Sunny and warm like a rainbow
My heart danced around with a plethora of emotions
There was a reason for everything-
To shed a tear, to laugh out in pure joy or to just be..
Hammering down came sheets of black water
In the darkness of the night my spirit sank thousands of feet
Come dawn the rain gods had no respite
The gloomy disease spread like a fire
Every hour in the day sent me a notch below
I hit rock bottom before dusk
The mind and body each sufferred their share of misery
One numb with a sense of limitless pain and relief together
The other just thankful for being...
The sun, the night, the dusk, the moon all went back their normal way
But I was left behind lost in a dangerous jungle
With mazes of paths and glimpses of sunlight
Each playing their part in inflicting frustration
It was at that point that I gave up hope and lost my will
But when I gave up, God found me....
Sun shined through the dark curtains
Shimmering light filled the room
My heart was healed and the lesson was learnt
Joy cometh. Sorrow commeth..
Life is such with twisted trails..
The sun shines at its will
The tunnel gets lighted on His will
Our destiny changes on His will
Jungle after jungle its He who leaves us there
Its He who then comes to help and draws a dainty rainbow in the heart..
Status Quo
Its been a while..Its really been a while since I devoted any time to my poor dear old blog or read up some of the blogs I liked to read...
Anyways, moving has kept me busy I guess....Isn't it a pain to move ? All the hassles: the house, the car, the roommate, the furniture, the utilities, the bank, what not ? And to fathom that someone would actually move 4 times in a year willfully is xtremely difficult to digest isn't it ?? Well, you know what, I really know a person who has done this....And no he is not crazy!
The newly self proclaimed thorough professional (thats me) has found it very difficult to make it in time at 8:30 to the office and has been sweetly reminded more than twice by the ahem.. cool boss that I better come before 9... Worklife has been pretty easy to adjust to what with a nice team and easy to get along people..So far so good! The social life will need to be created from scratch what with no Stan grads (at least not that I know of) coming to sunny San Diego :)
Hopefully I will find more time in the next few days to tend to my now untended blog!
Anyways, moving has kept me busy I guess....Isn't it a pain to move ? All the hassles: the house, the car, the roommate, the furniture, the utilities, the bank, what not ? And to fathom that someone would actually move 4 times in a year willfully is xtremely difficult to digest isn't it ?? Well, you know what, I really know a person who has done this....And no he is not crazy!
The newly self proclaimed thorough professional (thats me) has found it very difficult to make it in time at 8:30 to the office and has been sweetly reminded more than twice by the ahem.. cool boss that I better come before 9... Worklife has been pretty easy to adjust to what with a nice team and easy to get along people..So far so good! The social life will need to be created from scratch what with no Stan grads (at least not that I know of) coming to sunny San Diego :)
Hopefully I will find more time in the next few days to tend to my now untended blog!
Yahoo!!!!!!!!!!!
Nope, I'm not trying to publicize the giant internet company Yahoo.....That's just how I am feeling..Very different and unique feeling....A new kind of step ahead in life with knots in the stomach but no nervousness in the heart, more like a roller coaster....
The event: First personal home
Setting up everything right from scratch seem exciting and yes tiring....Right from the lamp to the bed....assembling stuff is fun....Finally the carpentry lessons I took during undergrad are coming to some use...
Better get back to home improvement...
Till later...
The event: First personal home
Setting up everything right from scratch seem exciting and yes tiring....Right from the lamp to the bed....assembling stuff is fun....Finally the carpentry lessons I took during undergrad are coming to some use...
Better get back to home improvement...
Till later...
Summer of '04 :: To new beginnings
Disclaimer: Very long and uncut version. Read at your own risk :D
Relocating is always painful....Everytime I go to a new place I hate it in the beginning and then I fall so much in love with it that its hard to let go....
Maybe thats why I dont sleep at all or negligible if any, whenever I am about to move...It was the summer of 2001 when this first happenned...I had to leave the GH (Girls Hostel) of my college at Jalandhar the next morning at 9 am...Just 12 hours prior to then, I was busy going around the hostel rooms where I had been repeatedly asked to come by before leaving.... In each room that I was summoned to we cracked different jokes, remembered the good times spent together and bid farewell...I must say doing this was not a chore for me, it was more exciting, more fun, the thing that felt right to the heart...Since childhood, I was well aware of my talkativeness and boisterous nature and with due consideration to these facts about me it was natural for me to be famous and friends with tons of people....
As the night slipped by and after having finished meeting with all my casual friends started the longer chat sessions with the close to heart friends and also per se enemies (you know the ones you didn't see eye to eye for the 4 years at college)....Okay most of these sessions were initiated by me as was the fun and frolic....After about 30-40 minutes some friend would say oh, I have to get back to my room and pack and so on.....The night kept drifting away and I kept talking, dancing, scribbling on scrapbooks, even recording autographs as audio files on PCs....Personally, I got all of my friends to write on a clean white T-shirt which I have proudly preserved till date...
By 3 in the night, two of my closest freinds were having a heart attack being with me...Their trains were much later in the day on the next day and they were all packed and here I was, the one who had to leave first thing in the morning idly sitting and chatting :D.....
After many protests and explanations to them that they needn't worry because I had everything planned out in my head and ready to be packed asap, they finally kicked me out, some of them forcibly went to sleep and a few came to help me at 4 in the morning....Perfectionist that I am, I gave 2 of them some trivial tasks, asked the others to go rest and I myself got completely engrossed in packing well if you don't consider the trivial 1 liner joke breaks in between the packing.....
By the way, I finished packing my stuff at 7:00 in the morning and was all set to board the auto-rickshaw from the hostel to the train station at 8:00 am....That the rickshaw would breakdown in a secluded spot and that I would eventually have to load/unload to another one and then rush all the way to catch the train is another story....Its destined to happen, always....
Don't believe me!? The second time this happenned was in the summer of 2002 when I was leaving home for Mumbai to catch a flight to California...Yes, again I pulled an all-nighter, started 10 minutes late from home than what Dad had planned and this time there was no auto rickshaw making me late business....This time it was the erstwhile porters' union who were on a strike on that fateful day at that minute when we reached the train station...And lo and behold that particular train which was to arrive at platform one and always does was announced to arrive on a different platform...Oops now this was a googly....2 large suitcases each weighing 70 pounds each and we had a long way to go to get to the train...Dear Daddy took one bag and myself another while Mom who has a very bad back managed the 2-3 smaller bags that we had...This was another miraculous event where just when we just got to the platform the train was about to leave in 30 seconds...Like an angel a young porter who had seen that we were trying to achieve the unachievable (ya well jumping on to a running train is something but with such heavy luggage within 30 secs that too on a busy Indian train station :D ) came to our rescue hauled both the large bags swiftly into the train and then off went Mom and then me and then Dad...Dad always wants to help the poor and this time he was very touched because the guy had broken the strike and was being bad mouthed by all his unions members sitting on the platform....Dad was trying to hand him a 100 Indian rupees note as the train got a little faster but the young porter, God Bless Him; refused to accept any money and louldy said "May God be with you and your family Sir."
As touched and emotional as we were for the next half an hour, then started Dad's tirade on my poor time management skills and always being late and leaving things for the last minute thing...One thing he was sure of that "God was with me" because had it not been for the gracious porter, I would have missed that train and I would have surely missed my late night flight from Mumbai.....
Anyways, this has become a long rambling post I guess, but nevermind, if nothing else, I will love reading it for years to come everytime I move....
Why I got thinking about this? Well because while packing through this entire night this is what I was wondering about..Its certainly not the case that I am stupid and lazy..I have every move planned out and a list of to-dos available well in advance...Then why do I end up tiring myself endlessly or not sleeping before moving....
This is what I figured out...As much as I love traveling to and living in new places, its the letting go that I find very difficult...maybe thats why I dont allow myself to miss an hour or a minute or a second of the place that I am leaving by experiencing it fully right up to the last moment.....
As talkative as I am, deep within I believe, I am very reserved and hence I treasure every new home that I have created for myself over a period of time....
Anyways, enough of rambling...Got to get back to packing ...After all gotta leave Stan in an hour's time....Go Stanford!
Relocating is always painful....Everytime I go to a new place I hate it in the beginning and then I fall so much in love with it that its hard to let go....
Maybe thats why I dont sleep at all or negligible if any, whenever I am about to move...It was the summer of 2001 when this first happenned...I had to leave the GH (Girls Hostel) of my college at Jalandhar the next morning at 9 am...Just 12 hours prior to then, I was busy going around the hostel rooms where I had been repeatedly asked to come by before leaving.... In each room that I was summoned to we cracked different jokes, remembered the good times spent together and bid farewell...I must say doing this was not a chore for me, it was more exciting, more fun, the thing that felt right to the heart...Since childhood, I was well aware of my talkativeness and boisterous nature and with due consideration to these facts about me it was natural for me to be famous and friends with tons of people....
As the night slipped by and after having finished meeting with all my casual friends started the longer chat sessions with the close to heart friends and also per se enemies (you know the ones you didn't see eye to eye for the 4 years at college)....Okay most of these sessions were initiated by me as was the fun and frolic....After about 30-40 minutes some friend would say oh, I have to get back to my room and pack and so on.....The night kept drifting away and I kept talking, dancing, scribbling on scrapbooks, even recording autographs as audio files on PCs....Personally, I got all of my friends to write on a clean white T-shirt which I have proudly preserved till date...
By 3 in the night, two of my closest freinds were having a heart attack being with me...Their trains were much later in the day on the next day and they were all packed and here I was, the one who had to leave first thing in the morning idly sitting and chatting :D.....
After many protests and explanations to them that they needn't worry because I had everything planned out in my head and ready to be packed asap, they finally kicked me out, some of them forcibly went to sleep and a few came to help me at 4 in the morning....Perfectionist that I am, I gave 2 of them some trivial tasks, asked the others to go rest and I myself got completely engrossed in packing well if you don't consider the trivial 1 liner joke breaks in between the packing.....
By the way, I finished packing my stuff at 7:00 in the morning and was all set to board the auto-rickshaw from the hostel to the train station at 8:00 am....That the rickshaw would breakdown in a secluded spot and that I would eventually have to load/unload to another one and then rush all the way to catch the train is another story....Its destined to happen, always....
Don't believe me!? The second time this happenned was in the summer of 2002 when I was leaving home for Mumbai to catch a flight to California...Yes, again I pulled an all-nighter, started 10 minutes late from home than what Dad had planned and this time there was no auto rickshaw making me late business....This time it was the erstwhile porters' union who were on a strike on that fateful day at that minute when we reached the train station...And lo and behold that particular train which was to arrive at platform one and always does was announced to arrive on a different platform...Oops now this was a googly....2 large suitcases each weighing 70 pounds each and we had a long way to go to get to the train...Dear Daddy took one bag and myself another while Mom who has a very bad back managed the 2-3 smaller bags that we had...This was another miraculous event where just when we just got to the platform the train was about to leave in 30 seconds...Like an angel a young porter who had seen that we were trying to achieve the unachievable (ya well jumping on to a running train is something but with such heavy luggage within 30 secs that too on a busy Indian train station :D ) came to our rescue hauled both the large bags swiftly into the train and then off went Mom and then me and then Dad...Dad always wants to help the poor and this time he was very touched because the guy had broken the strike and was being bad mouthed by all his unions members sitting on the platform....Dad was trying to hand him a 100 Indian rupees note as the train got a little faster but the young porter, God Bless Him; refused to accept any money and louldy said "May God be with you and your family Sir."
As touched and emotional as we were for the next half an hour, then started Dad's tirade on my poor time management skills and always being late and leaving things for the last minute thing...One thing he was sure of that "God was with me" because had it not been for the gracious porter, I would have missed that train and I would have surely missed my late night flight from Mumbai.....
Anyways, this has become a long rambling post I guess, but nevermind, if nothing else, I will love reading it for years to come everytime I move....
Why I got thinking about this? Well because while packing through this entire night this is what I was wondering about..Its certainly not the case that I am stupid and lazy..I have every move planned out and a list of to-dos available well in advance...Then why do I end up tiring myself endlessly or not sleeping before moving....
This is what I figured out...As much as I love traveling to and living in new places, its the letting go that I find very difficult...maybe thats why I dont allow myself to miss an hour or a minute or a second of the place that I am leaving by experiencing it fully right up to the last moment.....
As talkative as I am, deep within I believe, I am very reserved and hence I treasure every new home that I have created for myself over a period of time....
