The 2 cent King

New Age Ramayan!

2006-10-18T22:10:00.000-05:00

For it may be the most popular mythological story, but I have to say Ramayan is the most abused of the lot. The other day there was this Diwali mela in the Cowboys stadium and the organizers had played Ramleela with actors playing the Ramayan characters. While Ram, Laxman and Seetha were in a corner offering autographs to the kids that occasionally passed by, the ten-headed Ravana on the other hand is swamped by at least 50 kids and elders begging for autographs and pictures. Needless to say we had a pretty good snap with the monster. The Ramayan effect lingered on with my nephews (A and N), as they had their own version to tell, perhaps the most disturbing one at that. Read this, SIL is Kausalya , A and N are Raam and Laxman and my bro is Seetha. Yesh! you read it right. The only seetha with a moustache! eeew! Double eeew!

A: SeethaDevi , SeethaDevi I will save you!
N: SeethaDevi , SeethaDevi I will save you! (being the younger he repeats what ever A has to say)

They get SeethaDevi (urf Bro) to the kitchen.

A: SeethaDevi you stay here . I will go and fight more demons!
SeethaDevi/Bro: Okie! Till you come back I will finish the dishes Raama! (smart move I have to say)
A: Okie! (Picks his bow which is a fly squatter and N picks a broom and move on to fight the demons in the living room)

After a while they rush back to the kitchen.

A: SeethaDevi, you come with us, we will fight Ravana together. Where is your bow?
Bro: SeethaDevi doesn't fight. She does not use bow and arrows. She is a girl.
A: SeethaDevi , you drink lot of choclate milk and get stronger and then you can fight with Bow and arrows. I will help you.

Meanwhile Kousalya warms the couch switching between Food and Home network channels. Oh well! you know Kousalya!, her job is done before the story even gets going. The best role she ever enjoyed so far.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention, at the end of the Diwali fest, we caught Seetha, Ravana and Hanuman walking next to each other laughing away to glory, while Ram and Laxman were seen sitting quiet in a corner with their bows and arrows thrown away on the floor. Yesh! Kaliyug this is and quite a ghor one too!

Gum Hai Kisike Pyar Mein!

2006-10-09T21:00:00.000-05:00

The me is back. No more whining, griping and all that nice stuff. I thought for a change I would write about this song which has been on my player in repeat mode for last couple of days. This song is one of the most melodious and beautiful song composed by none other than the ridiculously gifted and my all time favorite composer Panchem. Written by the legend Majrooh Sultanpuri, this song brings back the memories of DD's Sunday movie nights where the Kapoor family's "who's who" used to be the common feature along with the other crap they usually dish out (aka Rajendra Kumar). I am not sure if Rajendra Kumar has ever acted in songs composed by RD, I guess he didn't otherwise I would have had a very horrific images of the past.

Another insanely talented singer Kishore teamed up with Lata (I would have really wished for Asha for this one) to render this master piece from a forgetful movie Raampur ka Lakshman. Now that I have successfully insulted your knowledge about this song and the supporting cast by providing the customary details I will stop. As you can see I did my desi grocery shopping and loaded with enough Bru.

                             gum hai kisii ke pyaar men,
                             dil subah shaam
                             par tumhen likh nahiin paaun,
                             main usakaa naam

                             sochaa hai ek din main usase milake
                             kaha Daaluun apane sab haal dil ke
                             aur kar duun jeevan usake havaale
                             phir chhod de chaahe apanaa banaa le
                             main to usaka hain hua deewana
                             ab to jaise bhii meraa ho anjaam

                             chaahaa hai tumane jis baavari ko
                             vo bhi sajanavaa chaahe tumhiin ko
                             nainaa uthaae to pyaar samjho
                             palaken jhukaa de to iqaraar samjho
                             rakhati hai kab se chhupaa chhupaa ke
                             apane honThon men piyaa teraa naam

Subtle feelings beautifully expressed.

Caffeine Deficiency Syndrome - 10

2006-09-12T16:08:00.000-05:00

I feel desis have a weird way of showing empathy. So weird it doesnot even make sense sometimes. So I bump into a friend and tell him my problems like "Hey! You know my Green card process is stuck and its going nowhere ". He/she would reply "You should be happy. Mine hasn't started yet!". or when I say " I have been stressed out lately working late till 7". Phat comes the reply "Big deal! We have been working past 10 for the past year. You shouldn't be worried".

Huh! How does my buddy's misery make me happy! It will make me worse that my good friend is going through such stress. Or does he think I am such an evil person who takes pleasure from his friend's pathetic situation. If I am sad, I would like to see at least my friend happy so I can feed off from him/her. Okie, you might think that sharing own happiness, when you find your friend sad, might come across as rude , then say nothing. But why assume such a low opinion of your friend. Weird I say!

BTW, I am out of Coffee powder at home for the past 2 days and the coffee at work is yuk! I want my Bruuuu!

Eye Candy!

2006-07-22T18:30:00.000-05:00

People People! Since when did my blogs start to make a point to have those expectations that you expressed in my previous post. Hmm! hann! bolo bolo! Alrite to make up for all the mess my previous post created in your minds, here's something that will make you feel diabatically sweet.
If I you ever come across this girl, please tell her I am carrying a ring for her! Wilya!

"Lets Screw"

2006-05-29T22:00:00.000-05:00

Gloria woke up in the middle of her sleep and asked her guy who is sleeping next to her.

"Honey? My mouth is dry. Honey. I'm thirsty.
Guy : "Umm..."

He gets up and gets a glass of water.

"There you go. honey."

Gloria responds in a angry tone.

"When I said I was thirsty ,it doesn't mean I want a glass of water.

Guy : "It doesn't?"

Gloria: "You're missing the whole point of me saying I'm thirsty. If I have a problem you're not supposed to solve it. Men always make the mistake of thinking they can solve a woman's problem.It makes them feel omnipotent."

Guy: "Omnipotent? Did you have a bad dream?"

Gloria: "It's a way of controlling a woman."

Guy: "By bringing them a glass of water?"

Gloria: "Yes.See. if I'm thirsty.I don't want a glass of water.I want you to sympathize."

She continues.

"I want you to say. 'Gloria. I too know what it feels like to be thirsty. I too have had a dry mouth.' I want you to connect with me through sharing and understanding the concept of dry mouthedness. You're into control."

Guy: Shut up!

Gloria :See? You make me sick.

She rolls over to the other side.

Guy: "Don't give me the rollover. When I say I'm thirsty.it means if anybody has a glass of water. I'd love a sip.
When I say I want to make love it means. let's screw.

Gloria: "Exactly the kind of thing I thought you'd say! I don't like the word ''screw.'' OK? I prefer ''make love'' or ''fuck.''Screwing is for carpenters.

The Guy gets out of the bed in a hurry.

Gloria : "Oh. honey. Where you going?"

Guy: "Anywhere.to get the hell away from you.Psycho. Nut case."

Gloria: "Oh. come back! I want to make love! Honey. come back! I want to screw! "

she finishes in a sarcastic tone. Needless to say, she dumps him.

Scene 2:

The guy, as typical as any man is, "realizes" his "mistake" in a day or two and comes back to her room with a guitar ,
and starts singing.

"I will never bring you water,

When you're thirsting in our bed

You know

I Understand dry-mouthedness

And I sympathize instead

And if you take me back again

I won't be
such a slob-- "

Gloria is all thrilled and says as much in her words

"Let's screw."

Scene 3:

The guy looses his money in a Basketball bet with his friend and Gloria steps in and pushes him to get the money back.

Guy : "A man cannot ask for his money back.Honey! you don't understand.Men understand how these things work.Let me explain. Men's rules are very simple.If you win. you win.If you lose. you lose.You don't ask for the money back."

Gloria : "Why not?"

Guy :"It's not part of the rules."

Gloria :"Yeah? I got a different set of rules.Sometimes when you win,you really lose.Sometimes when you lose,you really win. Sometimes when you win or lose,you actually tie.Sometimes when you tie,you actually win or lose."

Guy : "I hate it when you talk like that.It makes me crazy when you talk like that."

Gloria : "Winning and losing is one big organic globule from which one extracts what one needs."

Guy nods his head much to the delight of Gloria."

Such a happy couple you would think. The story ends with Gloria dumping him. I thought as much when the guy messed up with the thirsty thingy earlier and I should have stuck to watching the NBA playoff's even though its the boring Pistons.

* Excerpts from the movie "White men Can't Jump".*

Caffeine Deficiency Syndrome - 9

2006-04-27T09:00:00.000-05:00

We all know how much women hate to be judged, they have walked away from marriages, relationships, called all men pigs and what not because they have been judged or guys have been "Judgemental" in dealing with them. Suprise! Suprise! All this judginggiri does not even come in their way at all when it comes to dating Judges (of court) or lawyers even though they live, prosper and get ultimate reverence, admiration by judging other people. You often hear some women coyly say " I am engaged to a Judge you know!. He is the most respected man one can get. He has such cool style while judging others. I am so happy". What hypocrisy!

*grudgingly sips coffee from the mug and ponders "hmm! did I take my dose of antibiotics for sore throat today"*

Aye karamba!

2006-04-14T17:00:00.000-05:00

Hey Hey! I am back. I thought I would pull a dissapearing act on you people. But then realized that you won't would give a damm. So promptly got back in action. Not that you would care for that either. How do I get into this kind of situations. Shuks! Yanyway! I thought I would write a post wishing you all a Happy Ugadi, so by the time I decided to post it turned out to be Tamil/Mallu new year. Happy new year to all of you folks!

I also missed celebrating my second year anniversary in february. Yay! My blog is 2 rather 2.15 years old . Two years have gone by and still nothing worthwhile on this blog. I will be really suprised if I have the same readers till now. If they do , I am really thankful for putting up with my writing all this while.

Alrite people! Before I vanish again into oblivion, I want to live up to my reputation of dishing out crap. Here's a picture I got from a friend (no originality there as well) that would make all the fairer sex feel great and un-fair gents get the nervous blushes.

"Edge Designs is a company run by all women - they design office interiors. They recently had an opportunity to do a project in NYC where the client offered the women of this company a "free hand" in all design aspects. The client was also a company that was run by all female execs! Here's the result when they tried their hand in designing Men's rest room"

Guest Post: Champion for a Day!

2006-02-01T21:00:00.000-06:00

All my readers who keep visiting in a hope to see any of my blogs some day make sense, you are in for luck this time. I won't be writing this time *excited cheers and applause*. I am posting a guest blog by tafosi, my very good buddy right from my UDCT days in Bombay, who endured my antics for years and the very mood of his post reflect the lunacy my association has imparted on him. I am proud to have made a difference in someone's life.

Jokes apart, tafosi is a wonderful writer who has penned some deep, thoughtful and at the same time humorous stuff in his personal blog, "Snapshots From a Dream", but has stopped abruptly for reasons beyond my understanding. May be he is just jealous of my writing that sent him into delusions. He has to remember that these are the days where mediocracy, stupidity rules the roost. (I am sure Bush would vehemently vouch on this). He had a guest post long time back on Megha's blog too.
I sincerely hope he starts penning on his own blog.

Anyhoo, here's tafosi and his deep writing about "A Day In The life of an invisible man whom nobody notices and feels so unimportant".

