to their laws and its fallacies.

For the smile

It was the first day of school and a new student named Chandrasekhar Subrahmanyam entered the fourth grade. The teacher said, “Let’s begin by reviewing some American History.
Who said “Give me Liberty, or give me Death”? She saw a sea of blank faces, except for Chandrashekhar, who had his hand up: “Patrick Henry, 1775″ he said.“Very good!”

Who said “Government of the People, by the People, for the People, shall not perish from the Earth?” Again, no response except from Chandrashekhar. “Abraham Lincoln, 1863″ said Chandrashekhar.

The teacher snapped at the class, “Class, you should be ashamed. Chandrashekhar, who is new to our country, knows more about its history than you do.”

She heard a loud whisper: “F**k the Indians, Who said that?” she demanded. Chandrasekhar put his hand up.. “General Custer, 1862.”

At that point, a student in the back said, “I’m gonna puke.”The teacher glares around and asks “All right! Now, who said that?”Again, Chandrasekhar says, “George Bush to the Japanese Prime Minister, 1991.”

Now furious, another student yells, “Oh yeah? S*ck this!”Chandrasekhar jumps out of his chair waving his hand and shouts to the teacher, ” Bill Clinton, to Monica Lewinsky, 1997!”

Now with almost mob hysteria someone said “You little shit. If you say anything else, I’ll kill you.”Chandrasekhar frantically yells at the top of his voice, “Gary Condit to Chandra Levy, 2001.”

The teacher fainted. And as the class gathered around the teacher on the floor, someone said, “Oh shit, we’re f**ked!”And Chandrasekhar said quietly, “George Bush, Iraq, 2005

Keep smiling
Anu

Garden Disrupted

2008-07-25T10:56:00.000-07:00

I had a totally different post penned, till I spoke to my mother this morning. That’s when I heard about the Bangalore blasts. 9 blasts and two people killed?? First from shock, I moved to sadness for the loss and finally right now I am in a stage of absolute anger. I love Bangalore, being the city of my birth and where some of my relatives and most of my friends reside.

The ‘garden city’ with its beautiful Lal bagh and Cubbon parks formed the backdrop of most of my summer vacations. And later my home, when I entered my first job after college. I love the streets adorned with flowers due to the cool breeze that that the trees sent our way , during the hot summer months. At it developed into the Technology city, the old beauty still remained a part of its charm from the high arches of St Josephs church to the subtle beauty of the Bull Temple . It’s a place of co-existence, Hinduism and Christianity having their influences over malleshwaram and cantonement, the traditions of Sankrathi and Christmas mixing with gen "Y" pub culture. Bangalore has changed dramatically the last couple of years, the travel congestion can beat any developed country in the world. As more people started moving towards the work all night and party whenever you can, the city has got a bad reputation in the press, largely also due to the call center culture. The real estate prices are so exorbitant, that most of the single people there have to room together or get into paying guest accommodations, to save a little bit of their income. But in the end, the city makes you addicted to it. Right from the mouthwatering food all around, to the warmth of the people from all walks of life, Bangalore dances to a separate beat.

So its with horror, that I stared at the news articles, proclaiming that Bangalore was rocked with bombs !! Its sad that the most peaceful city I had known , is now a target for terrorists. It was bad enough that the residents of city, had to grapple with incomplete flyovers, polluted air and the cabs that ferreted employees around trying to kill them. But to have bombs go off near the places, where most of them live is even worse. Terrorism seemed to come home direct to their doorstep. For years we have read articles about Kashmir and the northeast India, grappling with outside sources trying to get power.Somehow, even though they are an intergral part of our nation, the terror seemed further away.But a taste of it today in Bangalore , even though I am 11,000 miles away , I can sense the terror and anger, that I am sure that every one of my friends and family are feeling right now.Considering the political turmoil we went through,with the no confidence motion, I hope that the Indian parliament wakes up to reality. While they are internally fighting and trying to get their people,into the most lucrative cabinet positions, the outside world is intruding in. As much as India grows, she has to combat the forces, that do not want to see her to reach her true potential.

Sometimes I just want to scream my head off when I see the headlines with the political party struggles that happen. I don’t expect the politicians to be like Gandhi or Nehru, the times have changed and so have the external forces, that affect the country. But when will they ever get to a point where the good of all overrides the betterment of one. Party Men burning effigies when insults are passed in parliament , shops and hospitals shutting down for random caste issues and long processions celebrating a politicans birthday have to be stopped. We need to mobilize the ideas, within each working individual into actions that affect us all. The brave army men stationed across the country are not enough to protect the geographical mass of India. It’s the people who need to bond and think of a solution. If the government and people work together, these explosions should and will be a thing of the past.

It’s so easy to get carried away with day to day problems that we encounter. But for our generation and the generations coming after us, we have to leave a legacy of peace, and I pray to the divine above, that every human thinks of peace first instead of picking up a weapon of harm.

For the thought, I want to reproduce here a poem from my favorite poetess

IN SALUTATION TO THE ETERNAL PEACE

by: Sarojini Naidu (1879-1949)

MEN say the world is full of fear and hate,
And all life’s ripening harvest-fields await
The restless sickle of relentless fate.

But I, sweet Soul, rejoice that I was born,
When from the climbing terraces of corn
I watch the golden orioles of Thy morn.

What care I for the world’s desire and pride,
Who know the silver wings that gleam and glide,
The homing pigeons of Thine eventide?

What care I for the world’s loud weariness,
Who dream in twilight granaries Thou dost bless
With delicate sheaves of mellow silences?

Say, shall I heed dull presages of doom,
Or dread the rumoured loneliness and gloom,
The mute and mythic terror of the tomb?

For my glad heart is drunk and drenched with Thee,
O inmost wine of living ecstasy!
O intimate essence of eternity!

Keep thinking ppl
Anu

PS : I just read that Randy Pausch passed away. A true inspiration to me and millions others, I pray for his family and his friends to find strength to continue .

Walk me home

2008-07-18T17:49:00.000-07:00

Let me paint a scene, Man excited , almost whistling the Indiana Jones Theme song . Woman, staring at her watch, having a bunch of papers in her hand and wishing she had brought her IPod along

What do you think is happening?........

That was K and me car shopping through the last two weekends. Being in the US for two and half years, I have been through the harrowing (yes, harrowing to people who really don’t care the difference in transmission between Camry LE and XLE!!) two times.
The car shopping ritual is one as old as day Ford decided to try out an engine driven car in the 1800’s. I actually compare the ritual of car shopping to a major case study worth its salt in any MBA classroom. First there is a mad collection of data from numerous site from cars.com to Vehix.com , then a intensive study on the cars shortlisted, a group discussion with pals on their car performance and then of course a survey. If you know a friend of a long lost friend who bought a similar vehicle their number materializes out of thin air for a long call on a weekend. Did I mention that I as a wife have limited say in this matter, other than the color and if the car looks decent.

If the gods actually smile upon us, after all these discussions we arrive at one or two options and land up in the bustling Car dealership. Suddenly out of nowhere is a blue/green shirted (depending on Toyota or Honda) salesman, who proceeds to tell you that the car chosen is so good, it might just end world hunger. As he leads you through the glittering cars ( of course we have to do this at high noon , everything looks bright and pretty ), my eyes catch some other wives who are trying to intently staring at their cell phones while their husbands are salivating over the new sports models. They look at me with a sympathetic smile, as they know that I would be in the same place in another two hours. So as the salesman leads us into the car for a test drive, he has by now our whole life history. These guys can work for the IRS. Talking about how expensive the gas prices are, he leads K directly into “You know back in 2000, when I first arrived” saga. The car that he shows is definitely the costliest one with all the upgrades. Leather seats, navigation system, sun and moon roof. By the end of the drive, you get to believing that without the moon roof, there is no way in your life your ever going to see stars. The drive itself is quite painful, as the salesman guides K through the safest routes, he keeps up a conversation with me, “The wife” on Indian food. I mean I know I look well fed but I never thought I looked like a chef in an Indian restaurant

When we return, the sales guy acts as if a light bulb has gone off in his head. I’m pretty sure the light bulb has been firmly in place, since his quarter targets came in. As we exit the car, he looks us over and says “ if you don’t have kids right now, you can have a better option”. And then “Tadaaa – it’s the sports model”.
I feel K’s pulse get higher, on seeing the smooth lines , the V6 engine and the Indiana Jones theme starts humming all around us. This happened the first time we car shopped, we bought a sports edition. Sadly, that was totaled in a road accident and so we were back on a July afternoon. I know I’m doomed till I look up and see another couple making their unknowing way into the car lot. As the salesman moves away for another case history, I take refuge in an old Indian saying “This car is bad luck” to get K out of his trance. Like every guy and gal knows, there is no arguing with that logic ! :D . Something christened as bad luck can never be updated to lucky again. So as K longingly says good bye to the sports model, we walk towards the 2008 older version cars, whose miles per gallon is so bad, my monthly salary would be just sufficient to fill the gas tank. As the salesman sees us in that 2008 lot his smile becomes a lot wider. These are the cars; they are desperately trying to get rid off. As he extols their virtues, he comes to the major selling point, they are selling them for $5K below MSRP at 0%. “That’s practically free!!” , he says. Yes sure, if you consider $18,000 dollars free.

Few more cars later K and sales guy furiously typing out numbers on the calculators. Another light bulb goes off, the salesman offers us Pre-owned cars. Four hours into discussion, I feel my mild headache go into overdrive. As I give K my Meenakumari, “I’m dying” gaze, he picks up another bunch of papers, brochures and websites and tells the salesman we will be back the next weekend. Though the sales guy tells us that any offer expires the moment we leave the building, we take our chances.

As K wraps his mind around the leasing options, I look out on the sea of cars and memories came flooding back . My dad bought his first car, when I was born . From the Ambassador to the Maruthi, dad didn’t have much choice, but he opted simply for the most economical option. Somehow though his license plates always added to the number 3. So when the car came home , I ran out only to see the plates ,added the number , and screeched in surprise when it did add to 3 . Even now, my dad has his trusted 1994 Maruthi. He sees it as an essential help for daily life and as per my mother , his first wife :D !. “A car looked after well, will treat you well” is his motto. Now however, as the options have increased, so has the complexity of buying a car or any other vehicle. Back home, its was easy as walking in , putting in your order and getting your car a few weeks later.

With the environmental crunch we are facing, what’s scary is the number of cars on the road. Each type of car has a separate use. The Van for Kids and car pooling, the sedan for city driving, the Jeep for adventure and hiking. What happened to one car to suite all needs. Also the US government is considering restricting the speed limit on Highway driving to 55 mph to reduce the consumption of gas. But its sad, because people have so used to speed of 70 mph that its going to hard to get them back to lower speed limit.

People say that life gets complicated. But after these experiences, I think we complicate simple stuff. We want everything wrapped into a perfect package – costs, looks and of course efficiency. Sometimes, its just easier to accept things as they are - four tires, transmission ,engine and seats, not the answer to your dreams. So I think for me, I’m going to start walking more and you really can’t criticize the vehicle that’s moving your feet around :D !

Btw, if you pass a car dealership and see a woman despondently staring at her IPod, wave or smile, it just might be me!

For the joke
The Microsoft Car
At a recent computer expo, Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving twenty-five-dollar cars that get 1000 miles to the gallon."

Recently General Motors addressed this comment by responding,
"Yes, but would you want your car to crash twice a day?"
And . . .

1. Every time they repainted the lines on the road you would have to buy a new car.
2. Occasionally, your car would die on the freeway for no reason,and you would just accept this, restart, and drive on.
3. Occasionally, executing a maneuver would cause your car to fail, and you would have to re-install the engine. For some strange reason, you would accept this too.
4. You could only have one person in the car at a time, unless you bought "Car95" or "CarNT." But then you would have to buy more seats.
5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast, twice as easy to drive, but would only run on five percent of the roads.
6. The Macintosh car owners would get expensive Microsoft upgrades to their cars, which would make their cars run much slower.
7. The oil, gas and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single "general car default" warning light.
8. New seats would force everyone to have the same size butt.
9. The airbag system would say "are you sure?" before going off.

Keep Smiling ppl

Anu

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, who is the best Superhero of all ?

2008-07-14T19:27:00.000-07:00

Spent a lazy weekend, watching WALL-E , which I definitely recommend and trying to clean up my house. Of course, cleaning for K & I seems to be a continuous process, since I came to America. So every Sunday, when I wail I miss India, K knows that is more because I miss my maid and ironing guy.

As we were waiting for Wall- E, the new trailer for Batman shot across the screen. As I watched one of my favorite actors, Heath Ledger, give his maniacal smile and bring life to one of the most hated, batman villains, I also glimpsed at the tortured batman. Even though Christian Bale plays the part well, my favorite has always been Michael Keaton. He fit into the debonair, bachelor with all the gadgets really well. He had angst, but he also has the steely resolve to help the defenseless. As you guessed by now Bruce Wayne aka Batman aka the Dark knight was and is my favorite superhero. He has always been my favorite as he is human ( was not born on a alien planet), creates his own fighting gear ( does not use radio active spiders) and of course has a lot of money (Do I have to explain that one ! :) ).Phantom came in a close second, due to the amazing comic books that came every week to my library and to round the top three up, it was Spider man. Any kid living in India in the 90s could hum the tune of Spiderman. Screening on Doordarshan just before the weekend movie, the spidey costume and antics amazed me and for a while, I did look around for radioactive spiders. But seeing even a normal one made me run in the opposite direction.

Coming back to the present , the new Batman movie looked slick ,dark and terribly exciting. But I felt a strange sense of melancholy. It was simpler when heroes where portrayed in shades of white and a little grey, you know the good guys versus bad guys. Comics have grown up along with us, and now every hero has a complex history, that makes every decision be tied to a life and death situation. Heroes, with no back stories also fall flat at the box office or the comic stands. So its natural, that the writers try and input as much humanity as possible. But should humanity always lead to tears and unbearable situations. I understand, Peter Parker as a freelance photographer, unable to pay his bills, his electricity goes out on him and girlfriend dumps him ,that will make most people buy a glass of bear and throw darts at her picture, but to have him turn into a Dark version of Spiderman to terrorize people , seems to go against the basic truth that this was a hero created to avenge his uncle's death. I loved Iron man, with its humor laced dialogues, but I am kind of hesitant about part two, when Tony Stark, is going to confront his alcoholism. Its almost like the greater enemy is not on the outside terrorizing demons but their internal struggle for good. While reading the comic books, you always knew that the hero of your choice was going to succeed in the end. Bash up the bad guys, swing across ropes to the scene of the crime, and lets not forget get to kiss the gal in the end. Seems more and more of the story has the superheroes do a lot of the kissing and thinking, before any of the action,which in turn is dark and bloody.

So I wonder, do I miss the action in the simplicity of the scheme or I dislike that reality somehow touches these men of steel, spider or bat ?.I think it’s a mixture of both. I love to see the good guys win, same as I would like to see happily ever after in every film, because it transports me to a place where good always triumphs. So with that hope I will continue to see every comic strip that converts into a movie. But if they convert Asterix or Tintin into movies, and make them into lost souls, I think that will be the day I give up on the comic section !
On a better note, I would like each one of you who reads this to let me know what kind of superhero you would like to be . I would like to be the Girl in green tights. That way I will always stay slim on comic strips and be an environmentally friendly superhero :D!

For the joke

Tom and Clark were standing on the roof of their building drinking a few beers on their break and Clark said, "Hey Tom, did you know that if you jump off this building, after you get down so far, a draft will pull you back inside the building on the third floor?"

"Get outta here," said Tom

"No I'm serious, watch me."Clark hopped off the building and sure enough, he was taken in by the draft at the third floor window. He took the elevator back to the top and Tom and a security guard that arrived were standing there, Tom in awe.

"I can't believe it." Said Tom."I know you should try it Tom."So Tom hopped off and plunged into the ground.

"Superman you're an asshole when you're drunk." said the security guard.

Keep smiling ppl

Anu

PS : For non comic fans like K, the Pseudonym for these super guys are Clark Kent = Superman, Peter Parker = Spiderman, Bruce Wayne = Batmand and Tony Spark = Iron man :) !

The Way we were

2008-07-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

I have not been blogging the last week, due to the California wildfire., No I am not anywhere near one, but my sinus were clogged with the air being so bad, that I couldn’t get through typing one word without tearing up or sneezin.
So apologize to all my regular reads, I will be surely around to post my comments this week.

This week was hectic to say the least, but a trip to Napa seemed to blow the spider webs away and this week I’m nearly back to my cheerful (ahemm! ) opinionated self.

A pal of mine had her interview published in the paper and I am so kicked for her. I remember the time in school when we all used to sit around and wonder what each one would be. She would always be the optimist, and everything had a fairy tale ring to her view of things. To my utter delight, I noticed not much had changed. She still managed to stick to reality but made the article seem to be so filled with happiness. Congrats Sheets, and best wishes again for an amazing future

Discussing school with a couple of friends, this week really had me wondering about the paths we choose. I know a lot of people say that we grow into adults when we face reality. But is reality a pair of glasses we put on to see the world in a harsher light ? . I know personally, that in my school girl dreams, I wanted to change the world for the better by the time I was twenty five and meet my charming prince by the time I was 26. Though the second happened (K is reading this :) ), the first dream now I realize requires time, money and lot of dedication However I also know that I need to handle family first, before changing what lies outside. Donating to a charity or working for voluntary organizations does go a little way towards eradicating illiteracy or poverty, but the head filled with ideas seems to now look onto the obstacles facing those same ideas. I know for a fact that I didn’t dream of sitting attached to a laptop 12 hours a day, but in reality I know that work will help me get to a better place in the end. And I don’t mean monetary, but that definitely has a part to play. Its because Bill Gates is financially secure (understatement, I know!!) that he is able to quit and work with his foundation. How many men and woman can do that? Its not merely a requirement to gather wealth but also a need to be responsible to the people who depend on you. And as you grow that responsibility seems to grow not only towards family but towards yourself . A pal of mine said it would be a non stop cycle that we take on - family, kids , retirement and finally death. That sounded so bleak to me!It's like to we keep earning only to survive till the day we die.

When I did my Masters, there was always a thought in my head ,that after I get sufficient experience I would quit to join a voluntary organization .We at school, were so filled with ideas and notions, it seemed to be easy to do our jobs, but yet commit to a higher cause. I know that some of my friends do both and are super beings in their own right. But most of us get sucked into the daily mechanisms of meetings, calls and emails.With barely enough time of rest and quiet, let alone cleaning up the world or even for a game of chess.

This story on PBS however gave me a much needed boost. Purnima McCutcheon seems to encompass, all things that I would like to do. To leave a high paying job, to help people in need , captures the essence of our humanity. It takes courage and a good heart. Also it takes a minute to step back and let go of all the adult requirements we have.

I know each person wants to go back to their childhood dreams, be it as simple as flying a plane or as grandiose as changing the world. And if we reach deep inside and look for that place, which we imagined as a child ,I’m sure that the letting go of our current problems would be a much easier task to do

Now for the smile

Area 51
You've heard of the Air Force's ultra-high-security, super-secret base in Nevada, known simply as "Area 51?"

Well, late one afternoon, the Air Force folks out at Area 51 were surprised to see a Cessna landing at their "secret" base. They immediately impounded the aircraft and hauled the pilot into an interrogation room.

The pilot's story was that he took off from Vegas, got lost, and spotted the Base just as he was about to run out of fuel. The Air Force started a full FBI background check on the pilot and held him overnight during the investigation.

By the next day, they were finally convinced that the pilot really was lost and wasn't a spy. They gassed up his airplane, gave him a terrifying "you-did-not-see-a-base" briefing, complete with threats of spending the rest of his life in prison, told him Vegas was that-a-way on such-and-such a heading, and sent him on his way.

The next day, to the total disbelief of the Air Force, the same Cessna showed up again. Once again, the MP's surrounded the plane... only this time there were two people in the plane.

The same pilot jumped out and said, "Do anything you want to me, but my wife is in the plane and you have to tell her where I was last night!"

Keep Smiling ppl

Anu

Baby Doll

2008-06-23T13:28:00.000-07:00

At seventeen, all I did was pray. Pray that I pass my 12th standard board exam. Between the revision tests ,tuitions and study groups, life was a mass of maths and tea. But today I read this story and shocked was an understatement.

These 17 year old girls at Gloucester High have made a pact to get pregnant ,so they can raise children together. The worst part is girls have just tried every male available to get there and one of the dads is a homeless man!!!. They have had their share of sex education, know about the problems of teenage pregnancy yet made this lovely little pact. There seems a huge blame settling on the school and parents. The school because they tried to dole out the contraceptives, with parental consent and make the school friendly for teen mothers. The parents because these teenagers are supposedly not loved enough ,so they need unconditional love provided by a child.
I have to say that even though I’m sure that these played a part in the whole scheme of things, the blame squarely rests on these teenagers and the media.

It’s now glamorous to be pregnant. Every channel on TV, covers pregnancies from Angelina Jolie to Jamie lynn Spears.They all talk about their baby showers and fancy maternity gowns, but none of them tell us about the truckload of nannies and help that these famous people employ to get them through the sleepless nights and midnight food runs. Even in soaps or serials nowadays on TV, its perfectly ok to be a young mother. They kind of forget to mention that its an average of $1000 a year to raise a child. Currently its “In” to be pregnant. If the celebrities talks about the problems with having a child, maybe these teenagers will think twice before making a pact.

I think the teenagers are responsible to a large extent for their current situation. Today the kids are intelligent and worldly wise. When they can reach for the computer to download the latest songs, I am sure, they can check out the difficulties associated with a teenage pregnancy. When they can complain about getting limited minutes for $50 of charge on cell phone bill, I’m sure they can figure out how much baby monitors and car seats costs. I am sure these teenagers are preparing for their baby shower and thinking of all things they can get right now. But what about after that? Are they so sure that their parents, who it seems are already suffering from the recession in the fishing industry will support them?
These girls think of a child as an usable commodity.I am not saying that the child is just wanted for its cuteness, but to bring another human life into this world requires experience and responsibility. Clearly these teenagers are deficient in both .