Anyways, enough of rambling...Got to get back to packing ...After all gotta leave Stan in an hour's time....Go Stanford!
Whats in a name?
Note: All names mentioned are Indian names. Their meaning is given in brackets.
Well me thinks, name does matter. It somehow defines you and your persona. Okay not in many cases. For instance, a guy named Sushil (well-behaved) might not really be so. But its my illogical belief that your names does contribute towards your personality and it definitely impacts how the world sees you. Don't believe me! Ok what if your name was Sajni (beloved) or Rani (Queen, Princess) or Devi (goddess)...Wouldn't it impact you? Definitely it would! You would be teased through your "Wonder Years" endlessly and you might even consider why your parents couldn't think of a more appropriate and imaginative name....
Huh..why this senseless banter? I was about to tuck in very early tonight given that last night and the whole day today I did more work than the last 1 week combined plus I was sleep deprived and bored to do anything but rest and relax. Something came up more so someone...A dear friend Sujit pinging from India on the beloved Yahoo! Messenger....His major problem...He has a new born well almost 2 month old niece...The D-day is coming up when they have to give her a name and Sujit seems to think they haven't found a good classy name for her so far!! Talk about problems in life :D...
Sujit's is a family of Ss...my friend Sujit, his brother Sanjeev, their parents also have names starting with a S and Sanjeev's wife is Priti....Ah ha...some hope for some change in family naming nomenclature.....While I was immensely tired to do anything else, even fix myself dinner..for this...name hunt.. I had a new energy and spirit... 'Coz after all time is running out and Sujit and I both believe there is lot thats in a name!
After endless online searches and brain scratching we have a list, rather he has a list:
Arshia (heavenly) -- his top choice, unique and refreshing
Supriti (true love) -- I suggested this. My top choice, 2 reasons:
1. Sanjeev + Priti = Supriti (The child will feel special that she is a result of her parents true love) 2. Quite uncommon and different. We have heard of a lot of Supriyas but not Supritis...
Major drawback: yes again a S name
Priyanshi (meaning unknown) -- I suggested this. I know Priyanshu = First ray of sunlight, so we can safely assume that Priyanshi would mean something similar unless Ansh means 'part' in which case it would mean "beloved parts". I like this name because first it gets rid of the S family and starts with a P following her Mom's name. Secondly, the name is unique, has a beautiful meaning and yes also 'coz I like Priyanshu Chatterjee, a Bollywood actor
Shirin (sweet) -- my niece's name, nah...too simple not different
Eshana (search) -- never heard of it...hence, unique...nah..people will think inspired from Esha Deol, another Bollywood actress
Dayita (beloved) -- Its on his list..I am like, please no..People will tease her Day Night
Shreya (better) -- Sujit, why is this on your list... too common..
Priya Darshini (Beautiful. Lovely.) -- This is not on his list but I like this name. Its gentle and elegeant
Hours and hours of painstaking efforts will be put in by all concerned for the baby...Some might think its too trivial a thing to waste time on, others like me will continue to disagree...
Coming from a family of Us, mom Usha, sister Uttama and myself Upasana (my Dad's name is equally unique and cool) I am ever so thankful to Mom for giving us such unique and meaningful names, especially since I am told my name on the birth certificate was Reema which was later changed on my Mom's whim to Upasana....
Point proven! Whims about names are very useful and should be encouraged...I can't even imagine being called Reema...Phew!...
Who said whats in a name?
Well me thinks, name does matter. It somehow defines you and your persona. Okay not in many cases. For instance, a guy named Sushil (well-behaved) might not really be so. But its my illogical belief that your names does contribute towards your personality and it definitely impacts how the world sees you. Don't believe me! Ok what if your name was Sajni (beloved) or Rani (Queen, Princess) or Devi (goddess)...Wouldn't it impact you? Definitely it would! You would be teased through your "Wonder Years" endlessly and you might even consider why your parents couldn't think of a more appropriate and imaginative name....
Huh..why this senseless banter? I was about to tuck in very early tonight given that last night and the whole day today I did more work than the last 1 week combined plus I was sleep deprived and bored to do anything but rest and relax. Something came up more so someone...A dear friend Sujit pinging from India on the beloved Yahoo! Messenger....His major problem...He has a new born well almost 2 month old niece...The D-day is coming up when they have to give her a name and Sujit seems to think they haven't found a good classy name for her so far!! Talk about problems in life :D...
Sujit's is a family of Ss...my friend Sujit, his brother Sanjeev, their parents also have names starting with a S and Sanjeev's wife is Priti....Ah ha...some hope for some change in family naming nomenclature.....While I was immensely tired to do anything else, even fix myself dinner..for this...name hunt.. I had a new energy and spirit... 'Coz after all time is running out and Sujit and I both believe there is lot thats in a name!
After endless online searches and brain scratching we have a list, rather he has a list:
Arshia (heavenly) -- his top choice, unique and refreshing
Supriti (true love) -- I suggested this. My top choice, 2 reasons:
1. Sanjeev + Priti = Supriti (The child will feel special that she is a result of her parents true love) 2. Quite uncommon and different. We have heard of a lot of Supriyas but not Supritis...
Major drawback: yes again a S name
Priyanshi (meaning unknown) -- I suggested this. I know Priyanshu = First ray of sunlight, so we can safely assume that Priyanshi would mean something similar unless Ansh means 'part' in which case it would mean "beloved parts". I like this name because first it gets rid of the S family and starts with a P following her Mom's name. Secondly, the name is unique, has a beautiful meaning and yes also 'coz I like Priyanshu Chatterjee, a Bollywood actor
Shirin (sweet) -- my niece's name, nah...too simple not different
Eshana (search) -- never heard of it...hence, unique...nah..people will think inspired from Esha Deol, another Bollywood actress
Dayita (beloved) -- Its on his list..I am like, please no..People will tease her Day Night
Shreya (better) -- Sujit, why is this on your list... too common..
Priya Darshini (Beautiful. Lovely.) -- This is not on his list but I like this name. Its gentle and elegeant
Hours and hours of painstaking efforts will be put in by all concerned for the baby...Some might think its too trivial a thing to waste time on, others like me will continue to disagree...
Coming from a family of Us, mom Usha, sister Uttama and myself Upasana (my Dad's name is equally unique and cool) I am ever so thankful to Mom for giving us such unique and meaningful names, especially since I am told my name on the birth certificate was Reema which was later changed on my Mom's whim to Upasana....
Point proven! Whims about names are very useful and should be encouraged...I can't even imagine being called Reema...Phew!...
Who said whats in a name?
Mission Impossible Accomplished
Occasion: Me visiting the US Immigration Services to enquire about missing Employment Authorization documents.
Mission: Get relevant case status information with hope to receive interim employment authorization at the end of 90 day wait period. The D day is next week!
What really happenned??
I was ontime @ 1:45 dot (ya that was a surprise even to me!). Very rough and tough security check, they made me throw away my everdear bottle of water in the trash.
@ 2 comfortably seated for number to be called out.
@ 2:30 still seated, a bit restless
@ 2:45 looking around and very restless..After all the appointment was for 1:45..Cursing in Hindi - the people who came after me and were called before me, the people who forgot something and were called back and the officers who were chatting.
@ 3:00 very bored started reading my novel again...looking up everytime a new number is called out
@ 3:07 Number F112 please come to window number 10...Viola the moment has come, finally!!
@ 3:15 Explained situation to officer. Her solution. Don't worry about missing application. When did you apply? June Ma'am. Almost 3 months. Come lemme give you an interim EAD. Ma'am today? Yes right now. Okay great, but is that legal its still not 90 days plus my graduation date is 2 weeks from now. Yeah its fine. Go to cashier. Come back once you are done at the cashier window. Okkkkkkkkkaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy.
@ 3:20 sitting comfortably on a chair waiting for cashier to call me...pondering which date to start working? what other issues to be resolved before i can start a new life....nostalgic feelings erupt when thinking about leaving the school....
@ 3:25 cashier lady takes paperwork
@ 3:45 reading the novel when again F112 announced..this time window number 7. Yes the time is coming! Window 7 is the explicit photograph window...2 pictures taken, 1 fingerprint and there it is...a laminated work permit....I am like Ma'am this is it??! My work is done? She is like yes. Thats it. You can go. But Ma'am this is for 8 months...Yes yes its interim. The 12 month EAD will come in due course of time to your address. But Ma'am its missing as per online status. Okay go back and sit and talk to window 10 lady again..Okay thanks
@ 4:15 Ma'am..thanks so much for this but what about my original application...the missing status..what do i do to get my 12 month EAD? Take this sheet..Call at this number...give them your new address and interim EAD number...they will send it..Good Luck and Bye! Sure Ma'am..Thats it....Yes..You may go now...
@ 4:30 I was here 3 hours (w/o any water or beverage..this is cruel man!) ..Oh my gawd! But hey, I got the work permit...Eureka Eureka..Isn't it funny, sometimes the frustrations of the moment so overpower your mind and body that even when an unexpected yet good result comes out it just doesn't feel like it!
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE:: Get WORK PERMIT Before 23rd or 30th Sep
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!
MI-2 :: Wrap up the million things at SLAC and Stanford and head to the beach city San Diego!
Mission: Get relevant case status information with hope to receive interim employment authorization at the end of 90 day wait period. The D day is next week!
What really happenned??
I was ontime @ 1:45 dot (ya that was a surprise even to me!). Very rough and tough security check, they made me throw away my everdear bottle of water in the trash.
@ 2 comfortably seated for number to be called out.
@ 2:30 still seated, a bit restless
@ 2:45 looking around and very restless..After all the appointment was for 1:45..Cursing in Hindi - the people who came after me and were called before me, the people who forgot something and were called back and the officers who were chatting.
@ 3:00 very bored started reading my novel again...looking up everytime a new number is called out
@ 3:07 Number F112 please come to window number 10...Viola the moment has come, finally!!
@ 3:15 Explained situation to officer. Her solution. Don't worry about missing application. When did you apply? June Ma'am. Almost 3 months. Come lemme give you an interim EAD. Ma'am today? Yes right now. Okay great, but is that legal its still not 90 days plus my graduation date is 2 weeks from now. Yeah its fine. Go to cashier. Come back once you are done at the cashier window. Okkkkkkkkkaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy.
@ 3:20 sitting comfortably on a chair waiting for cashier to call me...pondering which date to start working? what other issues to be resolved before i can start a new life....nostalgic feelings erupt when thinking about leaving the school....
@ 3:25 cashier lady takes paperwork
@ 3:45 reading the novel when again F112 announced..this time window number 7. Yes the time is coming! Window 7 is the explicit photograph window...2 pictures taken, 1 fingerprint and there it is...a laminated work permit....I am like Ma'am this is it??! My work is done? She is like yes. Thats it. You can go. But Ma'am this is for 8 months...Yes yes its interim. The 12 month EAD will come in due course of time to your address. But Ma'am its missing as per online status. Okay go back and sit and talk to window 10 lady again..Okay thanks
@ 4:15 Ma'am..thanks so much for this but what about my original application...the missing status..what do i do to get my 12 month EAD? Take this sheet..Call at this number...give them your new address and interim EAD number...they will send it..Good Luck and Bye! Sure Ma'am..Thats it....Yes..You may go now...
@ 4:30 I was here 3 hours (w/o any water or beverage..this is cruel man!) ..Oh my gawd! But hey, I got the work permit...Eureka Eureka..Isn't it funny, sometimes the frustrations of the moment so overpower your mind and body that even when an unexpected yet good result comes out it just doesn't feel like it!
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE:: Get WORK PERMIT Before 23rd or 30th Sep
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!
MI-2 :: Wrap up the million things at SLAC and Stanford and head to the beach city San Diego!
Cooking for Engineers!!
Cooking for Engineers - This website should be a source of inspiration to many of my male and female engineer friends who find cooking very difficult, which I believe is far from the truth. Cooking is easy and like any other activity or sport you have to put in some initial effort until you get the hang of it. Once that happens cooking good food becomes a fun and exciting opportunity that you start enjoying.
Unfortunately, so far I have been able to convert very few of my so called busy friends (either busy with work or studies) from their hopeless dinners consisting of junk food, frozen food or delivered food to fresh and delicious homemade food. Some of them are so lazy that to get them to the brink of purchasing, cutting and cooking vegetables is impossible. Others are so uncaring for their tastebuds that it hardly matters to them what food is available or offered to them. Being a food enthusiast, I pity such people whose standard of good food is so low that I wouldn't even venture to eat at their place. Sometimes, I fail to understand how people are unable to distinguish between bad, good and excellent food. For me its easy and natural to be able to pinpoint any condiment/spice that is missing or more/less than desired in a a delicacy.