Champion for a day.
  But that's what he was.
    A seemingly insignificant thing.
      Yes, someone else will be happy.
        For him, what difference does it make?
          A small island in an ocean of discontent.
            In his heart he already knew.
              It won't change anything.
                It won't matter tomorrow.
                  Demons will return.
                     As good as it feels.
                  Demons will return.
                It won't matter tomorrow.
              It won't change anything.
            In his heart he already knew.
          A small island in an ocean of discontent.
        For him, what difference does it make?
      Yes, someone else will be happy.
    A seemingly insignificant thing.
  But that's what he was.
Champion for a day.

I want to be a Mouse!

2006-01-19T12:00:00.000-06:00

If given a choice for my next life, I would like to be a mouse. Yes , a big fat white lab mouse. No not the richest guy or the most sexiest man or a Da Vince or a RD Burman and definitely not Tusshar Kapoor. I haven't given a thought if I want to be a woman. Don't ask me why. This is one of the pictures of a mouse that is being drugged for testing a fancy implant-blood sugar measuring tool in one my friend's research lab in my New year's New England trip. The size of these reminds one of a rabbit than mice. In fact I call the species a Rabb-ice! (Rabbit+Mice and many apologies to all the Rabbis). The way they are treated in the lab will make even the Sultan of Brunei jealous. They have far more rights that any one else. My friend tells me that if even a slightest burp or fart than required from these rabbice would send the department and even more the students in a tizzy imagining the impending law suits and funding withdrawals.

Have a look at their daily life,

1) They are fed more number of times than a sumo wrestler.
2) They are cute, puffy and chicks dig them and ofcourse all the belly rubs that follow.
3) They are white, so no problem of discrimination and enjoy the aura of being a superior race among mice.
4) And above all the single most privilage is that they are doped every single day for FREE. Now, Dope for free! Where in the world would you get that.

After all they are the most intelligent of all living beings including humans (Thanks to Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy).
Yes, Rabbice rule!.

Caffeine Deficiency Syndrome - 8 * New Year Special *

2006-01-06T16:00:00.000-06:00

I strongly believe that most of the desis lifestyle,opinions and decisions are relative to the next desi's. If you notice, the frustration coming from a fellow desi's success/happiness is much more obvious and disturbing for him/her than from his/her own miseries in life. So next time you meet a fellow desi, give him the saddest personal stories possible (if you don't have one, make one) that you only get in-return all the good wishes from them which will eventually make you one happy and lucky bastard around. Oh yeah! A Very Happy New Year to y'all!.

New Year, New Decisions and all that!

2005-12-23T12:55:00.000-06:00

How does it feel that one of your New year wishes come true even before its starts. Yes, it did for me. You are now reading the writings of a blogger who just got anointed with the celebrity status. Chiru did not keep his promises, but he did make up by making my family famous by featuring my dad(I think) and probably my bro(who was yawning big) in his latest movie "Jai Chiranjeeva". Well thats all I could figure in the One-Millionth of a second the camera focussed on them. Now my bro's wideopen mouth will be watched by millions of people all over the world. ahh! what a delight!

With the New Year upon us, I have decided ,as a resolution, to be more opinionated than ever (not that anyone cares). Why such a demented yet strong one you might ask. I know you would give a rat's ass to ask but trust me, you would be done reading this post real quick if you pretend you did. These days I am increasingly being put into pressure for not having an opinion. The typical conversation with my friends these days goes something like this

* What would you like to eat chines, desi, Italian ?
"Anything is fine" and finally end up reaching a buffet place where last traces of Paalak devoid of any Panneer stares at you.

* Which movie do you want to go Hindi or English
"Anything is fine" and dilly dallying a bit we are already late for the Hindi one.

* Which show do you want to go 8 or 10pm?
"If 8 I can sleep early, if 10 I can wake up late anyway its Saturday, so anything is fine". By the time we decide and buys tickets we get seats split in four corners of the theater Rangeela sshtyle!

and the worst is picking up a movie in blockbuster. So I usually try to make sure there is a girl in the gang where is a group outing or an activity. They usually are
quite sure what they want or atleast what they don't. But these days those girls are much in demand by their respective BF's and Hubbies taking care of their decision-making deficiencies.

I thought being flexible is best way to go and also comes in real handy in scoring chicks.* Naah! Not that chicken scoring which BTW I have a better and faster record* But it has been increasingly a cause of pain and torture to trouble my already badly overused-peanut-size brain.

Why can't the decisions, choices be as simple as

* Which girl is looks good among them?
Whoever gives me bhaav or at least a Paav! ( see! distinct difference between anything is fine)

* Do you want coffee?

* Which beer do you want me to get Miller,Bud?
Can I have both

* Do you want to send one or separate hate mails to Tushaar and Udai Chopra?

Well I have been taking it too easy these days( as easy as throwing up on Tushaar's picture if I mistakenly comes across one). Those days are long gone. The New Year will bring new, fresh, rude and opinionated gvenum. So don't be surprised
if you suddenly see a post on why I support Ozone depletion or Global warming. And as for expecting any sense of my choices and decisions there is always 2007. Right now its decision time. Yesh! " I am gvenum and I am opinionated" . There I said it.

*stares hard at frozen pasta and channa daal packets in both hands. urghh!!*

Life in Pictures!

2005-11-21T15:00:00.000-06:00

Looking at the below picture (taken recently during my NY trip) people usually would prefer fancy naming it as "The Path to Light" "The Road not Taken" " The Path to Destiny" and all that intellectual goop.

So I decided to take the above path which is supposedly the path to enlightenment and what not and to figure what the fuss is all about. After few meters, I turned back to see the picture below and realized that its all the same from this side as well. Don't the path I just came from look as enticing as it from the other side?.

Almost famous!

2005-11-02T12:00:00.000-06:00

" This is unbelievable"."This is atrocious" "Blatant stealing I say " screaming in a typical desi uncle's voice. But at the same time quite exhilarating and stunningly shocking (if ever that phrase exists) that my CDS-5 has been used as the plot outline by the makers of the latest Nicholas Cage movie "The Weather Man". Moreover Paramount pictures made a movie out of it. See the subtle references below.

Plot Outline: A Chicago weather man (Cage), separated from his wife and children, debates whether professional and personal success are mutually exclusive.

and my CDS-5 reads as

The height of hypocrisy from the so called "society", is advocating that key to success in any kind of career be it business ,sports or whatever profession you are in is not being happy with what you have or achieved, but at the same time telling them that happiness comes from being content with what you have in life. So they are telling you that success and happiness are mutually exclusive. What a scam!!

Does this mean I can sue them that the plot line and story idea is kind of loosely ( as loose as Charlie Chaplin pants)based on my CDS series. Does this mean finally I can buy that elusive car I have been dreaming about? does this mean I can bribe my way into getting a GF, does this mean I can buy all the DVD's/movie prints ever existed of Tushaar kapoor and burn them down, does this mean I can give away money for each comment I get, does this mean...

Hmm!! I really need to think about what to do with all the money. As you see right now my priorities are all messed up. Whatever it is, at this rate I should really be patenting my CDS series. Look at the following adulation for this series in the past months.

"You need a 24-hr supply of Caffeine
to your body so we can get rid of this series.:) "

"Please! People-who-work-with-gvenum, keep his coffee pot full." ( yes! its you Gabby)

But some stopped at

"interesting...."

and some couldn't take it anymore

"where did ya find this piece of shit?"

and there were some who took inspiration.

"oh this one is really cool - I should seriously start having coffee." ( Thanks Sagnik)

But perseverance held me on. I believed in my ability to come up with alarming ways of annoying people. Where is this special talent coming from? May I am a Super Man. Yup! that got to be it. * remembers to remind my SIL to work on my costume fast*

PS: Before I could publish this anguish, I was told by the li'l birdie from the clouds that I am not the first one to discover that Earth is round and ignorance is neither bliss nor money. May I add ignorance is also a bummer.

Caffeine Deficiency Syndrome - 7

2005-10-24T16:30:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking (that's usually rare and from my past experiences definitely not a good thing too) that vegetarians and non-vegetarians of the world should remain as they are to provide a balance in their numbers. I mean they shouldn't be changing their food preferences either by force or by choice. There is a perfectly good and logical explanation to keep their eating habits as they are. I think humans are here on the Earth for one simple and sole purpose only ---"To wipe out everything that has life on the face of the Earth". While vegetarians take care of wiping out all the plants, vegetation etc, the meat eaters does the same with all the animals and sea food. So at the end, the world is left with just humans and they subsequently turn cannibals and feed on each other till no one is left with the exception of Tushaar Kapoor. No worries about him, he will eventually die from humiliation.

* bangs hard the slowly dripping coffee machine screaming "Comon...give it to me fast...can't wait..give me my caffeine....you damn machine*

Super Man Returns!

2005-10-11T18:00:00.000-05:00

"Its a bird" My SIL screamed.
"No its a Plane" My Bro corrected.
"No its a techie in khatara Mazda. Its our Super Man" He finally gets it right. Yes, its Moi in the car. I get down to action, take out the jumper cables and pops the hood of both cars and start charging his car.

"Super man does it again! He saved our world! He is our Hero" The headlines ran in the local daily thats only circulated in moi's and my bro's house. (Please to mail me for subscription)

This is a familiar scene in the past year or so where I rescued my bro's family who are in distress time and again, whether its their car problems or getting locked out of their house or a last minute pick up of a to go order from restaraunts for their parties or baby sitting my nephews.

"The rate I am resucing you guys I think I deserve a Super man costume from you" I demanded my SIL. "I feel not so supermanish with this faded jeans and jaded shirts"

"Alrite! I will get the costume but.." she stopped. Being a Super Man that I am, was quick enough to get the hint. " Ok! Ok! I will take care of the undie that's wore on top of the pants".I assured her. I heard a Phew.

"Super Man! Come over sometime this week. I will make your fav subji and pappu(daal)". She added. "Don't talk to me like that when I am on Superman duty" I said with some discomfort. She is the only person who knows my disgiuse for the outside world that I am Vemulapati Surya Venkata Satya Sai Vara Prasad and a techie boy by profession and I seriously intend to keep it that way.

Done with the job, took couple of kisshies from my nephews and with a Amitabhisque tone said to everyone "You be safe". I walked off and looked back in expectation to see my bro's family waving bye. Before I could turn back my bro drove off in a flash. so much for my Superman Image. *sigh*.

Super "Men" - Part Duex

2005-10-06T16:32:00.000-05:00

If you remember (I would be shocked to death if you did) I have blogged about my colleague Phil who helped me a great deal to prepare for the 10 mile run in Philly back in May. Not that you care to know, but miraculously I did manage to finish the run. No, I am not revealing the time I took to finish it. Who is this voice-over guy anyway who keeps asking me these uncomfortable questions.hmm!I know. Its that Stupid conscience!. Alrite alrite,I will tell them in some other post, happy?.

Coming back to the point, before I was rudely interrupted, Phil is into his forty's and hadn't had a chance to tie the knot yet. Iam sure he did tie knots number of times, but I meant not around a girl. Hmmm! even that's not true. Phirangees don't tie the knots I guess, but you get the drift. But being in a city which has a dating scene as lively as the typical scenes in Satyajit Ray movies, he one day confided in me the tough times he is going through in getting a date. (Look what the world has come to, a white asking a single desi for tips on dating..How ironic!). Not to disappoint him and finally seeing a chance to repay the effort he put in for my run, I decided to help him out. The place I live in is a minute away from one of the busiest, happening, hep street with European style restaurants, cafes, ice cream shops and what not and of course draws all different kinds of rich people with their fancy cars. (BTW I was told that the hepness of that area took a tumbling the day I drove in my car filled with baggage). Now Phil has quite an adorable snow dog. So I put in all the things together and used my not so existent brain to come up with a plan of picking up dates using the dog as the bait in that street and somehow convinced him one day to get his dog along for dinner.