I know the stigma attached to an unwed mother in the Indian culture, is horrific with the way unwed women are treated in current society . But on the same vein, it’s the same stigma which ensures that young girls think twice before venturing into an unknown territory. The moral values and culture play a huge part in every decision, but it in the end I think it comes down to the individual thinking. Nowadays, I feel that mass thinking is the code of the day, the time when your parents said be unique is long past. My dad used to keep saying “Yellarum kennarula kudicha , neeyum kudipiya (If everyone jumps into the well, will you do it too? ) “?

I feel these girls are taking tickets to jump into that well. We can try to keep them away from the edge but the final step in , is that of the girl. And if she can think for herself , I'm sure she wouldn’t be one who’s crying out for help in the end.

For the smile

A woman went to the doctor's office. She was seen by one of the new doctors, but after about four minutes in the examination room, she burst out, screaming as she ran down the hall. An older doctor stopped and asked her what the problem was, and she explained. He had her sit down and relax in another room.
The older doctor marched back to the first and demanded, "What's the matter with you? Mrs. Terry is 63 years old, she has four grown children and seven grandchildren, and you told her she was PREGNANT?"
The new doctor smiled smugly as he continued to write on his clipboard."Cured her hiccups though, didn't it?"

Keep Smiling ppl

Anu

Tagged!

2008-06-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

Uma tagged me. I approached this post, first with apprehension and then with a growing thankfulness. I haven’t put in this much introspection about my life in recent times

6 Whatever’s about me

1.I love music of the past –50’s -70s (Hindi, English) , but an ardent admirer of A R. Rahman’s music
2.Strongly believe in God, but never am one for long drawn rituals. I also believe in Karma, what you give, definitely comes back to either bite you or do you good.
3.I love having a large group of friends. Different personalities, attitudes and thoughts are so much fun to assimilate into daily life.
4.Avid reader, but love history. Give me a book on the rise of the Roman Empire or Hitler or even History channel, and I’m content to just be in one place for ever.
5.From being short tempered and the first to jump to talk, I have become a lot calmer and a decent listener, but people still cant get me to shut up once I start talking
6.I take after my dad. We are totally laid back about work and life . But if something got to get done, you can count on us get it done on time and right (Well most of the time :) ) .

5 Things I miss in my life right now

1. I miss India, so much sometimes it hurts. I miss my parents and friends. And most of all I miss the hustle and bustle of Chennai. I also really miss hearing Tamil on a daily basis. Mylapore on a Saturday afternoon (sigh!)
2. I miss the really good Gobi Manchurian and Dal Makhani. Like the kind you get in the dhaba’s off Koramangala road, in Bangalore
3. I miss the free life of school and college . Age and responsibility seem to grow incrementally together , I wish sometimes they had a converse relationship
4. I miss office cafeterias. Ok that’s a weird one. But I work from home and its easy to be attached to your laptop all the time. In office, you always have an hour or less, to walk with your friends to the coffee room or even grab a bite to eat.
5. On the same note I miss my commute to office. I had an hour to read the paper or listen to music undisturbed on the light rail .Nowadays I log in by 8am and log off by 6pm, stuck to my laptop all the 10 hours.

10 Things I wanna achieve within a decade

1. Travel through Europe. Going back to my history roots, I would love to touch the ruins at Delphi, walk through the volcano covered statues in Pompeii , stare at Stonehenge and try to understand it
2. Learn to swim. I hyperventilate in cold water, so this one for me is the most challenging
3. Write a book. I have atleast started with my fiction blog, but I want to take my writing a few levels higher
4. Teach. My mom being a professor, this was something I wanted to be when I grew up. Writing this post I just realized, I had grown up :-D!
5. Finish one more education level. Hopefully this will help me with whole the teaching aim
6.Learn a musical instrument either guitar or piano. Though for this one I’m sure K or my mom will prefer to be in another room
7.Help set up a school for kids back home in India. I hate child labor or a child not able to exploit their full potential, because of financial situation or home conditions.
8.Set up my own garden. Right now in a apartment, I try my best, but I would love a garden like I had when I was young. Have an acre filled with vegetables and flowers (not forgetting the snails and squirrels)
9.Watch a play on Broadway
10. Become a parent , whom I hope is half as good at parenting as my or K’s parents

The Book Tag
**Pick up the nearest book.Open to page 123.Find the fifth sentence.Post the next three sentences.

Considering I haven’t been to the library for sometime, I picked up one of my favorites!

“Ma, can you stop boring my friend,” Alok said
“No,its fine,” I said reaching for more daal.
Actually the life Alok’s mother led at home intrigued me.

- Five point someone, Chetan Bhagat

Tag Five people

http://keshigirl.blogspot.com/ - Keshi
http://basicallythejobless.blogspot.com/ - Barath
http://viewsnmuse.blogspot.com/ - Ani
http://world-ani.blogspot.com/ - Ani Dundee
http://castelgard.wordpress.com/- Castlegard

And I’m tagging anyone else reading this post, I’ve learnt from this experience that sometime what’s in your head seems a lot clearer when you type it out

For the joke of the day

The Preacher Golf

There was this preacher who was an avid golfer. Every chance he got, he could be found on the golf course swinging away. It was an obsession. One Sunday was a picture-perfect day for golfing. The sun was out, no clouds in the sky, and the temperature was just right. The preacher was in a quandary as to what to do. The urge to play golf overcame him. He called an assistant and told him that he was sick and could not attend church. Then he packed up the car, and drove three hours to a golf course where no one would recognize him.
Happily, he began to play the course.
An angel up above was watching the preacher and was quite perturbed. He went to God and said, "Look at the preacher. He should be punished for what he's doing." God nodded in agreement.
The preacher teed up on the first hole. He swung, and the ball sailed effortlessly through the air and landed right in the cup three hundred and fifty yards away. A perfect hole-in-one. The preacher was amazed and excited. The angel was a little shocked. He turned to God and said, "Begging Your pardon, but I thought you were going to punish him."
God smiled. "Think about it -- who can he tell?"

Keep Smilin ppl
Anu

Just Listen

2008-06-10T21:25:00.001-07:00

Ever had a really bad day, but heard or saw something which made you think that
“Wow , my life isn’t bad after all!!”

Randy Pausch’s story is known to many I’m sure. A professor of Computer Science in Carnegie Mellon University was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, with a couple of months to live. “The Last Lecture” ,is a talk he gave at the university, has the ability to pull at your funny bone, but at the same time hit you in the gut with a couple of universal truths. I’m sure many of us have seen this or had it forwarded to us. But for those who haven’t, sit back, clear an hour and fifteen minutes of your time and listen. Because this lecture is from the heart.

And for the smile
An engineer died and reported to the pearly gates. An intern angel, filling in for St. Peter, checked his dossier and grimly said, "Ah, you're an engineer; you're in the wrong place."

So the engineer was cast down to the gates of hell and was let in. Pretty soon, the engineer became gravely dissatisfied with the level of comfort in hell, and began designing and building improvements. After a while, the underworld had air conditioning, flush toilets, and escalators, and the engineer was becoming a pretty popular guy among the demons.

One day, God called Satan up on the telephone and asked with a sneer, "So, how's it going down there in hell?"

Satan laughed and replied, "Hey, things are going great. We've got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and there's no telling what this engineer is going to come up with next."

God's face clouded over and he exploded, "What? You've got an engineer? That's a mistake; he should never have gotten down there; send him up here."

Satan shook his head, "No way. I like having an engineer on the staff, and I'm keeping him."

God was as mad as he had ever been, "This is not the way things are supposed to work and you know it. Send him back up here or I'll sue."

Satan laughed uproariously, "Yeah, right. And just where are YOU going to get a lawyer?"

Keep Smiling people
Anu

Nature at its best

2008-05-20T09:14:00.000-07:00

Have you ever come across a scene where you felt that God was all around you . I don’t mean in the temples , churches or other places of worship. I took this picture at the Roaring Camp, when we were on the Steam Engine trail. The one hour journey had a lot of scenic pictures, but this one felt special to me. The light trailing down off the leaves, of the gigantic redwoods, made me feel humble and grateful. These majestic trees seem to epitomize the beauty of creation , while the light filtering through them created a sense of peace and harmony .

I always beleive if your feeling down and miserable or even extremely happy with yourself, go out and take a look at nature, it always brings back a sense of equilibrium. Be it tall trees, rolling waves, glittering rocks or even large stretches of sand, there is a comparison to life in every nook or hole. Sometimes barren or sometimes rich, these landscapes, evolve and so do we. So every time I feel stuck or frustrated, I look out and take a deep breath. We are a part of nature, and the one thing constant about nature is that it changes !! :)

Now for a smile

A little girl was trying to raise $100 for her softball team. She prayed for two weeks but nothing happened. Then she decided to write a letter to the Lord requesting the $100.
When the postal authorities received the letter addressed to the Lord, USA, they decided to send it to the President of the United States. The President was so impressed, touched, and amused that he instructed his secretary to send the little girl a $5 bill.
The President thought this would appear to be a lot of money to a little girl. The little girl was delighted with the $5 and sat down to write a thank-you note to the Lord, which read:
Dear Lord, Thank you very much for sending me the money. However, I noticed that for some reason you had to send it through Washington, DC and as usual, those jerks deducted $95.Love, Sara

Keep Smilin
Anu

Lyrically Speaking

2008-05-17T22:31:00.000-07:00

There are two things I love to do. Listen to music and read. The latter seems to have diminished as my work load increased , but music has been my constant companion through my life. But I just realized, that more than the beat or the composition, it’s the words that capture my heart and my soul. Each favorite line linked to a memory that seems to flash as the tune played. So I have decided to start a couple of posts with my favorite lyrics. These songs mainly English pop, country and rock, from the 50’s to the present and some Indian music thrown into it to make it a potpourri of emotions.

My favorite performers through the years have been AR Rahman, Elton John,ABBA, Carpenters , Queen and of course the list of boy bands (on whose members I mostly had a teenage crush on :) ).So starting with my favorites,

“Such a feelins comin over me
There is wonder in most everything I see
Not a cloud in the sky
Got the sun in my eyes
And I wont be surprised if its a dream”
:- Top of the world, The Carpenters

This is a song that’s stuck in my head since I was five. My mom used to sing it to me when we did the dishes together and as I danced around furniture.The song means to me unadulterated joy , as only a child would feel. Of course most of the times this was because I cut school feigning sickness, but that’s a whole another story.

“I have a dream, a fantasy;To help me through reality

And my destination makes it worth the while

Pushing through the darkness still another mile

I believe in angels

Something good in everything I see

I believe in angels

When I know the time is right for meIll cross the stream - I have a dream”
:- I have a Dream, ABBA

Ever had a exam that you thought you couldn’t get through (In my case that was 95% of all the tests I took ) , this song helped me through most of my really bad times. It was a mantra of hope . Also this keeps me from killing colleagues, who take the credit for all the work I’ve done! :D

“The hills are alive with the sound of music
With songs they have sung for a thousand years
The hills fill my heart with the sound of music
My heart wants to sing every song it hears

My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds
that rise from the lake to the trees
My heart wants to sigh like a chime that flies
from a church on a breeze
To laugh like a brook when it trips and falls over
stones on its way
To sing through the night like a lark who is learning to pray”

:- Hills are alive – Sound of Music Soundtrack

This was the first movie I saw in the famous Pilot Movie theatre in Chennai. The first scene with Julie Andrews running on top of a green mountain took my breath away. This song automatically came to lips when K & I were driving through Yosemite. Nature in all her glory decidedly needs a song, and this one captures it beautifully. For any child , this is an excellent first movie (of course in Pilot theatre at that time, all the kissing scenes were deleted !! )

"I got my first real six-string
Bought it at the five-and-dime
Played 'til my fingers bled
It was summer of '69

And now the times are changin'
Look at everything that's come and gone
Somethimes when I play that old six-string
I think about ya wonder what went wrong"

- :Summer of 69, Bryan Adams

Any kid who has been in a college culturals worth its salt , had air guitar’ed to this song. Be it a bathroom singer or the next “ Idol” contestant, you cant help shaking your head and then start an unusual screaming to the lyrics . Of course the next day you can always blame it on the cough medicine you taken or the beer drunk (optional poison of choice ). College for me is integrated into these lyrics, which speak about a yearning for a time which went by too quickly.

"ONNae oNNu sollaNum
uN mughaththai paaththu sollaNum
thanimai konjam kidaikka koodaadhaa?
naanum maaRi poanadhaen
eN naLinam koodi poanadhaean
adhu therindhaal neeyum solla koodaadhaa
yaarai naan kaetppean...nee sollvAyA
yaarai naan kaetppean...neeyae sollvAyA

yeNNai konjam maatri...yeN nenjil uNNai ootri
nee mella mella yeNNai kolladhae "

- : Ennai konjam matri – Kaakha Kaakha

This one is dear to me, because it was my favorite song during my engagement ( for obvious reasons!!) . But the lyrics seems to be simple to encompass what I was feeling. As for K – he was singing “Azhagana Rakshashiyae” from Mudhalvan which is not very flattering, thinking about it :D

Anyway that was a quick glimpse into my musical memories.. lots more to follow

Now for the jokes

1) Did you hear about the classical pianist who was not a good speller? When she went out to buy something she left a sign on her door that said: "Out Chopin. Be Bach in a minuet"

2) A blonde, a brunette, and a redhead show up for the same job interview. The brunette is the first one to go in, and after filling out the forms and going through the questions, the interviewer decides to ask her last question:

"How many D's are there in "INDIANA JONES""? The brunette thinks for a second and responds "One".

The interviewer sends her back with a promise that he'll get back to her after he had interviewed the remaining candidates.

The redhead is next. The process goes about the same, and at the end: "How many D's are there in INDIANA JONES"? She immediately says "One". The interviewer says, "OK, we'll let you know".

Then the blonde comes into the room, goes through the questions, and finally gets asked: "How many D's are there in INDIANA JONES". She gets a very serious look on her face and starts counting her fingers, muttering: "2, 4, 6 ...., hmmm - wait,... 2, 4, 6 .... can I borrow your calculator please?"

After going through 15 minutes of intense calculating, she finally comes up with the answer: "Thirty two"

The interviewer is stunned and asks her: "Ok, now tell me, how the hell did you arrive at this answer?"

She starts singing "Da Da Dah Dahhh Dah Dah Da Da Dah Dahh Dah Dah ..."
(The theme song for Indiana Jones)

Keep Smilin ppl

Anu

Candle in the Wind

2008-05-16T05:05:00.000-07:00

He was a quiet kid with an amazing smile and a weird sense of humor. He was musically talented and wowed everyone with his guitar pieces. He always made me comfortable when me, the youngest, had to hang around the older kids.
He was my older cousin brother. He died this week. He was just 31.

When my mother told me last evening, shaken was the only word I could use. As I tried to assimilate his death, the other blow was that it was through Cardiac arrest. He was young I argued, Prashu , was just back in Bangalore to start a whole new life.. there was so many things he had not done ,it simply did not make sense.But he had worked since he was 20 , both in India and in the Gulf. Though he wanted to follow his music, it simply was not the logical thing to do.So he did what any other good son would do, followed his parents advice and started working after college

Through the last day memories have been hitting me big time. Lil things we cousins did on the summer breaks.Prashu climbed up a tree or anything that could be climbed. I still remember, when the older boys were trying to prove their superiority, my older cousin quickly jumped between his house and neighbors terrace. He had done this a 1000 times , as he had grown up in that house. Prashu quickly followed, with one lil hiccup, he crossed the space one time, but to get back , he just couldn’t seem to make the length. It was with extremely shame faced that he knocked on the terrace doors till the neighbors allowed him to walk down. There were a lot of times, that pictures of him included his arm in a cast or with a guitar. That was Prashu to me, an older brother with a heart which was courageous and a brain that rivaled any musical genius. But as we all grew up, our interests and careers took us in different routes. There was the usual query to my aunt as to his whereabouts, but it seems quite a while since we all connected. It was always assumed we would meet at someone’s wedding or maybe on a trip to Bangalore

If there are friends or family out there who you haven’t called in a while, I would say send them a note or a call. Life is always moving too fast,work is always waiting in a small box which we all call laptops and everyday emergencies are a part of it. But its far worse to sit in a room at early morning hours typing a blog, hoping that you got one last word with a loved one .

Bye Prashu, we will miss you.

From “American Pie” by Don Mclean

A long, long time ago...I can still remember

How that music used to make me smile.

And I knew if I had my chance

That I could make those people dance

And, maybe, they'd be happy for a while.

But february made me shiver

With every paper I’d deliver.

Bad news on the doorstep;I couldn’t take one more step.

I can’t remember if I cried When I read about his widowed bride,

But something touched me deep inside

The day the music died”

Anu

Bed,Bath and Buddha :San Francisco Flower and Garden Show 2008

2008-03-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

From my last blog, the my life has been a rollercoaster ride – a trip to India (which included mostly hospitals ,one function and a really sudden passing of a relative), a reading through the million and one mails that piled up when I was gone and to top it off was a near death car crash on a highway, due to a moron who jumped into the carpool lane (to be traveled by 2 or more ppl) 10 feet ahead of a us. Looking at the scrap of metal, that once was my car , it was a miracle, I didn’t start pulling out what’s left of my hair on Hwy 280. I think my life really needs to start becoming the basis of a Suntv soap with all these activities.

Anyway to get out of the unusually happy, sad and frustrating (mostly the third) turn of events,K and I decided to drive to the San Francisco to the Flower & Garden Show , which is held annually at the cow palace. Its an amazing show, where Landscapers recreate their finest gardens.These scenes includes anything from a SUV to Star wars playing on the wall of a setup house .The theme though seemed to water and the amount of water in that place, could have filled 25 water lorries of Chennai (if they were standing straight and not swerving diagonally like they usually do).But this is what I also noticed, the designers, have a penchant for peace, taking a bath and sleep.There were Buddha statues everywhere, followed by tubs/ showers and of course really comfortable beds/futon.

My idea of a garden generally includes a lot of flowering plants, veggies and of course the sunburn. That’s what I grew up with, having a whole generating of matriarchs born with a “Green Hand”. The garden to my heart which came the closest was “It doesn’t take a hectare”. It had the right quantity of herbs, veggies and of course a apple plant whose branches grew horizontal.Of course I noticed a group of guys around a particular exhibit, but had to smile when I saw why. An innovative landscaper, had put up a scene which projected Star Wars on the Wall of an house, and a comfortable seating area in the garden, to watch , replete with popcorn and snacks. The most bizarre one, “Jungle Skinny dip” ,was with a Subaru SUV parked in a Hawaii style waterfall garden.It had its share of Bikini's and men's swimwear lying about, and the best part was a senior couple next to me where trying to match the ladies swimwear to the men's to check if they were equal :D.

Another level led us to the Bonsai garden, and I couldn't believe Trees as old as 80 years being around 2-3 feet in height.It was a beautiful display right from the Japanese and Chinese maple to the California Oak. My favorite was the Wisteria, which looked so delicate ,that it blew my mind that it was 50 years old.

The other two main parts of the show is the “Plant Marketplace” and the other is “Artists Gallery”. I love the plant marketplace, because we can get the samplings which are quite inexpensive, and you can ask the suppliers the condition for growth to help you out. In case of specialty flowers like dahlia’s and lilies, the vendors, give you a printed sheet for looking after the plant.You can also ask the Landscapers for the plants they use, and check back with the vendors in the plant marketplace for buying them. The artists gallery includes natural foods, crafts and beautiful ornaments designed for both house and garden, but with a natural theme. I got a lovely jar of Jam , salad dressing vinaigrette and a essential lavender spread, which smells heavenly.It’s dream land for gardeners, because they have tools, newsletters and of course numerous ways to raise the garden of their dreams. Its also has an Orchid exhibit/sale with different varieties and fragrances. If you love orchids, this is essential place to be at, with plants at 50% off. But this was the only thing, that I took objection to - they were selling Indian Bed sheets and clothes, which I could have got in T.nagar (Chennai ) for 150Rs., at 75-100$..... For those entrepreneurs out there, who are on their way to India, I would suggest to keep one of the 2 suitcases, to carry back these clothes, for the next show.

As I happily carried back my stuff to the car, I realized, that funnily enough it was nature, that helped me let go of my worries. Just looking at all the natural beauty, makes you smile, so is’nt it just common sense, to help save this planet and all its natural wonders ?

Now for a smile

1)Two accountants are in a bank, when armed robbers burst in. While several of the robbers take the money from the tellers, others line the customers, including the accountants, up against a wall, and proceed to take their wallets, watches, etc. While this is going on accountant number one jams something in accountant number two''s hand. Without looking down, accountant number two whispers, "What is this?" to which accountant number one replies, "it''s that $50 I owe you."

2)An accountant is having a hard time sleeping and goes to see his doctor. "Doctor, I just can''t get to sleep at night.""Have you tried counting sheep?""That''s the problem - I make a mistake and then spend three hours trying to find it."

3)A patient was at her doctor''s office after undergoing a complete physical exam. The doctor said, "I have some very grave news for you. You only have six months to live."The patient asked, "Oh doctor, what should I do?" The doctor replied, "Marry an accountant." "Will that make me live longer?" asked the patient. "No," said the doctor, "but it will SEEM longer."

4)Why do accountants make good lovers? They''re great with figures.

Keep Smilin

Anu

Happy New Year - 2008

2008-01-01T15:51:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year ..May all those who had a good 2007 .. roll into a better year and for people like me who wish 2007 doesnt ever repeat itself in their next 10 lifetimes, hopefully 2008 will compensate for it :)!