Well, by now you might be thinking that I am a great connoisseur of food and must have learnt cooking at an early age. In reality, by age 16 I could just barely prepare tea, coffee and eggs; that was my limit. Thereafter, during my undergrad education, I had the good fortune of getting tasty and well cooked Punjabi (North Indian) food daily at the dining hall, also called a 'mess' in India. So finally I ended up developing my culinary skills through my experiments with ingredients during the very busy last 2 years of my graduate student life, mostly on my own but yes with some help from Mom and Sis over the phone and ah yes also some recipe websites.
Today in all modesty, I think I am a good cook with just 2 years of experience (full of cooking accidents and anecdotes) and am actively engaged in encouraging my friends to start their own cooking experiments. I hope that the example of the owner of this website- Cooking for Engineers and my personal example are motivating enough for some of my friends to test their hands at cooking.
Hey if a lazy person like me can do it, so can u guys!
Unfortunately, so far I have been able to convert very few of my so called busy friends (either busy with work or studies) from their hopeless dinners consisting of junk food, frozen food or delivered food to fresh and delicious homemade food. Some of them are so lazy that to get them to the brink of purchasing, cutting and cooking vegetables is impossible. Others are so uncaring for their tastebuds that it hardly matters to them what food is available or offered to them. Being a food enthusiast, I pity such people whose standard of good food is so low that I wouldn't even venture to eat at their place. Sometimes, I fail to understand how people are unable to distinguish between bad, good and excellent food. For me its easy and natural to be able to pinpoint any condiment/spice that is missing or more/less than desired in a a delicacy.
Well, by now you might be thinking that I am a great connoisseur of food and must have learnt cooking at an early age. In reality, by age 16 I could just barely prepare tea, coffee and eggs; that was my limit. Thereafter, during my undergrad education, I had the good fortune of getting tasty and well cooked Punjabi (North Indian) food daily at the dining hall, also called a 'mess' in India. So finally I ended up developing my culinary skills through my experiments with ingredients during the very busy last 2 years of my graduate student life, mostly on my own but yes with some help from Mom and Sis over the phone and ah yes also some recipe websites.
Today in all modesty, I think I am a good cook with just 2 years of experience (full of cooking accidents and anecdotes) and am actively engaged in encouraging my friends to start their own cooking experiments. I hope that the example of the owner of this website- Cooking for Engineers and my personal example are motivating enough for some of my friends to test their hands at cooking.
Hey if a lazy person like me can do it, so can u guys!
Joey
Bummer! I missed the first episode of Joey something I had been really looking forward to since the last few weeks. The entire evening I was so engrossed with reading this funny novel - A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth that I failed to realize when the clock struck 8. When I finally did give up my laziness to check the NBC schedule online, it was too late. I rapidly switched on my half a century old TV and adjusted it to the channel only to find the new season of The Apprentice being aired.
As much I was looking forward to watching Joey, I was not prepared to watch the Apprentice. I had watched a few episodes last season though and knew what was coming. After boasting about himself for 15 minutes Donald Trump finally shut his mouth and the audience was introduced to the new professionals on the block who had just arrived to fight it out for the coveted Apprentice position this year. Just within a few minutes the monotony and dryness of the program caught on as almost everything was exactly like last year. For those of you who haven't watched it at all it might be worth it to watch a few episodes at the beginning of the season and then the season finale. At least the concept is different from all the other reality TV shows like Joe Millionaire, For love or money, etc.
p.s. Anything written on the blog in the first attempt is better. If you rewrite because it wasn't saved properly by Blogger all the freshness is lost!
As much I was looking forward to watching Joey, I was not prepared to watch the Apprentice. I had watched a few episodes last season though and knew what was coming. After boasting about himself for 15 minutes Donald Trump finally shut his mouth and the audience was introduced to the new professionals on the block who had just arrived to fight it out for the coveted Apprentice position this year. Just within a few minutes the monotony and dryness of the program caught on as almost everything was exactly like last year. For those of you who haven't watched it at all it might be worth it to watch a few episodes at the beginning of the season and then the season finale. At least the concept is different from all the other reality TV shows like Joe Millionaire, For love or money, etc.
p.s. Anything written on the blog in the first attempt is better. If you rewrite because it wasn't saved properly by Blogger all the freshness is lost!
Celebrating the spirit of Entrepreneurship :: Craigslist
I was recently very surprised to learn about the details of how Craigslist, a household name in California for online classifieds, was founded. Craigslist was founded by its supercool and self proclaimed shy and nerd founder Craig Newmark in the 1990s as a newsletter. Later the newsletter evolved into a board and finally into its present form with 1 B hits per day. Craigslist is not only international now but is also the most well known and revered company in the space.
Did you ever imagine the economics of a company that allows anyone to post a classified online without any fee and without any banner or search adverstising? How does it sustain itself? The only revenue Craigslist makes is through the paid job ads posted by companies, which is turn is used to support the staff of 14 at Craigslist. 14 yes thats it!
More facts about Craigslist can be read at their website. The article that initally exposed me to this inspiring revelation about Craig, his list and his decision to keep Craigslist a non-commercial organization can be found at the Herald Tribune. Ebay has now invested in Craigslist which had so far been aloof to any investors ready to grab a piece of the cake. Both the management at Craigslist and Ebay have explained that this is not a strategic investment and that Ebay will not interfere in the workings of Craigslist. This is what Craig Newmark had to say when asked about the equity sold to Ebay.
Anyways, coming back to the reason why I started righting about Craig. Well, in the true spirit of entrepreneurship I found Craig's story very inspiring. To be the founder of such a well established website and to avoid the temptation of selling out to become a multi-millionaire (in times where sell out has made American entrepreneurs the youngest and richest) just for the sheer pleasure of maintaining the company the way it was thought of right from the beginning, a board to help people online is a great achievement in itself and speaks volumes about the person. Kudos to you Craig!
Did you ever imagine the economics of a company that allows anyone to post a classified online without any fee and without any banner or search adverstising? How does it sustain itself? The only revenue Craigslist makes is through the paid job ads posted by companies, which is turn is used to support the staff of 14 at Craigslist. 14 yes thats it!
More facts about Craigslist can be read at their website. The article that initally exposed me to this inspiring revelation about Craig, his list and his decision to keep Craigslist a non-commercial organization can be found at the Herald Tribune. Ebay has now invested in Craigslist which had so far been aloof to any investors ready to grab a piece of the cake. Both the management at Craigslist and Ebay have explained that this is not a strategic investment and that Ebay will not interfere in the workings of Craigslist. This is what Craig Newmark had to say when asked about the equity sold to Ebay.
Anyways, coming back to the reason why I started righting about Craig. Well, in the true spirit of entrepreneurship I found Craig's story very inspiring. To be the founder of such a well established website and to avoid the temptation of selling out to become a multi-millionaire (in times where sell out has made American entrepreneurs the youngest and richest) just for the sheer pleasure of maintaining the company the way it was thought of right from the beginning, a board to help people online is a great achievement in itself and speaks volumes about the person. Kudos to you Craig!
The amusement factory
Like everyday I started on my morning blog-trotting expedition. I was quite amused by what I read today:
Sher ki shadi mein chuha (Funny piece about rats, lions and marriages in Hindi)
How people at offices think (Viewpoints differ when the object of discussion is female or male)
Aakhir Dil Hai Hindustani (about everyday life and corruption in India)
THE CLEANING LADY (zarra hatke..a different beat)
Get Well Soon Clinton (420 comments within last 3 days to wish a speedy recovery for the very popular Democrat leader. Aren't some of these comments funny though :) )
Life's Little Observations (funny observations about toilet paper and what not)
Sher ki shadi mein chuha (Funny piece about rats, lions and marriages in Hindi)
How people at offices think (Viewpoints differ when the object of discussion is female or male)
Aakhir Dil Hai Hindustani (about everyday life and corruption in India)
THE CLEANING LADY (zarra hatke..a different beat)
Get Well Soon Clinton (420 comments within last 3 days to wish a speedy recovery for the very popular Democrat leader. Aren't some of these comments funny though :) )
Life's Little Observations (funny observations about toilet paper and what not)
Weird/Odd/Crazy News
This one is about Odd News, something I refrained from reading on the WWW so far. I took the plunge tonight and might I say, oddly enough or weird news or whatever it is called is a good dose of amusement. I should definitely add some links for odd news to my daily reads...Most of the times these news headlines are odd beyond belief yet they are true..
Did you know that in Hongkong an election tie is resolved by means of a lottery of ping-pong balls...Bizarre isn't it?!
Some links to ODD NEWS around the world:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index&cid=1691
http://www.rediff.com/oddnews/
http://www.buzzpage.com/http://www.buzzpage.com/
http://www.reuters.com/newsChannel.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews
http://www.newsoftheweird.com/
http://www.newsoftheodd.com/headlines.html
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/odd.jsp
http://www.knowledge.com/Top/News/Alternative/Odd_News
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/
http://www.abc.net/dir/index.php/News/Alternative/Odd_News/
http://www.thisistrue.com/
http://www.crazynews.net/dp/1-69.htm
http://obscurestore.com/
http://www.go.to/oddnews
'NJOY!!
Did you know that in Hongkong an election tie is resolved by means of a lottery of ping-pong balls...Bizarre isn't it?!
Some links to ODD NEWS around the world:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index&cid=1691
http://www.rediff.com/oddnews/
http://www.buzzpage.com/http://www.buzzpage.com/
http://www.reuters.com/newsChannel.jhtml?type=oddlyEnoughNews
http://www.newsoftheweird.com/
http://www.newsoftheodd.com/headlines.html
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/odd.jsp
http://www.knowledge.com/Top/News/Alternative/Odd_News
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/
http://www.abc.net/dir/index.php/News/Alternative/Odd_News/
http://www.thisistrue.com/
http://www.crazynews.net/dp/1-69.htm
http://obscurestore.com/
http://www.go.to/oddnews
'NJOY!!
Web responsibility!!
One fine sunny day, I realised that I now have some regular viewership on my hopeless web properties and with due respect to these people who visit my blogs I must gain a miraculous sense of web responsibility!
Ah ha..okay...so what sparked this? I really don't know...One of two things, either the mature and responsible type feelings came from my house-hunting trips today throughout the suburbs of San Diego (u know looking for your first own apartment, lease terms, what not...is huge..very different from looking for a place on or off-campus as a student) or was it the fact that I read somewhere that the maximum blogspace worldwide is devoted to depression and frustration based content...This really must be true for I have myself come across many a blogs/personal websites where this channel of expression is used for venting out anger and frustration....And this obviously led me to the self-realization that whoops, haven't I been doing the same thing...Talk about my N number of posts about Dell laptops, Kashmir, male chauvnists, etc.
Hence, given that about a dozen people make it a point to visit this blog at least once a week (and some even more than once a day :)) I must improve and maintain its already beaten up current form both in terms of what I publish and when....So I must try to write more about issues of public nature rather than personal and I must also try to optimize the number of posts....In my mind, Quality is much more important than Quantity so the number of posts I am afraid will remain about 2-4 per week.....
Ahem..Lets see how soon all these "I must and should" resolutions come into practice..Okay this might seem weird to people who don't know me but this how I am! I am very critical since early childhood and am also my biggest critic....All that advice that Dad used to give me about criticizing less and appreciating more others as well as myself has not gone far in my brain cells I guess....
Ah ha..okay...so what sparked this? I really don't know...One of two things, either the mature and responsible type feelings came from my house-hunting trips today throughout the suburbs of San Diego (u know looking for your first own apartment, lease terms, what not...is huge..very different from looking for a place on or off-campus as a student) or was it the fact that I read somewhere that the maximum blogspace worldwide is devoted to depression and frustration based content...This really must be true for I have myself come across many a blogs/personal websites where this channel of expression is used for venting out anger and frustration....And this obviously led me to the self-realization that whoops, haven't I been doing the same thing...Talk about my N number of posts about Dell laptops, Kashmir, male chauvnists, etc.
Hence, given that about a dozen people make it a point to visit this blog at least once a week (and some even more than once a day :)) I must improve and maintain its already beaten up current form both in terms of what I publish and when....So I must try to write more about issues of public nature rather than personal and I must also try to optimize the number of posts....In my mind, Quality is much more important than Quantity so the number of posts I am afraid will remain about 2-4 per week.....