We picked the busiest restaurant and an outside table close to the street walk way. Given the dog is adorable, but I failed to take into account its 110 lbs size which freaked the hell out of all women passing by, but attracted all the men who thought having that huge dog as a sign of machoness. So there we are explaining every Tom, Dick and Harry the breed of the dog, its eating habits, the size of its pooh while all the Mona's, Liz's and Sally's would stop for a second from a distance to say "Nice doggie" before they move on fast. So much for a grand plan. What else is Phil expecting anyway, if all my plans worked the way they were supposed to I would have been in the same restaurant dining with my lovely wife and two kids by now.

Short Stories -- Derailed Train of Thoughts

2005-09-20T17:00:00.000-05:00

I have been tagged (not the tag they put on animal ears they show in the Geographical channel..believe me there are people who want to do that to me) by the ever effervescent Megha for the now famous 55 word short story. For the record, the shortest story I ever heard had just three words. Yesh! just three words. My mom always had this story in handy whenever I needed a story to sleep while I was a kid. She actually rendered the whole Ramayan(telugu) in just three words.

Me: Mommy! I want a story.
Mom: Okie.but just one. Well here goes " Katte ...kotte ..Thechhe". That's it now sleep.

and I would promptly go to sleep. Its different matter nothing has changed till now. Well...that's a different story for an another post.

For those less unfortunate people who do not understand Telugu. Here's some translation.

Katte (Build) -- Lord Ram built the bridge to Lanka
Kotte (bring down) --Bring down Ravan
Thechhe (bring back) -- Brought back Sita.

You can see where all my mythology fundas come from. Since I am the more fortunate one to be tagged by Megha (hats off to her for keeping the faith in the crap I write) here goes my effort. This is a prelude to the story that she has written in her blog.

*Derailed Train of Thoughts *

Standing in the train he visualizes every man's "often delusional" dream.

grin Babe! (on first sighting)
*Hmm?* (is he looking at me?)

Niiice! (continued appreciation of a thing of beauty)
*blush* (he IS looking at me!)

! (she hasn't smacked me with a baseball bat yet!)
*smile*

Hmmm! (Aha! The elusive smile! she is mine!)

Rest is history.

Let me pass on this tag to some of the unsuspecting souls who are very kind enough to comment on my pointless blog from time to time. So Paddy , Swathi , J , Ratna , Archster and ofcourse Megha for tagging me and giving me the idea with her story. What! Can't I re-tag back at them. *seriously flipping the rules of the Tag*

Fresh Beginings - Happy Vinayaka Chavithi

2005-09-07T13:00:00.000-05:00

Vinayaka Chavithi Subhakankshalu. I wish every one of you all the happiness in the "world and Beyond(ahh..wanted to use the Toy Story's Buzz-lightyearisque phrase for a long time). When I say happiness, health and wealth is inclusive. I never understood how the phrase "wishing you health, wealth and happiness" made any sense. Ain't the word happiness itself self explanatory?. Well I guess I am tress passing into a topic that's too rational. I will rather stick to my more melodramatic version. So I wish all the happiness may bestow on you. This is a picture I took with my Canon85 of a wall frame at my cousin place back in desh. I feel this picture has a distinct enchantment that you don't get to see in most of the Ganapathi pictures.

Caffeine Deficiency Syndrome - 6

2005-09-02T14:00:00.000-05:00

While waiting on the coffee powder to brew at the break room, my mind wanders.

The society can be classified or driven
1) by people who are strongly opinionated and put them into practice,
2) by people who strongly oppose the above,
3) by opportunists who piggy bank on the above 2 categories for their self motives,
4) by fillers like Tushaar Kapoor.

Peace!

"Super" Men!

2005-08-18T18:00:00.000-05:00

I flew last weekend with my brother and my 2 year old nephew to meet my parents who are visiting US of A. This brother is not the same NGB that I have had the privilege to blog about in my earlier posts. Yes! I have one more brother and No! we are not in the order of Panch Pandav's, if any we are more like Tridev's....much machoness in the family. Normally this is not a topic to blog about (flying with your brother is not such a big deal after all) unless you are travelling with a fellow who has, along with similar gene, similar psychoneurotic disorders as mentioned in the "moi" section of this blog.(thankfully he doesn't know I blog). The symptoms include what I call "Spot/Selective Amnesia"(SA) and impatience and all the consequences that result from SA and impatience.

Travelling with a company like that anything can happen. If we are driving to airport in different cars , we might end up at two different airports waiting and cursing each other or if we are travelling in the same car we might end up in a wrong airport.But thanks to Moi's diligent effort and my mobile's 38 reminders to print the itinerary, 44 reminders to pick up the print outs from the printer, 18 reminders to stow it in carry on bag, we ended up at the right airport. Thanks to my SIL, she made sure that my brother took the right nephew he was supposed to and the matching suitcase.

You realize we are on our own NOW at the airport with no help from my Mobile reminders or SIL. My mobile won't take any more reminders as I have used up all the place available with all the reminders earlier, so much for technology helping mankind and all that crap. sheesh!!. My brother not only has to take care of himself and now his son to handle who is going through worst case of "terrible 2's".

By the time we reached the terminal gate, we had already forgot our boarding passes thrice (at the ticket counter, at the security checkin and so on) , our carry on bag's twice and the nephew once. Now this is quite an achievement for us that we are at the gate. So on any given "Bad" day, by the time my parents get to meet us at the destination airport any of the following could have happened.

1) My parents would be waving hands at me, with my nephew and a total random guy which I mistook for my brother and tagged along.

2) My parents would be waving hands at my brother, my nephew and a random guy who my brother thought resembled me and walked along.

3) My parents would be waving hands at me and my brother and a random 2 year old who both of us thought resembled my nephew (you could also see terrified parents rushing towards us along with a Cop )

4) My parents would be waving hands at my nephew with 2 random guys who he thought were his dad and uncle.(atta boy..he didn't disappoint us ....strong genes I say !!)

But luckily nothing of that sort happened and we reached safe and sound. Miracles do happen. My SIL had a big sigh of relief on the phone with my bro that I could even hear. Every one went home laughing and with huge celebrations but both of us knew (should I say three of us ) in the back of our minds that in three days time we have to do the same drama again. I tell you its a very sinking and sickening thought.

And do you want to know how the return trip went. The very fact that I am here writing this post sitting along with a random guy who resembles my bro and my 2 year old nephew at an airport which is 400 miles in the other direction of my destination city should explain it all.

Did I say much machoness runs in my family!!

Nightmare!

2005-08-12T14:30:00.000-05:00

I usually do not like to use mail forwards as topic of my blog, but this one sure is an exception. Moreover my readers seem to prefer pictures than my writing which works fine for moi, who is not finding time to write any. I got this with a title " Raksha Bhandan". I guess you can now understand why Raksha Bhandan is easily every single guy's worst nightmare.

Old Wine - New Bottle!

2005-08-05T16:15:00.000-05:00

The older the wine the better it gets. Well, I have done it. New design, new links, fresh beginnings but same old me. I still have lot of work to do on this template (have display problems in IE, nothing new!) but I was so bored with my old design that I had to get the beta-version on board. I hope you would be more inspired to make this a merrier place by your reads and comments which always has been the saving grace of this blog. I have been quite busy at work off late, but that didn't stop me from putting into action my creative multi-tasking skills I have been blessed with "lately". This was quite evident from the recent compliment I received on my God-given skill on how I can talk and annoy people at the same time. Aww! God bless their warm souls.

I need to thank my fellow blogger aka the template genius Megha who helped a great deal on my previous template design as some snippets of the code in the present one was taken from it(like the Red font and the font family).

Sticking to the successful tactics of luring you with cute pictures of puppies for comments and blog hits, I am using this picture of the pond which is a stone's throw away from my apartment.

The End that never came!

2005-07-26T16:00:00.000-05:00

Driving back home in a sullen mood from the cricket ground (moi's inspired bowling spell couldn't stop my team from being beaten by a better team) I noticed that the traffic lights are off, the police were at every signal trying to get the traffic going with their "handy" work. The hot Texas sun gave way to dark clouds and sounds of thunder. Having decided not to cook for that evening (that's one decision that I take without any hesitation almost everyday..See.. Iam not indecisive as some people seem to have a wrong notion about me..grrr!!) I stopped at the near by Quizino's Subs, a sandwich place only to find that the whole place had no electricity. I looked around and saw throngs of people standing outside of every corner, every shop which made me wonder how big the power outage was.

Normally this is not such a big deal, power outages are common even though not quite often. But having seen Steven Spielberg-Tom Cruise thriller "The War of Worlds" just a night before, I would not say I was very comfortable about the whole situation.

For those who haven't seen the movie, I will try to mention few things without revealing the whole plot of the movie. Please stop reading NOW if you don't want to know anything about the movie. The concept of the movie is how methodically aliens attack Earthlings by managing to get huge winds, orchestrating thunders andlighteningg,take out electricity of the whole area (where they plan to attack) including blowing up the car starters with a idea of making everyone comeout of their homes,cars and basically have them visible on the streets but not able to speed away using automobiles and thus giving them a chance to kill humans in huge numbers. Hope you get the picture (if you don't you shouldn't be reading this blog, I never made sense in any of my earlier blogs anyway. So either you are an eternal optimist or a fool not to learn from your mistakes of expecting too much out of my blog).

Anywho, there I was looking at people standing outside of Walmarts, Krogers, Coffee places and every shop in that strip mall. I could also see people not able to pump gas in their cars. People started walking, quite impatiently. I see fear on people's faces while the guy next to me blew off packet of cigarettes in no time. Being in wireless industry for few years, made me check if the wireless service was available. I called up the same people who went along with me to the movie last night. Lucky for them they were far away from the place where I was and seem to get quite concerned about the whole situation. I was quite glad that the nearby wireless signal tower is working fine. The traffic was jammed, there were emergency trucks and ambulances driving by. There were so many people on the streets like I have never seen before on those roads.

I asked the Quizno's employee who looked like a Hispanic in her teens "How long was the power gone". Either its my accent or my English or both she doesn't seem to understand what I was asking.

"I don't know" an animated response using her hands. I tried to rephrase my question couple of other ways, but to my frustration she had the same answer.

"What's going on.Am I going to see Aliens now." I looked down to the ground where I am standing.(that's where they come from in the movie).

" Is this it?. But I am not even married. I did not even once had 50 comments on my blog. I have not returned Gigli, Yaadein, Tarzan the Wonder car (sheepish look) DVD's yet"

My situation reminded me of the famous Homer Simpson quote
"I'm normally not a praying man, but if you're up there, please save me Superman! "

In retrospect, all my education and knowledge and all the effort of trying to be smarter is a waste and useless infront of these over powerinmonstrousus aliens if they decide to appear. It again reminded me of another Homer Simpson quote
"how is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?"

So many thoughts trying to gate crash my already stressed brain then suddenly I heard a sweet voice " What do you like to have" the Quizno's girl came out and asked me.