Last week K and I were at a chaat shop , when I saw these sayings stuck on the wall... somehow, these are the ones I will try to remember in 2008

"Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”
-Mahatma Gandhi

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest;Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest."
-Confucius

Now for my thought
'Every year people speak about their resolutions and their intensity on 31st December is inversely propositionate to their actions from 1st January."

So this year, I have decided on 1st January to get through the year with minimum discomfort to all around me with maximum effort on my part.Hopefully this one gets done through the year!!! :)
And for those who take their resolutions seriously.. hats off and hope you get yours done for this year

And some more quotes I picked up on the net to smile about

1. Time is the best teacher, but unfortunately, it kills all of its students. - Robin Williams
2. The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone to blame it on. - Robert Bloch
3. It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's also true that we don't know what we've been missing until it arrives.
4. Men are like parking spots, the good ones are taken and the free ones are handicapped.
5. Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
6. I told my wife that a husband is like a fine wine; he gets better with age. The next day, she locked me in the cellar.
7. Girls are like phones. We love to be held, talked too but if you press the wrong button you'll be disconnected!
8. The average woman would rather have beauty than brains, because the average man can see better than he can think.

Keep Smilin ppl

Anu

Success??!!!

2007-09-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

What defines success.. even if you can define it the main question is whether the measure of success lies in your eyes or those of society.We tend to judge ourselves by what others think of us.As much as all the great advice from the wise ask us to judge our actions by god and our own moral codes, the reaction of people around is the key that winds each ones opinion of oneselves. So why do we do it… is it because man is not an island, or is it because that there is some force in each one of us that links us as a community.

My colleague who is from Ghana was talking about going back and setting up a school for girls, but she felt that it was doubtful she would ever succeed, as the mindset of women had changed from the time she was there. Now there seemed to be many women who were ‘second ‘ wives to their husbands. These were educated, working women who wanted children but really didn’t want the responsibility of being a wife. They were accepted by society and their children , though from a single parent home (r a parent and a half!) were doing well. She asked me if this was possible in India… I immediately said no , because of the moral and cultural boundaries that were so strictly in place. But later I had to question… is’nt that happening already with the number of divorces increasing in our country. Single working women , with children and a happy life. But if you ask any women on the street if that single working mom’s life was successful she would give an emphatic no!!..the reason being age old as the Everest in India. Single women cannot bring up a child in this world , because god knows what people will say…!!Thus the happiness doesnt depend upon her well being, but society's reaction to her?

But tell that to the millions of women who are now having an absentee husband due to jobs and the pressure in India to succeed.There is an inflow of so much cash due to the country opening up its economy, but with it comes the burden of doing more in the 24 hrs allotted. The rising costs are forcing more women into the workforce, and funnily as it seems the stay at home mom has evolved into a supermom , with a job ,kids and of course the family, But what drives her- is it money or is it an acceptance of society. Nowadays women are supposed to work. Looking through the matrimonial columns for my sister in law, 90% of the men want working women. Included in that list is a girl who is religious, respects elders and of course can share his life ( which means of course do half the chores ).. Though the first two are not too difficult, the sharing of life part is the fun part!!! It means an equal in the monetary sense too. I dont blame the darker sex for that, its just that they too have to touch the success line as defined by society and this unfortunately is measure always in money!!..A friend of mine ran back to work as soon as her son was born, she felt insecure because she was not helping her husband with the income and of course what would people think if she sat at home , even though they both are very well off.!!. so its become a compulsion to put in your share of the cash.. even if your better half doesnt need it .. :(

In the states, I see the hundreds of wife waiting to get their work visa’s so that they can supplement their husbands income .Even if the girl would like an more home based life , she has to choose the career path in order to make ends meet.But sometimes, its just not the basics that we require but the luxuries and that’s where my question is. Do we need the house and the second car because they essentials or we are trying to meet an unseen line which defines to society how successful we are? Is success defined by how much and how quickly we can do all that we do or is it just state of mind where you at peace ?

After that heavy dialogue , the smiles

If you ever feel a little stupid, just dig this up and read it again; you'll begin to think you're a genius

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(On September 17, 1994, Alabama's Heather Whitestone was selected as Miss America 1995.)
Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?
Answer: "I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever,"
--Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest.
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"Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff."
--Mariah Carey
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"Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life,"
-- Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign .
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"I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body,"
--Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward.
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"Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country,"
--Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, DC.
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"That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and I'm just the one to do it,"
--A congressional candidate in Texas.
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"Half this game is ninety percent mental."
--Philadelphia Phillies manager, Danny Ozark
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"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment.. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it."
--Al Gore, Vice President
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Keep smiling ppl

Anu

Dil Se Re….

2007-06-04T20:03:00.000-07:00

Before the post i just wanted to put this in
“My Dad was real sick the last couple of days and had been admitted to the ICU, my mom sick with worry was not well either. The only people handling all of this were my Sister and Brother in law. In between two highly stressful jobs, kids, bills and hospitals, they managing to keep sane and ensure that each of my parents were cared to in the best manner. Sitting 11K miles away all I could do was pray and thank God for the Angels that he has on Earth. Now Dad is all better and back home.

So P&V thank you for all the help. I know you don’t ask for anything in return, but I hope that God gives anything and everything that you ever wish for.

And Also Happy Bday Momma”

My decade long wish came true on Saturday. I actually got to sit/stand/dance and watch A R Rahman live in concert at the Oakland Coliseum. Rahman opened the world of Tamil music to me. I am not disrespecting the other music directors here, but his music related to me on a much more personal level then any other director’s. I stopped listening only to the words but started to listen to the instruments behind them. Each time I heard his song's I discovered something new about it.Every Rahman song has a portion of my memory intertwined in it picking up from the group dance in school with En Veetu Thottathil and party with Rangeela, and of course who can forget standing at nearly every farewell singing Mustafa with candle in our hands .. The raw pain in Ay Ajnabi to the intricate classical strings of Alaipayuthae and kandukondain kandukondain Rahman brought every emotion to our life. A couple of his gems in movies like Uzhavan, Pudiya Mannargal, zubeida ,1947 Earth didn’t get the recognition they rightly deserved, they still dazzle .
His music, has captivated both the young and the old, but the way he captures the energy of the young is unique.Right from every guy humming ‘Endrendrum’ on his bike to a girl's reparting with ‘hey goodbye nanba’, these tunes stick to you. His genius in able to quickly shift between genres, languages and emotions is amazing. In Swades, ‘des mera’ wants you to so something more for India and Lagan makes you remember what it took for your freedom fighters to get that freedom back for you. The role of the lyricists and directors are pivotal here.We may have an amazing song but when it comes to screen it may totally shock you , and you wonder why Rahman even bothers to work with these directors.Coming to the point of the Rahman Maniratnam combo – they are like chocolate icecream, great apart but amazing together.
For me, personally his songs represent anthems in my life. I love Dil Se ,the words and the music, almost represent the pounding of a persons heart

So after all that you can imagine my absolute excitement to get to the stadium. However K and I made two small errors in judgments which cost us the opening act and 3 songs.Mine was that Rahman would actually care what I would wear for his concert and K’s was considering that 2000 Indians were attending, everybody was still going to obey road rules. What should have been a 3 minute exit took an hour .I could have almost lovingly strangled my fellow “Desi’s”. They combined Indian Behavior with American rules. Coming in late and driving all the way to the front of the line, putting on their indicator and actually expecting us poor fools who were in line for the last 30 mins to let them cut in. The others were driving on the lane shoulders and forming a two lane in a one lane drive!!!.For K it was poor hell to drive and for me is was the same to sit and wait, while I knew a mile away Rahman was performing.

Getting up the stairs to the indoor stadium in less than half a minute was a miracle but for Rahman, I guess anything was possible. I walked in to find Sukwinder on Stage,but my eyes stuck to the small figure behind the huge keyboards whom seemed to be the centre of all the energy.I barely had time to sit when a number from Sivaji had the crowd on its feet. The poor security people had never seen the sane Indian nerds act this way:D..They tried controlling them and finally gave up. It was hilarious to see a older gentlemen do break dance for the songs and while ladies dancing with their children made you smile.The laser effects and the dancers on stage were gorgeous.Though I do think a guy in a huge Peocok feathers for Barso Re was a bit funny, the Mayya Mayya dance sequence was pulled off well.

Hariharans voice soothed, Rapper Raman was indecipherably good , Naresh Iyer livened up the crowd, Sukwinder had all ages on their feet, Madhusree had us swaying while Chitra and Vijay were their usual melodious self .The Jugalbandi between Shivamani , the Rajasthani singer, the white guy who sang amazing Hindustani taal and girls with the clappers was great. But Shivamani on the drums alone drove people crazy. I couldn’t believe anybody’s hands could move that fast and so precisely. Roobaroo and Sa Re Ga Me were numbers that could get any person to a jig, and the best part was for the song Rang de Basanti entire crowd was on its feet and in front of me an elderly lady got up and did the Bhangra in her seat!!!. A couple of grouse’s I had with the concert are I wished there were more tamil numbers say from his earlier films. I would have loved to sit there and hear Rasathi from Thiruda Thiruda(sigh sigh!!!) . Also families bringing babies to the concert. At certain points the music system was really loud, and we had dads who were frantically pushing cotton into ears quieting wailing babies.I am sure the laser lights didn’t help the poor mite either :) .Also I learnt a cost efficient way of getting better tickets.One person buys a costlier ticket and then when people don’t come in an hours time, he calls his family down to the better seats!!! I have no problem with him cheating Mehta entertainment (who are the organizers) but they kept coming down in trickle during Ay Hairathe . K and I totally missed that song as we kept getting up to let them through.

However when Rahman was on Stage it was magic and all was forgotten . Dil Se had the whole crowd chanting “Dil Se RE” and when ‘Pray for me brother’ was sung, the entire auditorium was darkened, only to be litup by the cell phone lights of the audience. It seemed as if we were in the stars rather than back down on earth. Humma Humma was the absolute best and loudest that we could get.
The finale was Maa Tujhe Salam. The entire crowd on its feet and singing with emotion, that’s a memory I will carry with me for life.I had stood innumerable times for renditions of Jana Gana Mana or Vande Mataram, but the voices that carried on that day had pride, longing for what was back home and a promise to be back there.And if couldn’t do that immediately, atleast for now we were together honoring India through his song.Emotions ran high and I’m sure mother India was having a series of hiccups as so many ppl were thinking of her all at once : )

Now as I am sitting on the bus on my way into office, looking at the quick zipping of the VTA buses, and the tall glass buildings, I switch on ‘Chinna Chinna Asai’ on my ipod and it feels like home

Wow long post… and now for a smile(atleast for the Rahman fans..the video is shaky but it’s the best you can do with a cannon SD which was dropped several times :D )

Keep Smilin ppl

Anu

Heartbreak Hotel

2007-04-30T16:54:00.000-07:00

I am not blogging frequently why .. simple.. People who know me assume that all of my blogs are my personal experiences. A good pal of mine sent me a couple of inspirational messages, thinking I was depressed as per my last blog :D!!!!K warned me if I published this one ,people would think I was a lovesick teenager, but I am doing so anyway. I like to publish stuff that I feel strongly about – it need not happen to me, but I see it and its feels like a hit in my gut , that’s going to be in the blog!… so G....n u know who you are.. this is’nt abt me, so plzzz don’t send me “heart’s will mend” messages :D:D

Life sometimes plays out a greek tragedy, and even if you are part of the supporting cast, the emotions surrounding the events still play strong. A pal of mine sent me a message that he had got in touch from a long lost colleague. That doesn’t sound bad, but the problem was that this colleague was once a good friend , who had invoked a love triangle, that ended badly for all parties concerned. Thankfully, I wasn’t part of the love drama being played out, but to see the hurt and watch a slow destruction of another friend, by this guys callousness still unnerves me. I keep asking the question “Why”.. why would one purposefully put oneself between a couple who knew each other from mere toddlers, why would one revoke a friendship that lasted through late night get together’s and combined exam cramming sessions on a mere whim and why would anyone go through so much trouble to achieve the lady in question only to move on in a short period. As the friends on the sidelines, we were in a difficult situation, with a distaste lingering by the behavior of the lady and the lothario and a sadness for the Romeo who filled the next tow years of with a series of scotch and whisky bottles. Though the situation ended , as so many in real life, with each of these parties being married to a person , who I am sure had no clue on their past life, it was a difficult lesson I’m sure for the original couple involved.

Another relationship I know ,hit the dirt last week with the girl marrying another , and the guy standing meekly by. The guy gave her up because she couldn’t possibly live his lifestyle (old parents/lot’sa responsibilities)..It was a bad playback of the movie “Unnale Unnale”..Why did they both go through so much heart break, if he knew the situation beforehand and still wasnt ready to face life together?

As K asked me, why I was letting situations that I wasn’t even a party to, irritate me. The reason is I want to live in a world where friendship is honored and love is sacred. Its scary to think that we may bring kids into this world only to prepare them for heartbreak from their closest. As a good friend of mine said once “It’s the survival of the fittest in war and ESPECIALLY in love”. Every situation is a battleground and its getting harder to just live, rather than compete in every single aspect. I thought the classroom ranking system was hard, but the ranking system in the world out there is harder. Its based on money , looks and power,all the things that I grew up to think were not important. The world is getting to be a cold place with relationships being time controlled. I know it must be Utopia to live in a place where peace , harmony and kindness reign supreme, but nowadays I feel that people don’t even want to consider it. The above situations that I described, is what , my friend assures me happens to every girl or guy once in their life. He calls it growing up, but I disagree, just because every other person thinks that morality , love and friendship are something to be discarded doesn’t mean that these are situations to be taken lightly, The above situation should have been an exception, unfortunately its become an occurrence. I somehow don’t know the road ahead on this one, I hope the future generations figures it out though.

Wow that was fun wasnt it!! and now for the smiles…..

1)A man was just waking up from anesthesia after surgery, and his wife
was sitting by his side. His eyes fluttered open and he said,
"You're beautiful." Then he fell asleep again. His wife had never
heard him say that before, so she stayed by his side.A few minutes later his eyes fluttered open and he said,"You're cute."The wife was disappointed because instead of "beautiful," it was now"cute." She asked, "What happened to beautiful?"
The man replied, "The drugs are wearing off."

2.An elderly man walks into a confessional. The following conversation
ensues:
Man: "I am 92 years old, have a wonderful wife of 70 years, many
children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Yesterday, I picked up two college girls, hitchhiking. We went to a motel, where I had sex with each of them three times."Priest: "Are you sorry for your sins?"
Man: "What sins?"
Priest: "What kind of a Catholic are you?"
Man: "I'm Jewish."
Priest: "Why are you telling me all this?"
Man: "I'm 92 years old . I'm telling everybody

Keep smiling
Anu

The Women in Me

2007-03-09T12:06:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was International women’s day.. and I got wishes to rival my birthday. It was just a few words or a long poem , but the message was clear. Every website I visited had pictures of successful women all around. My sister called up to excitedly tell me that she was quoted in a newspaper on the role of women. All this made me proud but it also made me wonder, have the fairer sex reached equality if there are only a handful whom are splashed across websites in this day and age.

I have nothing against women’s’ day , in fact I think it’s a great concept.. but I feel that the men out there too deserve a chance at their own day !!Though I doubt there will be sentimental messages sent between men on their day .. For e.g Dear John.. you mean a lot to me for the kindness and understanding that you shown to me from the day we met From Dick… In such a case John probably might think Doe is Gay or is in serious need of a valium :)), but to receive this from a gal pal made me smile and send back a equally tear jerking mail back to her.

For me women’s day should be celebrated not only on the success or the heights women have reached.. but their day to day survival…I can feel a few raised eyebrows.. think of all those women employed in small firms/government companies, their day begins early with packing lunches, catching the predawn buses to remote areas , working at a measly salary, and coming back just in time to cook dinner. To get through this routine on a daily basis, with the hint of success shown to them by their children’s achievement. They aren’t the best in their field, but the sense of pride these women share is worth talking about. There are still ceilings in the professional field that women are striving to break, but its harder to break the social and cultural fence they have built around themselves. Maybe its in our nature or its society’s call, but a women truly feels successful if there is happiness in her family.There may be a few exceptions but that’s the general case.

The material gains and the independence obtained by women have considerably changed and increased. I know physically we can go the distance, but mentally sometimes it all gets too much. There is always a conflict for women between good for the family vs good for themselves. Any act committed for the latter is like a guilty pleasure. I know my mom would think a thousand times before she selected an item for herself, because her mind would constantly weigh the fact if there was anything for the house, which could be bought instead. To the modern women the choice between raising the family vs spending time in office to get that promotion is a additionally hard choice. So it came no surprise to me that “Women experience depression at roughly twice the rate of men”, and the facts about depression are scary!!!.The trend for stress relief is seen with the numerous Yoga/Meditation and Art of living courses across the globe.True men experience the stress as well, but my opinion is that the level the women relate to the world around them is more on an emotional level and thus the stress and guilt factor is all extra. My Aunt always says that its harder nowdays for women, because the achievements that are stacked in their ladder of success gets higher year round.And to me around every rung is guilt on the time spent in climbing that ladder.

But funnily enough I think women have the strength and courage to cope with anything in their path.. the main reason I think is our greatest weakness… we love to talk. I am sure even the quietest church mouse has a gal pal who she can sob her heart to. The process of talking is healing and to do it as soon as possible is the best method. I know the opposite sex frowns on this method, but its not an act of critiquing anybody. Its simply a way of acknowledging that life sometimes is not easy and we need support to get through it. It lovely to “Crib” and to receive assent on the fact. Its great to denounce everything from your job to your marriage but better to voice the sweetness and joy when these make you smile.

So to all the women who are in my life thank you… and to all the men.. well..I hope you have nothing to complain about :).

And for the smiles

A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine. "House" for instance, is feminine: "la casa." "Pencil," however, is masculine: "el lapiz." A student asked, "What gender is 'computer'?" Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether "computer" should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the feminine gender ("la computadora"), because:
1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

(THIS GETS BETTER!)

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be Masculine ("el computador"), because:
1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

The women won.

Keep Smiling Ppl

Anu

Pretty "Please"

2007-03-01T10:05:00.000-08:00

I been irritated the last two months to write about anything specific. That’s it… … I did move homes, come back from a trip to India, Survive really bad colds… but the reason I didn’t put the keyboard to the word document was one – attitudinal irritation :) (which in my dictionary means wanting to firmly throw people into the Bay of Bengal, because they are a nuisance to general population)

It’s not against one person, or a whole community. But scattered people, who have one thing in common. They are RUDE and inconsiderate. A person can cloak it by saying they are frank or they care or even sometimes just plain “Office Communication”. I just think my tolerance has dropped several scales in the last month. This post is not directed at people who interact only with me, but with my friends and family.

When has being polite become a thing of the 18th century. I know minding the “P’s&Q’s” is something we read in old Enid Blyton novels, but to totally remove the line of distinction between informality and decent behavior and we really don’t have much left. I work with a team in office, who defines ‘work’ as something that is to be done by another. I know we come across people like that but to have a whole team adhering to that mantra is painful. I can almost expect every mail to start with “We cannot or will not” and every problem to start with “You were responsible”, “discussion and solution” doesn’t seem to be a part of their vocabulary .Where does rudeness come into this – its mail style which conveys the tone and talking to a peer as if they are your personal secretary doesn’t cut it. The worst part is this team is from India and to add insult to injury, my US colleague asked me if they treated everybody this way back home.. I did explain to him that Indian traditions install respect at a very young age, especially to elders and this was an exception. When I mentioned this, the other colleague quipped, that maybe we may have to refer the problem to their Manager, who was the only “Elder” they respected :D. I do think that office emails do convey a line of informality , but to step over into being discourteous is easy.

Family implies that these are the people you are close to and they are ones who are to be frank with you. I am generally a good sport. But this is extends to people I know and have known for ages. But to have people you’ve known only for a while, defined as extended family, take liberties on commenting on your life, your health and definitely your income drove me nuts back home. It’s an unfortunate conclusion that some people come to, that, anybody working in the States has droves of dollars stashed in some Swiss account. When I was visiting some folks back home, all they could talk about was my weight and income bracket. A smile is something that is beautiful but to have it permanently placed on your lips while all your hands want to do is throttle another, is hard.!! I remember watching an Oprah show where the physician said that the worst way to undermine a woman was to comment on her weight. One of girls in my family, who kept getting these comments from her “near and dear” ones lost almost 60 pounds. Now she is looks malnourished and definitely sick. She lost weight my simplyby not eating and this method is seconded by her mom. If only these “good will" people can look at how anorexia can destroy lives, they wont be a part of starving a young girl.

Next is the group who call themselves the “Advice Team”. They have an opinion on almost everything and even your personal life and are sure they absolutely right. I don’t mind listening to my elders on their views or I sometimes even ask my pals on some stuff. But to give free give advice is easier than listening to it!! I realize that suddenly a lot of people have advice to give on my marriage and my career. The best part is most of them didn’t have either or both :D...

I listen to ages to my parents telling me what to do, but to listen to a pal whose just starting out on how to define my life made me feel a part of a Calvin Hobbes joke, with this guy morphing into those space alien whose language I had didn’t have a clue on.I feel angry with people who assume they know all the loops which go into the complex tangle which is your life. And any explanation seems to them like a bucketful of excuses and the guilt that arises from them is enough to drown in. A friend of mine was so embittered with explaining to the whole world with why she didn’t quit her job on having her baby, which they felt was the best for her and her son, that she quit her job just to stay at home, and is currently is unhappy as h**.Yes it was her decision to do so, but constantly listening to a barrage of advice was her undoing.