Ahem..Lets see how soon all these "I must and should" resolutions come into practice..Okay this might seem weird to people who don't know me but this how I am! I am very critical since early childhood and am also my biggest critic....All that advice that Dad used to give me about criticizing less and appreciating more others as well as myself has not gone far in my brain cells I guess....
Whats it gonna be? My India or My America
Yeah, yeah...I am back to my favorite topic of all time, whether to settle in India or US. In my mind there are no 2 answers, it has to be India. Yet enummerable examples of Indian born immigrants who were unsuccessful in going back lie before me. Will I be able to defy the laws, take the tougher road and find myself back in an exciting and enjoyable life in India...It remains to be seen...But horror stories and hilarious realities of life do make this decision a life-altering one. For all practical purposes life in the US is very easily comfortable, intellectually challenging yet socially dull and boring. On the other hand, life in India is not that easy, can be made workwise stimulating by personal determination, if desired and is socially very lively and fun.
A well known Indian author R K Narayan had this to say on the issue. I am quoting a few lines from his article, the complete article can be found at the link given below.
ENNUI
(Article: My America, Author: R.K. Narayan, Source: October 1985 issue of Frontline)
"On a week-end he drives his family fifty miles or more towards another Indian family to eat an Indian dinner, discuss Indian politics, or tax problems (for doctors particularly this is a constant topic of conversation, being in the highest income bracket). There is monotony in this pattern of life. so mechanical and standardized.
In this individual, India has lost an intellectual or an expert; but it must not be forgotten that the expert has lost India too, which is a more serious loss in the final reckoning.
The quality of life in India is different. In spite of all its deficiencies, irritations, lack of material comforts and amenities, andgeneral confusion, Indian life builds up an inner strength. It is through subtle inexplicable influences (through religion, family ties, and human relationships in general). Let us call them psychological "inputs" to use a modern terminology, which cumulatively sustain and lend variety and richness to existence. Building imposing Indian temples in America, installing our gods therein and importing Indian priests to perform the puja and festivals, are only imitative of Indian existence and could have only a limited value. Social and religious assemblies at the temples (in America) might mitigate boredom but only temporarily. I have lived as a guest for extended periods in many Indian homes in America and have noticed the ennui that descends on a family when they are stuck at home.
Children growing up in America present a special problem. They have to develop themselves on a shallow foundation without a cultural basis, either Indian or American. Such children are ignorant of India and without the gentleness and courtesy and respect for parents, which forms the basic training for a child in an Indian home, unlike the American upbringing whereby a child is left alone to discover for himself the right code of conduct. Aware of his child's ignorance of Indian life, the Indian parent tries to cram into the child's little head all possible information during an 'Excursion Fare' trip to the mother country."
Also read The X = X + 1 Syndrome by unknown author!
A well known Indian author R K Narayan had this to say on the issue. I am quoting a few lines from his article, the complete article can be found at the link given below.
ENNUI
(Article: My America, Author: R.K. Narayan, Source: October 1985 issue of Frontline)
"On a week-end he drives his family fifty miles or more towards another Indian family to eat an Indian dinner, discuss Indian politics, or tax problems (for doctors particularly this is a constant topic of conversation, being in the highest income bracket). There is monotony in this pattern of life. so mechanical and standardized.
In this individual, India has lost an intellectual or an expert; but it must not be forgotten that the expert has lost India too, which is a more serious loss in the final reckoning.
The quality of life in India is different. In spite of all its deficiencies, irritations, lack of material comforts and amenities, andgeneral confusion, Indian life builds up an inner strength. It is through subtle inexplicable influences (through religion, family ties, and human relationships in general). Let us call them psychological "inputs" to use a modern terminology, which cumulatively sustain and lend variety and richness to existence. Building imposing Indian temples in America, installing our gods therein and importing Indian priests to perform the puja and festivals, are only imitative of Indian existence and could have only a limited value. Social and religious assemblies at the temples (in America) might mitigate boredom but only temporarily. I have lived as a guest for extended periods in many Indian homes in America and have noticed the ennui that descends on a family when they are stuck at home.
Children growing up in America present a special problem. They have to develop themselves on a shallow foundation without a cultural basis, either Indian or American. Such children are ignorant of India and without the gentleness and courtesy and respect for parents, which forms the basic training for a child in an Indian home, unlike the American upbringing whereby a child is left alone to discover for himself the right code of conduct. Aware of his child's ignorance of Indian life, the Indian parent tries to cram into the child's little head all possible information during an 'Excursion Fare' trip to the mother country."
Also read The X = X + 1 Syndrome by unknown author!
The Booming Indian Economy & Rising Dowry Deaths!
OK I had a bad day hence was upset with any and everybody...Seems like every Wednesday is a bad day :) ...But a friend of mine sent me over the hill completely by making should I say stupid, nah..total bull statements....
The conversation:
Me: This dowry thing is really something that should be banned in India...I don't even understand why its still rampant..I could understand that when the society was more autocratic and under the influence of religious and social dogmas "Dowry" was an in thing, an unspoken rule followed during almost all marriages in India...But today at least the dowry ritual and dowry deaths should go down amongst the educated classes of the society....
Him: Yaar, but its not that simple...I am a young engineer and earn well as a fresh graduate in Bangalore..But thats not enough..If I want to get my sister married (who is also a well educated engineer and earns well) in a good family with a good guy we gotta pay her in-laws something like 15,00,000 Indian rupees in cash and gifts....I am like why so? Well you know being the bride's family we need to pay for the marriage itself, then gifts and jewelry for my sister, for all her in-laws and then we need to either buy them an apartment or a car depending on how easy they are on us.... Now with my salary and my father's savings we can't afford that hence, I must get married in a well to-do family so that they can pay me somthing like 10,00,000 in dowry which in turn I will use for my sister's wedding..So you see I am not greedy and I won't harm or harrass my future wife for money...I just need some help getting my sister married and if her family can help me out then alls well in the family...
Me: I am like...You are crazy...First of all why would you even get your sister married in a family where they demand dowry..You never know, they may keep asking for more money or worse yet they may harm your sister physically or phscyologically...You should get her married where her husband and his family love her and do not demand for money or gifts in order to accept her in their hearts... Secondly, just because you need the money does not mean its okay for you to ask for dowry...Dowry is against the law, is unethical and you are degrading yourself and your future relationship with your wife and her family by asking for dowry...And yes you are greedy if you do this..If you think you are not, then every thief is not wrong..After all he also steals for feeding himself and his family...
Him: Well to answer your first question I do want to get my sister married in an educated and nice family that which does not demand for money/gifts to take my sister in their family but you know what in my caste the probability of finding a non-dowry seeking boy and family is something like less than 1%.... For those who are unaware, to date 65% of marriages in India are arranged marriages those that are arranged by the brides' and grooms' parents after a long process of short and formal dates with prospective candidates...these marriages are also typically within the same caste..So for instance, if my parents were to look for a groom for me, he would have to be a Kashmiri Hindu Brahmin... My friend belongs to Bihar, a state in northern India which is famous for its dowry related head lines apart from the erstwhile Laloo Prasad and his antics....Now in Bihar they even have a scale for dowry, so you would start looking for a groom in the slot you can afford..Last I knew, IAS/government officers were at the top of the chart followed by doctors, computer engineers, other engineers, etc...The next criteria was also their salary and the institute from where they had studied..So for instance if you went to AIIMS, IIM or IIT your rates would be even higher..Talk about a complex system..Phew... Anyways, his point was that it was next to impossible for him to find a groom who did not want dowry in his caste...and the same caste groom is of course desirable more so than a non-dowry seeking....
Moral of the story: Dowry is still rampant in various flavors in both urban and rural India. So long as educated people like my friend keep finding excuses in order to justify taking dowry, this social stigma is never going to vanish from our culture..Its an unending self serving chain of events and this vicious cycle needs to be broken....
Losing Daughters, an article in Femina on this issue is worth a read.
Other related articles:
Didn't we ban dowry 40 years ago?
Dowry crimes increase as India's economy grows
Jail crisis for dowry crimes
Rising number of dowry deaths in India
Don't condemn the intitution of dowry
In fact if you websearch dowry crimes u will find tons of articles all with different statistics on the number of women killed due to dowry related issues....
My take on Dowry:
In a country of 1 B, 6000 deaths is quite less compared to accidents, number of soldiers killed everyday in Kashmir and so on..Nevertheless, these are deaths that in essence bring out where the Indian society and culture is headed..... In all the recent articles including the one above there is a lot written about how consumerism in India is increasing with the booming economy and the dowry syndrome is seen in all economic classes of the society...A lot of bullshit is mentioned about: how the male child is made to beleive since childhood that he can get anything he demands; painful examples of real dowry deaths and so on.. 2 points should be focused on instead of all the crap:
1. The female child is not a second citizen in India and if not treated well she should herself be proactive and strong. (There is no point of education and earning money if a woman is not independent in her own right, this given the fact that dowry deaths are common amongst the so called educated middle class strata of society)
2. The very painful encounters often narrated by parents or family members of deceased females should be ashamed of themselves....What is the point of them crying out loud now...when they shouldn't have A. paid dowry B. kept up with the consistent demands after marriage C. saved their daughter by bringing her back from her in-laws house at the first instance of dowry request/harrasment
India absolutely needs more strong and courageous role models like Nisha Sharma to bring an end to this menace called DOWRY. For those who are not familiar with her check out:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3027683.stm
http://www.the-week.com/23jun01/events8.htm
The conversation:
Me: This dowry thing is really something that should be banned in India...I don't even understand why its still rampant..I could understand that when the society was more autocratic and under the influence of religious and social dogmas "Dowry" was an in thing, an unspoken rule followed during almost all marriages in India...But today at least the dowry ritual and dowry deaths should go down amongst the educated classes of the society....
Him: Yaar, but its not that simple...I am a young engineer and earn well as a fresh graduate in Bangalore..But thats not enough..If I want to get my sister married (who is also a well educated engineer and earns well) in a good family with a good guy we gotta pay her in-laws something like 15,00,000 Indian rupees in cash and gifts....I am like why so? Well you know being the bride's family we need to pay for the marriage itself, then gifts and jewelry for my sister, for all her in-laws and then we need to either buy them an apartment or a car depending on how easy they are on us.... Now with my salary and my father's savings we can't afford that hence, I must get married in a well to-do family so that they can pay me somthing like 10,00,000 in dowry which in turn I will use for my sister's wedding..So you see I am not greedy and I won't harm or harrass my future wife for money...I just need some help getting my sister married and if her family can help me out then alls well in the family...
Me: I am like...You are crazy...First of all why would you even get your sister married in a family where they demand dowry..You never know, they may keep asking for more money or worse yet they may harm your sister physically or phscyologically...You should get her married where her husband and his family love her and do not demand for money or gifts in order to accept her in their hearts... Secondly, just because you need the money does not mean its okay for you to ask for dowry...Dowry is against the law, is unethical and you are degrading yourself and your future relationship with your wife and her family by asking for dowry...And yes you are greedy if you do this..If you think you are not, then every thief is not wrong..After all he also steals for feeding himself and his family...
Him: Well to answer your first question I do want to get my sister married in an educated and nice family that which does not demand for money/gifts to take my sister in their family but you know what in my caste the probability of finding a non-dowry seeking boy and family is something like less than 1%.... For those who are unaware, to date 65% of marriages in India are arranged marriages those that are arranged by the brides' and grooms' parents after a long process of short and formal dates with prospective candidates...these marriages are also typically within the same caste..So for instance, if my parents were to look for a groom for me, he would have to be a Kashmiri Hindu Brahmin... My friend belongs to Bihar, a state in northern India which is famous for its dowry related head lines apart from the erstwhile Laloo Prasad and his antics....Now in Bihar they even have a scale for dowry, so you would start looking for a groom in the slot you can afford..Last I knew, IAS/government officers were at the top of the chart followed by doctors, computer engineers, other engineers, etc...The next criteria was also their salary and the institute from where they had studied..So for instance if you went to AIIMS, IIM or IIT your rates would be even higher..Talk about a complex system..Phew... Anyways, his point was that it was next to impossible for him to find a groom who did not want dowry in his caste...and the same caste groom is of course desirable more so than a non-dowry seeking....
Moral of the story: Dowry is still rampant in various flavors in both urban and rural India. So long as educated people like my friend keep finding excuses in order to justify taking dowry, this social stigma is never going to vanish from our culture..Its an unending self serving chain of events and this vicious cycle needs to be broken....