Suddenly I see around the electricity is back. Everyone is already inside the shops and life seem to be normal again in no time. I took my regular Veggie S.wich with extra lettuce no dressing and started the car. So much for aliens attack and my imagination. Sheesssh!!

First Crush !!

2005-07-08T17:50:00.000-05:00

There I was minding my own business sitting and waiting for the class to begin. Checking out who is doing what, who the newbeis are. Yes! That's part of minding my own business. I figured that something has fallen off my hand and I bent down to pick it up, when suddenly I heard a rather sweet,vanilla voice "excuse me". I looked up to see an equally sweet and beautiful girl looking at me with a cheerful face.

"Can I sit here. I was told to sit here" she said.

I was so smitten, I did not even say a word, I wouldn't even had said anything If I wanted to, so "mesmerized" I was with her charm. I just moved enough inside so she can sit. We introduced and talked a bit, before the class began. It was quite an experience. She sat next to me the next day too. I had the laddu futofy feeling inside me all day. Not to mention it was my first crush.

The same Sunday my family decided to go for a movie in a nearby theater. So there I was standing outside the theater waiting for the theater staff to let us in, I saw her again. She was waiting just like us with her family. Thrilled to see her I went to her and said "Hello". For some strange, she just walked past me without even acknowledging me. This was coming from a girl who spent good part of the week sitting next to me and chatting and taking notes. She seemed very uncomfortable and scared to talk to me and moved away with her family towards the theater door. I figured she doesn't want to talk to me in presence of her parents.

The very next day my hunch came true when she came to me with the same reason much to my happiness and everything was hunky-dory. Not for long though as the school management split our fifth grade class (and my heart) into A and B sections and she was sent to the B while I remained in A. The sad part is I never got to see her again. My 8-year old brain couldn't think of figuring out where her class room was and getting in touch with her again. I guess it took a day for my crush on her to wear off. But I still vividly remember her face when she first came and talked to me. There I said it , my first crush. (I was told that the crush I had in first grade doesnot count) Fortunately it wasn't my last one and talking about my first love or rather the only one, that's a whole different story and luckily it was way later than fifth grade so you can breath easy.

Caffeine Deficiency Syndrome - 5

2005-06-28T22:00:00.000-05:00

The height of hypocrisy from the so called "society", is advocating that key to success in any kind of career be it business,sports or whatever profession you are in is not being happy with what you have or achieved, but at the same time telling them that happiness comes from being content with what you have in life. So they are telling you that success and happiness are mutually exclusive. What a scam!!

*frantically emptying the last drop of coffee to my cup from the coffee pot*

Doors and Peanut brains

2005-06-21T16:00:00.000-05:00

There I was, with a friend on a Friday late evening, at the front desk at one of my favorite Chinese restaurants waiting for my "to go" or "take out" or "pick up" in whatever way they say in whatever country you are in. It was taking unusually long time for them to get my stuff ready,it's not like I have ordered food for a wedding which don't seem to happen anyway with the way my life is going and with the kind of matchmakers I am banking on.

Anyway I digress.We sat there in waiting chairs and this particular pattern among the people leaving the restaurant from the front door caught my attention. Before you read any further of my genius observation, I thought it would be useful to know that especially during closing hours, most of the restaurants and fast food chains in USA have their right door locked (if you are going out) and you move in and out of the door using the left door (again assuming that you consider the door has left and right halfs and the point of observation is from inside the restaurant...hope it made any sense!!).

Anyway, I noticed that every women that left the restaurant used the left door and looked well aware that the right door is locked. But almost every guy was so clueless and first tried to push or bump the right door hard and later realizes its locked and then uses left door knob to get out. Its so uncanny that my friend, who was forced to get involved in this pattern scoop, got surprised as well. We confirmed my observation by watching atleast 10 more people.

This reminded me of something I read recently that men either live in the past or future but never in the present. They always are lost in thinking about what's ahead than actually enjoy or concentrate the path to reach "there" what ever the "there" is and women, on contrary, always are in touch with their surroundings and the present.

I don't know how much this is true, but its sure is a baffling experience I had. Inundated with so many thoughts and theories I got my pick up bags and banged into the locked side of the door, got annoyed and pushed the left door to get out. Before I could turn and warn my friend, I heard a bang on the door. "Men...ain't they sheep" I sighed.

Chiru - My Matchmaker

2005-06-15T13:20:00.000-05:00

Yup, its true. Even though it sounds crazy, Chiranjeevi , the telugu movie super star, has been asked to look for brides for Yours truly. So technically if he takes the request seriously he would be looking around for a girl.

It all started yesterday, when my bro's family (yup the same NGB) along with my parents who are visiting USA were requested to be part of a marriage audience for a movie shoot of the latest Chiranjeevi movie "Jai Chiranjeeva" in the same city they are living in. Apparently my family happened to meet Chiru (short for Chiranjeevi) in one of the breaks and my already-star-smitten Dad couldn't figure out what to talk so instead explained our whole family tree starting from Darwin's theory of evolution.

He also happen to mention about me and my so called miserable single status and how bad they are looking for a girl and how he could help(indirectly though). I am so glad I wasn't there, could have easily killed myself with embarrassment. On the other hand, it would have worked out well if Dad had suggested the heroine of the movie "Bhumika Chawla" of Tere Naam fame who was also chatting with them. The shooting will go on for a week and I have given clear instructions to my Dad not to mention about me unless it involved Bhumika. So there you are, Chiru , My matchmaker.

The "Broad" Way Experience

2005-06-07T11:30:00.000-05:00

Well, I have done it. I have been hearing about it from friends, media, books and what not for years. Now that I have seen it, I have one word for it "Spectacular". I am talking about the Broad way show in the Big Apple and the show is the classic French fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast". Someone put it right that its a theme of an "ugly" exterior that hides a pure nature, as well as a "beautiful" exterior that camouflages an "ugly" soul. Somehow I felt I would have liked the story more, if the the Beast remained as the way he was rather than turning into a prince. The actors, picturesque backdrops for every act, costumes, music, dances and everything about it was so brilliant. It's a must see and must feel experience.

My evening was topped by the walk I had near the lively crowded streets of Time Square and late night coffee at Europa Cafe. But the highlight of the day was the unexpected gift that thrilled my friend who was celebrating his Birthday. He got groped on his behind by couple of chicks walking by. That is something that I definitely couldn't have bettered.

Caffeine Deficiency Syndrome - 4

2005-05-22T17:30:00.000-05:00

My theory is, most men are under a misconception that their respective womenfolk look up to them for better part of their lives because of their maturity,smartness and having a balanced head. On the contrary, the only reason women seem to "look up" to men is because of their comparitive shortness in stature.

*burns the lips trying to take the first sip of hot coffee..hmmm..So much for smartness*.

No Good Bro!!

2005-05-18T15:00:00.000-05:00

I guess you might have read about the No-Good Bro(NGB) of mine in one of my earlier posts. Well, I don't understand whether this is his style of chatting or he just really hates chatting with me or something to that notion, that he always respond to all my messages(literally) with a inexplicable "Cool". Some chat snipets with him the past week.

Me: Sup!!
NGB: Cool

Me: How is the kiddo?
NGB: Cool

Me: Howz Gayatri?
NGB: Cool

Me: Howz weather out there. Pbbly getting hot.
NGB: Cool

Me go flustered a bit.

Me: Looks like you got nothing to say other than cool
NGB: Cool

*quite irritated yet keeping the wit*

Me: You are an ass, drink like a horse and eat like a pig.
NGB: Cool. But don’t tell that to anyone.

Me: I am depositing your check that you asked me to wait for your nod.
NGB: No Cool, No Cool.
Me: Cool!!!

Now you know why I call him NGB.

Friday Masti

2005-05-13T09:46:00.000-05:00

Its not an auspicious day(Friday 13th) to be blogging again but then I did choose a good one last time around and you all know how it went.*That's a nice strategy to get few compliments or a "no no!! Your blog is good"*. Anyway coming to the point of the topic, yes there is always a point in my posts.*did I tell Friday 13th could cause hallucinations on some*.
There I was driving to work very ealry on a beautiful Friday morning.*all Fridays are good and eager to feast on the Friday B'fast omelet special in my cafeteria..and yes that's my motivation* I was listening to ESPN's sport show "Mike and Mike" on radio and the both the hosts were arguing about who the most popular,well known sports figure on the face of the earth.

Here's the list of five they were debating on.

1) Shaquille O'neal or Shaq (Basketball)
2) Tiger Woods (Golf)
3) Michael Schumacher (Formula-1)
4) Lance Armstrong (Cycling)
5) Beckham (Football/Soccer for uninitiated Americans)

One of the criteria was, if each one of the above guys are to be walking down the street anywhere in the world who would be recognized first by the people(includes sports enthusiasts and clan of "don't give a damm about sports" also including beautiful women folk.*I believe all women are beautiful...Its the Friday magic*

One Mike picked Shaq (for his size and familiarity in USA..I guess he needs to know there are countries outside USA) and the other Mike picked Schumaker.(though he ain't popular figure in USA).

Since the readers of my blog could be anywhere in the world *more hallucinations I tell ya* I am wondering what's your first 2 picks are. I would request everyone reading this post would post their opinion even if you like sports or not.

and Yeah I am BACK and now you can get your whips ready.

Wild Flowers

2005-04-20T23:00:00.000-05:00

This is no way of saying I am back, but then thought (I do think contrary to what some people think..but then again it hurts when I use my brain..hmm..they might have a point) I would have photo blogs instead of writing posts. I recently took this picture of some of the wild flowers that Vandana and Megha talked about in their blogs. This is a picture taken very close to my work place in Dallas with my Canon A85. I donot want to readers feel they wasted their time dropping by my blog. You might find more such photo blogs till I start writing again.

Break Time!

2005-04-14T18:00:00.000-05:00

I feel its time for a break. Break from writing or reading blogs. My blog ain't that popular anyway:). Jokes apart I feel its taking a considerable amount of my time right now and I feel the need for a break(A tax due to IRS didnot help either). It has become a routine writing posts, reading other blogs and browsing some others and before I feel monotonous and loose interest, I feel a break would be a welcome relief.

Blogging has become too important thing to loose interest or feel constrained, but I feel some time away from it would be a better option and would also help get back enough enthusiasm and interest to blog again for a long time. I guess everyone needs a vacation. I am not sure when I will be writing again, but it could be very soon, probably tomorrow or may be next week or next month. I just need to know how much I miss it. Or may be its just a ploy to get some comments and hits on my blog as I might have run out of ideas to blog. You never know. But comments from you definitely helps in getting back at it fatser.(I guess you saw that coming!!).

"Run" for life !!

2005-04-11T14:26:00.000-05:00

I have recently started "conditioning" my body for making the 10mile broad street run in Philly on May 1st ,the same weekend a friend of mine living there is getting married and hence used the brilliant logic of hitting 2 birds in one shot funda. Years of lethargy and non-existent stamina and warming up my couch is not making the practice any easier. I think my astrological stars were in retrograde when I made that decision. Dang!!!... how did I miss my daily astrology.com predictions on that day.

Anyway looking for some inspiring company I hooked up with this colleague, Phil, who also happens to be a trainer much earlier in his career. The first time I ran was the day I wished I had rather me run over by the passing truck or at least have my colleague got run over so that in both cases I could stop. Unfortunately nothing of that sort happened and I had to come with different strategies to deal with the situation. He was very persistent, and would send me mails about how I did on the previous day and some graphs about the number of breaks I took which were more than the number of total steps in the run.

