Musings of a Mangalorean Girl

Sloth

2012-01-29T22:57:00.000-08:00

Sloth_n_.Laziness, Indolence

Slow-moving,arboreal, edentate mammals

Acompany of bears

The dictionary provides the above three definitions forsloth and my contemplation for this post is certainly not on mammals or bearsso we can focus on the first definition . According to the Catholic Church itis one of the seven cardinal sins although I think sloth has got to be one ofthe most overlooked sins, if at all it is considered a sin by any of us. Andyes I say overlooked because it’s just inconsistent to consider laziness wrong(let’s use ‘wrong’ instead of sin for context). Surely there’s no right aboutsloth, but is there a wrong and does the word only refer to a glorified versionof laziness or is there some spiritual meaning too?

I’m not someone to make New Year’s resolutions, but decidedto do the bible a day plan this year and I must say it’s not as easy as Ithought it would be, every day I hit catch-up and within the first 29 days, I’malready down by 13 days. At this rate my one year bible plan would take 1.5 years,which is acceptable too I guess! So what’s the correlation between the biblereading plan and sloth you may ask? If I had to justify mindlessly watchingevery single movie/tv show on Netflix, I would and I’d have a simpleexplanation every time for why I haven’t been able to take the time out to getthe gate chain fixed, you get the picture … don’t you, it’s JUST procrastination.

The bug of procrastination is hidden under layers and layersof tangled lifestyles that to wean it out would mean a complete rewriting ofthe code, a catharsis and yet I believe remnants of the bug will continue toexist. It may pop up ever so often, but you’ve just got to find the workaroundevery-time and then I don’t know if the church meant to put procrastination inthe list of deadly sins, it doesn’t seem right?

And if this thought seems incomplete, you're absolutely right, it is.

Sit it out or dance

2011-12-30T12:49:00.000-08:00

The pattern is the same, when I when look back at a year gone by, it seems to be in varying degrees of overwhelming although at the start of the year I just *knew* that this was going to be THE year! Resolutions aside, I don't have such emotions about 2012 being THE year, so I think that's the first good sign.

2011 was my year for intensifying friendships and a little about making new ones, although the latter seems like a constant struggle as the years go by and also the only year in the past few years that I've stayed put in one place and that is a huge relief. I know that is what I ultimately want, the not-knowing if I can be the maid of honor for a friend's wedding here in April doesn't appeal to me, it never did.

Do you know why heaven has such huge air-conditioning bills? that's because God keeps opening a window when he closes a door, I wouldn't mind a dent in my electric bill if I can open a few windows for myself and when given the choice of sitting it out or dancing, I hope there isn't a moment's hesitation despite my lack of dancing abilities.

Focus, slow down and think more linear.

Don't look back

2011-12-25T23:24:00.000-08:00

Realized something interesting when I was thinking back to the past 6 years I've spent here in the US, of course there's a lot of first and second's and n'ths but this is only related to the parish I've attended on important occasions and who I attended mass with.

Easter:-
2006 - Prince of Peace, Plano
2007 - St. Francis Xavier Church, Bejai
2008 - Stanford Memorial Church, Stanford
2009 - St. Francis Xavier Church, Bejai
2010 - St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, Rogers
2011 - Mission Church, Santa Clara

Christmas:-
2006 - St. John Vianney Catholic Church, Houston
2007 - St. Francis Xavier Church, Bejai
2008 - St. Anthony's Catholic Church, Seattle
2009 - St. Stephen Catholic Church, Bentonville
2010 - St. Clare Parish, Santa Clara
2011 - Mission Church, Santa Clara

I do wish and hope that it would be consistent and maybe I'm getting there, so until then I'll keep updating!

Chasing Cars

2011-12-11T17:45:00.001-08:00

Chasing Cars - May 16, 2006 - Old Shepard Place, Plano, TX

Thankful for

2011-11-25T22:58:00.000-08:00

... Family
... Friends
... Faith
... Employment
... Literary Works
... Music
... Movies
... TV Shows
... Games like scrabble
... Idyllic moments on the train
... The ability to sprint and not miss the train by a second
... Amazon (no, not the rain-forest but the one that ends with .com)
... USPS, UPS, Fedex, Ontrac for making it possible to list the one above)
... Ginger wine

If I could ever

2011-10-28T16:40:00.001-07:00

Click here and enter your password

Hemophobic madness

2011-10-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

She walked in bearing about five test tubes, who in their right mind would be happy to see test tubes? Okay, maybe my 15 year old self would raise her hand, the one who could balance chemical equations like it was nobody's business and who was always excited during chem lab and could titrate the heck out of sodium bromide! Well, my not-so 15 year old self was apprehensive, although in reality all things considered, I was pretty calm, how could that be?

Warned the lab tech about my not so colorful history with drawing blood, no not the kind of method used by blood sucking vampires, this was actual blood-work! It is strange, I mean being a past blood donor and all, that I could be averse to the idea of letting them take a tiny sample of my blood. It may have started a few years ago, after a few faintish incidents incidents involving above scenario and this was in India where they are pretty conservative with the amount of blood they draw almost like Dexter and his slides, it probably has something to do with all the malnourished patients they get!