Losing Daughters, an article in Femina on this issue is worth a read.
Other related articles:
Didn't we ban dowry 40 years ago?
Dowry crimes increase as India's economy grows
Jail crisis for dowry crimes
Rising number of dowry deaths in India
Don't condemn the intitution of dowry
In fact if you websearch dowry crimes u will find tons of articles all with different statistics on the number of women killed due to dowry related issues....
My take on Dowry:
In a country of 1 B, 6000 deaths is quite less compared to accidents, number of soldiers killed everyday in Kashmir and so on..Nevertheless, these are deaths that in essence bring out where the Indian society and culture is headed..... In all the recent articles including the one above there is a lot written about how consumerism in India is increasing with the booming economy and the dowry syndrome is seen in all economic classes of the society...A lot of bullshit is mentioned about: how the male child is made to beleive since childhood that he can get anything he demands; painful examples of real dowry deaths and so on.. 2 points should be focused on instead of all the crap:
1. The female child is not a second citizen in India and if not treated well she should herself be proactive and strong. (There is no point of education and earning money if a woman is not independent in her own right, this given the fact that dowry deaths are common amongst the so called educated middle class strata of society)
2. The very painful encounters often narrated by parents or family members of deceased females should be ashamed of themselves....What is the point of them crying out loud now...when they shouldn't have A. paid dowry B. kept up with the consistent demands after marriage C. saved their daughter by bringing her back from her in-laws house at the first instance of dowry request/harrasment
India absolutely needs more strong and courageous role models like Nisha Sharma to bring an end to this menace called DOWRY. For those who are not familiar with her check out:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3027683.stm
http://www.the-week.com/23jun01/events8.htm
Are you 420 friendly ??
Are you ? Arrre yoou ?? I'm trying to ask you this in typical Phoebe (of Friends fame) style, you know when she asks the same thing in 3-4 different moods/nerves..Nobody except her can do that and carry that off so well!!
Back tracking to the main topic for this post...Well you know I was talking about looking for something on Google in my last posting...The query was "420 friendly"..If you are like me and don't know what the hell it means than don't really answer the question "Are you 420 friendly ??" without checking the meaning....
I cam across this weird acronym/abbreviation/slang/lingo whatever you prefer to call it while going through various postings on Craigslist.com, be it for an apartment or a rideshare or whatever....By doing little research, I found out that 420 derived from 20th of April, the day 4/20 is recognized by many as "national smokers day", the day when the grass is mowed by thousands across the US of A....
So when someone asks you if you are 420 friendly and this is true if you are trying to rent an apartment with someone be sure to say yes only if you are pot friendly....Dictionary.com aptly defines it as "Slang for smoking marijuana" ....
So herz something new that I learnt today!! Phew! Good thing I looked it up and did not say a dumb/ignorant yes to a prospective roommate!
More about 420 Friendly :: 420 on Wired, 420 on Google and 420 on Yahoo.
p.s. Good headline :: Former Bush state is 420 friendly
Back tracking to the main topic for this post...Well you know I was talking about looking for something on Google in my last posting...The query was "420 friendly"..If you are like me and don't know what the hell it means than don't really answer the question "Are you 420 friendly ??" without checking the meaning....
I cam across this weird acronym/abbreviation/slang/lingo whatever you prefer to call it while going through various postings on Craigslist.com, be it for an apartment or a rideshare or whatever....By doing little research, I found out that 420 derived from 20th of April, the day 4/20 is recognized by many as "national smokers day", the day when the grass is mowed by thousands across the US of A....
So when someone asks you if you are 420 friendly and this is true if you are trying to rent an apartment with someone be sure to say yes only if you are pot friendly....Dictionary.com aptly defines it as "Slang for smoking marijuana" ....
So herz something new that I learnt today!! Phew! Good thing I looked it up and did not say a dumb/ignorant yes to a prospective roommate!
More about 420 Friendly :: 420 on Wired, 420 on Google and 420 on Yahoo.
p.s. Good headline :: Former Bush state is 420 friendly
Who is Upasana ??
Alright, this would seem weird at first.... Why am I putting forth the question "Who am I?"..No no, this is not some freak point in my life when I have ventured towards understanding the deeper self...I am old enough to know myself....I was looking up something on Google when the first valid link I was directed to was Googlism.com....It did not serve the purpose of my query, but seemed interesting hence, I thought why not try it out.....
I gave the query "WHO"="Upasana" and the results presented were as interesting and funny as promised (see below)...Okay so I am a saree shop, an apartment complex, a cemetry, what not?! Hilarious huh :)....And I always thought that Upasana in the simplest terms meant "to pray" !
Googlism for: upasana
upasana is different
upasana is a kind of meditation wherein we exclusively bring the thought & feeling of some inspiring person in our mind and feel highly inspired & good
upasana is one entire upasana
upasana is described in all
upasana is only in initial
upasana is done only by the help of krishna as indicated in macchitta
upasana is an amalgam of vedic shlokas
upasana is useful only to expel our internal dirt
upasana is a place where people from all over can come and explore clothing possibilities of their own
upasana is a practice which helps in understanding and managing self
upasana is of three kinds
upasana is one who does upasana
upasana is helpful to get out of dehavadbi
upasana is undertaken with discrimination
upasana is nama sankeertana
upasana is leading shop for saree specialist in “benarasi and silk saree”
upasana is concluded with the offering of salutations
upasana is using prakrithi to
upasana is to sit close by
upasana is cemetry
upasana is a translation of shri durga saptshati in hindi verses by shri murari lal sharma
upasana is natural remedy for daily stress
upasana is deeply influenced by the abstract letters
upasana is either worldly prosperity
upasana is based on the vedantic conception of reality and operates within a definite conceptual framework
upasana is bhakti
upasana is essential for achieving that one pointedness of the mind
upasana is carried out with the basic understanding that all the deities are essentially one in nature
upasana is an expression of faith and devotion in the form of rites
upasana is saguna
upasana is also a type of karma called mental karma
upasana is of two kinds viz
upasana is the soul of the environment over here
upasana is our program in the marathi language
upasana is applied on three levels
upasana is considered so important in religious life that even our
upasana is to be done
upasana is quite another
upasana is one in dasamaha vidya of tantsopasana
upasana is possible or spiritual perfection practicable without austerity
upasana is acquired
upasana is done twice in a week
upasana is purity of mind and this is possible only with purvapunya
upasana is facilitated
upasana is the affair of the individual; there is nothing collective about it
upasana is a combination of prayers
upasana is a system or environment to become brahmroop or where no mistakes are possible
upasana is indicated by
upasana is for the
upasana is the royal road to spiritual victory
upasana is difficult in the begining
upasana is not blind faith
upasana is to a higher divinity
upasana is the perfection of
upasana is introduced in the seventh chapter
upasana is not ruled out
upasana is as follows
upasana is to seek the source of knowledge as an observer; by not running away from bondages; by not being attached to the results of actions
upasana is done as the essential for very life
upasana is this
upasana is for the "lower" grades and so forth
upasana is central to the invocation phase
upasana is essential
upasana is harikrishna maharaj in vadtal is that in akshardham that is the maharaj who was born in chappiya and lived in gadhpur
upasana is – upa+asan; that is
upasana is approaching the chosen ideal or object of worship by meditating on it in accordance with the teachings of the sastras and the guru and dwelling
upasana is an ancient practice
upasana is when an individual experiences his second birth as a spiritual being
upasana is the experience of our true nature in the waking state
upasana is vratas
upasana is based on faith and ultimately it reinforces this very faith
upasana is to be performed daily without fail
upasana is examined in the vimsamsa
upasana is of various kinds
upasana is bridged
upasana is a classical dance group in dubai
upasana is avidya
upasana is
upasana is a luxurious residential building of ground plus seven stories with 2/3 bhk apartments
I gave the query "WHO"="Upasana" and the results presented were as interesting and funny as promised (see below)...Okay so I am a saree shop, an apartment complex, a cemetry, what not?! Hilarious huh :)....And I always thought that Upasana in the simplest terms meant "to pray" !
Googlism for: upasana
upasana is different
upasana is a kind of meditation wherein we exclusively bring the thought & feeling of some inspiring person in our mind and feel highly inspired & good
upasana is one entire upasana
upasana is described in all
upasana is only in initial
upasana is done only by the help of krishna as indicated in macchitta
upasana is an amalgam of vedic shlokas
upasana is useful only to expel our internal dirt
upasana is a place where people from all over can come and explore clothing possibilities of their own
upasana is a practice which helps in understanding and managing self
upasana is of three kinds
upasana is one who does upasana
upasana is helpful to get out of dehavadbi
upasana is undertaken with discrimination
upasana is nama sankeertana
upasana is leading shop for saree specialist in “benarasi and silk saree”
upasana is concluded with the offering of salutations
upasana is using prakrithi to
upasana is to sit close by
upasana is cemetry
upasana is a translation of shri durga saptshati in hindi verses by shri murari lal sharma
upasana is natural remedy for daily stress
upasana is deeply influenced by the abstract letters
upasana is either worldly prosperity
upasana is based on the vedantic conception of reality and operates within a definite conceptual framework
upasana is bhakti
upasana is essential for achieving that one pointedness of the mind
upasana is carried out with the basic understanding that all the deities are essentially one in nature
upasana is an expression of faith and devotion in the form of rites
upasana is saguna
upasana is also a type of karma called mental karma
upasana is of two kinds viz
upasana is the soul of the environment over here
upasana is our program in the marathi language
upasana is applied on three levels
upasana is considered so important in religious life that even our
upasana is to be done
upasana is quite another
upasana is one in dasamaha vidya of tantsopasana
upasana is possible or spiritual perfection practicable without austerity
upasana is acquired
upasana is done twice in a week
upasana is purity of mind and this is possible only with purvapunya
upasana is facilitated
upasana is the affair of the individual; there is nothing collective about it
upasana is a combination of prayers
upasana is a system or environment to become brahmroop or where no mistakes are possible
upasana is indicated by
upasana is for the
upasana is the royal road to spiritual victory
upasana is difficult in the begining
upasana is not blind faith
upasana is to a higher divinity
upasana is the perfection of
upasana is introduced in the seventh chapter
upasana is not ruled out
upasana is as follows
upasana is to seek the source of knowledge as an observer; by not running away from bondages; by not being attached to the results of actions
upasana is done as the essential for very life
upasana is this
upasana is for the "lower" grades and so forth
upasana is central to the invocation phase
upasana is essential
upasana is harikrishna maharaj in vadtal is that in akshardham that is the maharaj who was born in chappiya and lived in gadhpur
upasana is – upa+asan; that is
upasana is approaching the chosen ideal or object of worship by meditating on it in accordance with the teachings of the sastras and the guru and dwelling
upasana is an ancient practice
upasana is when an individual experiences his second birth as a spiritual being
upasana is the experience of our true nature in the waking state
upasana is vratas
upasana is based on faith and ultimately it reinforces this very faith
upasana is to be performed daily without fail
upasana is examined in the vimsamsa
upasana is of various kinds
upasana is bridged
upasana is a classical dance group in dubai
upasana is avidya
upasana is
upasana is a luxurious residential building of ground plus seven stories with 2/3 bhk apartments
Me a Geek - NO Way!!
He he ho ho....
Whatz so funny ? Well I was trying very hard to be polite and get the DVD burner on myDELL laptop to start working, all this while troubleshooting with a DELL rep for the 3rd time in the last 2 days...Because I have been there, done that, I know how difficult it is for a tech support person to help, to understand and solve the problem while the customer is being rude and impatient..I tried to keep calm but every tech that I got hooked to was quite stupid..I really don't want to say this but its true...They made me download and update every driver that they could think of, flash the BIOS, reinstall PowerDVD of all things...PowerDVD is for playing DVDs not for writing you fools! Meanwhile, I played along..The first time I called up the lady tried to pass the buck very smartly, telling me to do the diagnostics and then call back with the exact error..Well there was no error....
I kept telling them that the hardware is fine and its just either a software thingie or some stupid option that I must've sometime messed around...Anyways, the second time I called the guy got me to update the drivers thing..Funnily enough, the actual driver for my Hitachi DVD+RW drive was niether found anywhere online nor on my driver CD..The poor rep was also amazed as to why the driver was not available on DELL's website..I informed him forget about DELL, I already tried Yahoo and Google but haven't found the driver anywhere in this WORLD WIDE WEB...One would have thought at the least Hitachi would have it available online!