So the next time he would call or email for scheduling a run, I was prepared with excuses...err!! I meant respnses.

" My cat died today..can't make it"
" My cat ate my car keys before dying, oh! yeah! that’s why it died , cant make it"
" There is a new starbucks coffee house now on the place where I buried my cat. Would you join for coffee instead"

After I ran out of excuses I had no other choice but run (frankly it was hard on my brain thinking about excuses than the run itself). I panted, puffed, screamed and that was easily the worst pain I had ever put my body through. Phil , noticing this, would ease me up with some humor. He would take a dig saying " Hey, what's with you. I told you to quit smoking and stop beating your girl friend..else it would be hard". I would try to match his wits " I did, I did quit both. But she hasn't!! " :)

While I would bask in the glory of my humor , the talk would divert my attention from the pain of making that extra mile. Nice strategy. Phil persistence paid as I now can run 6miles straight. There are 3 weeks to go and I am already trying to have a back up plan of cutting short the run from 10 to 6miles by looking up the map of Philly and finding shortcuts to the finish line. You never know my girl friend might switch to Cigars and a leather belt:)

New and Happy Beginnings!

2005-04-08T21:50:00.000-05:00

Ugadi Shubhakankshalu, Happy Gudipadava to everyone. I wish the New Year brings new and fresh beginnings, multifold happiness, health and prosperity in your lives.

This mango tree is from the backyard of my house in Vijayawada where I had spent some of the best years of my childhood. I happened to visit this place after a gap of 10 years in my last India trip in Dec'04 , even though we own the place, we don't live there anymore.

This tree holds fantastic memories. I remember climbing up on the branches and picking up mangoes , using the leaves as thoranam's(decoratives on the doors) and playing under it.I can never forget those sweet memories, the sleep-overs on the roof tops listening to "chaya geet" , and the gentle winds and of course the summers are the best back home. I miss them so much , but I am so glad and fortunate that I have those memories for life to cherish. This tree still gives around 3000 mangoes every summer and also the source for the pickles made in every household of that street.

Anyway that takes up the year quota of senti stuff I can come up with.To each one of you who read and put up with my blog and write comments and those who accidentally ends up here even though for a second before running away,I would like to take this opportunity and say THREE heartfelt words..."Thank you":) (Source is a fellow Texan and also happens to be the current President of USA)

Middle Finger and Hypocrisies!

2005-04-05T15:30:00.000-05:00

Few months back I had the indignity of being told by one of my colleagues that I could offend people for using the middle finger while pointing stuff. It just happened I was showing this guy something on the computer screen with a pointed middle finger(not all fingers were folded inwards) though unintentionally, as I was completely unaware of what I was doing till he pointed out. Then I started noticing that I compulsively use the same M finger for lot of other stuff like pressing the elevator button or setting the microwave timings or operating any touch screen and many others.

Okie here's my rant, I am quite livid with people here in USA taking offense for it , specially keeping in mind their continuous stress on promoting the easiest possible options in every possible walk of daily life. There is perfectly valid explanation for my rant. If you notice that your middle finger is longest of all the fingers and the first one to reach/point out to any object if you open your palm thus making it practically illogical to use index finger for all the functions mentioned above. Moreover if you notice you have to do more work of folding your other fingers and reaching out more while you use the Index finger which goes against the very "fabric" this nation is built on, the fabric that couch potatoes warm up to in every household:)

Its upto you to interpret the above as a valid point or its just the way I show or tell myself about my subconsious grudge for this monotonous life in general or its just I still continue being a Lukha(a word stole from Megha's blog) from the time of my previous posts.

Messing with your Mind - Part Deux

2005-04-04T16:50:00.000-05:00

Now that I have successfully messed up your minds in one of my earlier posts, its time I take it up a notch, thanks to my Manager for providing this info.

How Smart is Your Right Foot?

This is so funny that it will boggle your mind. And you will keep trying at least 50 more times to see if you can outsmart your foot, but you can't.

1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and make clockwise circles.
2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your right hand. Your foot will change direction.
......And there's nothing you can do about it!

Now give a break to your legs...Will ya!! No.. you can't have some one else do the 6 and you do the leg thingy.

Intellectual Man...err!

2005-03-31T14:40:00.000-06:00

Lukha that I am these days, on one of my pointless surfing on the web resulted in finding this piece of news on yahoo which got my attention before I hit the end of Internet page for that day.

Scientists at MIT's Media Lab in the United States have invented an alarm clock called Clocky to make even the doziest sleepers, who repeatedly hit the snooze button, leap out of bed.
After the snooze button is pressed, the clock, which is equipped with a set of wheels, rolls off the table to another part of the room.
When the alarm sounds again, simply finding Clocky ought to be strenuous enough to prevent even the doziest owner from going back to sleep," New Scientist magazine said.

I happen to mention about this piece to few of my friends in one of the recent parties and for some reason no one seemed to be thrilled about it. Infact, they seem to come up with contingency plans to deal with it, if they ever come across with that situation in future.

Our conversation went something like this.
Me: Hey.. I have read this news...blah..blah..blah.

Friend1: * thinks a bit* ...hmm!!!..... I would have a rope tied to it and the other end to my hand, so that its always in my reach.
Friend2: *seems little agitated* Rip off the wheels..I say.!!!
Friend3: *with a beaming smile* .. I would never buy one!!
Friend4: *little irritated* Don't MIT have better things to do rather than wasting funds. That's why I always advise not going to these weird schools.

Alrite! The Progressive,Intellectual Men have spoken. Intellectual Man..hmm!!..What an oxymoron!!(no offense to oxymoron, the writer).

Reflex action vs Subconsciousness

2005-03-29T23:20:00.000-06:00

I had this discussion with my cousins the other day about Subconsciousness and Reflex Action. You might have noticed that sometimes when you get in your car you put on the seat belt subconsciously. On contrary giving an example for reflex reaction can be quite easy, trying to duck in defense while something is thrown at you, can be one example.

But the topic of the discussion we had is not about what they are or how do you define them. But the debating question we had was out of these two actions either reflex or subconscious which one of them access your brain while performing any of these actions. One of the arguments was that Reflex action could be a routine, the brain stores somewhere that gets activated or called when it its needed fast and not necessarily makes a fresh access of the active brain and hence does not literally keeps your brain engaged.

Can the same thing be said of subconscious. Does brain gets involved during subconscious actions. It differs from reflex action that while subconscious actions do not have the same priority as the R.A but still could be accessing a routine that doesn't need live access to the brain. What's your take on it.

Now you show your reflex actions or subconscious mind by writing a comment on this post straight away and tell me if you have used your brain.
And remember not to use your brain too much as better sense might prevail and show a different reflex action of running away from this post.

More over using too much brain hurts ….eeeewwww….*holding my forehead with my palms in pain*...see it hurts already writing a ,what one of my friends door ka acquaintance would say, "Cerebral" post for a change.

Caffeine Deficiency Syndrome - 3

2005-03-25T11:41:00.000-06:00

"The conspiracy theory is that the soap industry and the bath tub designers in USA have a secret understanding to keep the soap holder so low in the bath tub that the soap gets soaky wet during showers, gets so thin in few days that you need a new one and make you buy huge packs of them thus making the revenues. And ofcourse the designers gets their share of the profits for their work"

and sips the fresh cup of coffee I just made.

Messing with your heads!

2005-03-16T12:02:00.000-06:00

I was in a mood listen to songs yesterday, not the ones on computer but something different for a change. Not sure of what to listen, I closed my eyes and picked a cassette( yes…I still have bunch of cassettes that I bought from India when I first came here) from the box and it turned out to have songs of different languages from different genres. It has the songs of Prema Desam(Tamil dubbing version of Kadhal Desam ) and some old Lata songs. Well, its funny how some songs stick to your mind from the time you start listening. I guess this happens to everyone. You listen to this song ,the last song you heard in particular, and its stuck for the whole day or two. You keep humming,singing all the time and can't get it off your head. The same thing happened to me. Now I can't get it off my mind and its been two days already. So I thought I would pass this on to my readers and mess with their heads a little bit. So don’t blame me if its get stuck with you, just assume you are giving me company in humming this song, not that my company is great...as a matter of fact its much worse than having the song stuck in your head, see.....Don't you already prefer listening to the song than giving me company.
Anyway here goes the song and its lyrics.

Ajeeb daastaan hai yeh, Kahan shuru kahan khatam
Yeh manzile hai kaunsi, Na voh samajh sake na hum

Yeh roshni ke saath kyoon, Dhuaan utha chiraag se
Yeh khwaab dekhti hoon main, Ke jag padi hoon khwaab se

Mubaarakein tumhe ke tum, Kisi ke noor ho gaye
Kisi ke itne paas ho, Ke sab se door ho gaye

Kisi ka pyaar leke tum, Naya jahan basaaoge
Yeh shaam jab bhi aayegi, Tum humko yaad aaoge

Phew! I feel so relieved now that I have passed on the bug.

Caffeine Deficiency Syndrome - 2

2005-03-10T10:22:00.000-06:00

The theory is that ,after all the hard work they do trying to make a mark with their studies till then, teenage for a typical desi guy starts around 20 and stays till 28 and from there on the hangover stays rest of their lives. So expecting guys to be mature about anything and to behave all grown up is pure stupidity.

*Steps down the stage and heads for the coffee break room*

Change and allied heart breaks!.

2005-03-08T16:30:00.000-06:00

Change in life is such a painstaking effort. You think you have the perfect ,ideal one at last. You think you found your match, explored the "taste" of love, your search is over and finally one puzzling piece of your life is resolved for good and think you never had to spend any time anymore looking for one. You think it’s a "happy ever after" story. The "Instant" sparkles and the love at first sight*sigh*. It felt like a fairy tale ending.

Well its not to be. There comes the change. As I recollect the instance when one of the contestant in a Miss India contest (few years back )did not make it to the final round when she choose the former option after being asked whether she prefers " a totally happy world that involves no change i.e. everyone's happy with what it is right now without making any change or a world that "may be" a happy place with change" , I told myself I should make the change not bcoz it was my choice, but was forced to. The memories keep coming back and haunt me. You keep reminded time and again about all the good times you had making it real hard to make the change. How you wished you never had to change. Why is letting go so hard and heartbreaking. You never know what's the change can bring you. Will you like it, will you be able to find the same love again, Can you trust again and what's the guarantee you will not be parted again. How long should I wait. Ain't it unfair that after all the things you did , you hadn't had a fair chance and you deserve more.

So many thoughts, so many questions , so many uncertainties go across my mind as I tentatively walk to the Coffee/Tea aisle of the local desi store and nervously pick the new pack of the ONLY brand of coffee bag available on the rack. As I get hold of the packet sulking at the store owner for not keeping my fav brand, I couldn’t help myself uttering in my sad, unsure mind

"Bye bye BRU Instant …you have been such a doll to me..miss you...Welcome to my life Nescafe" :)

* Dammit!..I need a life!*

Poker Party

2005-03-06T21:23:00.000-06:00

Okie.. it’s a guys night out. The extravagant plan initially started out (a week back) with camping and some outdoor activity away from the city, but considering the participants involved are married with at least a kid , no one could ever come to any consensus(read as too scared to even talk to their better-half's about the idea) and finally and aptly ended as a poker night. This time it did not even take minutes for them to come to a consensus on where to do the frenzy. Who else.. of course...Yours truly's apartment... and more that suits them is my "living alone" status and an easy excuse to put the blame on, for initiating the idea if confronted by their wives. You can imagine my reputation and the grief I gonna get, if ever in my cotton-picking mind, I wish to go to their homes. Anyway, noting that the gang involves my bro and his friends who apparently happens to be mine too, I couldn't say no.