And finally to end my tirade where has all the respect towards the senior folk gone? Right from my plane trip to a lanes of Chennai , I saw constant abuse and disrespect towards people over 60.I know life begins at 50 but to treat a senior person as if they are 10 is repugnant. Right from the autorickhaws of Chennai to the flight attendants of Lufthansa, there seemed to be a distaste to deal with the elderly. It’s always been my pet peeve that people bring their parents from India to work in the US. There is a restaurant in the Bay area where these old gentlemen are waiters and actually straining under the workload. I make it a point never to set foot in the restaurant (K agrees with me especially as the food sucks !!).But to find a blatant disregard to address an older person with some kind of respect really got to me. My mother’s neighbor who picks the flowers and vegetables, out of the garden, which is singularly grown by my mom , and actually cuts up the plants which ‘dare ‘ to creep to her side, doesn’t seem to have a word of thanks about her. Also the other day I was next to an Indian Kid, who was yelling at his grand mom (I’m assuming it’s her) to shut up, while the parents coolly looked on.

Respect, Politeness, Integrity, Honesty are qualities which are endorsed by the religion, tradition and culture of every part of the world. To have the first two submerged under the veneer of modern communication is sad. Is it too hard to include a please and a thank in a conversation. Just doing this to some people feels like an old government communication clip. But these words are not just alphabet’s put together but an indication of how much the person or his/her time means to you. Funnily enough being nice to someone may just constitute a smile or sometime just keeping your thoughts to yourself. That’s not too hard to ask people is it ??!!

And for the laughs as usual

Have you ever spoken and wished that you could immediately take the words back or that you could crawl into a hole?

I was at the golf store comparing different kinds of golf balls. I was unhappy with the women's type I had been using. After browsing for several minutes, I was approached
By one of the good- looking gentlemen who works at the store. He asked if he could help me. Without thinking, I looked at him and said, "I think I like playing with men's balls."

My sister and I were at the mall and passed by a store that sold a variety of candy
And nuts. As we were looking at the display case, the boy behind
the counter asked if we needed any help. I replied, "No, I'm just looking at your nuts."
My sister started to laugh hysterically, the boy grinned, and I turned beet-red and walked away. To this day, my sister has never let me forget.

Have you ever asked your child a question too many times? My three-year-old son had a lot of problems with potty training and I was on him constantly. One day we stopped at Taco Bell for a quick lunch in between errands. It was very busy, with a full dining
room. While enjoying my taco, I smelled something funny, so of course I checked my
seven-month-old daughter, and she was clean. Then I realized that Danny had not
asked to go potty in a while, so I asked him if he needed to go, and he said, "No."
I kept thinking, "Oh Lord, that child has had an accident, and I don't have any clothes with me." Then I said,” Danny, are you SURE you didn't have an accident?"
"No," he replied. I just KNEW that he must have had an accident, because the smell was getting worse. Soooooo, I asked one more time, "Danny, did you have an accident?"
This time he jumped up, yanked down his pants, bent over and spread his cheeks and yelled.” SEE MOM, IT'S JUST FARTS!!"While 30 people nearly choked to
death on their tacos laughing, he calmly pulled up his pants and sat down.
An old couple made me feel better by thanking me for the best laugh
They’d ever had!

This had most of the state of Michigan laughing for 2 days and a very embarrassed female news anchor who will, in the future, likely think before she speaks. What happens when you predict snow but don't get any? A true story. We had a female news anchor who, the day after it was supposed to have snowed and didn't, turned to the
weatherman and asked: "So Bob, where's that 8 inches you promised me last night?"
Not only did HE have to leave the set, but half the crew did too!

While on a flight from New York, the Stewardess was busy passing out peanuts and cokes to everyone. There were about sixteen flights lined up waiting to get clearance
to take off. Then the other Stewardess got a message from the Pilot that the
tower said the wind had changed 180 degrees and they were first in line to take off, and to have everyone buckle up. Without thinking she just announced” Please buckle up, grab your drinks and hold your nuts, we're taking off!" No one saw her for the rest of the
flight to Houston, and all the other Stewardesses were laughing all the way and so were half of the passengers.

Keep Smiling

Anu

Going Home -Part I

2006-12-16T18:26:00.000-08:00

"Another winter day has come and gone away,In even Paris and Rome
And I wanna go home Let me go home
And I’m surrounded by A million people
I Still feel all aloneOh, let me go home Oh, I miss you, you know ,Let me go home
I’ve had my runBaby, I’m doneI gotta go home Let me go home
ill all be all right.......I’ll be home tonightI’m coming back home"

"HOME" -lyrics by Michael Buble

This last month has been hectic for me with a sudden trip back home. It was a business trip backed with the fact that I needed to get my visa stamped, I had a ticket home. I hate traveling alone and the only thing that got me through the journey was the fact that I could get back to Chennai as fast as possible.

Through the last month I have had friends whisper to me that the first trip back to India is a special one. Though most agreed on the fact that the view that I see now with my “non resident” eyes would be very different . I kept disagreeing on the fact as it had been only a year since I left and a year cant undo what 27 years have honed.

I have been in India for the last week and in some ways I agree with them.Everything feels the same , the people act the same and the sky line looks the same, but I feel a bit disconnected to all of it.My home with my parents is my sanctuary , but as a daughter in law who has returned, I find the new relationships disconcerting. To adapt to a family, who I shared air space with for a moments before I left , is a hard task. Even though the people are nice , and the smiles genuine, the awkwardness between spots of conversation is felt. Maybe if I spent more time with them the word 'family' would have more meaning. But in this short period that I have to spend with the folks who brought me into this world , I feel I am split into two with traditions on one side and emotions on the other.

The tuning of the mind doesn’t stop with family. My friends look the same and act no differently than they did a year back. But there is so much of daily shared confidences , I have missed that it seems the language bantered among them is alien to me. Similarly being back to my old office with my colleagues in Bangalore, all of them have grown into their jobs. The young team who I left behind are now managers and senior staff. They carry their responsibilities well and it is a delight to see that the job they swore they would not be able to stand for another few minutes, has become their livelihood and pride for the last 2 years.

Maybe my view now is a bit hazy because I am still working on US time.But in the end a truth is evident, its not only India that has grown, but I have also been altered by the life back in California. I have realized that every day you live in an environment , redefines how you look at life. I don’t think the roads in India are any dirtier than they were a year back, but now I do think that something can be done to help clear the pollution so we can actually say "singara Chennai" in all its true meaning. The crowds on the street delights me and the aromas that float through the air , still have the power to create hunger pangs.I have developed a couple of new relationships this year, but this week I realized that a lot of them at home, have changed – some stronger and some a lot weaker.But at the end of the day, India is home, and however much I grow, I know I will always be able to come back to her.

Considering christmas is ard the corner.. i thought some themed jokes were in order

Psychiatric Christmas Carols
1) Schizophrenia---- Do You Hear What I Hear, the Voices, the Voices?
2) Amnesia-- I Don't Remember If I'll be Home for Christmas
3) Narcissistic-- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
4) Manic-- Deck The Halls And Walls And House And Lawn And Streets And Stores And Office And Town And Cars And Buses And Trucks And Trees And Fire Hydrants And...........
5) Multiple Personality Disorder----We Three Queens Disoriented Are
6) Paranoid---Santa Claus Is Coming To Get Us
7) Borderline Personality Disorder--- You Better Watch Out, You Better not Shout, I'm Gonna Cry, and I'll not Tell You Why
8) Full Personality Disorder--- Thoughts of Roasting You On an Open Fire
9) Obsessive Compulsive Disorder---Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
10) Agoraphobia---I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day But Wouldn't Leave My House
11) Senile Dementia---Walking In a Winter Wonderland Miles from My House in My Slippers and Robe
12) Oppositional Defiant Disorder---I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus So I Burned Down the House
13) Social Anxiety Disorder---Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas While I Sit Here and Hyperventilate
14) Attention Deficit Disorder--We Wish You......Hey Look!! It's Snowing!!!

Keep smiling ppl

Anu

Money ,Money , Money

2006-10-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

K &I have come a full circle of 1 year in our married lives, so we decided to live it up a little bit in Las Vegas. The trip started off a bit rocky with the trip to the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam.The sights were breath taking, but what really stunned us was the fact the tour bus left us behind for being 2 minutes late (I am not kiddin!!!), and we couldn’t enjoy the scene at Mather point. Landing back in LV at 10 pm , after an 14hr journey , we ran to make it to the La Reve show.This show blends acrobatics, special effects and an humor to create a fabulous showcase, on what a person who is high on cocaine can produce. The concept which is supposed to be a young girl in dreamland, takes us through a journey which is eccentric but thoroughly enjoyable. If any one though has figured a theme in these sequences plzzz let me know.

We let ourselves sleep through the next day…only to wake up that evening to catch Mamma Mia, for all lovers of ABBA music ( I am a club member since birth) this is a must see show. Its definitely also a show where a group of ladies can go to spend a girls night out. Right from the colored Speedos, and 80s hairdo to the dance, the show made us smile, bounce and sigh in our seats. Walking through the strip after the show was a joy. The dancing fountains of Bellagio and the sparkling Eiffel tower of Paris Paris was fun took us into another realm. Looking at the strip from the observation deck at Paris was something that’s going to stick with me throughout.

Marveling King Tuts tomb at Luxor, we were suddenly bombarded with people asking us to join in on a time share presentation the next morning. They lured us with a promise of $75 in gambling chips and a promise it would be limited for 2 hrs. Considering it was during lunchtime, they also requested us to have it with the group. We were led at 1pm like lambs to a slaughter. After 3.5 hrs of grueling presentation and 3 layers of grilling by the salespersons, with the price coming down to one third its original offering we stuck to our guns and refused. Finally they stuck us in a room for another hour with a group of similar victims, waiting for the refund of our deposit and a ride back home. I learnt my lesson for my 27th year, GREED NEVER PAYS…. (unless of course your willing to suffer to death for it).Coming back with no lunch (as all they provided was meat sandwiches ), K n I nearly passed out with hunger. But a trip to Blue Men show perked our spirits. If you like loud music, foot tapping drum beats, interactive fun, science fiction and three blue guys this is your show. These guys are fun and they make the audience get involved in all their schemes.

The last day was spent idling away at the Venetian. It was beautiful to stand in the courtyard, just eating a cherry sorbet and listening to people dressed in European wear singing in Italian. Knowing the dollars struggle against the Euro, this would probably be the closest I would get to Vienna.

K & I didn’t gamble much. I really wanted to try poker , but the smoke and loud music of the casino’s put me off. And girls dressed in bare minimum didn’t help either. I tried to shop, but its then I realized, the great divide with people with money and people just don’t have enough J..The shops are for people who have a little extra to spend. I saw jewelry that will enable me to put down a 20% down payment for a house in California. I actually gazed at $750 Jimmy Choo sandals and kept thinking that was my salary back in India !! Looking at young kids dressed in their fashionable best and being driven around in Limo’s ,it made actually feel good about my teen years. The joy of earning your first buck and having the luxury to spend it on whatever little you could is probably lost on these kids who have reached adulthood too early.

Las Vegas is like a crazy dream, where every indulgence is catered to and where every person feels like they can be a winner. It transport’s you to the gorgeous locations , exotic shows , gives you the taste of luxury at every turn and tempts you with quick money. But the sad part is no one realizes that the money spent on getting to the quick cash has been created with hours of working. A fleeting chance of unearned wealth is enough for most people to spend hours in front of a slot machine, trying to win 5 bucks, when putting in 5 times that amount and the worse shopping with the gains at places, where merchandise is 10 times costlier than back home.

However in the back of my mind, a voice constantly reminds me that this world is unreal, and somehow even the people are who live there just put on their show faces for the tourists. In the end I was glad to get back to reality and home. Those lyrics from ABBA’s Money Money Money were always hazy to me till my trip to Las Vegas this weekend.

“Money, money, money ,Must be funny In the rich man's world Money, money, money ,Always sunny In the rich man's world Aha-ahaaa All the things I could do,If I had a little money It's a rich man's world”

And now for some Vegas humor

1)Q: What is the only way to keep your money from the casinos in Vegas?
A: When you get off the plane walk into the propellers!

2)A man comes home to find his wife packing her bags. "Where are you going?" demands the surprised husband. "To Las Vegas! I found out that there are men that will pay me $500 cash to do what I do for you for free!"

The man pondered that thought for a moment, and then began packing HIS bags. "What do you think you are doing?" she screamed.

"I'm going to Las Vegas with you... I want to see how you're going to live on $1000 a year!"

3)A successful businessman flew to Vegas for the weekend to gamble. He lost the shirt off his back, and had nothing left but a quarter and the second half of his round-trip ticket.If he could just get to the airport he could get himself home. So he went out to the front of the casino where there was a cab waiting.He got in and explained his situation to the cabby. He promised to send the driver money from home, he offered him his credit card numbers, his driver's license number, his address, etc., but to no avail. The cabby said, "If you don't have fifteen dollars, get the hell out of my cab!"
So the businessman was forced to hitchhike to the airport and was barely in time to catch his flight.

One year later the businessman, having worked long and hard to regain his financial success, returned to Vegas, and this time he won big. Feeling pretty good about himself, he went out to the front of the casino to get a cab ride back to the airport.
Well, who should he see out there, at the very end of a long line of cabs, but his old buddy who had refused to give him a ride when he was down on his luck. The businessman thought for a moment about how he could make the guy pay for his lack of charity, and he hit on a plan.The businessman got in the first cab in the line, "How much for a ride to the airport," he asked? "Fifteen bucks," came the reply. "And how much for you to give me sexual favors on the way?" "What?! Get the hell out of my cab!"
The businessman got into the back of each cab in the long line and asked the same questions, with the same result. When he got to his old friend at the back of the long line, he got in and asked, "How much for a ride to the airport?" The cabby replied, "Fifteen bucks." The businessman said, "Okay" and off they went. As they slowly drove past the long line of cabs, the business man gave a big smile and thumbs up sign to each driver.

Keep smiling Ppl

Anu

The Pink Ribbon

2006-10-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

This week , I kept reducing into tears every time I switched on the TV. I am not homesick or blue but October is the National Breast Cancer awareness, and frankly the stories of loss ,courage , hope and a will to fight keeps moving me to tears. It started with the movie that I started watching in the weekend, when there wasn’t any thing else on the idiot box. “Two against time” was about a mother daughter team are diagnosed with cancer and their struggle against it. It was a true story, and it kept haunting me.

Back in India cancer and its consequences is potrayed as a disease that carries a definite death sentence . My uncle passed away due to stomach cancer. All it took was 6 months , and the voice which enthralled music halls with its carnatic melody was no more. It was a shock, because there were no genetic reasons, if only his check up was a few months earlier he could have been saved. It is with surprise and thankfulness that I see with the advertisements in US asking woman to go in for their examinations. It would never occur to an any person back home in India , to voluntarily go in for a health check before the age of 50. With the rush of jobs due to the tech sector, the stress has gotten to every employee and people now are most concerned about are their BP alone, but the threat of cancer is far more serious with the polution and virus prevalent. But to the masses cancer is still an ominous force whose occurrence is death , (which unfortunately is portrayed again and again by our movies) and which is not talked about.This fact needs to be changed.The cures and preventions need to be broadcast loudly so that common men don’t treat cancer as a sure sign of death.

As per this Hindu article, breast cancer is the second most common cancer in Indian women. With over 80,000 woman affected in 2002 , there is still insufficient data as to the total spread of this disease in India. I do hear that there are some breast cancer campaigns happening in India, but I think the effort must be intensified.So the common myth in India about cancer being genetic related was destroyed when I also heard on TV that 95% of all cancer is not due to genetics and worse of all , can affect woman as young as 20's.

Though I love my homeland,I do think health is pretty low on everybody’s priority. I love the womans movement against Breast cancer here. I also appreciate the constant motivation and support to those who have to bear this cross.As I write this, there is an add on TV flashing about cancer caused by a virus and I made a mental note to tell my pals about it.
This month is just about information and support, so please pass and read websites / articles which help .If you cant actively involve yourself , atleast ensure the lovely ladies around you take care and schedule an appointment with their doctors. Watching “Warriors in Pink” hosted by ABC’s The View,I saw these survivors who are people next door – mothers ,daughters ,sisters and their daily struggle with chemotherapy, kids and handling their wigs I realized something, courage is something that your born with , but it grows stronger with the challenges you face.

I will sit down this week to watch Geralyn Lucas account of her fight against cancer with humor and confidence.It may not be running for thefight against cancer or wearing a Ribbon, but atleast this week I will talk to my family into a doctors appointment for a general checkup. That is a start ….

N' For the smile to all of us who are getting older... though the wiser part i'm not sure
This one was sent by my mom and my aunt…!!

God grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.

Now that I'm 'older' (but refuse to grow up) here's what I've discovered:

I. I started out with nothing, and I still have most of it.

2. My wild oats have turned into prunes and All Bran.

3. I finally got my head together; now my body is falling apart.

4. Funny, I don't remember being absent minded...

5. Funny, I don't remember being absent minded.

6. All reports are in; life is now officially unfair.

7. If all is not lost, where is it?

8. It is easier to get older than it is to get wiser.

9. Some days you're the dog; some days you're the hydrant.

10. I wish the buck stopped here; I sure could use a few...

11. Kids in the back seat cause accidents.

12. Accidents in the back seat cause kids.

13. It's hard to make a comeback when you haven't been anywhere.

14. The only time the world beats a path to your door is when you're in the bathroom.

15. If God wanted me to touch my toes, he would have put them on my knees.

16. When I'm finally holding all the cards, why does everyone decide to play chess?

17. It's not hard to meet expenses ... they're everywhere.

18. The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.

19. These days, I spend a lot of time thinking about the hereafter .
I go somewhere to get something and then wonder what I'm here after.

20. I AM UNABLE TO REMEMBER IF I HAVE MAILED THIS TO YOU OR NOT!

keep smilin
Anu

Musical Musings

2006-10-03T14:46:00.000-07:00

With Navathri happening, my life for the last weekend has been visiting houses and marveling at the Kolu’s . I really admire the patience of the people who put them up, buy the gifts and of course make the sweets and the sundal.But the weekend ended for me with concert of S.P.Balasubramanyam. I must admit that I am generation ‘Rehman’, Tamil music for me started with Roja. Sitting in the concert , pushed me back to a time before cable invasion in India.(Warning :To those who are unfamiliar with tamil music n movies – stop now and move to the joke or atleast have your google and Tamil dictionary with you :D)

I remember listening to music on the AIR when I prepared for school. For 3 years I had afternoon schedule , so used to actually wait for the ARR sugandhu paaku commercial to start changing into my uniform. Life was easier then with my mom actually feeding me while I danced around the room to the beats of Raja from Agni Nakshathram and parallely finished the last minute homework assignments (she still did that when I used to study for my Masters listening to Kalayanam than katikettu from Saamy :)).The music continued when the rickshaw walla used to blare his radio all the way to school.We listened in awe as he spoke about attending the first show of Thalapathi and his pal breaking his leg while dancing to “Rakamma” from Thalapathi. What really showcased these songs was the impromptu antakshri’s at school during a free hour. The girls would gather round and the singing would start. Every girl had a favorite song with a unique way of singing it. Mine was ‘Then Paandi Seemayile’ from Nayakan . The more wailing we could infuse in the song ,the more quirkier and funny it would be and the entire gang would sway drunkenly across benches (Of course the only way we could do this is to ensure the first row was on a lookout, so when a teacher came by we, the backrow would be covered :D).

During culturals, it was a hard prospect to get the correct song. Sometimes, all four teams would land up singing the same song. Imagine the judge’s plight when they had 4 versions of ‘Chinna Chinna Asai’ from Roja. But the competitors were more cut throat than those we watch on survivor. One group would have a insider, maybe a sister in another group, to find out what song and who is singing. If the song was intricate, the poor gal in the former group would have to hunt for a song with a classical twinge, as the judges always picked the Light music song which was classical in nature….. so of course the favorites were Nila Kaikirathu from Indra or Margazhi poove from May Matham during the 90’s. But I must say there was a general dissent with the judges from all teams when a girl sang “Kuraloothum Kannan” from Mella thiranthathu kadavu beautifully but did not win because another sang ‘amma enrazhaikkadha’ from Manan and won on the basis on the lyrics and song content (we all thought the judges got their job description wrong!!!). My favorite song though, till today is the ever green “oho Megam vanthatho” from Mouna Ragam. Start the monsoons, we girls would walk in the rain to the bus stop , humming the song and each wishing she was Revathi in the movie : ) .

The 50’s and 60’s numbers also stay in my head. With Fridays being time for oLiyum Oliyum, the only program to see the songs on DD, the 8.00 slot was a much honored one. Watching Sivaji Ganeshan strut his walk with “mela nadai’ from Annai Illam to MGR swinging to “Atho Antha paravai pola” on a ship made, made my cousins really walk funny and swing from the tree :D . The ladies weren’t far behind with Padmini’s grace coming out in “nallam thana” in Thillana Mohanambal (with all the girls trying their bharatanatyam best in front of the Tv) and KR Vijaya singing “Athai Madi methai adi” which promptly put all young ones especially me to sleep. My favorite songs were those hummed by my mom when she cleaned up the kitchen in the night. The rhythmic sounds of the water splashing on the vessels complimented my moms off tune music (she is going to see red when she reads this :)) . My dad used to try and whistle out Chandra Babu numbers, though they made a racket, it was fun to hear which was the highest note he could reach.

Music conjures up memories, which I didn’t know I had. Lyrics and songs nowadays get forgotten every 5 days. With the constant bombardment of new music , its very hard for a song to be retained .I am not saying there aren’t any good songs, but the songs which a person would like to remember has slowed to a trickle.Though ‘Manmada Rasa’ created quite a stir, associating a memory with it would be hard. Songs generally reflect the popular mood, but what’s slipping between the cracks is the message that these songs used to give out. Nowdays all the lyrics weave words of passionate love or violence…. But the joy that people feel when singing these lyrics are nowhere to be found
“ohoa maegam vandhadhoa aedhoa dhaagam thandhadoaellaam poovaikkaagaththaan paadum paavaikkaagaththaanpookkal maer neerththuligal venn paakkal paadaadhoathooral poadum naeram poonjaaral veesaadhoa”

and to make you smile…considering I just started work again , this is important.....