The third rep I talked to today was in a hurry to get me a new drive and except system restore he had no advice to offer...What then? Well I wasted 2-4 hours with system restore, recovery console -->repair, physically removing the drive, and what not...Finally, it turned out to be a stupid software issue..I just uninstalled and reinstalled my DVD writing software and the drive was back working as normally as it could....Why didn't I think of this before? Really how stupid could I be? Leave apart me being stupid, none of the reps even once asked me to reinstall my DVD writing software...What matters is that finally on my own I got the drive back to complete functionality...
A few days back I decided to try the Yahoo toolbar for a change...Whether it was really for a change or because I was super-mad at Google for not offering me that position for which they got me to interview with 12 people including a VP, I forget! Anyways, apprehensively at first I decided to get rid off my Google tool bar as it was letting through loads of pop-ups thus, not serving one of the main purposes of its existence on my laptop....The Yahoo tool bar is surprisingly far better than Google..Not a single pop-up has passed through and it has now been almost 2 weeks...On top of that I really like their anti-spy feature on their tool bar..This feature allows you to run a quick search for 3rd party spyware and adware trying to slow down and invade your system and throws them out in a jiffy....Plus I have also started trying Yahoo search a lot more and learnt how to compare the differences between Google and Yahoo search and use them to my advantage...
Next thing that I was to learn today was about privacy issues concerning referrer information transmitted by web browsers...I must say my curiousity first arose when I saw one such blocked referrer entry in my website traffic file...I think this HTTP referrering business is serious and there is no good reason for me to tell Yahoo or for that matter any other site which website I visited prior to coming to their site...
After a day full of reading tons of tech articles and user guides to resolve my DVD issue and then finding an easy solution just when I had given up hope and was about to order a replacement drive; I felt very elated....Elated coz I had solved my problem on my own..I had not given up when the tech asked me to..I had started logically with diagnostics passing and the device being detected and then checking the physical drive and then trying a system repair to hopefully repair any registry errors and then at the end dumbly enough I knew it was just the software..And how true..After a few hours and a whole working day down the drain yohoo my DVD is burning away...and all based on common sense....Hence, at the end of the day I got this giddy feeling that I am no less than any of those nerds out there..They may know the in and out of what they are doing but hey I had worked out things even without knowing initially what I was doing...
All the comp tech stuff today..Whoosh!.. Seems quite amusing to me... At the least for a day I think I am geeky....
Whatz so funny ? Well I was trying very hard to be polite and get the DVD burner on myDELL laptop to start working, all this while troubleshooting with a DELL rep for the 3rd time in the last 2 days...Because I have been there, done that, I know how difficult it is for a tech support person to help, to understand and solve the problem while the customer is being rude and impatient..I tried to keep calm but every tech that I got hooked to was quite stupid..I really don't want to say this but its true...They made me download and update every driver that they could think of, flash the BIOS, reinstall PowerDVD of all things...PowerDVD is for playing DVDs not for writing you fools! Meanwhile, I played along..The first time I called up the lady tried to pass the buck very smartly, telling me to do the diagnostics and then call back with the exact error..Well there was no error....
I kept telling them that the hardware is fine and its just either a software thingie or some stupid option that I must've sometime messed around...Anyways, the second time I called the guy got me to update the drivers thing..Funnily enough, the actual driver for my Hitachi DVD+RW drive was niether found anywhere online nor on my driver CD..The poor rep was also amazed as to why the driver was not available on DELL's website..I informed him forget about DELL, I already tried Yahoo and Google but haven't found the driver anywhere in this WORLD WIDE WEB...One would have thought at the least Hitachi would have it available online!
The third rep I talked to today was in a hurry to get me a new drive and except system restore he had no advice to offer...What then? Well I wasted 2-4 hours with system restore, recovery console -->repair, physically removing the drive, and what not...Finally, it turned out to be a stupid software issue..I just uninstalled and reinstalled my DVD writing software and the drive was back working as normally as it could....Why didn't I think of this before? Really how stupid could I be? Leave apart me being stupid, none of the reps even once asked me to reinstall my DVD writing software...What matters is that finally on my own I got the drive back to complete functionality...
A few days back I decided to try the Yahoo toolbar for a change...Whether it was really for a change or because I was super-mad at Google for not offering me that position for which they got me to interview with 12 people including a VP, I forget! Anyways, apprehensively at first I decided to get rid off my Google tool bar as it was letting through loads of pop-ups thus, not serving one of the main purposes of its existence on my laptop....The Yahoo tool bar is surprisingly far better than Google..Not a single pop-up has passed through and it has now been almost 2 weeks...On top of that I really like their anti-spy feature on their tool bar..This feature allows you to run a quick search for 3rd party spyware and adware trying to slow down and invade your system and throws them out in a jiffy....Plus I have also started trying Yahoo search a lot more and learnt how to compare the differences between Google and Yahoo search and use them to my advantage...
Next thing that I was to learn today was about privacy issues concerning referrer information transmitted by web browsers...I must say my curiousity first arose when I saw one such blocked referrer entry in my website traffic file...I think this HTTP referrering business is serious and there is no good reason for me to tell Yahoo or for that matter any other site which website I visited prior to coming to their site...
After a day full of reading tons of tech articles and user guides to resolve my DVD issue and then finding an easy solution just when I had given up hope and was about to order a replacement drive; I felt very elated....Elated coz I had solved my problem on my own..I had not given up when the tech asked me to..I had started logically with diagnostics passing and the device being detected and then checking the physical drive and then trying a system repair to hopefully repair any registry errors and then at the end dumbly enough I knew it was just the software..And how true..After a few hours and a whole working day down the drain yohoo my DVD is burning away...and all based on common sense....Hence, at the end of the day I got this giddy feeling that I am no less than any of those nerds out there..They may know the in and out of what they are doing but hey I had worked out things even without knowing initially what I was doing...
All the comp tech stuff today..Whoosh!.. Seems quite amusing to me... At the least for a day I think I am geeky....
On female status & handshakes
This has now happenned to me twice in a single week...Can't say that I am cribbing about it! I am sure this has happenned to many young women out there.....
Just this weekend, I was at a social gathering where except 1-2 people all the faces were new to me...True to etiquette, I came forward and introduced myself and then 'IT' happenned..The crowd there was masculine in nature..eh...Most guys were chivalrous enough to gently shake hands and introduce themselves..Then there was that guy who barely touched the ends of my fingers let alone shake hands properly..and while doing his sped-fast semi-handshake he was looking at somebody else and did not even bother to say his name...Talk about manners....
Alright that night I let it go...u know late night gathering plus the guy was talking to someone else whilst trying to introduce himself to me..But lo and behold it happenned again today...This time I was meeting some new people with regards to some work and there it was...The weird touch-me-not kinda handshake....The first guy was shy and calmly told me his name while shaking hands briskly...The second guy was the epitome of rudeness may I say... Ya he was looking away from me...ya he said his name..but you know how he shaked hands...his hand was straight and as tight as a rock and my hand was all curvy and ready to mould well in shape for a steady handshake....It felt as if I was shaking hands with a block of wood or something like that...It felt grosse....I am like if you don't like shaking hands please don't but at least don't make the other person feel bad....
Later I got thinking..Why does this happen only to me?...Is it me...I polled some of my friends on this one...Does this happen to ya'll?..Haven't experienced so far said all my guy friends...Asked some of my girl friends and they are like..Yahaan!! Ah..ha so I found the reason...Apparently, this unfriendly handshake is a common event experienced by quite a lot of girls....And what might be the super cool reason behind this kinda behavior..Nothing much...Just that some ultra masculine (looking or sentimentally feeling) guys who think kinda way too much of themselves and all other guys find it utterly useless and un-masculine to shake hands with girls..Duh!!
Give yourself a dose of reality all you guys..U maybe a stud, as handsome as a black horse or as smart as a chimpanzee but if you think you are too good to shake hands with all women you are in deep trouble man....I wish you all have loads of women in your workplace especially your bosses....I wonder how you guys would react then...It would be nice to see you get treated swell for such behavior by your bosses...
If you haven't got the point yet, man get this now!..Dude, women are not only as smart as men in each and every aspect of life but they are also outdoing men in several fields..Regardless, you should treat all women as equals and give them the same respect as you would to any man...Such rude behavior is not only unwarranted but also very non-masculine (think chivalrous guys are hot favorites with women :) )....Change your habits and be a good handshaker!!
Just this weekend, I was at a social gathering where except 1-2 people all the faces were new to me...True to etiquette, I came forward and introduced myself and then 'IT' happenned..The crowd there was masculine in nature..eh...Most guys were chivalrous enough to gently shake hands and introduce themselves..Then there was that guy who barely touched the ends of my fingers let alone shake hands properly..and while doing his sped-fast semi-handshake he was looking at somebody else and did not even bother to say his name...Talk about manners....
Alright that night I let it go...u know late night gathering plus the guy was talking to someone else whilst trying to introduce himself to me..But lo and behold it happenned again today...This time I was meeting some new people with regards to some work and there it was...The weird touch-me-not kinda handshake....The first guy was shy and calmly told me his name while shaking hands briskly...The second guy was the epitome of rudeness may I say... Ya he was looking away from me...ya he said his name..but you know how he shaked hands...his hand was straight and as tight as a rock and my hand was all curvy and ready to mould well in shape for a steady handshake....It felt as if I was shaking hands with a block of wood or something like that...It felt grosse....I am like if you don't like shaking hands please don't but at least don't make the other person feel bad....
Later I got thinking..Why does this happen only to me?...Is it me...I polled some of my friends on this one...Does this happen to ya'll?..Haven't experienced so far said all my guy friends...Asked some of my girl friends and they are like..Yahaan!! Ah..ha so I found the reason...Apparently, this unfriendly handshake is a common event experienced by quite a lot of girls....And what might be the super cool reason behind this kinda behavior..Nothing much...Just that some ultra masculine (looking or sentimentally feeling) guys who think kinda way too much of themselves and all other guys find it utterly useless and un-masculine to shake hands with girls..Duh!!
Give yourself a dose of reality all you guys..U maybe a stud, as handsome as a black horse or as smart as a chimpanzee but if you think you are too good to shake hands with all women you are in deep trouble man....I wish you all have loads of women in your workplace especially your bosses....I wonder how you guys would react then...It would be nice to see you get treated swell for such behavior by your bosses...
If you haven't got the point yet, man get this now!..Dude, women are not only as smart as men in each and every aspect of life but they are also outdoing men in several fields..Regardless, you should treat all women as equals and give them the same respect as you would to any man...Such rude behavior is not only unwarranted but also very non-masculine (think chivalrous guys are hot favorites with women :) )....Change your habits and be a good handshaker!!
Back Track & Up to speed
Ya well, I am real busy this week hence, we see no new posts coming up. Meanwhile, I already have 4 posts in the draft stage so the pile is building up. I need to catch up sometime soon or else I will lose out on my thoughts, those that I wanted to pin down on this blog for the sake of future procrastination.
I spent quite sometime this weekend shopping and I was feeling giddy and in typical Janice (of Friends fame) style "Oh My Gawd!" was on the tip of my lips all through...U know when u get that feeling roaming through tons of shops and not finding anything useful or finding the same thing everywhere....
Oh God when will we start purchasing everything online, when will we have virtual changing rooms to try on clothes on websites...Anyways, as tiring as it was, there were some fun elements..It felt good, real nice to spend time thinking about what should I buy for each family member and then wasting time in searching for that exact color, style and size that they would like!! Oh BTW did I tell ya'll I am doing all this shopping for my folks in India and its at least somewhat of a compensation to send them some gifts what with me not getting to go see them this summer....
A larger shopping googlee still awaits me though..what should I buy for my Grandma...I scratched and scratched my brains out but could think of absolutely nothing that she would literally use (i.e. not just keep very nicely packed in a cupboard) ....Gotta crack this one tonight..
Till later...
I spent quite sometime this weekend shopping and I was feeling giddy and in typical Janice (of Friends fame) style "Oh My Gawd!" was on the tip of my lips all through...U know when u get that feeling roaming through tons of shops and not finding anything useful or finding the same thing everywhere....
Oh God when will we start purchasing everything online, when will we have virtual changing rooms to try on clothes on websites...Anyways, as tiring as it was, there were some fun elements..It felt good, real nice to spend time thinking about what should I buy for each family member and then wasting time in searching for that exact color, style and size that they would like!! Oh BTW did I tell ya'll I am doing all this shopping for my folks in India and its at least somewhat of a compensation to send them some gifts what with me not getting to go see them this summer....