Well there I was... cleaning up my place only to be trashed in few hours. Every one showed up in their usual IS Timings(read IST as Indian Stretchable Timings). People ,especially women folk ,curious about what goes on a guys night-out would rather wish to be darned they ever asked. But if you are not curious to know please stop reading from here. To imagine the assembly of some smart minds ,engineers, senior managers who excel in their fields would bring out the best of conversations , think again. Of course the obvious culprit is the omni-present "som-ras" in such kind of gatherings. Rather than more constructive and lively arguments that would at least remotely make sense , the topics ranged from circumcision and the need for it or the lack of and the comparison of the water level inside toilet pots at our work place and in Infosys in India(one infosys guy even made a case out of it on why its so efficient to do outsourcing..no I am not giving in any more gross details) and the detailed description of the different poses their work colleagues make in restrooms while answering N.calls. For obvious reasons I stopped eating after that. Fortunately and expectedly there wasn't much discussion about any "girl stuff" probably due to the age group they all belonged to. Thank God for small mercies *phew*. So any girls reading this, if your hubbies gives a one line answer of their account on guys night out, please end the conversation there.

Coming back, I still couldn't figure why it was called a poker party. Once the poker expert explained the rules of the game to everyone who by then had a attention span of a 3-year old boy(not girl), the game started and finished within 2 minutes after people started betting whole coins even before the cards were dealt. That’s the only poker I ever got to see for the night. So there was no "poker" and it not even looked like a "party" (I guess you would agree with me after reading the above interesting conversations we had).

Oh well. It’s a guys night out and as you all know, nothing makes sense when they all get together(for that matter I don't think it happens only when they get together)

BTW here's a Don't on these kind of nights, when you are drunk and making coffee, make sure you don't have the salt bowl next to the stove. You are not going to enjoy your coffee that much:)

Me and "The Twins" - A Toast!

2005-02-28T02:21:00.000-06:00

I went for a ride on this cloudy morning, weather little nippy (okie I am no Northie but like to use the word..it got a nice ruse to it) made a nice feeling of a snow less north-east in otherwise sun soaked Dallas. Honestly it ain't that bad but its just these few tornadoes, few months of scorching sun , few.... …err...well anyway, its not really about Dallas this post is about. There I was, with a donut in one hand(its Sunday..I give my inside "food-gollum" a free hand) and coffee in the other, looking at a empty cricket ground (cricket! ..Dallas!…it’s a post for another day) soaked by the heavy rain yesterday dashing all hopes of a practice session.(there goes my once a week cardio session.)

If you thinking I am going anywhere with this, yes I intend to, just have little bit patience( "Patience!!! Look who is talking!!"…*me strangles the sarcastic-gollum for a sec*). Not wanting to waste this excellent opportunity to boast about the weather I call this close friend of mine in Connecticut(a snow-filled multi-colored-cow infested North-East country state) only to hear his voice mail. Expectedly and not for the first time I see this happen, I hung up the phone with a unsuspecting remark by me " man..these Geminis"....that took me by surprise once I finished saying it. It started me thinking and it came all together.....(the sugar on the donut started kicking in..while the cholesterol has already made its merry).

What's with me ( a ephemeral saggi...eeeks .did I say that..I meant ethereal *nice recovery says smeagol-me*) and Geminis? It didn't take me much time to realize that I surround my self with so many of these ultra-talented, kind, affectionate and yet at the same time complex and elusive Gemini's..(wait!.. didn't I have this realization before...hmm...saggi's and their memories..huh!.."ethereal" does sound little suspect already). Leave me with a group of people of different sunsigns ,after few hours I would be with bunch of people either laughing or arguing who invariantly turn out to be Gemini's.

But seriously my bro is one, my very good pals(including the above), my SIL and the list goes on. Anyone can have Gemini friends/families there is nothing new to it. After all they are the most friendly and easy to get along people you ever know. I do have lots of great friends who ain't Gemini's and even closer. But for me , Gemini's are not just "any" friends. None of my friends/families(not even my parents) has ever made a profound impact than Gemini's in my life so far. Their words and actions and their personalities has always had its effect in my actions and sometimes in my decision making. The aura of mystery that surrounds them intrigues me, their often passionate and sometimes opiniated take on topics draws me towards them and of course their sense of humor is unique, may not be the best around, but works just fine for me.

Though they are one of the most indecisive and appears to carry a dual personality (courtesy one Linda Goodman and some personal experiences), they eventually end up making some right choices.(keeping me as a buddy is one!!..*smirks the gollum as I tighten my grip along its throat*) I have to say the association with these Gemini's gave me some of my finest, happiest moments in my life as well some of the most frustrating and hurtful moments too. But in never deterred me anyway to like them, as both of us seemed to agree that we have too much to loose than gain..else life will be a like a spiceless daloo aum...I mean aloo dum...(*gollum-me shakes head in disgust*)

*Raising my glass of low fat-buttermilk with a tinge of salt & lime.(too much of spicy dum aloo can have its day on your system)* So here's a toast to all Gemini's in my life and in general. *gollum-me for the first time seems to agree*

Didn't I tell you I had something meaningful when I started. BTW, anyone commenting, hope you don't mind leaving your sun-sign……....phone numbers, credit card numbers….*me chokes while evil-gollum takes over me*.

Valentine "Bliss"!

2005-02-22T16:21:00.000-06:00

Moi and my no-good bro(who had a wonderful baby boy few months back) got to chatting after a week.

Moi: sup!
Bro: Nothing much..just baby poops and diapers..and yeah *thinks* that's it.

Moi: Howz Gayatri(my SIL)
Bro: As usual ..pissed.

Moi: What did you do
Bro: Nothing.

Moi: Lemme rephrase ..what didn't you do.
Bro: *sheepishly* I didnot do anything on Valentine's day.

Moi: Fair enough.
Bro: *delightfully* Thank you. You are the first one who really was on my side who agrees the Siva sena policy of disapproval of the V.day.

Moi: Nope. The "fair enough" was meant for Gayatri's being pissed with you.
Bro: Traitor!

Moi: So its been a while I have been to your place and seen the kiddo, how about sending an air ticket.

Bro bang shuts the yahoo door "discriminately" and logs off.

My Bloggie's First Happy Birthday!

2005-02-20T21:54:00.000-06:00

Finally. Its my bloggies 1st Happy Birthday. On this day I thank everyone(not a whole lot though) for wasting your time on my blog and posting comments. I hope you have more time to waste and burn on my blog in the coming year. I have formulated some strategies and theories this year to get more web hits and comments. Kicking of the festivities here's something for you on my bloggies B'day that would make you go "awww cho chweet" and also get my strategies rolling.

Its my 'appy budday!!

Caffeine Deficiency Syndrome!!

2005-02-16T11:49:00.000-06:00

I have a theory that every guy/gal ends up with a wrong partner who is not meant to be. But the biggest trick the partners have ever pulled or keep pulling is not make their partners realise this truth.

by Your's Truley. Time for some coffee.:)

Immortality and all that "goop"

2005-02-15T15:43:00.000-06:00

Celebrate as many Valentine days as you want, rip of your heart and give it your sweetheart as a gift,bcoz you won't be needing it anymore. But make sure you are not dead in the next 20 years.

No..I haven't flipped..ofcourse a lonely Valentine day has its effect, but not this crazy. But "achieve immortality in 20 years" says Ray Kurzweil , a famed inventor and computer scientist and a winner of number of awards including Lemelson-MIT prize(it’s a Academy Award for inventors), a inductee of "Inventors Hall of Fame" and also dubbed as "modern Eddison". The MIT graduate's most famous inventions is the first reading machine for the blind that could read any typeface.

A seismic development he predicts in his new book ("Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever.")is no more than 20 years away that makes humanity achieve immortality. Kurzweil writes of millions of blood cell-sized robots, which he calls "nanobots," that will keep us forever young by swarming through the body, repairing bones, muscles, arteries and brain cells. Improvements to our genetic coding will be downloaded via the Internet. We won't even need a heart.

This 56 year old inventor is serious about his diet(grenne tea , alkaline water) and hasn't got sick in last 7 years and plans to be fit when this happens.He sees human intelligence not only conquering its biological limits, including death, but completely mastering the natural world.

Critics say Kurzweil's predictions of immortality are wild fantasies based on unjustifiable leaps from current technology.

His predictions are based on carefully constructed scientific models that have proven accurate. For instance, in his 1990 book, "The Age of Intelligent Machines," Kurzweil predicted the development of a worldwide computer network(Internet) and of a computer that could beat a chess champion.

His 3 bridges to immortality are
Bridge-1: A health regimen to keep yourself fit
Bridge-2: A biotechnological revolution
Bridge-3: Nanotechnology and artificial intelligence revolution, which Kurzweil predicts will deliver the nanobots that work like repaving crews in our bloodstreams and brains. These intelligent machines will destroy disease, rebuild organs and obliterate known limits on human intelligence.

But how does the limited resourseful world sustain immortality?

Kurzweil says he believes new technology will emerge to meet increasing human needs.

You mean lonely V days for ever..nooooooo. Hey when is the doom's day. Oh yeah, its no use.*sigh*

"His" ways

2005-02-11T11:37:00.000-06:00

I usually do not go all mushy or senti in my posts, but thought the below saying which I got from one of my friends(Thanks Fancy!)would give my blog all "masala" look and more web hits.
So here goes

"When God takes something away from your grasp,He's not punishing you but merely emptying your hand for you to receive something better"

He has been emptying my hand for a long time now. Someone remind Him please. Probably having transportation problems:)

"Black"...A Bright,Colorful Tale

2005-02-05T04:58:00.000-06:00

Update: Check out the comments of some of the stars of bollywood at the premier of "Black".

A story well told. A movie well made. The characters well played. That should explain it all. Watching this movie, I felt like "watching" a novel but in snipets. Think about a nice novel you read and a subsequent movie made based on it and it exactly portrays how you imagined, the setup ,the characters , the decor. Don't you feel thrilled! Except there is no novel here for the movie to be based on. This movie is all about the director's imagination and passion. I understand a story line like this cannot be captured in such a short time. This movie would have made an excellent novel to read and works as a nice advertisement for it. It left me wanting more. Now I have this sudden urge to read novels:).

Black is a movie about a blind and deaf girl's journey to womanhood as she tries hard to overcome her physical limitations and fulfill her dream about making herself independent with the help of a special teacher. Hopefully I have summed it up right, if not, go on..judge me. I was anyway bad with summation theories in school.

Okie I digress. Contrary to the title, the movie is positive, full of energy ,elevating and for a story plot which has all the elements of sensitiveness and despondence, it turns out to be quite fast paced and gripping keeping the audience attention. Some how I felt Sanjay Leela Bansali's(Khamoshi, H2DS, Devdas) would have really loved some extra movie time to picturize all the emotions he has conjured up his mind. But he has done a commendable job in capturing the essence of his imagination in little more than 2 hours. Every filmmaker has his own pet project( read close to heart) up his mind that he always wishes to make one day. I feel this movie is one of those as evident from the fact he is both the director and producer of this movie.