Tips for Working Hard or hardly working :D

1. Never walk down the hall without a document in your hands.
People with documents in their hands look like hardworking employees heading for important meetings. People with nothing in their hands look like they're heading for the cafeteria. People with a newspaper in their hand look like they're heading for the toilet.
Above all, make sure you carry loads of stuff home with you at night, thus generating the false impression that you work longer hours than you do.

2. Use computers to look busy.
Any time you use a computer, it looks like "work" to the casual observer. You can send and receive personal e-mail, calculate your finances and generally have a blast without doing anything remotely related to work. When you get caught by your boss -and you *will* get caught - your best defense is to claim you're teaching yourself to use new software, thus saving valuable training expenses.

3. Messy desk.
Build huge piles of documents around your workspace. To the observer, last year's work looks the same as today's work; it's volume that counts. Pile them high and wide. If you know somebody is coming to your cubicle, bury the document you'll need halfway down in an existing stack and rummage for it when he/she arrives.

4. Voice Mail.
Never answer your phone if you have voice mail. People don't call you just because they want to give you something for nothing – they call because they want YOU to do work for THEM. That's no way to live. If your voice mailbox has a limit on the number of messages it can hold, make sure you reach that limit frequently. One way to do that is to never erase any incoming messages. If that takes too long, send yourself a few messages. Your callers will hear a recorded message that says, "Sorry, this mailbox is full" - a sure sign that you are a hardworking employee in high demand.

5. Looking Impatient and Annoyed.
One should also always try to look impatient and annoyed to give your bosses the impression that you are always busy.

6. Appear to Work Late.
Always leave the office late, especially when the boss is still around. You could read magazines and storybooks that you always wanted to read, but have no time until late before leaving.

7. Creative Sighing for Effect.
Sigh loudly when there are many people around, giving the impression that you are very hard pressed.

8. Stacking Strategy.
It is not enough to pile lots of documents on the table. Put lots of books on the floor etc... You can always borrow from library. Thick computer manuals are the best.

9. Build Vocabulary.
Read up on some computer magazines and pick out all the jargon and new products.
Use it freely when in conversation with bosses. Remember: They don't have to understand what you say, but you sure sound impressive.

10. MOST IMPORTANTLY: DON'T forward this to your boss by mistake!!!

Keep smiling

Anu

And Its been two….

2006-08-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

For those of you scratching your head … it’s was two years ago that I began blogging. And funnily enough when I read my first post, it just struck me that my life is at a starting point again. I just got a job, with the same company I worked for in India, however funnily enough this time I am that person in US who is going to bug the Indian guys for information that was due yesterday:D

Life has changed for me quite a bit in these two years; the independence of being a single working woman has become interdependence with being married. My mother warned me today, to plan ahead and not be the way I was back in India. She knew that when I get involved in a spreadsheet, it will take a lot of effort to get me back to the cooking range. The question I asked a couple of years back, now strikes me square in the jaw. Being a homemaker and a career person requires a LOT of work,. While people like my sister carry it off with a lot of panache, there are girls like me out there I am sure, who are trying to wrap their heads around the sambar preparation versus the presentation to be made. Though I am sure “Hubbies” are helpful in their own way , in the end in society today woman are judged both on child rearing /housekeeping capabilities and career choices. So being a feminist and all, I still ask the question “Did we women bite off more than we can chew – accepting responsibilities in both home and hearth?”

And a couple of one liners to make u smile

I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.
Gardening Rule: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.
The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.
Life is sexually transmitted.
Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.
Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.
Have you noticed since everyone has a camcorder these days no one talks about seeing UFOs like they used to?
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again

Keep Smilin PPl

Anu

When Real and Reel collide

2006-08-14T23:10:00.000-07:00

I had taken a break from blogging, but I have been quite a constant visitor to my blogger pals ….. hopefully this time I wont stop

During the weekend I went to see Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna,(spoilers ahead) though the movie will never be one of my favorite, it brought out a lot of conversation topics. A couple of my friends were uneasy with it and the reason being a part of it resonated with their life. Being new to the whole relationship thing, I don’t say that I am an expert of human interactions, but in every relationship I do believe there is a point where the people just want to jump out of the boat and here lies the true test of commitment. I am sure if Juliet lived she would have driven the dagger through Romeo’s heart herself, when he had left the wet towel on their bed for the 100th time or Romeo would have gladly fed her cyanide , for her numerous shopping trips. But does that mean that she would have left Romeo for Paris, just because they had the same background and tastes, and suddenly the adolescent love was left behind for the more practical kind.

Also the movie triggered the feminist in me. A person actually remarked that she felt badly for Shah Rukh’s character in the movie, because his wife played by Preethi was career oriented. This from a person, who has been a career woman in her life. Well God help all those girls in India, supporting their families by working 12 hr days, they are definitely deserving of a jerk who yells at them and leaves them for a nursery school teacher (as in the movie). A relationship is tough to say the least; it’s about two people who different individuals are making an interaction in to a bond that last a lifetime. What I didn’t like about the movie was the sanction to leave that bond behind, because you suddenly happen to grasp the fact that you are still attracted to other people .Considering the billion of people in the world, I am sure a person will come in contact with another who is their soulmate, but having that person as your better half is always not possible. Some are lucky they marry their soulmates, but the others enter an “institution” which ensures that through the years the other person grows into your soulmate.

Most girls and some guys grow up on the concept of an explosive love everlasting .The significant other is all things they want to be themselves in a way .But if you live in a dream world, and reality bites, 48 tetanus shots are not going to help u out of that!!!. I don’t want to say that the true love (which is portrayed in nearly every movie) doesn’t last in real life. Some people get it immediately and many have to work on it.The movie asks the question “What if u meet your soulmate after marriage?”… a philosophical question but to me an oxymoron. If your married, that person is your soulmate and if you cannot live with that person you say good bye first before you jump into another person’s arms . A famous saying goes ‘ the guys are like grapes – u have to stomp on them till u get the best wine’ , n I am sure there is an equally insane saying from the guys side. But the truth is ,it’s a lot of hard work that goes into the stomping :)) .I know atleast one woman in the theatre would have watched the movie and then looked at her husband and sighed , sure that her true love was waiting outside on his silver merc!!!,But the truth was 95% of the time , that true love would leave her for a better and younger model:)

Instant gratification with love has now extended to the marriage front. It’s just easier for people to say goodbye than to fight for something, whose end may not be a happier ever after. Where does the love stop and the commitment begin or are they interrelated that one without the other doesn’t make sense?

Of course I am speaking on a generalized front, and every relationship has its own dynamics. The sad part is Indian movies are now giving the sanction for a marriage to fall apart due to stress and lack of communication. With even less supporters of this institution I wonder how long it will last?

And for the joke….

Husband takes his wife to play her first game of golf.

Of course, the wife promptly hacked her first shot right through the window
of the biggest house adjacent to the course. The husband cringed, "I warned you to be careful! Now we'll have to apologize and see how much your lousy drive is going to cost us. “So the couple walked up to the house and knocked on the door.
A warm voice said, "Come on in." When they opened the door they saw the
damage that was done: glass was all over the place, and a broken antique
bottle was lying on its side near the broken window.
A man reclining on the couch asked, "Are you the people that broke my
window?"
"Uh...yeah, sir. We're sure sorry about that," the husband replied.
"Oh, no apology is necessary. Actually I want to thank you. You see, I'm a
genie, and I've been trapped in that bottle for a thousand years. Now that
you've released me, I'm allowed to grant three wishes. I'll Give you each
one wish, but if you don't mind, I'll keep the last one for myself."

"Wow, that's great!" the husband said. He pondered a moment and blurted
out, "I'd like a million dollars a year for! the rest of my life.” No problem," said the genie. "You've got it, it's the least I can do. And I'll guarantee you a long, healthy life!"

"And now you, young lady, what do you want?" the genie asked. "I'd like to
own a gorgeous home complete with servants in every country in the world,"
she said.” Consider it done," the genie said. "And your homes will always be safe
from fire, burglary and natural disasters!"

"And now," the couple asked in unison, "what's your wish, genie?"
" Well, since I've been trapped in that bottle and haven't been with a
woman in more than a thousand years, my wish is to sleep with your wife."

The husband looked at his wife and said, "Gee, honey, you know we both now
have a fortune, and all those houses. What do you think?"

She mulled it over for a few moments and said, "You know, you're right.
Considering our good fortune, I guess I wouldn't mind, but what about you,
honey?
“You know I love you sweetheart," said the husband.
"I'd do the same for you!" So the genie and the woman went upstairs where
they spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying each other. The genie was
insatiable. After about three hours of non-stop fun, the genie rolled over and looked
directly into her eyes and asked, "How old are you and your husband?"
"Why, we're both 35," she responded breathlessly.

"Really?! Thirty-five years old and both of you
still believe in genies?"s

Keep Smilin ppl

Anu

By Gosh ..SHE’s done it!!!

2006-05-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

For all those unfamiliar with that phrase, its from “My Fair Lady”, the classic, which is one of my favorite movies. I finally changed my blog template… Being totally ignorant of all Html codes and the deciphering of these was pretty easy. I got mine from http://blogger-templates.blogspot.com/ and it was pretty simple to set it up.So I hope u guys like it

Speaking of codes, saw the movie Da Vinci Code yesterday after reading Mitr’s posts and I agree with the critics - it was not worth all the hype. I am from a background which has been enriched by Christianity while having its roots in Hinduism, and when this book was released , it ranked high among the dinner topics in our family. Thrashing out the gospels and dissecting the dead sea scrolls, the topic was Tabu to some of my relatives who are Christians and a hot conversation piece to the rest of us. What I like about the book was the witty and intellectual conversation pieces between Langdon and Leigh, and the most absorbing for me was the attention to detail regarding history of the Christian wars. I wanted to and still want to visit Roslyn chapel .The book had impressed me enough to start reading up on the Knights Templar and the Rose wars, but the movie disappointed me. Apart from totally departing from the ending in the book ,regarding the conclusion of the car crash, Ron Howard sugar coats it with a new dialogue regarding divinity.!!! The movie fails to exploit the beauty and genius of Leonardo and also the actors are deplorable in certain scenes.

Why I liked the book, apart from the above was the portrayal of Mary Magdalene. Since a young age I have always wondered at the difference between the Hinduism and Christianity. Though the “mother” figure is portrayed in both as one of great strength, sacrifice and love , and paradoxically the lady companion /wife is totally disregarded in Christianity but worshipped in Hinduism as a goddess. This is what I believe and I am sure more than half the worlds population will disagree- “There is only one God and Religion” and the due to the geographical distances that existed,the cultural depiction of him has led to the growth of the innumerable religions. These depictions most of the time portray the same God or Human depending on how you view these figures of faith. Jesus was a carpenter and surrounded by the animals,viewed in many drawings as a "Good Shepherd" , Krishna was cowherd and every drawing I see of him has animals in the background. Their respective mothers were the personification of love and devotion. Their disciples had the doctrine of responsibility to others and duty to oneself. And most importantly there has been a controversy of human versus divine for all the avatars of Vishnu and now recently for Christ.

That leads me back to the question of Meera Vs. Mary Magdalene ,feminine disciples and their stance in the religion. Meera is said to be Krishna’s biggest disciple- she left a king and kingdom for him and she is praised for it.Radha ,another companion of Krishna and they immortalise the concept of love. In Contrast, even though the Gospel of Mary & Phillip, says that Jesus felt that she was the disciple closer than all .even Peter and it was she who was elected to give the true message of Christianity, yet she is condemned as a whore. For me it’s all about giving a person their due. Irrespective of the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, if she was a person who imbibed Christ’s discipline , her teachings should be made public to the world. It is not how the message was got but what the message is that makes the most sense!! To cover it in a religious blanket by condemning the person as immoral is absolutely against the faith,.

I am not decrying Christianity in this post. Rather , it has taught me some values which is an integral part of me. However, the real message is Love towards humanity. Fighting over the virtue of a woman, who Christ loved as a disciple is depreciating those same values.

The significance of the “Sacred Feminism” made sense to me, but I understand for many people it is blasphemous. All I wish for is that we recognize the true meaning of the strength of womanhood, be it in any form- mother/ wife or more importantly as a partner. I'm sure that God irrespective of whichever form or religion will want to recognise a person irrespective of their sex, for their contribution to humanity.

And to give you ppl something to smile about

Extra Marital affairs!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The 1st Affair:

A married man was having an affair with his secretary.

One day they went her place and made love all afternoon. Exhausted, they fell asleep and woke up at 8 PM.

The man hurriedly dressed and told his lover to take his shoes outside and rub them in the grass and dirt.

He put on his shoes and drove home.

"Where have you been?" his wife demanded.

"I can't lie to you," he replied, "I'm having an affair with my secretary. We had sex all afternoon."

"You lying bastard!

You've been playing golf!"
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The 2nd Affair:

A middle-aged couple had two beautiful daughters but always talked about having a son.

They decided to try one last time for the son they always wanted.

The wife got pregnant and delivered a healthy baby boy.

The joyful father rushed to the nursery to see his new son.

He was horrified at the ugliest child he had ever seen.

He told his wife, "There's no way I can be the father of this baby. Look at the two beautiful daughters I fathered! Have you been fooling around behind my back?"

The wife smiled sweetly and replied, "Not this time!"
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The 3th Affair:
A woman was in bed with her lover when she heard her husband opening the front door.

"Hurry," she said, "stand in the corner."

She rubbed baby oil all over him, then dusted him with talcum powder.

"Don't move until I tell you," she said. "Pretend you're a statue."

"What's this?" the husband inquired as he entered the room.

"Oh it's a statue." she replied. "The Smith's bought one and I liked it so much I got one for us, too."

No more was said, not even when they went to bed.

Around 2 AM the husband got up, went to the kitchen and returned with a sandwich and a beer.

"Here," he said to the statue, "have this. I stood like that for two days at the Smith's and nobody offered me a damned thing."

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The 4th Affair:

A man walked into a cafe, went to the bar and ordered a beer.

"Certainly, Sir, that'll be one cent."

"One Cent?" the man thought.

He glanced at the menu and asked, "How much for a nice juicy steak and a bottle of wine?"

"A nickel," the barman replied.

"A nickel?" exclaimed the man. "Where's the guy who owns this place?"

The bartender replied, "Upstairs, with my wife."

The man asked, "What's he doing upstairs with your wife?"

The bartender replied,

"The same thing I'm doing to his business down here."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 5th Affair:

Jake was dying. His wife sat at the bedside.

He looked up and said weakly, "I have something I must confess."

"There's no need to," his wife replied.

"No," he insisted, "I want to die in peace. I slept with your sister, your best friend, her best friend, and your mother!"

"I know, I know," she replied. "Now just rest and let the poison work

Keep Smilin ppl

Anu

For You Momma!!

2006-05-13T23:45:00.000-07:00

Today is Mother’s day and frankly till this year never did much care for it…to me my mom was always around… and sometimes tooo much !!.Life has changed dramatically over the year , and so has the sentiment for me surrounding this day. As I skim through the many blogs that talk about their mom, my thoughts are just the same…but I still feel my momma is special.
The earliest of my mom I remember is her singing to us before putting us to bed, as we grew we started covering our ears, but that is another matter :).I was always sick as a kid, that entailed plenty of time away from school. But I loved those days bunking school, because I could listen to my moms favorite old English music, while she bustled around the kitchen, unfortunately for me , later in life when others were listening to Ricky martin and mooning, I still loved Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, and therefore really couldnt understand what "Bon Bon' meant!!!!. Being a working woman herself, Amma ensured that the thought of independent women, crept into our minds, at a young age,(all this much earlier than the Destiny Child hit song).
An astrologer had told mom that her second un would give her the utmost troubles, and did my best to prove him right through my life. Right from a total change in the stream of education, to studying with the TV on, with working late nights and having an endless stream of friends calling, I have always ensured my mom’s tension levels were peaking. But as I grew up, I started leaning on my mom more as a friend. I did bunk college to see a movie, but funnily enuf only after telling her what I was about to do. With my dad it was more respectful relationship, with my mom it progressed to a one where I could watch Ally McBeal and Baywatch and comment on the new guys on the shows . My sister the ‘Armish Nun’ used to cluck disapproving at all my views on the reality television especially temptation Island, but my mom used to perk her eyebrow and disagree with my selection and have her own views…. Not many people have a argument with their mother as to who is cuter 'Joey' or 'Chandler' on Friends, and whom Rachel belongs with.
In Bangalore, my mom and I used to have amazing shopping trips. With her arthritis , a window shopping took a whole angle. Escalators were death traps with my mom precariously sliding onto them… gosh those were fun days. With Friday nights reserved for movies,we used to overdose on all the new pirated CD’s.In the last 6 months before my marriage, my mom struggled to teach me the skills of housekeeping (Struggled is an understatement :) ), I think she still thinks that K should have been paid dowry for all the troubles he undertook !!. In the US, I’ve been talking to my mom over the net and I think its payback time for her now…. Try talking to a person who’s never touched a computer to send a emoticon, I think it would be easier to teach my niece astro physics.As we speak an hour a day now, with 45 minutes dedicated to me teaching her to maximize the webcam window everyday , I Kinda understand what she went through trying to teach me to write cursive!!!
Today as I wished her a Happy Mothers Day, I meant it , I could hear her singing to me in my ear, though she sounded off key as usual, it was the sweetest sounds of music to me

For all the mom’s out there – Happy Mothers day

And for the joke – the ol ladies of the world really know a lot :)

In a trial, a small town prosecuting attorney called his
first witness to the stand. The witness was a grand motherly, elderly
woman.

He approached her and asked, "Mrs.Jones, do you know me?" She
responded, "Why, yes I do know you, Mr. Williams. I've know you since
you were a young boy,and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to
me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, you manipulate people and talk
about them behind their backs. You think you're a big shot when you
haven't the brains to realize you never will amount to anything more
than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you. "

The Lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across
the room and asked, "Mrs. Jones. do you know the defense attorney?"
She again replied, "Why yes, I do. I've known Mr. Bradley since he was
a youngster, too. He's lazy, bigoted and he has a drinking problem.
He can't build a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice
is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on
his wife with three different women, one of them was your wife. Yes, I
know him."

The defense attorney almost died.

The judge asked both counselors to approach the bench, and in a very
quiet voice, said, "If either of you bastards asks her if she knows
me, I'll throw you in jail for contempt."

Keep Smiling ppl,

Anu

From the Galatta into the Ocean

2006-04-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

Well, these two months, have been busy, from a visit from my sister, to a week in Hawaii and taking up a study course, I have 20 posts stored, but hopefully today this one gets published :).

This weekend, started with the Tamil’s new years day, followed by two different concerts, so different in their nature and texture, though held in the same auditorium at Foothill College. The first was the Tamil Galatta 2006 arranged by the Bay area Udavum Karangal chapter. On 15th when I got a call from a friend asking me if I was interested in a Tamil movie song nite , I jumped at the chance… my friends back home, would have raised an eyebrow, I am the quite essentially the gal who listens to English pop and Hindi music and maybe real out a Tamil song in a faintly English accent (to local chennaites, I am what they call a “Mary”).I never thought that I would thirst for a day , where all I wanted to do was to hear Tamil being spoken out loud :).
Galatta true to its name was lotsa fun.The best part was the entire effort put in was through the bay area volunteers. While watching them, it was evident that a lot of effort and time had been put into it and also the dedication of these people towards the cause was clear. When the Udavum Karangal presentation was put up, it really struck a chord. I wanted to go and donate/volunteer for this cause after seeing the smiles on those lil kids faces. The performances of the Pallavi troupe were good, especially the costume changeby the singers for every song. The young girls dancing had my eyes riveted on the stage with their grace and coordination for a song from the movie “Bombay”. More than all this, the sense of home prevailed.

As I glanced across to my friend during a song from “Devar Magan” which used to be her favorite in school, it seemed like it was yesterday and memories flooded me.The antakshri’s (singing competitions) held in school informally during a free period used to ensure that the bathroom singers came to the forefront in the classroom. The show took me back to my own school culturals, the Green room ( change/makeup area) used to be a mayhem of clothes, mothers, coordinators and others yelling, pulling and laughing,with ongoing perfect performances on stage . The tension in the green room so high that you could feel the deep breath being released once the performance was completed. Back in Galatta as we trapezed thru the 50’s MGR songs to the current Ghana hits, the crowd really had fun. The organizers were brilliant, by arranging for Chinese dragons and glow in the dark ornaments for the songs. I didn’t hear a kid cry for most of the night, and that is the true test of any event :).What really brought Chennai to me was the “Thappang kuuthu” (God help my spelling) dance to the Ghana pattu (song). To the unknown, this is a real fun dance, which originally was started for people to dance in front of the funeral procession, in order to give the beloved dead a good sendoff. Well that has progressed to an invigorating gig that has every respectable Chennai college student should knowJ and from the audience on stage every bay area person knew it! The evening was by all means a success, I hope to return to Galatta 2007.

Sunday evening as the clouds loomed across, the stage was set for Indian Ocean to play. This was set up by AID Bay Area, and this organization has its arms helping communities across India to stand on their own and achieve social justice and equality. Indian Ocean concert blew me away. These guys I had heard about , but sitting there listening to their music, wanted me to take up some instrument and play with them. It was a explosion of different instruments, which invigorated me and funnily enough made me think of college… yeah down memory lane again!. I am sure every person has a period where they go through - what I like to call the “true meaning of life “ stage. We sit around, listening to Pink Floyd, reading Ayn Rand, drinking cups of chai and battling out whether Agent Smith in the Matrix was truly a nemesis or actually a facilitator!!.Just substitute Pink Floyd with Indian Ocean and there I was ,back in college.Rahul , playing the bass and talking Hindi- English lingo always had a laugh intertwined with a thought, which made u smile and think “Oh!!” at the same time.Asheem on the Tabla and vocals, made me shake my head in awe at the rendition of the veda’s ,and in the same breath Kabir das.Susmit on the guitar, had me confused as to the instrument he was playing, the sounds ranging from violin to the veena, was beautiful and finally Amit, the king of the drums and so many percussion instruments I lost count. Though sometimes I felt like a fish out of water, when the vocals were in various north Indian languages. Interplayed with this music, were the AID volunteers, request for help with the ongoing projects. Though I do think that the volunteer picked the wrong time, as she was boo’ed off by the crowd, whose ears were all for the band. Their renditions of Kandisa, Melancholic Ecstasy and Ma Rewa, had the crowd stomping, hooting and clapping.