A larger shopping googlee still awaits me though..what should I buy for my Grandma...I scratched and scratched my brains out but could think of absolutely nothing that she would literally use (i.e. not just keep very nicely packed in a cupboard) ....Gotta crack this one tonight..
Till later...
What the Hell ?
Disclaimer: Excuse my bad language! This post is not meant to point fingers at anyone or any community..just a bit of frustration being vented out!
Why am I so mad? Well you would be too if you spent like the whole day doing stupid things....The day started off well with no major hassles..As soon as the bloody old clock in my office struck 12 the day went from a glorious sunny day on a beach to a hot day in the busy lanes of a city...
The first call was from Dell. Apparently, the new laptop that I had purchased online last week (for my parents in India) was not going to reach me by the requested date and would end up missing its long flight to India with my friend, who had graciously agreed to transport it for me. The delay in question was caused by the transaction not being cleared by my credit card company. This caused a fit of anger and I was all red... because as expected, the credit card company had emailed me last week to verify the large charge on my account and I had clearly told them to honor the charge from Dell. My charge had not hit the credit limit and there was no good reason for them to put it on hold, and yet they did!! What a bunch of idiots! Anyways, after an hour of back and forth calls to Dell and the credit card guys the issue was settled. However, the Dell guy did not promise me that the laptop would be expedited for my sake.
Done with that one, I thought lemme do some work after biting on my Subway sandwich...Hmm..Now come the real trauma...I have a driver's test scheduled for tomorrow and I need to find a person to accompany me for the test..This person needs to have a license and also needs to be 25 years of age....The search for such a person went on from exactly 1:20 to 4:30 in the day and was an exciting game of phone tag, email tag, some diplomacy and some candidness...U know I really hate when people make lame excuses...I would much rather have people say straight out that they are unable to help..This saves time and energy invested in talking crap....So amongst the huge Indian community at Stanford hardly a few ventured to try to help me..Why would that be? Have I been bad or evil to anyone ? Nope I wouldn't think so..But yet some sort of feeling prevailed on me that made me think why are people so selfish at times...Now I am not saying that everyone is selfish! Most people have time constraints and some have their own larger problems to solve.....
So what is it? Is it that back in India where life is much slower people have ample time to indulge in the details of others' lives and to help out as and when requested..Think the panwale bhaiya on each nukkad pan shop..They help each and every person who asks for directions which is again a must given that roads in India were not planned well to start with....Driven by sentiments, I was apalled that if someone who has been in this country, USA for 2 years and knows so many people (how many are good friends is whole another story) can run into such a problem what about someone who has just landed and is new in the place...I guess everyone feels a bit dejected when seniors from India don't help newcomers from India especially in a university ecosystem...I remember I felt that a bit with my roommate when I came here and I am pretty sure I must have acted in that strange keeping to myself kinda attitude, not knowing and talking to neighbors kinda attitude when my new roommate came from India....
Over time I always considered myself to be a helpful person, doing things for people I don't know came naturally to me, whether it was helping a blind person cross the street or finding out details about a new student's I-20 letter stuck in graduate admissions, etc...Now I don't have a rosy picture of myself..Giving oneself the easy way out would be easier but yet looking at the inner workings of the mind and the heart makes more sense....Who are we ? Were we helping
individuals earlier or did we always mind our own business, never mind if a small girl was being raped in front of us in a local train in Mumbai....These are questions we should ponder about...
Finally, so what happenned with my problem...Well I found someone outside Stanford to help me out tomorrow...Will I pass or fail...come back tomorrow for the update....
Why am I so mad? Well you would be too if you spent like the whole day doing stupid things....The day started off well with no major hassles..As soon as the bloody old clock in my office struck 12 the day went from a glorious sunny day on a beach to a hot day in the busy lanes of a city...
The first call was from Dell. Apparently, the new laptop that I had purchased online last week (for my parents in India) was not going to reach me by the requested date and would end up missing its long flight to India with my friend, who had graciously agreed to transport it for me. The delay in question was caused by the transaction not being cleared by my credit card company. This caused a fit of anger and I was all red... because as expected, the credit card company had emailed me last week to verify the large charge on my account and I had clearly told them to honor the charge from Dell. My charge had not hit the credit limit and there was no good reason for them to put it on hold, and yet they did!! What a bunch of idiots! Anyways, after an hour of back and forth calls to Dell and the credit card guys the issue was settled. However, the Dell guy did not promise me that the laptop would be expedited for my sake.
Done with that one, I thought lemme do some work after biting on my Subway sandwich...Hmm..Now come the real trauma...I have a driver's test scheduled for tomorrow and I need to find a person to accompany me for the test..This person needs to have a license and also needs to be 25 years of age....The search for such a person went on from exactly 1:20 to 4:30 in the day and was an exciting game of phone tag, email tag, some diplomacy and some candidness...U know I really hate when people make lame excuses...I would much rather have people say straight out that they are unable to help..This saves time and energy invested in talking crap....So amongst the huge Indian community at Stanford hardly a few ventured to try to help me..Why would that be? Have I been bad or evil to anyone ? Nope I wouldn't think so..But yet some sort of feeling prevailed on me that made me think why are people so selfish at times...Now I am not saying that everyone is selfish! Most people have time constraints and some have their own larger problems to solve.....
So what is it? Is it that back in India where life is much slower people have ample time to indulge in the details of others' lives and to help out as and when requested..Think the panwale bhaiya on each nukkad pan shop..They help each and every person who asks for directions which is again a must given that roads in India were not planned well to start with....Driven by sentiments, I was apalled that if someone who has been in this country, USA for 2 years and knows so many people (how many are good friends is whole another story) can run into such a problem what about someone who has just landed and is new in the place...I guess everyone feels a bit dejected when seniors from India don't help newcomers from India especially in a university ecosystem...I remember I felt that a bit with my roommate when I came here and I am pretty sure I must have acted in that strange keeping to myself kinda attitude, not knowing and talking to neighbors kinda attitude when my new roommate came from India....
Over time I always considered myself to be a helpful person, doing things for people I don't know came naturally to me, whether it was helping a blind person cross the street or finding out details about a new student's I-20 letter stuck in graduate admissions, etc...Now I don't have a rosy picture of myself..Giving oneself the easy way out would be easier but yet looking at the inner workings of the mind and the heart makes more sense....Who are we ? Were we helping
individuals earlier or did we always mind our own business, never mind if a small girl was being raped in front of us in a local train in Mumbai....These are questions we should ponder about...
Finally, so what happenned with my problem...Well I found someone outside Stanford to help me out tomorrow...Will I pass or fail...come back tomorrow for the update....
BlogShares :: Trading blogs in a fictional stock market!
Okay so this is frivolous, hilarious and also interesting!
It so began...I was looking at the statistics for my blogsite to understand who was gracing my blog with their presence. Amongst the referrer path links I found a couple for BlogShares. Obviously, I went to checkout this website..Lo and behold what do I find! Its a site for fictional trading of blogs....
Herz what their website says about them:
"BlogShares is a simulated, fantasy stock market for weblogs where players invest fictional money to buy stocks and bonds in an artificial economy where attention is the commodity and weblogs are the companies. Weblogs, or blogs for short, are valued by their incoming links from other known blogs. In effect, links become the business deals in the simulation and players speculate on the fortunes of thousands of blogs by buying and selling shares. A whole host of options exist for advanced play including gifting shares, leveraged buy-outs, stock splits, additional share issues, market and player bonds. Anyone can play BlogShares for free, and ownership of a blog is not a requirement to participate."
Its a damn good idea! Again based on the tenets of the now very common Page-Rank algorithm first developed by Larry Page of Google fame. So pretty much my blog is going to be a low value stock forever I guess; as the number of incoming links to my blog are negligible. I will need to get hooked into this fictional blog trading business for a bit just to get a flavor..hmm..Time is a constraint..Will surely come back to BlogShares later this summer to try my luck as a very talented equity analyst...ha ha...Very interesting though...
Where do people get these ideas ? (light bulb) Me thinks need to get good sleep and great ideas will visit me in my dreams!
It so began...I was looking at the statistics for my blogsite to understand who was gracing my blog with their presence. Amongst the referrer path links I found a couple for BlogShares. Obviously, I went to checkout this website..Lo and behold what do I find! Its a site for fictional trading of blogs....
Herz what their website says about them:
"BlogShares is a simulated, fantasy stock market for weblogs where players invest fictional money to buy stocks and bonds in an artificial economy where attention is the commodity and weblogs are the companies. Weblogs, or blogs for short, are valued by their incoming links from other known blogs. In effect, links become the business deals in the simulation and players speculate on the fortunes of thousands of blogs by buying and selling shares. A whole host of options exist for advanced play including gifting shares, leveraged buy-outs, stock splits, additional share issues, market and player bonds. Anyone can play BlogShares for free, and ownership of a blog is not a requirement to participate."
Its a damn good idea! Again based on the tenets of the now very common Page-Rank algorithm first developed by Larry Page of Google fame. So pretty much my blog is going to be a low value stock forever I guess; as the number of incoming links to my blog are negligible. I will need to get hooked into this fictional blog trading business for a bit just to get a flavor..hmm..Time is a constraint..Will surely come back to BlogShares later this summer to try my luck as a very talented equity analyst...ha ha...Very interesting though...
Where do people get these ideas ? (light bulb) Me thinks need to get good sleep and great ideas will visit me in my dreams!
The Americans are coming to India!
Hurray..India is really pacing fast on the economic treadmill..After China, India is one country where a lot of money is being invested these days by the Western World...Big names like GE, Dell, Google, Intel, etc. are all trying to utilize India's cheap and skilled human resources to their advantage..Nothing wrong with that..This is driving a whole new breed of millions of graduating seniors at Indian educational institutions towards professional excellence at the international level...
The positive growth of the IT sector has given the Indian workforce a springboard to make up for the lost years when the Government was very conservative towards foreign investment. Hopefully development in India will soon turn into an unending cycle of events that will not only attract more and more investment but will also drive human potential to India and their excellence in turn will result in further development. If such a vicious chain of growth were to set in, India can also hope for a lesser impact of the brain-drain effect. Every year close to 100,000 students leave India for graduate level education at various universities at USA, UK and Australia and then settle in with dollar paying jobs outside India. Many argue that they settle abroad not because of the money but for better career opportunities and global exposure which they would have been unable to obtain back in India. Now with a new shop setup everyday by a Fortune 1000 company in India, times are changing......
Global brand names are hiring by 100s in India and offering high paying jobs with cutting edge research opportunities...Google, Yahoo, Ebay and many of the top guns of the internet space are investing in the Indian workforce..The outsourcing revolution in India however had started with the BPO sector which is still prospering but how much can be gained in the long term from these companies remains to be seen..Its true that the BPO companies have become a haven for freshly graduating arts and humanities majors but the fact is that these low IP jobs will in no way help India rise in the world as a tech czar. A higher level of long term growth, development, recognition and business can be drawn to India only by Innovation not Cost.
After 57 years of freedom and democracy, India despite its variety and diversity of national problems has come back on the business world map as a booming and upcoming powerhouse of talent and work-horse...Lets see where we reach in the next 10 years?
Now that the world is recognizing the direction of technological development we are seeing more and more foreign nationals coming from the West to the East in search of exciting opportunities. Good or bad, I am pretty sure that India will definitely be an interesting experience in the lives of these early adopters. While India's infrastruture is still plagued with problems, gone are the days when someone asked me if cows keep roaming on all the Indian streets, now I have non-Indian friends asking me about best places to visit in India. One daring friend of mine from Stanford, boldly went to India for a summer internship with a hi-tech company this summer. So far she has seen more of India especially remote India in the last 3 months than I have seen in the 22 years that I lived in India.
While trying to keep myself updated about the world and India, I came across this interesting blog by Cecilia from USA who is currently in Bangalore. Its definitely worth a read and seems to have caught quite a bit of attention in the Indian press recently. The posting about her getting sick and a tremendous and speedy recovery is amazingly funny and reminds me of good 'ol India every time I fall sick here in the US and the doctors won't just give me any antibiotics no matter how miserable I am.