The young Rani Mukherjee , portrayed by a Ayesha Kapur , is the star of the movie in my opinion. For a 10-year old with no acting background, she is just brillaint, so natural and puts generations of so called bollywood actors/actresses to shame with her sublime performance(which provides an excellent evidence to my earlier post, you thought you could avoid not reading it! *a villianish smirk*). AB and Rani gives the performances of their careers till date. This is a movie where the performances of the lead actors, the cinematography (by Ravi Chandran) , and ofcourse SLB's direction (in my top 5 list already) will be remembered for a longtime.

If I were to make any changes, I would have preferred a much slower pace and more time on her experiences coping and learning her disability as well as AB's medical condition.Guess I propably would have ended up turning it into an art movie spurning away the audience. But as I said this would make the movie so much longer and darker the whole concept of entertaining the main-stream audience is weakened.

This is a movie which will give your routine hindi movie expectations a shot in the arm. Is this the new face of bollywood!!

Propably not judging from the trailer of the upcoming Akshay Kumar-Kareena starrer "Bewafaa" that was played during the interval. Its a death trap.

"De-generationized"

2005-01-25T17:27:00.000-06:00

Its official.I have been "de-generationized"(a home-cooked word I came up with if you come across a younger generation with a "gap"). Nah not that kapadewala Gap, the "generation gap". The experience has been painful for many reasons, the obvious being a feeling of not getting any younger( skillfully avoided mentioning the dreaded 3-letter word *pat pat*), making phrases(read excuses)like "these kids have everything in a silver platter". Did I say "these kids". *sigh*.
So here goes the story. The other day me and a friend of mine gave my cosusin's son,hardly 8 years old,a car ride from the airport and we started "talking". Keeping in view he is just a 3rd grader , we wanted to keep the conversation simple. I am only providing snipets of it keeping in mind the fragile ego's reading this post.

Friend: Who's your favorite hero
Kid: Shahrukh Khan.

Friend: Where were you when Tsunami happened.
Kid: Home.

I interrupted
Me: Do you know what Tsunami is.

Kid: Tsunami is formed when earth plates below the sea has a displacement due to a earth quake and the resulting pressure pushes the water....

Me (interrupting him,from obvious abashment ): What did you say you fav hero was ?

Kid: Did you know that humans use only 10-15% of their brain
Me: huh?

Friend (who tried to be a smart ass): I use 20%
Kid: No way. Humans can only use up to 16% of their brain else they become psychos.

Me and my friend were beyond speechless. Noticing this,he tried to interrupt our silence.

Kid: Ask me something in Algebra.

Me(Not willing to accept his smartness): Okie. What's 4+4
Kid: Heeeey. Are you guys making fun of me. That's not Algebra.

and he carried on how one should care and encourage a loosing team in any sport than the winning, showing his sensitiveness.
That's when we realized what struck us. We have been "de-generationized". This is not the first time I have heard about American born Indian Kids having exceptional memories and with remarkable prudence, but this is the first time I have come across one of such kind. I have my friend telling me how her sister's daughter is sharp, brainy and many stories from others, makes me wonder if the combination of Indian genes and the American habitat (especially the graded nourishing food, water) has anything to do with it. So are we seeing the beginning of a new superior race,a smart and compassonate. Hmmm…hey just my 2 cents.
As far as me going DG(read as de-generationized), I guess a marathon of some pointless and senseless bollywood movies over the weekend should fix it.

My India Series - 2

2005-01-16T18:53:00.000-06:00

I had a quite a story connoted with this picture (super imposed in couple of places to make it reader friendly. On my dental appointment in my last month's Indian trip,I found this board he put up in front of his clinic to be quite an irony and funny too and thought as a good blog material. Someone watched me taking this snap and enquired my intention. I was quite sure he was pleased with my explanation. Next day morning I get this phone call from the Doctor, who is a good friend of our family, enquiring if I was the one who clicked. I came to know that the place, which also hosts a bunch of other Doctor clinics, was in total panic with rumors that the press is doing some investigative journalism(one TV-9 TV network name was used) and they had this evidence of me taking pictures. Luckily the misunderstandings on my intetions were dispelled and the doctor was quite pleased with my admiration of his humor.

Coming back to the picture ,glad the Doctor made sure he has a sense of humor to cover his inattention to detail:)(check the spellings in the picture). Fortunately, he didn't show this in his treatment of my teeth:).

BTW, why was there a panic in the complex..Fishy:-).

PS: Embrace yourself for more photo blog features(it started of with my previous blog) from me for a while.Thanks to my new Canon-A85, I have quite number of stories to share.

Sankranti Subhakankshalu

2005-01-14T06:07:00.001-06:00

Happy Sankranti to everyone. Coming back from a memorable trip back home after nearly 6 years, I can easily see what I have been missing all these years, The festivals. What better place to celebrate the festivals than your own blog.This picture was taken from one of the streets of good old Vijayawada which holds all my childhood memories.

Religion in Modern times...Can it fit?

2004-12-07T23:28:00.000-06:00

I wanted to blog on one of the interesting and compelling discussion on CNN's "Larry King Live " in October about "Religion In Modern Times" with panel that included Deepak Chopra, a Catholic priest, a advisor to Muslim Public affairs,a president of a Baptist Seminary and a author of bestsellers on Judaism who is also a Jew. They discussed about war, terrorism, politics, the gay marriage . The one topic that I remember well is about gay marriages.
When asked why gay marriages are a sin, one of the panel has this to say.

"I believe God has made it an order in the universe where male and female this is ideal. That doesn't mean the non-ideal cannot exist beautifully. The ideal is for a child to have mother and father. The ideal is for a man and woman to bond. In some cases it can't happen. To me that's sad. These people are beautiful people, but I have to offer an ideal.
What if three people love each other? Do you offer two people ideal?
What if three love each other, what if a brother and sister love each another?"

Interesting!!. Yes what if 3 people love each other and want to get legally married and aspire for all the benefits the government provides. How far we can go on and accept. If those relationships are not natural , then being gay natural?

Here are some of the other questions thrown around in the discussion.

"Let's say you're a citizen of Iraq, nice guy, hard worker, you lived under Saddam Hussein, you had no choice. One day, a bomb comes from the United States, good people, nice people, wiped out your home and family. How are you supposed to feel? "

"How about those who say everybody who fights a war, God's on their side. God was on Hitler's side. God was on the side of the people on 9/11 they all said. They were for God. "

"the hijackers on 9/11 believed in their religion as strongly as you believe in yours. How do you respond to that? They gave their life for their beliefs. "

"And it is suggested that capitalism, the way we practice, is often, or more godless than some of other systems"

"Have humans always been this way? (angry, fighting) "

"do you support capital punishment?"

And some thoughts were as good as the questions.

"If you classify everybody as good and right, as we have a tendency to do in this country, then you immediately polarize the situation.
And before I cast a stone at somebody else, I really need to look at my own self and say, do I have the seed of evil inside me? Can I be the change that I wish to see in the world? Mahatma Ghandi used to say, there is no way to peace, peace is the way. And peace is powerful. Peace has its own organizing principles. You don't have to work with violence, you don't have to work through violence, you have to be a peaceful person yourself.
Can I be that peaceful person? Can I be peaceful, can I think peacefully, can I feel peacefully, can I act peacefully, can I create peace in my environment. If there are enough people like that in the world the world will transform. "

"Am I optimistic?(about the world) I will never give up hope. On the other hand, if we were wiped out, it wouldn't make a bit of difference to the universe. We're just a speck of dust in the mindless junk yard of infinity. "

If you want to read the whole transcript of the show,this speck of dust(me:)) has provided the link here.

Veer-Zaara ....Never say Never again to Love stories.

2004-12-05T04:34:00.000-06:00

If Yash Chopra is famous for all the the mountains and sarson ke khet, cute n sexy damsels(besharam chori from Megha's blog), well he has also tried his hand in story telling which I believe has come out totally unscathed and in flying colors with his passionate love story ,Veer-Zaara. None of his movies ever grabbed so much of my attention than this one.
I would rate this one one of his best along with Lamhe just for its sheer screenplay and brillaint conception. No, he hasn't missed any of of his usual trademark stuff that I mentioned earlier, more over I feel for once he has matched all his visual brilliance with his story telling skills. The dialogues are slick ( much lesser than his previous films) less dramatic, more meaningful and very situational,sublime and so are the scenes.

While his screenplay is the brain of this movie, music is the heart. The songs,music allevates the movie into ethereal heights. Some of the songs has some Illayaraja(instrument arrangement) and Pancham touch.

I loved all the songs but specially liked Do Pal,Tere Liye,Kyon Hawa,Aaya Tere Dar Par,Tum Paas Aa Rahe Ho (Well, you can say I loved all the songs equally).

Frankly I was so involved with story , I didnot had much of a chance to see how each of the roles were played by the actors/actresses. But Hema Malini(Veer's Aunt) stands out as the worst. As she has proved over the years, she hasn't dissapointed me again with her scowling performance. Apart from her everyone else had a cake walk with a special mention of Rani Mukherjee who I believe is one of the best actress around.

This movie is worth every penny spent.No one can relate this movie more than those who had experienced true love before.

Weekend Movies

2004-08-10T13:22:00.000-05:00

Watched 2 good movies last weekend. Both of them low budget and very well made. The first one was a Hollywood comedy flick "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle " and other one was apna Bollywood's "Raghu Romeo". Both of them hilarious in their own way.

Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (English)

Harlod & Kumar is about two roommates -one a Korean American investment banker; the other an Indian American medical school candidate - go through a life changing journey, as they spend a night roaming the state of New Jersey in search of White Castle hamburgers. The movie is in same genre of American Slapstick comedies as "American Pie". It’s the first time I have seen characters who are usually relegated to stereotypical supporting roles like "Patel from a motel or a geeky Doctor or a Martial art expert " are finally allowed to carry the entire picture. Surprisingly this is totally a white-bashing movie but in a funny way. I don't think the directors set out to make a really "intelligent," thought-provoking, provocative movie. Its very silly and wacky movie.

This movie will be a hot seller/rental once it hits the DVD stands at Blockbuster. But please make sure you see this movie with those who are not uncomfortable taking gross and some embarrassing stuff (a total no-no with family).
BTW, I have seen how the word "family" is being perceived as you, your spouse and kids in USA(basically you have a "family" if you are married ) where as the same word in Indian sense has everyone above and also includes parents, relatives etc etc.

Some tit-bits from the movie

Dr. Woodruff: Do you actually believe that after the way you've just behaved that I would even consider recommending you for admission?
Kumar: No. I'm gonna be honest with you. The only reason I'm applying is so my dad will keep paying for my apartment. I don't have any desire to go to med school.
Dr. Woodruff: But you have perfect MCAT scores!
Kumar: Yeeeah, just cause you're hung like a moose doesn't mean you gotta do porn.

Kumar: Dad, come on.
Kumar's Father (with thick Indain accent): Daddy is not coming on anything!

Harold: [to Maria in elevator, after seeing luggage at her feet] You've certainly got a lot of baggage...

Harold: So what did they arrest you for?
Tarik: For being black...

And the rest are here.