Comparing the two musically will be impossible; however there were some organizational highs and some minute flaws. For Galatta parking was not specifically demarked by the volunteers, and my pal got a ticket, whereas the AID volunteers in their orange coats ensured that the cars followed the right direction. Also, personally I felt that the Galatta music show was a little long, from 6.30-10.15 pm, with a 45 mins break , maybe next time they can shorten duration of the break for dinner. On the other side, the AID concert gave a break at 6.15 pm for dinner, and with one line for all the 900 people, I had to wait 20 mins in one line for tea, with a 30 min break specification. The Udavum Karangal unit had 4 food lines, so we finished quickly and had time to visit the stall for sponsorship. Also the AID concert presentation on projects was a bit clinical, if I was in a boardroom, the presentation would have been fine, but to get people to volunteer, you need to touch their emotional bone, and that’s where the Galatta show won

But in the end, what a show they both were!!! In India, I was happy just to sit back and maybe contribute to some causes, but here watching these people work overtime and weekends for a place 11,000 miles away, which we all still call home,, actually made me sign up as a volunteer. Kudos to the teams who care ,most of all these shows motivated all of us there to do our bit for India, and that is the greatest achievement.

And for the joke, after a long time…here goes
A farmer rears twenty-five young hens and one old cock. As he feels that the old cock could no longer handle his job efficiently, the farmer bought one young cock from the market.
Old cock to Young cock : "Welcome to join me, we will work together towards productivity.
Young cock : What ya mean? As far as I know, you are old and should beretired.
Old cock : Young boy, there are twenty-five hens here, can't I help you withsome?
Young cock : No! Not even one, all of them will be mine.
Old cock : In this case, I shall challenge you to a competition and if I win you shall allow me to have one hen and if I loose you will have all.
Young cock : O.K. What kind of competition?
Old cock : 50 meter run. From here to that tree. But due to my age, I hopeyou allow me to start off the first 10 meters.
Young cock : No problem ! We will compete tomorrow morning.
Confidently, the following morning, the Young cock allows the Old cock to start off and when the Old cock crosses the 10 meters mark the Young cock chases him with all his might.Soon enough, he was behind the Old cock back in a matter of seconds.
Suddenly, Bang! ..... before he could overtake the old cock, he was shot deadby the farmer, who cursed,"Hell ! This is the fifth GAY chicken I've bought this week !"

Well Keep smiling ppl,

Anu

Being Gandhi

2006-01-28T18:12:00.000-08:00

Jan 26th just rolled past here, and my thoughts were full of the Indian parade,for 5 seconds, before they moved on to something else.. but today the pride that I take to be an Indian hit me squarely in my face .K and I moved into a new apartment last week and the days were full of unpacking and redecorating. In the midst of all this I prepared a digital collage of our wedding snaps which I wanted to be framed. After getting the perfect frame, we were stuck as the collage was in Corel and none of the online printing solutions helped. So today we trudged to FedEx Kinko’s for the printout of the collage. The place was moderately crowded, so armed with our laptop, and on behest of a employee there we decided to take the self help counter.The way the self help counter works is that the laptop is connected to the LAN, the credit card is inserted in the machine and the minutes and printouts are priced @10 cents and $2 respectively.On the connection of the printer, we realized we had 2 printers available and were in a quandary as to which one to use.On waiting for 5 minutes in the queue, I gave up and asked K to take a print and we would figure stuff out as we go… the printout came in B&W and in two sizes too small for us. Back to the queue alone I wanted to check which printer again , as we didn’t want to make the mistake twice.Thats when , a small moment turned into self awakening,the lady at the counter was busy so I asked the Guy who was in between customers, the printer to be used.He ignored me the first two times I asked, the next time , he looked at me …Racial discrimination has a dirty face and I think he is its “Poster Child” and said “Im busy,after 3 customers I’ll try and get to you”.
A lot of you may be thinking he was just rude or busy … but believe me a look says it all. I am used to rude people, you cant survive through a Chennai market stroll, without people commenting on you and your ancestry, But the look of concentrated hatred on his face coupled with his condescending tone shook me all the more.I always believed in “Sticks and Stones may brake my bones ,but words would never hurt me” policy, but what do u do when you are faced with underlying malice. The lady at the counter immediately with a apologetic look told me the printer number and said she would credit us in case we could not get the required printout. I passed on the message to K .The guy never bothered to come help us and 10 minutes later we left. The shock turned to anger over time. I wanted to go back and yank the guy by his shirt color and yell that my India has been in existence since time in memorial and his country is a by product of a explorers search of India. I wanted to tell him that the economic growth of his land was made up of the million Indians who slogged over their computers ,worked in silicon valley day and night to ensure that new inventions and better process lead to successful ‘American’ MNC’s. Also there are million more in India who work through the night to ensure the “Low cost” success stories of these companies.
I missed home these days and today I realized I missed India.I miss being a citizen, who has rights and duties incorporated as not only as an integral part of their studies, but over time, integral part of their life.The freedom to walk into any part of town, not distinguishable as “desi “ and “non desi”,where your education is recognized and you don’t have to go through the same courses just to earn an “American degree”.I miss having to sing Jana Gana Mana, on Jan 26th when the flag is raised,I even miss the statues of Gandhi, MGR and others who crowd the streets.
There are a huge chunk of people here who aren’t racist and what I witnessed today was just a snowflake on the tip of the iceberg…A lot of people here including K haven’t witnessed a sliver of racial discrimination and I am happy for them and I pray that this is a dying disease

Today I realized how important the being an Indian means,I have a homeland steeped in culture,tradition and such ethnic diversity that all guests are treated as family, and I thank God for that… because ‘Sara Jahan Se Acha, ye Hindustan Hamara’

Coincidentally one of my friends sent me this joke last week… so no offence intended to either nationality :)

An Indian migrated to America, and moved into an American neighbourhood; His American neighbour went next door to wish him welcome.He was shocked to see the man from India in his nice backyard chasing ten chickens around like mad. "Must be an Indian custom," he thought to himself. Deciding he could put off the welcome till a later date, he went home.
The next day, he decided he was going to welcome the Indian man again. When he looked through his window, he saw the Indian man urinate into a cup and drink it. "Must be an Indian custom," he thought to himself. Deciding he could put off the welcome till the next day, he went on with other stuff.
The third day, he was determined to welcome the Indian man. At his gate, he saw the Indian man with his ear pressed against a cow's big fat butt. Seeing this, he became disgusted and went up to the Indian man. "I'm sorry sir, I did want to wish you a warm welcome, but I cannot stand your crazy Indian customs!" He yelled in the Indian man's face. The Indian man looked confused and answered. "Sorry sir, I think you are mistaken. These are actually American customs. I was told, that in order to be a true American, you have to chase chicks, get piss drunk, and listen to bullshit

Keep Smilin ppl

Anu

Wish you a Happy Pongal...

2006-01-14T08:42:00.000-08:00

Hope this Shankranthi fills your life with sweetness and joy...

Anu

Help!!! They’ve turned me into a shopaholic…

2006-01-09T22:25:00.000-08:00

Have you ever found yourself walking into a shop one day because it said SALE in block letters…only to walk out with your bank balance reduced to a miniscule…Well my life has been a series of those days since I have landed in the US….

I came with thanksgiving weekend around the corner and what all the friends and relatives were buzzing about was the after thanksgiving sale… walking into Sears at 8a.m , gave me a sense of being in another planet… I have never seen so many people so active on a Saturday morning…clothes were going off the hanger at speed of light…walking out with $350 spent and 5 hrs later. I promised my self and my poor husband. that this was a yearly phenomenon and it was only one day a person could let herself go…Was I ever wrong!!! :)
Quickly on the heals of thanksgiving comes the “days before Christmas” and the sales continued….well like a alcoholic getting a whiff of a spirit in someone’s perfume and falling off the wagon, all it took for me was the phrase “when u go to India you need to take gifts”…considering I had just come from India, this phrase should not have shook me.. but the urge to buy lots of things at really cheap prices overtook the reasonable person in me.. Jewelry was the name of the game this time, I knew that I could never go wrong with a fake ruby or emerald stone setting for my friends back home who would forgive me for not mailing the last three months.. a Sears and Macy’s card later, we were out by another $250 …though considering in Rupees for that price I could have bought them something in gold!
The demon of shopping should have been laid to rest ,however K and I are moving into a new apartment and unfortunately for him, he mentioned the word “refurnish”… well with “after Christmas” /New Year /Winter Sale about to start, the sale monster had to reappear and it did in a whole new fashion. For the old me, furniture and home improvements was a chair and a bed.. with a TV…but oh no!!! with a credit card and a 30-50% off on IKEA (a furniture /Home store)…I wanted everything from a candle stand to a fluorescent lamp and I spent another 5 hrs (with lunch) walking through the showroom and ‘marketplace' !!!But what we both as a couple wanted was a 6 drawer dresser (packed and unassembled) ..the entire furniture part of the store is self service… So a day before the sale ended, we spent half a day strategizing :- the borrowing of a truck, the time to IKEA, the time for billing and then the move from the car park to the house: Transportation equations at its best. Well moving on, it was my brilliant Idea, that we use the TV stand which had the wheels on them to move the boxes from the car park to the apartment…all went as per plan, till we loaded the dresser on the TV stand, a few seconds down, the stand collapsed!!!!! So it was back to IKEA for us, to buy a new one!!
Last Week ended with a visit to the Flea market. This is Ranganathan street, Koyambedu market,Tnagar thrown together along with a couple of furniture stores and fast food restaurants (for non-Chennaites – that means all the stuff under the sun from hairclips to entire apartment furniture in one place and REALLY REALLY cheap). The best part was the market… it was just like home,people bargaining, rotting vegetables and people walking whichever way they want. I love it!!! K has promised several more trips, provided I don’t buy most of the market and like a person in withdrawal I have promised.
Yesterday though I felt a small victory. It was the last day of the Macy’s new year sale, and at having a guilty complex about not buying anything for K ,I walked in at 6.45 pm with hope that maybe this time, I would catch a real bargain….however the faiths were against me .,.. and the announcement was that the shop would close sharply at 7.00pm that day ,compared to the regular 9.00 pm timings. I needed a bargain badly; something that would assuage my feelings of guilt of spending soo much money is soo little time…. With 5 minutes to go, and adrenaline surging, I tried everything from a tie to Calvin Klein shirts, with exorbitant rates or with K being extremely picky my time was running out, Then suddenly my eyes fell on blue shirt… K seemed to like it, saying a prayer, I looked at the price and I think I actually heard the hallelujah chorus from heavens up above , a $45 shirt was cut down to $10 .Picking it up I ran to the counter in a leap that would have put Sergei Bubka to shame :))..my victory was small and I had just won a little battle. But my war with Bargains and sale will continue Im afraid till my last breath… because, we all know even a 1$ saved can buy u a ladle at the dollar store.

Some Pics of my shopping fiascos and victory :)

Well for the jokes, and for this one I thank my aunt, in her 50’s she’s learning to be a Medical Transcriptionist- Ive put down some now and reserved the rest for later:)

Actual Medical Chart Notes

1.Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.

2.Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.

3.On the second day, the knee was better, and then on the third day it disappeared.

4.The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be depressed.

5.The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.

6.Discharge Status: Alive, but without my permission.

7.Healthy-appearing decrepit 69-year old male, mentally alert but forgetful

8.The patient refused autopsy.

9.The patient has no previous history of suicides.

10.Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.

Happy New Year

2005-12-31T20:08:00.000-08:00

My Wishes to all of you ..may every Joy n Happiness, Wealth n Health find its way to your doorstep..just like these roses to your screen :)

Taken from "Happy New Year" - By ABBA

"Now’s the time for us to say...
Happy new yearHappy new year

May we all have a vision now and then

Of a world where every neighbour is a friend

Happy new yearHappy new yearMay we all have our hopes, our will to tryIf we don’t we might as well lay down and die,You and i

Sometimes I seeHow the brave new world arrives

And I see how it thrives

Happy new year

Happy new year"

And with Tradition- the joke

A man standing in line at a check-out counter of a grocery store was very surprised when an attractive woman behind him said, "Hello!"
Her face was beaming. He gave her that "who-are-you?" look and couldn't remember ever having seen her before. Then, noticing his look, she figured she had made a mistake and apologized.
"Look," she said, "I'm really sorry, but when I first saw you, I thought you were the father of one of my children," and walked out of the store.
The guy was dumbfounded and thought to himself, what the heck is the world coming to? Here is an attractive woman who can't keep track of who fathers her children!
Then he got a little panicky. I don't remember her, he thought, but, MAYBE... during one of the wild parties I went to when I was in college... perhaps I DID father her child!

He ran from the store and caught her in the parking lot and asked, "Are you the girl I met at a party in college, and then we got really drunk and had wild crazy sex on the pool table in front of everyone?"
"No!" the woman said, with a horrified look on her face. "I'm your son's second-grade teacher."

Kepp Smiling Ppl,

Anu

From Koyambedu to Costco

2005-12-21T16:08:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to post for an inordinately long time.. and why haven’t I? The main reason being the anonymity of this blog has lessened with more people knowing my real identity. I kept quiet wondering as to their opinions of me reading my posts, because I’ve always loathed personal dynamics with others intersecting with opinions of my mind. But I guess even my blog is undergoing a period of evolution, I have two choices ,start another blog anonymously again or continue with the same one hoping that irrespective of the anonymity the written message remains as strong. And I am going with the latter.So here goes

For those unfamiliar with the two terms in the title- Koyambedu is the veggie market in Chennai where I used to do my shopping and Costco is an US national retailer for all “bulk” goods from jewelry to gardening tools. This was my first trip north of the Narmada let alone out of the country. When I stepped off the plane at San Francisco air port frankly I felt a sense of coldness- I am not talking about the weather, wherever you set your foot outside an airport or railway station in India , the heat for one and the hustle and bustle of people strikes you, I truly miss that. As I looked around at the cars zooming past, I was basically hunting for any person who smiled/yelled/pushed at you or even an old lady who would stare at you curiously, which you would find in any corner in India when you are waiting for you ride, without that for me a journey would not be complete :)
Its also hard to blog, when you are figuring out how to turn on the taps, the switches which work vice versa and most particularly trying to drive. I kept closing my eyes every time K took a turn.. because I was sure we were driving on the wrong side and this huge SUV will squeeze our car into a tiny bit. Shopping too is hard as there is such a range to choose from even for the simplest things, for example even buying milk. I mean at home if I said I wanted milk… the shopkeeper would hand me an Avin milk packet and that’s that. Here it’s a choice between “Milk 1% low fat,low fat with vitamins,2% reduced fat, fat free,lactose free”!!! and the list is endless. I miss the bargaining too during vegetable shopping, in Koyambedu, my dad used to be ecstatic when he managed to save 1Rs. Off a Kg of ladies finger. It used to form many a dinner table conversations – the skill of bargaining was acquired and the experience passed on through generations :). With the fixed costs here, I am afraid, I will become the black sheep of the family, unable to bargain ,stuttering and accepting the price that the vendor commands!!!
Saying all that.. what I love about this place ( other than shopping at Macy’s) is the warmth and support that friends extend .The network of Indians here is amazing and that network forms the backbone of living here.When I walk into any one of K’s friends places, the homesickness rescinds, and closing my eyes , I feel as if I am back in Chennai. The topics revolve around the same politics, sports and movies. The laughter and sense of togetherness is the same, just the place has changed. I do enjoy the beauty of the clean roads, the hugeness of the malls :)) and falling of the red leaves around every backyard.
I am getting used to the US of A, but as a tribute to my place in Chennai I thought that I would list down the 5 things I miss the most about home
1.My Maid and the Ironing guy- Yes I Know that there are launderettes here… but the entire process of washing ,drying and most of all Ironing is totally time consuming. To think I used to crib about the 25p increase the iron guy asked for…. I would pay him another buck if he could press my 3 piece salwar suits.

2.Autowallahs- I know I’ve cribbed about the huge amounts these guys commanded but imagine living without a shop nearby and having to catch a bus to buy tomatoes… driving license are a passport to freedom here.

3.Time zone – I miss India time-IST actually ..before you all start rolling your eyes., when I need to talk to most of my pals who btw are in India and to wait 12hrs to tell somebody you actually saw the Golden gate bridge takes a lesson in patience

4. Traffic rules in India: Before I hear the “no ways”… the traffic here is disciplined, orderly and absolutely conscientious.. but that’s my problem.I cant walk across the street irrespective of the fact there is not a single vehicle in sight.Here everything depends on signals. I miss the pot bellied traffic inspector and my freedom to zoom through traffic signals (this was one of the reasons my dad never loaned me his car!!)

5.INDO- Chinese/Italian/Mexican restaurants :- I miss the Paneer Tikka pizza ,the Gobi Manchurians, Nachos with a tangy dip, which tasted like tamarind n chilly. Here frankly I’ve given up finding vegetarian food like home. Chinese is bland and eggplant seems the staple for most Italian vegetarian food. I wish the cross cultural exchange will hit America vice versa… I can see a craze for Paneer Marinara with Pasta and dumplings with paneer, potato and chilly :)

but above them all “My parents and my pals back home”-momma miss ur cooking like crazy and i'll spend another 1000$ just to taste it again :))

As for the joke ..here goes..

"The Headache"
The doctor said, "Joe, the good news is I can cure your headaches. The bad news is that it will require castration. You have a very rarecondition,which causes your testicles to press on your spine and thepressure creates one hell of a headache. The only way to relieve the pressure is to remove the testicles." Joe was shocked and depressed. Hewondered if he had anything to live for. He had no choice but to go underthe knife.
When he left the hospital, he was without a headache for the first time in 20 years, but he felt like he was missing an important part of himself. As he walked down the street, he realized that he felt like a different person.He could make a new beginning and live a new life.
He saw a men's clothing store and thought, "That's what I need... a newsuit."
He entered the shop and told the salesman, "I'd like a new suit."
The elderly tailor eyed him briefly and said, "Let's see... size 44 long."
Joe laughed, "That's right, how did you know?"
"Been in the business 60 years!" the tailor said.
Joe tried on the suit. It fit perfectly. As Joe admired himself in themirror, the salesman asked, "How about a new shirt?"
Joe thought for a moment and then said, "Sure."
The salesman eyed Joe and said, "Let's see, 34 sleeves and 16-1/2 neck."
Joe was surprised, That's right, how did you know?"
"Been in the business 60 years".
Joe tried on the shirt and it fit perfectly. Joe walked comfortably aroundthe shop and the salesman asked "How about some new underwear?"
Joe thought for a moment and said, "Sure."
The salesman said, "Let's see... size 36."
Joe laughed, "Ah ha! I got you, I've worn a size 34 since I was 18 yearsold.
The salesman shook his head, "You can't wear a size 34. A size 34 would press your testicles up against the base of your spine and give you one hellof a headache."
New suit - $400
New shirt - $36
New underwear - $6
Second Opinion - *PRICELESS*

Keep Smiling ppl :)
Anu

Life in Pictures

2005-11-28T21:52:00.000-08:00

I have been the worst blogger around.. i know.. but so much has happened over the last month.. that i dont think i have enough posts to cover them.. so I decided.. let me just post some pics covering my life this past month

The Mehendi

Wedding ...

Diwali....at Triplicane....i have nearly a whole post on that amazing event

Munnar... Gods own holiday spot :)

Tirupathy

Flight - Chennai - Singapore - Seol- San Francisco

My Backyard

Well.. thts just the gist of it... each pictures.. has a trillions words behind it...:)) and hopefully i can start penning down those words quickly

well for the jokes as ususal - office humor

Keep Smiling ppl

Anu

Love Actually

2005-10-10T20:45:00.000-07:00

I knows its been ages since I blogged …but I have my reasons.. quitting a job, moving back to Chennai and learning the basics of housekeeping are a daunting task for anybody.. especially someone .. who always assumed they could hire a housekeeper for the tasks :)) .Also the constant threat of my mother looming large threatening doom, even if I look towards my computer kept me away. So why did I venture to incur my mothers wrath and blog, with a sprained hand (btw I don’t advice lifting the bed with one hand while sweeping :) ) .
Today when I was at the gym (believe me there’s an amazing post there too :) ), my instructor who’s this jovial and the most irritatingly enthusiastic guy I know.. kept staring at the floor as if it was Pandora’s box throughout my 2 hrs sweat session. Asked him abt it ,(the agony aunt in me at work again!) and man did he tell me a story straight out a Tamil blockbuster.
Last year he fell in love with a pretty damsel… well the problem starts there..she is a muslim to his staunch Hindu…. and to make it even sweeter , she was widowed at 21.True Knight married her last December… only to incur the wrath of his family.. mom threatens suicide, dad thrashes him with footwear and this 30 year old body builder is under near house arrest in Chennai. All his certificates and passports retained in Trichy, along with his wife. Mere mention of his wife brings tears, abuse and a lot of threats towards the poor bride.The family sends him off to Chennai and ensures man is stuck at a relatives house. So the unlucky couple separated by family and distance, fast together in the month of Ramzan for Allah and Amman .Before my eyes I saw a man reduce from a healthy 95 kgs to 78 kgs. Married the first time at the age of 15 the poor bride,has not studied too much, so all she has to keep her going are his earnings which he smuggles into her city thru friends. As I kept shaking my head, more from disbelief, that people could be cruel and primitive. (they are searching for a bride for him !!!) and also at the intense love this guy had for his wife. This guy is the most enthusiastic, go getter I’ve seen in a long time. His weight loss was a joke between us, as I was killing myself to loose 1 kg over 2 months , and he just lost 10 in a month!!! Now I know why and suddenly my weightloss seems immaterial before the reason he told me - To starve as his wife was fasting… was unbelievable.. and for a guy who is required to take up dumbbells for a living - crazy!!!
Believe me, I have seen men who love their wives/girlfriends .. but this kind of intensity is something we get to see very few times. And the best part is, there is no publicity of this love, its not denoted by large cards, bunches of flowers and the most expensive gifts that can be given and in many cases bragged about to common friends!!! In the age of Archie’s cards and a gift to cover every occasion and in most cases forgetting that occasion- its nice just to see a couple who live for each other in the true sense of the word without the flounces of romance that has been generated.
I really didn’t meant to demean the other relationships around me, but this couple to are literally& realistically fighting together to keep their marriage was like a breath of fresh air.I thanked God, that K and I had it easy…:)… and thank god, I cannot starve for more than 3 hrs :))
I would also like to congratulate V&P my classmates from college… they underwent parental pressure, religious condemnation, jail time(both of them)…. To finally tie the knot last month! Way to go guys!!