You can see Cecilia's blog at http://cvillalon.blogspot.com/
You can checkout the Times of India article at At 57, India stands tall
The positive growth of the IT sector has given the Indian workforce a springboard to make up for the lost years when the Government was very conservative towards foreign investment. Hopefully development in India will soon turn into an unending cycle of events that will not only attract more and more investment but will also drive human potential to India and their excellence in turn will result in further development. If such a vicious chain of growth were to set in, India can also hope for a lesser impact of the brain-drain effect. Every year close to 100,000 students leave India for graduate level education at various universities at USA, UK and Australia and then settle in with dollar paying jobs outside India. Many argue that they settle abroad not because of the money but for better career opportunities and global exposure which they would have been unable to obtain back in India. Now with a new shop setup everyday by a Fortune 1000 company in India, times are changing......
Global brand names are hiring by 100s in India and offering high paying jobs with cutting edge research opportunities...Google, Yahoo, Ebay and many of the top guns of the internet space are investing in the Indian workforce..The outsourcing revolution in India however had started with the BPO sector which is still prospering but how much can be gained in the long term from these companies remains to be seen..Its true that the BPO companies have become a haven for freshly graduating arts and humanities majors but the fact is that these low IP jobs will in no way help India rise in the world as a tech czar. A higher level of long term growth, development, recognition and business can be drawn to India only by Innovation not Cost.
After 57 years of freedom and democracy, India despite its variety and diversity of national problems has come back on the business world map as a booming and upcoming powerhouse of talent and work-horse...Lets see where we reach in the next 10 years?
Now that the world is recognizing the direction of technological development we are seeing more and more foreign nationals coming from the West to the East in search of exciting opportunities. Good or bad, I am pretty sure that India will definitely be an interesting experience in the lives of these early adopters. While India's infrastruture is still plagued with problems, gone are the days when someone asked me if cows keep roaming on all the Indian streets, now I have non-Indian friends asking me about best places to visit in India. One daring friend of mine from Stanford, boldly went to India for a summer internship with a hi-tech company this summer. So far she has seen more of India especially remote India in the last 3 months than I have seen in the 22 years that I lived in India.
While trying to keep myself updated about the world and India, I came across this interesting blog by Cecilia from USA who is currently in Bangalore. Its definitely worth a read and seems to have caught quite a bit of attention in the Indian press recently. The posting about her getting sick and a tremendous and speedy recovery is amazingly funny and reminds me of good 'ol India every time I fall sick here in the US and the doctors won't just give me any antibiotics no matter how miserable I am.
You can see Cecilia's blog at http://cvillalon.blogspot.com/
You can checkout the Times of India article at At 57, India stands tall
On Friends & Joey
The one with the game for the apartment (Copyright NBC)
How u doin'
Ha ha.. So last night I saw this promo for "Joey" a new comedy series starting next month with Matt Le Blanc from Friends playing Joey sans all his 'friends'...
This reminded me of Friends, the evergreen jolly good TV show that I immensely enjoyed. Till a few months back, my daily routine included watching a Friends rerun either on TV or DVD while having dinner. I have seen most of the episodes at least 3-5 times and yet never do I miss cracking on the jokes...Unlike most people, I never had a favorite on Friends...I loved all the characters at various stages in the decade long show - Joey for his dumb act, Chandler for his quirks, Ross for being weird at times, Monica for her compulsiveness, Rachel for being a spoilt brat turned responsible girl and Phoebe for being an active promoter of "Normal is boring".....
Together all of them gave a lot of people a reason to laugh and have a fun time..Not only were the 30 minutes full of gags but I guess a lot of situations allowed people to relate to the characters or events in the story with their real lives...
Several episodes are all time favorites and are highly recommended to watch if you haven't already..Like the one where Joey breaks his fridge and trys to get all his friends pay for him or the one where Joey finds Rachel's book and teases her in all ways possible about the sexy instances in the book or the one where Rachel moves on and starts dating Mark while Ross is glued to the peep-hole of Chandler's apartment in order to watch her moves or the one where the friends bet their apartment for a game or the one with the chick and the duck or the one with the cheese cake...This list can be endless..
Despite other shows of the decade which were equally good in all respects such as The 70s Show, X-Files, The Practice, Sex and the city...Friends has and always will have a very different place in the hearts of Friends lovers...I am one such fanatic and find no harm in saying so...Throughout the time span when the show was running we saw many events happen that could have dismantled such a well written and directed show yet luck and sense prevailed and the glorious and funniest show went on and on...
Many critics lashed out on the producers and directors for making the last 2 seasons very melodramatic and not as candid and funny as the previous seasons. However, while it was on, it was the highest rated show on primetime television.
What should one expect of Joey, the show is uncertain..I am a great fan of Matt Le Blanc but will he be able to live up to the expectations of the masses without the pure chemistry he shared with his co-stars on Friends ? This remains to be seen...Lets hope for the best...
For the uninitiated fans of Friends here a few things you should checkout:
The original Friends site
The Warner Bros Site
The NBC Friends site
The Friends DVD collection
The very popular Theme song 'I'll be there for you'
Story on CNN
Tons of other Friends sites
Classic friends lines
As Chandler would have said "Could it be...(pause)... any better?"
Important Site Changes !
Howdy people!
Okay so I have moved the the blog from its
earlier space on the web http://upasu.blogspot.com/ to its
new place http://upasana.blogspot.com/
I have also started a new blog in Hindi (the national language of India) in order to revive my writing skills in Hindi. This blog can be found at http://hindi-bhashi.blogspot.com/
Thats all for now !
Okay so I have moved the the blog from its
earlier space on the web http://upasu.blogspot.com/ to its
new place http://upasana.blogspot.com/
I have also started a new blog in Hindi (the national language of India) in order to revive my writing skills in Hindi. This blog can be found at http://hindi-bhashi.blogspot.com/
Thats all for now !
CROSSING THE LINES: KASHMIR, PAKISTAN, INDIA
Jammu &Kashmir Map (Copyright MSNBC)
Ironically, Kashmir was once called the Crown of India. As you can see the Crown is no more, on the right side China took a bite and on the left Pakistan took a share..And now the fight continues as Pakistan is vying for the India controlled Kashmir...
Last Saturday evening, I went to watch the screening of this documentary on Kashmir -CROSSING THE LINES: KASHMIR, PAKISTAN, INDIA at Stanford. The movie is made by a Pakistani physicist and tries to potray the story from both sides: India and Pakistan.
Before the film was screened some people gave talks on the Kashmir situation including an international security analyst who shared his ideas on why the West had easily ignored the Kashmir issue for years and how nuclear proliferation in South Asia had increased violence in the valley and led to the Kargil war. Then there was this Muslim female from Kashmir now settled in the US who talked about her first hand horrendous experiences during terrorism. I completely sympathized with her when she talked about the uncertain life and the Indian Army's acts against human rights. However, I found it hard to maintain objectivity when she said that the then J&K Governor Jagmohan had on purpose shipped out all Kashmiri Hindus (aka Pandits) out of the Kashmir Valley to Jammu so that the Army could backlash on the Muslims.
Here again I must state I might be wrong and might be losing my sense of objectivity as this is a topic that cuts straight to my heart. As a Kashmiri Hindu who never permanently lived in Kashmir I try not to make claims of first hand experience. Yet I am often reminded of personal losses on the same account and it is difficult to digest others' claims when facts are strangled conveniently.
To modestly say that militancy broke out and the very next day we saw all our Hindu friends and teachers at school were gone..they had fled from Kashmir and then in the same vein to say that this was done to ease the Army's lashing on the Muslims---is a gross mistake. One who is pained by experiencing violence must also realize that to leave one'e luxurious home, friends, relatives, businesses and fleeing away in a single night with only 1 pair of clothes and to start living from the next day in a shady camp with no access to bank accounts/money, food, clothing as well as basic amenities such as bathrooms, electricity is by no means a joke and 50,000+ Kashmiri Hindus would not accept this kind of fate if they had any other option. Most Kashmiri Pandits (henceforth KPs) fled Kashmir during a span of 1 week in trucks that left Srinagar at night and reached Jammu by morning and they did so because they had seen enough of their family and friends die and the then Indian Government was doing a pretty good job of neglecting their plight.
Anyways, coming back to the movie...The documentary had a lot of footage on the Pakistani side arguably, it was more accessible..The views portayed in the movie went from fundamentalist to moderate to liberal depending on the people interviewed....Various chronological events that brought us to Kashmir today were brought up....
A little debate can be facilitated on this issue yet, opening a Pandora's box is not a sound thing to do...The movie explained especially to the viewers of non South-Asian origin or otherwise ignorant that the Kashmir conflicted started because once Kashmir was incorporated as an Indian State the more educated KPs who also had higher economic stature dominated the state and oppressed the Muslims. This is in fact considered to be a major cause of the resentment borne by Kashmiri Muslims that later took on stronger names such as Jihadis and Revolutionaries. This in it self can be questioned ?? Starting with 1970s, there were widespread reservation policies setup for facilitating the education and employment of the Muslims in Kashmir. By this time although Muslims were protected by these reservation policies for a so called minority, the Muslims were in fact the majority in the region....Why these policies did not help? Because Kashmir due to its geography offered more business opportunities in the area of tourism and horticulture and far less academic and other jobs...While the KPs historically more inclined towards education (even the word Pandit means "one who is scholarly") fairly migrated to other parts of India for education and jobs the Muslims preferred to stay back in the Valley and pursue businesses....Many of the Muslims still were in the lower economic bracket as they continued to strive away from the Goverment's family planning initiatives and had larger families to support...Yet there wasn't much terrorism in the Valley then.....Most of the pro-Paksitani sentiment and the resentment feelings were inculcated in the Muslims in the late 1980s by the so called political activists turned terrorists who in the name of "Allah" started a bitter cycle of violence targeted towards the KPs...
In my mind again the movie does a poor job of explaining how Jihadis turned up in such large numbers all of a sudden...The ISI backed activities are considered a thing of the past..It is an important fact of the history of Kashmir that initially many Muslim youth were forced to become terrorists once they were kidnapped and taken across the border to traning camps in Pakistan....
Despite the bi-partisan view that the movie tries to present it was hard for me not to cry on watching the gut wrenching footage..At the same time I was disgusted by the taste of the people watching the movie who clapped at various instances at the mass blood bath footage shown..Appreciating a director is something but how people can laugh and clap at real people dying is beyond me..
At the end there was a long Q&A session which I sat through completely...As well known and insightful Mr. Hoodbhoy maybe his answers were less than satisfactory in many cases...For instance, a US based Pakistani gentleman asked him why when suggesting resolutions to the Kashmir problem everybody looked at it from a religious point of view..Why not a nationalistic point view, implying that if India were to grant Kashmir independence as a country India would be faced by similar circumstances in Assam, Punjab and ....Mr. Hoodbhoy answered that living in Kashmir it was impossible not to be religious minded- you had to take a side in order to exist..and saying that religion should not be a part of the equation would be unrealistic..while that maybe true it is also a fact that if India were to make an exception and give up Kashmir the entire political system in India would collapse....As incorrigible and incompetent our Government might be, its no simple feat to manage a country this diverse in religion, culture, language, what not...
While as an ex-Kashmiri inhabitant I wish that peace would prevail and normalcy were to come back in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, in the near future that does not seem to be happenning...
I still miss Srinagar, Dal Lake, Habbakadal, Gulmarg, Pahelgam, Patnitop and pray that my Dad's wish of retiring back in the solace of his home in Srinagar comes true. Sometimes I wonder at what cost ?? Just in terms of human life so much has been lost in Kashmir and that includes civilians, Jihadis and the Indian Army...Then there is also billions of money burnt on the defence action forces in the Valley since the last 15 years and after all this what is left...A blood stained region, with the economy worth zero, the natural treasures destroyed and nobody wanting to live there....
To the common Indian, Pakistani or world citizen Kashmir is a forgotten story! To some its a daily keyword in the Indian newspapers with the just the number of deaths changing everyday....To some its the World...Hopefully the glory of Maij (Kashmiri for 'Mother') Kashmir will be restored someday...God Bless the people of Kashmir!
Background on the film & director:
http://www.ektaonline.org/~friendso/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4201688/
Some Other Reviews:
http://www.jammu-kashmir.com/archives/archives2004/kashmir20040511b.html
http://hasbrouck.org/blog/archives/000312.html
Some sites with information and insights on the Kashmir issue:
Disclaimer: I have not read all the articles on these sites and do not endorse any/all of the information published.
http://ikashmir.org/Refugees/index.html
http://www.panunkashmir.org/index.html http://www.zackvision.com/weblog/archives/kashmir/index.html
http://www.indianet.nl/indpak51.html
http://www.mindspring.com/~akhila_raman/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