Raghu Romeo (Hindi)

Raghu Romeo is about a man who takes television serials(trash like Kusum,Saas bhi kabhi bahu thi crap types) too seriously. I really loved watching this entertainer. On later googling I found out that Raghu Romeo won awards at film festivals and got some serious critic acclaims. This crossover film falls somewhere between masala and alternative/art cinema with an ability to touch your heart in a humorous way.
I loved the music(by Pritam). Its very peppy and goes well with the movie. The screenplay is slick, grabs your attention all the while and the way it breaks into a song in the middle of a serious conversation is very refreshing and a novelty. If a stupid, unreal and ridiculous yet entertaining movie like "Mujshe Shaadi Karoge" can be a hit why not Raghu Romeo which is funny, thought provoking.
It’s a must see.

Bana ... Eric Bana !!!!

2004-08-02T23:14:00.000-05:00

Its official.The geeky-looking Eric Bana(Troy,Hulk fame) is the new James Bond and dead is my desire to watch any further Bond movies(Sorry Jupee). Let the condolences and greetings pour in.

Eric Bana

The Next Bond!!

2004-07-29T09:46:00.000-05:00

Recently came across this news on the web.
"Bond is another lifetime behind me," Pierce Brosnan said.
If true, England-based Eon Productions, which produces the Bond flicks, must find another star to carry 007's Walther PPK in the 21st Bond movie, scheduled for release next year.
Speculation surrounds Brits Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Gerard Butler, Jude Law and Ewan McGregor, as well as Aussies Hugh Jackman, Heath Ledger and Eric Bana.

Hugh Grant!!! Are you kidding me?...Just imagine him nervously stutter "I ..I .Iam Bond...James Bond...do you care for some Tea and Biscuits"in a English royal accent, flicking his hair back and barely managing to lock eyes with person he is talking to.

Let's do SWAT analysis on his candidature for this role.

Strengths: A male. hmmm(can't think of more). Could also be a ladies man with a "cho chweeet" tag.
Weakness: Will need a whole new blog.
Tactics: Make the movie "Women only" and release it only in Britain.

Relationships Re-Revisited

2004-07-24T11:55:00.000-05:00

Looks like relationships is such a topic than can easily keep "us" bloggers not look for new topics to blog about for a while. Taking a cue from Megha's blogs on relationships, I thought I would also jump in with this article on the web which came from one of the emails from eDiets I got registered to(don't know how) . These are the views from Rhode Island psychiatrist Scott Haltzman, M.D.

"The largest percentage of adult men? Married men. And until now they've had no voice contends Haltzman. It could be argued that men don't need another voice; their voice in the culture is loud enough for most women. But Haltzman argues that married men are different and need a voice because they are at a distinct disadvantage in relationships, verbally and emotionally.
The average woman uses 7,000 words a day and five tones of speech, he points out. The average man uses 2,000 words and three tones. "Men are talk-impaired, relatively speaking," he says.
Men are also impaired at experiencing emotion. They need help figuring out what to do. Some things are not intuitive. Talking about feelings, for example, increases men's stress levels.
Sometimes marriage is flawless. But most often it is not. Men who stay married have somehow learned techniques to preserve their relationships. He notes that "most men have learned these techniques on their own and don't do it in obvious ways." Haltzman contends that marriage is as much a health issue as a quality of life issue. Married men make more money, have more peace of mind and have more and better sex. Marriage also lowers men's health risk, while divorce raises the risk of death by 200 percent for men.
So Haltzman is busy researching ways to help understand the relationship patterns of husbands and wives.

Here are tidbits of his own wisdom:
Working on a relationship is a man's job as much as a woman's. Often it is the man's behavior that predicts whether a couple stays together. Men need to accept the influence of their wives.
Once men decide to marry, they are more committed to the relationship than women are.
Guys look at relationships differently from women, but the most commonly discussed ways of fixing relationships are geared to feminine styles.
"Men really do feel incredible passion for their wives, but they don't recognize it sometimes."
"Most affairs don't happen by chance meetings. Infidelity occurs in up to 40 percent of marriages. By age 45, two out of every five men and one out of every five women has had at least one affair.
"For an overwhelming majority of spouses who cheat -- 80 percent -- the reason is not sexual. Most simply seek validation, warmth, understanding or love."

And here's his single wisest piece of advice: "Marriages improve when a spouse learns to shift away from his or her own personal desires and listen to the needs of the husband or wife. "

I don't know how much of this is true. But thought this would bring more hits to my blog.:-)

Planes, Motels and Hippos

2004-07-21T13:40:00.000-05:00

First Class flight and Hippos are some key words in this blog and surprised, excited, bored, aghast, nonchalance are some of the moods that I went through.

Well I boarded this plane with a seat number as 1A and went walking straight in, expecting based on my wretched luck, my seat to be somewhere right in the middle of 300lbs mamoths but I kept walking in. In short moment of despair of not finding my seat, with a feeling my luck has touched a new base lower than that of all the film producers luck with Tushaar in their movies, I thought my seat was either taken away or boarded a wrong flight. But to my delight and surprise ,just like how Tushar hit gold with Ram Gopal Verma's movie Gayab, 1A turned out to be a first class seat. I had absolutely no interest to find out why I was sitting in a first class with a economy class ticket.

I felt very uncomfortable and uneasy with so much attention from the Cabin crew sometimes its unfair, I guess it takes some skill to enjoy getting attention too. But I am working real fast on it. Well carrying on, did a over-night stay at this motel and the only channels I could browse around are National Geographic Channel (NGC), Discovery, Food, Travel and one "blurred" channel which might get interesting as the evening passes by. Being a nature lover(when? Well at least for this blog) I got hooked on to Geographic and Discovery switching in between them and of course an occasional visit to the blurred channel.

Well there was these documentaries on Hippos on NGC and Desert Dragon(a half foot Lizard) on Discovery. Being cousins of elephants, whom I am a big fan of, I got stuck with Hippos rather than the creepy dragons. Do you know that the Hippos eat 80lbs of food and let 40lbs of pooh out in the same water bed they live in. Aghast by the visual facts on TV, I never switched back to NGC and desert dragons never looked so beautiful. Well I had it for the day practically killing whatever excitement I had for the blurred channel, before I could realize I was asleep.( don't ask me about my dreams that night).

Daily Tit Bits

2004-07-13T10:20:00.000-05:00

I didn't have anything particular to blog about so have some tit bits instead. I have decided to do this everytime I coudn't think of any topic.

*Unsafe Safola
This goes mainly for people living in India, Safola is a very unhealthy oil to eat. Four major ingredients very much required by the body, phospho lipids, tochopherol, vitamin E and poly cosanol have been removed from the oil to make it transparent and fluid. The cost has been doubled. This is a product to be condemned. This version is endorsed by my beloved Prof at UICT (formerly UDCT). Being myself part of the same "teli" specialization, I couldn't agree more.

So "Junta" stay off of Safola!

* Carter to Dallas
After losing all hopes of getting Shaqueel O'Neal to Dallas, The Mavericks are in 3 way talks with Toronto and NY Knicks to get Vince Carter home. What a deal. But not having Steve Nash still sucks.

*The debate goes on....
Wisden came out with its Rest of the World-11 cricket team to face off Australia next year. As expected they were wide spread and brutal comments on the selection criteria. How can they leave out Stephen Fleming I will never understand and having Dravid in the one day team is ridiculous let alone his wicket keeping position. Well in cricket, there is a fan following of 1.5 Billion and can have as many opinions too.

Women are like H2O

2004-07-11T12:44:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday I was watching the movie "Blue Sky" starring My fav,Tommy Lee Jones,Jessica Lange. (She won an Oscar as Best Actress for her performance). In one of the scenes, Tommy while talking to his daughters defends his wife's unruly behavior,

"Women are like H₂O.
It is water,
It is Ice ,
It is vapor,
It is Steam,
Whatever form it takes, its finally H₂O, its just showing its properties. You don't do away with H₂O, would you?"

Nice funda......
Try my friend's take on Men who also happens to hate Eggplants.

"Men are like Egg Plant
You fry them,
You boil them,
You cook them,
You make chutney out of them,
They still taste the same, awful. The only bright spot is they come in different shapes and sizes but tasteless.

Now I know , why we have so many comparisons about Women starting from mythologies till now and none for men.

"Pot"ivation

2004-07-07T21:25:00.000-05:00

Have you ever wondered that the only time you are forced to think is when you are on the "Pot". Infact your most creative and brightest ideas start from there.(I hear some one saying "speak for yourself" already). To support my statement is the episode from last fall's "Scrubs" on NBC. Where do you think the idea for this blog started from :). Looks like I am not alone having "Pot"ideas. Check this one out!!

Here's a picture of a public toilet in Switzerland that's made entirely out of one-way glass. No one can see you in there, but when you are inside, it looks like you're sitting in a clear glass box.
Would you use it?

Fast, Right and Cheap

2004-06-18T18:04:00.000-05:00

The other day I stumbled into my manager (fortunately no one was hurt and unfortunately my manager is a "He" ..tsk tsk..) and while chatting with him he proudly talked about his idea of staffing people. He elaborated that there are three aspects Fast, Right and Cheap that one need's to take account. These three factors are such that a combination of any two of those mentioned earlier will make the third one impossible. All three cannot exist in the same person.

To Illustrate more,

1) If you need to be Fast and want it to be Right too then it will not be Cheap.
2) If you are looking for it to be done Fast and keep it Cheap, then
it will not come out Right.
3) If you want to be Right and Cheap at the same time, it cannot be Fast.

His comments made me wonder where I belong. Once I stopped wondering I moved to a new group where I don't belong to neither of 2 or 3. :) So where do you belong!!!!!!

Aisi Apni Wife ho

2004-05-06T21:23:00.000-05:00

This ones came from my friend Sunil, the expert dreamer!!
Aisi apni Wife ho...............

5'5" jiski height ho,
Jeans jiski tight ho,
Chehara jiska bright ho,
Weight mein thori light Ho,
Umar me difference slight ho,
Thori see wo quiet ho,
Aise apni Wife ho.

Sadak per sab kahe kya cute ho,
Bhid me sab kahe side ho, side ho,
India ki paidaish ho,
Sas ki seva jiski khwahish ho
Aisi apni Wife ho.

Padosi jab baat kare to haath me knife ho,
Dinner candle light ho,
Dono me na kabhi fight ho,
Milane ke baad dil delight ho,
Hey prabhu teri archana uski life ho.
Yeh kavita padhke sab kahe "Guru, tum right ho",
Aise apni Wife ho.

Kaash yeh concept .0001 percent bhi right ho
Agar aisi apni wife ho to kya hasin life ho
Har kisi ki yahi farmaish ho
kudrat ki bhi aajmaish ho
Khudah ke software mein bhi bug ki na gunjaish ho Aisi
apni Wife ho..................

Ay kaash, kahin to ek aisi paidaish ho
aisi apni wife ho.

A fool's logic

2004-03-31T17:20:00.000-06:00

One of my friend is of the opinion that one does need a special day to make a fool out of me as I am easy pickings. the friend doesnot realize that this is all part of the plan of not giving the pleasure of fooling me on April fool's day. Just get fooled all the time so that they show some mercy on April fool's day. Now how many people can seriously claim that they never get fooled on April Fool's day. I am definetly one among them. What say :-)

gvenum speaks...

2004-02-20T23:40:00.000-06:00

Is the earth really round? I dont think so. I dont trust the equipments(telescopes) that give pictures showing earth as round. NASA only put thier men in Arizona not on moon to consider astronauts witness. and more than half of humans didnot even make it to earth to confirm that earth is really round. So i repeat is earth really round?