Well my wedding is another 2 weeks and the weirdest part is I’m getting married on my birthday (I can almost hear the guys go Wow..one gift… and the gals.. what!! Only one gift :)) )..Well I needed to post on this , couldn’t wait to get to my comp!.. nyway those who are reading pray for the poor souls.. they really need it!!

Anyway as usual to make u smile
1)Q: What did the gangster's son tell his dad when he failed his examination?A: Dad they questioned me for 3 hours but I never told them anything.
2)The president of a large corporation opened his directors meeting by announcing, "All those who are opposed to the plan I am about to propose will reply by saying, 'I resign
3)Q: What's the difference between people who pray in church and those who pray in casinos?A: The ones in the casinos are dead serious...
4)When I was young I used to pray for a bike, then I realized that God doesn't work that way, so I stole a bike and prayed for forgiveness. :)
5)Several women appeared in court, each accusing the other of creating nuisance in the flat where they lived. The judge called for orderly testimony. "I'll hear the oldest first," he decreed.Needless to say the case was closed for lack of evidence as no complainants could be seen in the vicinity of the court anymore.
6)A little boy went up to his father and asked, "Dad, where did all of my intelligence come from?" His father replied, "Well, son, you must have gotten it from your mother, because I still have mine."
7)The First Law of Philosophy: For every philosopher, there exists an equal and opposite philosopher.The Second Law of Philosophy: They're both wrong
8)Sunny's teacher sent a note home to his Mother saying,"Sunny seems to be a very bright boy, but spends too much of his time thinking about girls."The Mother wrote back the next day, "If you find a solution, please advise. I have the same problem with his Father."

Keep Smiling ppl

Anu

Brides Roadmap

2005-08-07T18:22:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all the wishes on the engagement and if this blog wasn’t anonymous, u all would have been witnesses to the event.

Ok , I admit it , I think I am the worst blogger in the world… I wish I could I say I had a blogger’s block, but the real situation was that even though I penned down a hundred posts on the Bangalore traffic, the hawks flying around airport road signal, or the people on commercial street, the real post which I wanted to and I am putting down, is guess a road map of life after an arranged engagement- well in one word “tough”…. In more I guess you need to read on….

First of all the realization that every action that you take is being followed by 2 families instead of one. Its just that the number of people who care about you have doubled and so has your duty towards them.My fiancé’s,(lets call him K ) family is one of the most accommodative and helpful people around (I am not saying this because K reads this blog :)). And this takes getting used to. In my family, if someone requires something, it usually starts as a directive, turns into a favor, a bribe and finally emotional blackmail :)).For example, if my mom wants to go shopping – she tells me,then asks, then prepares my favorite food, and again reminds me that she had to go through 12 hours of labor to bring me into this world. Well ,then I relent !!!. In K’s family all it takes is a phone call, and it’s done (though I feel they are missing out on the whole bribe scenario).

Second is the fact, that as K is abroad, and considered a good son by one and all (I think even his 7 year niece, recounts the stories of his amazing intellect and skills!!!!!)) The only tiny is problem is , I cant match his amazing honest childhood even a bit, well other than to say, that when I used to play pranks on people, I would make them suffer for only an hour …It’s a well known fact in my family that the only thing I am good at is talking and numbers – all other womanly skills right from cooking to wearing a saree,is something that I need to start from scratch. So when K's stories are recounted.. all I do is keep quite.. which btw is taken as me being the blushing bride :)) .. considering that is a womanly trait, I do it nowadays as much as possible- (One down 999 million womanly skills to go!!!!!)

Third is the Advice- I mean right from the traditional one of waking up at 5a.m to touch K’s feet to the modern ones of making him work at home, so he can babysit , I have been given close to a trillion. I think I can write a handbook on “advice to young brides- what not to follow”. People who I have never met before think that its their god given duty to tell me where the pitfalls of marriage are, and how best to get out of them. What they don’t realize, bless their do gooder heart, is that they are scaring the hell out of me .I never knew that sports, food and the phrase “you’re the best there is “ has the potential to make/break a marriage. I have a colleague, who has mugged up all the names of the cricketers so she can have atleast one conversation topic with her husband and his friends , or a friend who as a rule ensures, she is at home before her husband come hail , storm or the recent Mumbai floods.The guys are even better, their unanimous opinion is “get all you can out of K in the first year, after that you’ve lost him to sports, kids,cable and friends –not necessarily in that order”.

Lastly and not the least is the distance. Try coordinating time zones and meeting place with a person who is 12.5 hrs behind you.You confused about the wishing – “good morning- um actually evening”, then u finally say.. Hi!!!, then the same about the food – “how was breakfast, ummmm tiffin.. oh dinner J”, this btw on a INR15/ min ISD call .Its even worse on a weekend -US Friday nights which turn to Saturday mornings in India , which is the grocery shopping time for me. Explaining to your parents and friends as to why Saturday morning being booked, is usually greeted with knowing smiles and jokes about high phone bills.I am frankly envious of all people in the same time zone, and more so of people in the same country. When I see the Reliance Mobile ad on tv,I wish plague on my cousin who uses the facility and my service provider for his ISD charge .Right from Yahoo chat to Skype, I have explored the communications options and to tell the truth, they are just not the same as having the person in front of you. I feel nowadays as if the microphone has been permanently imprinted on my ear :)

Well, that’s whats happening in the last 2 months,I am also in the middle of “Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus” – It think I need to write the sequel “ And Wellwishers are from another Solar System”.

And now for the jokes ..and in line with my reading :)

Here's a prime example of "Men Are From Mars, Women AreFrom Venus" offered by an English professor from the Universityof Phoenix:
The professor told his class one day: "Today we willexperiment with a new form called the tandem story. Theprocess is simple. Each person will pair off with the personsitting to his or her immediate right. As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph ofa short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph andsend another copy to me. The partner will read the firstparagraph and then add another paragraph to the story andsend it back, also sending another copy to me. The first personwill then add a third paragraph, and so on back-and- forth.Remember to re-read what has been written each time in orderto keep the story coherent. There is be absolutely NOtalking outside of the e-mails, and anything you wish to say mustbe written in the e- mail.The story is over when both agree a conclusion has beenreached."

The following was actually turned in by two of his Englishstudents:Rebecca and Gary.
THE STORY:(first paragraph by Rebecca)At first, Laurie couldn't decide which kind of tea she wanted.The chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy eveningsat home, now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, inhappier times, that he liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.

(second paragraph by Gary) Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant CarlHarris, leader of the attack squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4,had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo namedLaurie with whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. "A.S. Harris to Geostation 17," he said into his transgalactic communicator. "Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance sofar..." But before he could sign off a bluish particle beam flashedout of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship's cargo bay.The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat andacross the cockpit.

(Rebecca) He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but notbefore he felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizingthe one woman who had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards thepeaceful farmers of Skylon 4. "Congress Passes LawPermanently Abolishing War and Space Travel," Laurie read inher newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously excitedher and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of heryouth, when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspaper to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her.."Why must one lose one's innocence to become a woman?" she pondered wistfully.

(Gary) Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live.Thousands of miles above the city, the Anu'udrian Mother shiplaunched the first of its lithium fusion missiles. The dim-witted wimpy peaceniks who pushed the Unilateral Aerospace disarmament Treaty through the congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who were determined to destroy the human race. Within two hours after the passage of the treaty the Anu'udrian ships were on course forEarth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet.With no one to stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized poor, stupid,Laurie and 85 million other Americans. The President slammed his fist on the conference table. "We can't allow this! I'm going tov eto that treaty! Let's blow 'em out of the sky!"

(Rebecca)This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature.My writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic semi-literate adolescent.

(Gary) Yeah? Well, you're a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent of Valium. "Oh, shallI have chamomile tea? Or shall I have some other sort of F---INGTEA??? Oh no, I'm such an air headed bimbo who reads toomany Danielle Steele novels!"
(Rebecca) A**hole.
(Gary)B****
(Rebecca)F__K YOU - YOU NEANDERTHAL!
(Gary) Go drink some tea - wh***.

(TEACHER)A+ - I really liked this one

Keep Smiling :))

Anu

We've Only Just Begun

2005-05-27T04:14:00.000-07:00

Rain is lashing against the windows in office, and sitting with my coffee I can finally blog . My life has suddenly changed direction and no one is more surprised thanI am .I got engaged , earlier this month. It was sudden :- a meeting, a 3 hr chat and a 'yes' settled it. Who knew my prince charming would land up by taking a plane ,travel 11000 miles just to see me and fly back in a week .I keep wondering if he said yes under severe jet lag :)
I always believed that a person instinctively will know when they meet the right person who they will spend their life with. And for once I was right!!!. Opposites in every way - different streams at work , personalities, hobbies , but destiny has her own game to play .

The whole meeting was arranged by a common friend (bless her to eternity :) ) ,who contacted the respective parents and egged both of us till we met. I have developed a great deal of respect for Fathers, his dad and mine, who orchestrated the whole engagement in such speed that they would put the recent papal conclave to shame :)). Right from the hall to the invites ,everything was done in less than 2 days. 140 people in their best turned up fighting the 40C Chennai temperature .Of course the pandit chose the wrong hall and landed up an hr late but that did'nt dampen the buzz that generated through the hall .Though having the video camera trained on me is something I dreamed of , since I saw my first movie, blindness was’nt an option I was thinking about.I now realize why modern women in their weddings still gracefully look down, we cant stand the lights in our faces :).My fiancé on the other hand who was still handling jet lag, the heat, a crowd of people who constantly asked him when he arrived looked as if he would have preferred to run the Bangalore Marathon then standing in front of the camera man, who was pleading with him to smile.
The parents had the biggest smiles on their faces and I for one was really glad that I got someone my parents were proud of.More than us, the friends and family were congratulating our respective parents for finally finding someone for their offspring.That kinda of trouble the parents went through, to get us to say YES!!! to marriage in the first place. A kind of dampner for me was that my sister was not present , as she was in the States, its times like these that every joy needs to be shared and I really missed having her yell at me :) .My exercise for the month was extracted with the falling of the feet of the elders. It was sweet revenge for my mom, who kept telling me to do it all these years under the “boy meeting” pretext and I conveniently kept folding my hands in namaste when it was required. The week passed in a jiffy and only when I came back to work did the feeling really sink in.
With the office ragging ,came the realization that there is someone else to whom I was accountable and whom I was responsible for. That was when I realized everything in my life was about to take a sudden turn. I had to leave my family , friends and every other thing I was accustomed to in 25 years to be with someone ,whom I had a 3 hour conversation with.!!!!!! But the best part of the whole deal is , I am actually looking forward to it… .. so Dame destiny did something right after all ::>

As I sit listening to Carpenters (and so the title :)) and watching the rain … have a lovely weekend all of you

As for the jokes, I found these good..

Actual analogies and metaphors found in high school essays

1. She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs.
2. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides
gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only comes from experience, like a
guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of
those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at
high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one
of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room
temperature Canadian beef.
5. She had a deep, throaty, Re: genuine laugh, like that sound a dog
makes just before it throws up.
6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.
7. He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree.
8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge free ATM.
9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a
bowling ball wouldn't.
10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled
with vegetable soup.
11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie,
surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy
comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.
12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.
13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you
fry them in hot grease.
14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across
the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left
Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19
p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that
resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.
16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had
also never met.
17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant and she was the
East River.
18. Even in his last years, Grandpappy had a mind like a steel trap, only
one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.
19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.
20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil,
this plan just might work.
21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating
for a while.
22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but
a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or
something.
23. The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg
behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.
24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with
power tools.
25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as
if she were a garbage truck backing up.
26. Her eyes were like limpid pools, only they had forgotten to put in
any pH cleanser.

Keep Smiling :)

Anu

And the Hero lies in You

2005-05-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

Today I was proud of how the Indian women have changed. Finally through the stories of child marriages, dowry deaths has come a ray of hope. I am talking about the Shanthi Mukund hospital case

Here we had a old Hindi movie replaying where suddenly the hero who was the villain for 2.55 hrs of 3 hrs movie, changes heart and marries the heroine whom he had raped. I used to keep wondering, why we put up with movies like that and even make them into hits. Well Kudos to the Real heroine in the above case, she told the court to give him the severest punishment .That my friends was a defining point!!!. We had an Indian women not desolately giving up hope because she has lost her eyesight, and was mentally and physically brutalized. What shocked me though, was the court actually reconsidering/staying their decision till the girl spoke out and of course the Rs.5000 fine that the rapist had to pay. I am not asking for a beheading but something, which will make another human wild animals shake in their shoes is in order. Living in Bangalore, the stories of the Cab drivers raping their passengers and 17 year olds getting mauled is getting common. What is scary is that people don’t even bother to act concerned. What angered me was one of my colleagues commenting, that girls dressing the way they do probably deserved it (the shiv sena attitude).

What is wrong with us nowadays? Values and cultural roadmaps which guarded women are getting torn down .Working late is a requirement nowadays, added to the tension of our anemic, sleepless lifestyles, we really don’t require the scare of a cab or an auto drivers turning psycho on us. The punishments meted out and the logic and reasoning which is tried to justify the crime, really is beyond me. I can’t even imagine the gal of the rapist, who on the day of his sentencing professed his noble intention of marrying the girl who no one else will marry now. I think he degraded the entire male population of the nation with that comment. Men have evolved with women and the equity of balance has been maintained but an attack like the above shakes that balance every day and that leads to an integral trust betweens humans shaken. What we need to reinforce in every human being is the value of another’s life .
Women are getting independence, but I wonder if society is making us pay a cost for it. I think independence is not about having lots of money and standing on your own feet. It’s about fighting for what’s right and I think only now women are starting to realize that. After the initial flush of women’s rights and movements, the hard reality is hitting us . When we venture into the world, there are certain factions which still prefer the dark ages where the source of power for a man came from his humiliations of fellow humans beings.To counter this power we need to draw from internal strength that each one of us has.
Coming back to the Indian women/Girl, Making me even prouder were the young tribal girls, who complained and signed petitions refusing to marry as they wanted to study . That is GIRL POWER, power puff girls must be replaced by these young uns who went against parents and society. For me rebellion consisted of leaving my hair open and long earrings for school. But to tell your parents , that come hell or high water, you will be the mistress of your destiny, is showing a maturity that I didn’t have at their age.We need this wave to sweep through the nation. Waiting for the knight in shining armor is a concept of long ago. Women need to protect themselves, and stop waiting for society to cast its benign eye their way. So to the lady who went through the attack and had courage to tell the court and the nation that she didn’t need her rapist as her security blanket , THANK YOU and BRAVO.

Wow , that was some post.. so to make it lighter.

Out of office replies - "the Best of Dilbert"

1: I am currently out at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail
to get the position. Be prepared for my mood.

2: You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the
office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn't have received anything at
all.

3: Sorry to have missed you but I am at the doctors having my brain
removed so that I may be promoted to management

4: I will be unable to delete all the unread, worthless emails you send me
until I return from vacation on 4/18. Please be patient and your mail will
be deleted in the order it was received.

5: Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged $5.99 for
the first ten words and $1.99 for each additional word in your message.

6: The e-mail server is unable to verify your server connection and is
unable to delive! r this message. Please restart your computer and try
sending again.'(The beauty of this is that when you return, you can see how
many in-duh-viduals did this over and over).

7 Thank you for your message, which has been added to a queueing system.

You are currently in 352nd place, and can expect to receive a reply in
approximately 19 weeks.

8: Hi. I'm thinking about what you've just sent me. Please wait by your
PC for my response.

9: Hi! I'm busy negotiating the salary for my new job. Don't bother to
leave me any messages.

10: I've run away to join a different circus.

AND, FINALLY, THIS ONE TAKES THE CAKE :

11: I will be out of the office for the next 2 weeks for medical reasons.

When I return, please refer to me as 'Loretta' instead of 'Steve'.

Keep smilin
Anu :)

In Control and Terrified

2005-04-10T09:54:00.000-07:00

Well I haven’t blogged in ages and I duly apologize. Caught between the quarter closing in on me, organizational restructure, new boss and to top it all my dad in his ever ready attempt to safely get me into the marriage bandwagon, my life has been in a tizzy. I have been however religiously reading up on all my blog favorites , though not posting any comments on the fear that this will coincide with my old and new boss arriving on scene simultaneously with my dad ringing up to ensure that I have checked the latest on Tamil matrimony.

A lot of talk has been circulating regarding the increase in the breakdown of marriages, considering that I haven’t even got into that arena, what I am worried about now is the lack of interest for people to settle down. Don’t get me wrong, I am not blaming the stronger sex, however I see a commitment issue even in the fairer one, which is growing by the day. The definition of women has changed, and along with it so has the future of civilization as a whole. From being the person who managed the house, women have become the managers of MNC’s and Indian power houses alike. From a generation who could manage home and hearth to this generation we have grown into competitive business women, who try 10 times harder to ensure that we are ahead of the pack at Office. I really admire women who do both and believe me its no easy task.

However the home and hearth part has become a weakness in many cases. Many of lady colleagues of mine , crib that if they weren’t at home when the kids where sick , they could be the Project heads by now. That is why I think most of us unmarried ones are terrified of: marriage and its responsibilities and its effect on our careers/achievements. I have a friend , who lives in with her fiancée and has been doing this for 2 yrs. On asking of her wedding date, her only answer is a shrug and a wringing of hands. Though she would like bucket loads of kids, she knows that if she has one, her job role on which she has spent 5 years,will not await her on her return. When I had commented to a colleague, how great it was that my company gave us extended leave after maternity, she gave me a glance and coolly replied” just be careful you don’t have to come back as the chairman’s secretary !!” .Basically, the company moves on and you are left behind.

Even married, a couple of my colleagues work in different location than there spouses.Not for the money, but for the achievement outside their personal life.This need for achievement has overwhelmed the need for companionship. .Give and take has always described a traditional marriage as security from the men and a continuity of harmony in the home from the women, however now give and take in a marriage is now defined as “If I give up this , what Can I take of yours?” .This I agree, does not describe most of the marriages. I have friends who are married and living the honeymooners dream. It all for them , comes down to compromise without the judgmental give and take described above
A friend of mine, hit the nail , when she said “Marriage is about loosing control, you let it lead you to the best place that you can be”. I think , that’s what most girls are afraid of, myself included. We have total control over my time, money and most importantly emotions. Control which helps us tide over problems independently and with a clear cut path and route in mind to reach my personal goals. It would be helpful for companionship and a shoulder to literally lean on but that is not the main criteria any more

The road to matrimony is getting harder, with changing values and roles. Defining the role of each other is proving to be a challenge, while every women would like to emulate her mother, trying to run a perfect house, what is more glaring is the price we think we need to pay to do so. I do think that marriages need to be redefined and also the whole concept of a successful women. As women the need to accomplish something before settling down is more a challenge. Waiting for the right person and not the right time is more important. I think with sea change there are certain elements that are crystallized. Women still want to be the homemaker and ideal mother, however the question remain, will they themselves and sometimes the work environment they are involved in, allow them to do so???

Ok that was a bit serious.. to lighten the mood, someone sent this to me and it blew me away

Men and Women

I'M GLAD I'M A MAN
I'm glad I'm a man, you better believe; I don't live off of yogurt, diet coke, or cottage cheese. I don't bitch to my girlfriends about the size of my breasts; I can get where I want to -- north, south, east or west. I don't get wasted after only 2 beers; and when I do drink I don't end up in tears. I won't spend hours deciding what to wear; I spend 5 minutes max fixing my hair. And I don't go around checking my reflection; in everything shiny from every direction. I don't whine in public and make us leave early; and when you ask why get all bitter and surly.

I'm glad I'm a man, I'm so glad I could sing; I don't have to sit around waiting for that ring. I don't gossip about friends or stab them in the back; I don't carry our differences into the sack. I'll never go psycho and threaten to kill you; or think every guy out there's trying to steal you. I'm rational, reasonable, and logical too; I know what the time is and I know what to do. And I honestly think its a privilege for me; to have these two balls and stand when I pee. I live to watch sports and play all sorts of ball; it's more fun than dealing with women after all. I won't cry if you say it's not going to work; I won't remain bitter and call you a jerk. Feel free to use me for immediate pleasure; I won't assume it's permanent by any measure.

Yes, I'm so very glad I'm a man, you see; I'm glad I'm not capable of child delivery. I don't get all bitchy every 28 days; I'm glad that my gender gets me a much bigger raise. I'm a man by chance and I'm thankful it's true; I'm so glad I'm a man and not a woman like you!

I'M GLAD I'M A WOMAN

I'm glad I'm a woman, yes I am, yes I am; I don't live off of Budweiser, beer nuts and Spam. I don't brag to my buddies about my erections; I won't drive to Hell before I ask for directions. I don't get wasted at parties and act like a clown; and I know how to put that damned toilet seat down! I won't grab your hooters, I won't pinch your butt; my belt buckle's not hidden beneath my beer gut. And I don't go around “re-adjusting” my crotch; or yell like Tarzan when my headboard gets a notch. I don't belch in public, I don't scratch my behind.

I'm a woman you see -- I'm just not that kind! I'm glad I'm a woman, I'm so glad I could sing; I don't have body hair like shag carpeting. It doesn't grow from my ears or cover my back; when I lean over you can't see three inches of crack. And what's on my head doesn't leave with my comb; I'll never buy a toupee to cover my dome. Or have a few hairs pulled from over the side; I'm a woman, you know - I've got far too much pride! And I honestly think its a privilege for me; to have these two boobs and squat when I pee. I don't live to play golf and shoot basketball; I don't swagger and spit like a Neanderthal. I won't tell you my wife just does not understand; or stick my hand in my pocket to hide that gold band. Or tell you a story to make you sigh and weep; then screw you, roll over and fall sound asleep!

Yes, I'm so very glad I'm a woman, you see; forget all about that old penis envy. I don't long for male bonding, I don't cruise for chicks; join the Hair Club For Men, or think with my dick. I'm a woman by chance and I'm thankful, it's true; I'm so glad I'm a woman and not a man like you!

Have fun ppl :)

Anu

Another One Bites the dust

2005-03-06T18:28:00.001-08:00

I had 3 posts ready to be published.. but due to the absolute lack of time, I thought that this weekend would be the best time to consolidate everything … how wrong I was. My Saga of pre-marital woes follow ( btw my 3 other posts I will publish soon.. but this one had to be done today)..
(Disclaimer :I love my parents , though this is a part of their eccentricity which I have to put up with )

This time I am going to get into the details of the meeting ;- no disrespect to the ‘Boy’ or his side but if I wasn’t one of the parties involved I would laughed my guts off…
On Friday night there was this call from my Dad, asking me for a place where I meet my friends, I erroneously told him Coffee day, having a slight inkling of what he had in mind but not sure, however the plan was crystallized by Saturday morning for a Sunday afternoon tea with the Boy (Lets call him A) and his parents at Coffee Day!!!

Well my parents came rushing down to Bangalore, at the speed of light with Lalbagh Express actually in a century coming in early!! Well with my mothers constant what will you wear with my dad’s ruffling through the yellow pages to verify the company A worked - Saturday wasn’t very quiet. My mom took out the sari with the most zari, to wear. This is a lady who has been a H.O.D of management in leading woman’s college , but firmly believes that in these situations the girls mom responsible for updating the future mom in law on the family background and speaks only to answer questions on my culinary skills and moral upbringing.

On entering Coffee day, my dad was shocked at the ‘noise’.. he then asked the maitre d to switch it off :) . A was kinda hoping as I was that he was anywhere else when my dad loudly asked him to sit next to me so we can exchange views, over “Evanescence” screaming “my immortal”. The parents kept looking at us expectantly and to satisfy them, A came up with first question- pretty good one since his eyes kept moving to Priyanka Chopra on screen shedding most of her clothes. “where do you work ?” – well the questions was good, because my dad had just finished retelling my entire history in good old Bangalore, right to the fact that I walked to office from home and the number of dogs I encountered on my way there!!! So I told him and asked the compensatory ‘what about you and office?’ routine. He answered to me or I think he did, as his eyes were focused on anything but me!! Through the excruciating 45 mins he kept looking over my shoulder, or at my dad or at MTV with no music. So the A is shy , as my dad fondly put it later…”It means he a good boy, he doesn’t look at girls” ..OH PLEASEEEEE…..

To add to the whole circus of things, the order was taken by waiter.. My dad asked coffee – to which came prompt reply “Mochha or Capuccino?”. Now my dad was taken back – looked at the waiter and asked “This is Coffee Day- U serve Coffee Right”?? So I had to step in and quickly update my dad on the advancement in the brew industry in the last 10 years.
Taking a smoothie for the A, the rest of us had Cappuccino . Well my mom wasn’t to be left behind, she suggested the mandatory sweet to be brought in .When the waiter said they didn’t serve Sweets looking the poor waiter in the eye with a wintry glance “So cake is not sweet here”??The poor guy didn’t know what had hit him. Stepped in again and ordered a Black forest to keep the general peace and I swear I think I saw a glimmer of gratitude in the waiter’s eyes.

In the meantime A and I were trying to find a slim pane on which we could meet. He was a sports fan whereas the only channels not tuned on my TV were the sports ones- I like watching tennis only when there are tall, good looking Czech/Romanian/any former USSR countrymen playing :). My passion is Music and books, on enquiring on those, ‘A’ sweetly replied all he read were Harry Potter’s and music thoughts were met with a shrug, all while looking over my shoulder to an invincible person seen only by him (Btw I look passable, as per general opinion, so I know that it was not my looks which made him stare into space)

OK- no habits/hobbies/movies/people in common. Next round was family. Which was taken care by my dad who explained to the listening pleasure of all the people in the restaurant the family tree right from my great granddad’s period. My mom quietly intercepting on how my culinary skills to be attributed to the amazing genes of my forefathers :)). Time drew on, my entire concentration was on hookah pipe smoked by the under aged kid nearby ,hoping to God, a genie would appear and grant me my wish of vanishing from that time zone for the next half an hour.

I finally woke up when my dad asked for the bill. Both the waiter and I wore similar looks of relief on our faces. My dad asked us to exchange our cell nos. while loudly proclaiming that finally it was in our hands and Gods. I doubt God will have much to do with the final outcome,considering A and I were trying best to get out of there as possible.

A did not give me his number and I am hoping that he doesn’t call. I hope he finds a wife who is a sports fan and also doesn’t mind being invisible when he talks to her :).
My dad is sure they are impressed and will call ,all the while checking the net and matrimonials for new finds!! My mom on the other hand , shakes her head at me for being opinionated and promptly starts praying for the next one to be the final one!! Well that was a nice experience, I learnt that I finally needed to tune my TV to the news in sports too, maybe the next one will speak to me instead of invisible gal behind on Saffin’s serve.

Wow that was a looooong one…… nyway I think this snippet is the perfect ending to the blog

HER DIARY

Day night, I thought he was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a cafe to have some coffee. I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment. Conversation wasn't flowing so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk, he agreed but he
kept quiet and absent.I asked him what was wrong – he said,"Nothing."I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. He said it had nothing to do with me and not to worry.
On the way home I told him that I loved him, he simply smiled and kept driving. I can't explain his behavior; I don't know why he didn't say,” I love u, too."When we got home I felt as if I had lost him, as if he wanted nothing to do with
me anymore. He just sat there and watched TV.; he seemed distant and absent. Finally I decided to go to bed.
About 10 minutes later he came to bed. I decided that I could not take it anymore, so I decided to confront him with the situation but he had fallen asleep. I started crying and cried until I too fell asleep. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster.

HIS DIARY
Today India lost the cricket match against Bangladesh.
DAMN IT.

And they supposed to be made in Heaven??

2005-01-17T07:34:00.000-08:00

I wanted to really yell and vent my feelings, fearing that it will get me booted out of my office or apartment; I decided that my blog would be the best place to start…

Well the crux of the matter is , my parents are looking for a suitable groom and in the process driving me to point of sheer insanity. Being kinda wary of love and its differential results, I had decided to let my parents do the searching for the person whom I’m going to share my life with. Of all the decisions that I regret that has to be within the top 5. I discovered 2 months into their groom hunting foray, horoscopes and the parents meeting are deciding factors, with groom saying in ok coming in a close second and girls decision though significant was handled with ‘after marriage all guys are the same,- it’s the family that counts’ adage.
After a year my parents have discovered email and Tamil matrimony to my horror. As they absolutely computer illiterate, the job of accessing my dad’s email and the site sorely rests on my young and reluctant shoulders. My fear of horror movies considerably decreased in comparison to checking the green and orange matrimonial websites with my boss or colleagues popping up near my cubicle. Now the nightmare has reached the crescent with the month of January. This is an auspicious time with meetings set up between the parties at speed of light. My otherwise non existent social life is now filled with Meeting the parents/groom/ grooms uncle, aunt, favorite cousin also thrown in for a good measure.
This weekend what I thought would be a much needed vacation, turned into a parent meeting spree. I thought my interview panels of companies on campus visits were tough, but parents of grooms are much tougher. No offence to any parents here, I’m sure they were just looking out for their sons, however questions like what would you like my son to be like and exact power of specs , so on are more appropriate from the guy himself. All these guys are teetotalers, vegetarian and have no bad habit under the sun, which I think is a great utopian way of thinking but I highly doubt it. My parents are also not without their share of blame. My dad describes me as a domesticated girl, with a modern outlook, who doesn’t got to movies or parties. I am on the other hand, am an extrovert who loves hanging out with my friends and have to catch a movie every other week. I sit through these meetings, with a smile pasted on my face, and thinking about all the things I have to finish in office, believe me its much more pleasant. It’s hard enough that you are constantly being watched for any physical defect but to ensure that you behave like what was projected by your own parents is even more difficult.

The thing which hit my pressure button today, was the waiting for the call backs from the various meetings. They were positive however to me not even 5% of the river has been crossed.My dad was ecstatic on ac all back , however on the others he kept dissecting every lil moment trying to decide what we had done wrong. To be constantly talking about something you rather forget about is bound to drive any person’s blood pressure up and mine just shot through the stratosphere.
To Me, most people require some time to get to know a person before deciding on something as crucial as marriage. I have friends who say that ,however long time you meet before marriage, its only after you know the actual person. I agree, however I seem to notice, that marriage has become a necessity for most people before they get a green card. I met a guy, who was candid enough to admit, that he was getting his green card in 3 months and had to get married before then. He didn’t mind that girl was an unknown entity on the day of the marriage, it was not necessary in his opinion.
I side with the guys too. I have a friend who on his every trip to Chennai, is bombarded with pictures of girls. He gets to meet them for 15 minutes and then has to decide if he likes the girl. If he says yes , he is caught , as it eventually leads to talks of engagement in the next month !!.He feels that the girls are not vocal enough in their opposition for more time. And if he asks to meet the girl later, he still gets glares and whispered conferences. He is hiding out in Mumbai, praying he will fall in love or lighting will strike him, which ever happens first will be for the best.

So I think its getting harder and harder to go through the traditional methods to meet you soul mate. Some are lucky, one advertisement or a belligerent aunt and you have a wedding. And others, like me who have to go through trials of fire /questions/catwalks to find the one - it’s a scary movie.

and the jokes....

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas were both 102 years old. They had been married 74 years. The local
television station sent a news crew out to interview them. ''What we need to do,'' the reporter explained, ''is to interview you separately. It just seems
to make for a better write-up, when we do it that way. So, if you don't mind waiting, Mrs.
Thomas, we'll go out on the porch with your husband and visit with him for a few moments
first.''
After they were settled on the porch, the reporter began his interview. ''Mr. Thomas, I know you
get tired of people asking you this, but what do you think is the cause of your longevity?''
''Well...'' Mr. Thomas drawled thoughtfully. ''I get up early every morning. I eat pretty good,
you know, garden food and such....and...oh, yeah! God talks to me!''
The reporter stared up at him to see if he was kidding. ''You mean God actually talks to you?''
''Yep,'' the old-timer replied sincerely. ''We're pretty close. In fact, when I have to get up
and go to the bathroom during the night, God even turns the light on for me.''
The reporter quickly excused himself and went in search of Mrs. Thomas. ''I don't mean anything
unkind by this, Ma'am, but is Mr. Thomas okay...mentally, I mean?''
''Why?'' she asks curiously.
''Well, he says that when he goes to the bathroom at night, God turns on the light for him,''
the reporter explained.
''Oh, damn!'' Mrs. Thomas said, irritably. ''Has that old guy been pissin' in the refrigerator
again?''

Chocolate Cookies

An elderly man lay dying in his bed when he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favourite
chocolate chip cookies. He gathered his remaining strength and made his way out of the bedroom.
Were it not for death’s agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven: there, spread
out upon newspapers on the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favourite chocolate chip
cookies. Was it heaven? Or was it one final act of love from his wife, seeing to it that he left
this world a happy man?
He threw himself toward the table, his parched lips parted; the wondrous taste of the cookie was
already in his mouth; seemingly bringing him back to life.
The aged and withered hand, shockingly made its way to a cookie at the edge of the table, when
it was suddenly smacked with a spatula by his wife. "Stay out of those," she said, "they’re for the funeral."

Jesus and Moses Play Golf
Jesus and Moses are playing golf and they''re on the tenth hole. Moses hits the ball and it heads straight for a pond. Just before the ball hits the water, the pond parts and the ball rolls up onto the green. Jesus winds up and hits one about to the same spot. Jesus' ball hits the water and skips across. All of a sudden, lightning flashes and a ball drops from the sky. A fish swallows it, a bird picks up the fish and drops the ball onto a turtle, that walks over to the hole and drops it in.
Moses turns to Jesus and says, ''I hate it when your dad plays!''

Horror and Hope

2005-01-13T10:04:00.000-08:00

First of All, Happy New Year everybody, hope all your wishes and dreams come true this year.

I have written atleast 5 blogs only not to post them as Christmas, Tsunami and year ending zoomed past and for once I just couldn’t sum up all of them in one blog. So I decided to wait, till I could produce a coherent blog to sum up all the emotions - joy at Christmas, abject sorrow of the Tsunami and Hope that another year of new beginnings .

Christmas was a lovely time in Bangalore with my team coming up various ways of celebrating the joyous occasion- right from ethnic clothes on Christmas eve to a Santa Claus on Diet who doled out chocolates and kept a huge chunk for himself.Passing of Christmas gifts , cakes all around and the assignees shaking their heads at the Indian version of Christmas while merrily hogging on kalkals and mysore paks.

Having no electricity the most of Sunday , the horror of the Tsunami hit us in the evening. I stayed for 15 years a km away from Marina beach, and just couldn’t accept that the place which was a walker’s paradise and my Sunday evening hangout was filled with cars and later bodies of little children. I was haunted by the images. I volunteered to go to Nagapattinam from office. However my manager couldn’t give me leave till the 14th, so being in Bangalore , I tried to do my bit – from donating clothes, money , utensils to absolutely annoying people to push them a bit further in the donation and rescue efforts. I don’t think I did much though, I am still waiting to come back to Chennai to help out any way I can. I’ve been following Hari’s and Kiruba’s blog regularly to have a feel as to how Chennai is handling it.
Funnily I think that actual spirit of Christmas came out only after the 26th when the tide rolled in taking with it several human lives but leaving behind the sea of humanity. I have never seen so many people at one time working towards alleviating the suffering physical,menatal and monetary of the people affected. In my mind I always thought that if we should have another freedom struggle could we as Indians of this generation stand together ?But this rush of efforts proved that we are still connected irrespective of the obstacles of caste, creed and status. Reading the many Tsunami rescue blog sites, I am filled with Pride and assurance that in case of calamity - natural or man made, in future there will be a strong circle of friends and strangers who will be there to support and help

The New Year didn’t start to well for me , as I went into a another bout of the flu, but I don’t think I am worried. Through my sneezes and fever , all I could think was of those kids in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, who are all alone suffering and suddenly it the blocked nose didn’t seem a big deal. My resolution for this year is to be Patient - with my work , with life and just take a deep breath once in a while.
I know I will crib in my blog about my abject work life and absolutely non existent social life, but its easy to get caught up with the little distractions of life, if I do ,in the end I would come back to this blog to remind me what horror was unleashed, and hope that it released.

Well, for the new year , here are a couple of wise sayings :))

Don't marry the person you want to live with, marry the one you
cannot live without...
but whatever you do, you'll regret it later.
====================================================
You can't buy love . . . but you pay heavily for it
====================================================
True friends stab you in the front
====================================================
Forgiveness is giving up my right to hate you for hurting me.

====================================================
Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.
====================================================
Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting before you get tired .
====================================================
My wife and I always compromise. I admit I'm wrong and she agrees
with me.
====================================================
Those who can't laugh at themselves leave the job to others.
====================================================
Ladies first. Pretty ladies sooner.
====================================================
It doesn't matter how often a married man changes his job, he still
ends up with the same boss.
====================================================
They call our language the mother tongue because the father seldom
gets to speak
====================================================
Saving is the best thing. Especially when your parents have done it
for you.
====================================================
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools talk because
they have to say something

Keep Smiling

Anu

Tribute to an Immortal

2004-12-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

My mornings are usually signified by two things – my cuppa tea and M.S.Subbulakshmi’s ‘Suprabatham’.Her voice was one thing from I was a weeny lil thing to pull me out of bed and head straight to the kitchen for my tea. The legend passed away Saturday , at the age of 88.A deep sadness had invaded my entire house on Sunday with the when the news filtered in.

MSS introduced me to Carnatic music and for most of my childhood carnatic music was synonymous with MS, any festival morning was always began with her suprabatham and what followed was Bhaja Govindam , with Rajaji giving us a glance into spiritual journey which MSS’s voice would carry us. But my favorite song was “Kurai ondrum illa kanna”, which I think I played a thousand times to get me through a really bad period of my life and it worked. MSS was one voice who I could lean on for finding my spirituality, when I felt really alone. Her songs were filled with reverence and purity, that I felt that she prayed for all the people sitting there, listening to her.Her smile when she finished a particular favorite was infectious.

But I really think that I was really fortunate to get to experience her music by just looking at her sing. Her renditions of the Meera Bhajans created an atmosphere of devotion and spirituality towards Lord Krishna, that listeners felt they were in the presence of Meera herself. I remember shopping for cassettes in Chennai, when two foreigners walked in asking for traditional Indian music. The salesguy picked up MS and said “you will definitely like this” without a second thought. On my raising a quizzical eyebrow, he shrugged and said people fell in love with MSS by end of Ist stanza and he was sure they would be definitely back for “Kaar –naetic” music.
One of her disciples was recounting a episode in a train when some ladies approached MSS.On learning that one of ladies learnt Bhaja Govindam just by listening to MS’s tape, the great lady asked the traveler to sing along with her as she immediately started the first verse of the song

So MSS , I just wanted to say Thank You, you have inspired so many people and will continue to do so till the end of time

Thought I would leave will a translation of MSS Bhaja Govindam,,verse by verse, I know a lot of people ,including me just listened for MSS’s Voice

bhaja govindam bhaja govindam
govindam bhaja mUDhamatesamprApte sannihite kAlenahi nahi rakShati dukrunjkaraNe
Adore the lord, adore the lord,Adore the lord O fool,When the appointed time (for departure) comes,the repetition of grammatical rules will not indeed save you.
mUDha jahihi dhanAgamatrshNAmkuru sadbuddhim manasi vitrshNamyallabhase nija karmopAttamvittam tena vinodaya cittam
O fool, leave off the desire of wealth;create in the mind thoughts about reality, devoid of passion.what you get -i.e., what you have achieved through your past deeds-with that, satisfy your mind.
yavadvittopArjana saktah:tAvannija parivAro raktah:pashcAt jIvati jarjara dehevArtAm kopi na prcchati gehe
As long as you have the ability to earn money,so long will your dependents be attached to you.After that, when you live with an infirm body,no one will even speak to you a word.
mA kuru dhana jana youvana garvamharati nimeShAt kala: sarvammAyAmayam idam akhilam hitvAbrahma padam tvam pravisha vidhitvA
Do not be proud of wealth, kindred and youth;Time takes away all these in a moment.Leaving aside this entire (world) which is of the nature ofan illusion, and knowing the state of brahman, enter into it.
sura mandira taru mUla nivAsa:shayyA bhUtalam ajinam vAsa:sarva parigraha bhoga tyAga:kasya sukham na karoti virAga:
Living in temples or at the foot of the trees,sleeping on the ground, wearing deer-skin, renouncing all possessionand thier enjoyment - to whom will not dispassion bring happiness?
bhagavat gIta kincitadhItAgangAjalalava kaNikApitAsahrdapi yena murAri samarcakriyate tasya yamena na carcA
For him, who has studied the Bhagavatgita, even a little,who has drunk a drop of the Gangawater, and who has performedthe worship of the destroyer of the demon Mura (viz Srikrishna)at least once, there is no tiff with Yama
punarapi jananam punarapi maraNampunarapi jananI jaTare shayanamiha samsAre bahudustArekrpayA pAre pAhi murAre
Repeated birth, repeated death and repeated lying inmother's womb - this transmigratory process is extensive anddifficult to cross; save me, O destroyer of Mura, through your grace.
artham anartham bhavaya nityamnAstitata: sukhalesha: satyamputrAdapi dhana bhArjAm bhItih:sarvatraiShA vihitA rIti:
Wealth is no good: thus reflect always; there is not theleast happiness there from; this is the truth.For the wealthy there is fear even from a son;everywhere this is the regular mode.
geyam gItA nAma sahasramdhyeyam shrIpati rUpamajashramneyam sajjana sange cittamdeyam dInajanAya ca vittam
The Bhagavatgita and the Sahasranama should be sung;the form of the lord of Lakshmi ( Vishnu) should be always meditated on;the mind should be led to the company of the good;and wealth should be distributed among the indigent.
gurucharaNambuja nirbhara bhakta:samsAradacIradbhava mukta:sendriyamAnasa niyAmAdevamdrakShyasi nija hrdayastam devam
Being devoted completely to the lotus-feet of the Master,become released soon from the transmigratory process.Thus, through the discipline of sense and mind-control,you will behold the deity that resides in your heart.

Anu