In any case, here they almost take enough to call it a minor donation, I mean really? Biology wasn't my major, but from what I have learnt owing to my great commitment to all the three CSI's for a very long time, is that a tiny sample can reveal everything about you, including where you are born and which year, God forbid that they do such a kind of analysis on me, so I reckon a routine lab test should not need so much. The lab tech was pretty cool, trying possibly to distract me, asking what I was doing for the weekend, in a tone that suggested she wished she could join me! while I went on about the pumpkin festival at half moon bay, one that I wasn't even going to.

While we discussed on the intricacies on growing pumpkins and if they would be carved or not, it was all done in a matter of minutes, in all this I may just have conquered one of my fears (fingers crossed) and not to diminish the fact that this came with a 12 hour fast.

A journey of 1500 pieces

2011-10-08T15:35:00.001-07:00

Labor of love

2011-09-28T23:03:00.000-07:00

Power, Appreciation, Reward, Pressure, Nada

The question is almost cliched, every interviewer has this question listed somewhere in their black book, the clever ones will ask you this multiple times camouflaged with thorns once and roses the next time. It is not them I am concerned about, I remember this rather curt one-on-one discussion (just makes me laugh writing 'one-on-one' but the subtle hilarity of that term somehow seems lost while used in conversation!) I had with one senior manager, that was in the relatively early days of my career, he asked me where I saw myself career wise in the next five years, I was tongue-tied for a second and then blabbered on about new technology, learning and promotion while he seemed to be taking copious notes (for all I know he was composing an email to the class mate he bullied in high school). My point is I had no ready answer, I'm not sure I still do and that concerns me at times (clearly not enough to get off the cozy chair I'm sitting on), it is my amazement at the answers I come up with each time this question pops up in my head and it has ever so frequently in the past few weeks.

I am not going to attempt to answer this here but continue to come up with answers, maybe the question will matter no more, maybe the answers will be just enough.

Serenity with a smile

2011-07-24T20:24:00.000-07:00

Why do most, some people who go to church seem so sad or make long faces or seem disinterested? Why isn't the choir more lively? Why does the priest sound as if he's being forced to deliver the sermon?

Of course I am not implying that they seem disinterested in other walks of life, I would have no clue about that, just commenting on what I see and this is very specific to just two parishes I've noticed around here, I don't know if it is an Asian thing, not wanting to sound racist, I think it just might be. Of course, another line of thought would be to be grateful that there are other people who make the effort to come at all to share the fellowship.

Why was the only person who seemed joyous at yesterday's saturday's service a boy who was slightly challenged and was being cajoled by his mom (or someone who seemed to be his mom) not to shriek and jump up and down every time the music started playing?

Where has joy disappeared to? I know I can't generalize, but this is the state of catholic masses here of course, there are some parishes in the surrounding areas which are more lively, which is why I keep going to different churches whenever possible, my church-going habits notwithstanding. You may ask why do you want the service to be lively? While I enjoy the peace and serenity in the presence of the blessed sacrament or on certain sections of the mass, since the mass is a community offering, it would be nice to acknowledge the same.

I have attended service at the non-denominational Lakewood church a few times and within seconds you'd know what drives the crowds. Serenity with a smile, is that a tall order?

On a completely different note, was considering moving my blog to google+, I hope they come up with an integrated solution for this.

Pocketful of sunshine

2011-07-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

Growing up, you must have had some kind of collection, maybe a collection of creepy crawlies or feathers or visiting cards, if nothing else you surely collected stamps? I started off early with the stamps, it was an inheritance of sorts from my Dad (or a forced inheritance if you ask my siblings!) and I do have it to this day. I don't think I indulged in feathers for more than a few days, but remember some girls in school who had an amazing collection, colorful bird feathers on different pages of a book.

Somewhere along the way I started collecting newspaper and magazine clippings on a myriad range of topics from lateral thinking puzzles to song lyrics to bridal gown cutouts to anything that could be used for the somedayinthefuture collage competition and to religious pictures for our catechism albums! Going snip snip on the 'Weekend' was common, whole sections of Richard Coram's page along with the pop quiz and everything else that caught my eye. I've got rid of most of them but there's a few birthday cards and scrap books and some other odd memorabilia that's stored away for that day in the future.

Today it's all bookmarked, favorited, starred, ever-noted, hearted, pinned on the web or stashed on some usb drive somewhere. It isn't the same, there is some peace in holding on, in possessing and more so in what's not tangible.

Last Supper

2011-06-30T20:33:00.001-07:00

Have not used this brand of puzzles before and this one seemed a wee bit harder, the lack of distinction between the various hues of color used could be the reason, nevertheless I enjoyed the journey and the end too.

Central park in the fall

2011-06-04T13:16:00.001-07:00

So long May

2011-06-01T19:35:00.001-07:00

Or more like half of the year, this is not a coincidence and you'd be only just a little smart if you knew why.

The ETA for the 1000 piece puzzle was today, it's called 'Central park in the fall', you may ask fall in summer? but then it's almost inline with the crazy weather we've had, winds capable of blowing me away and a gloomy, rainy first day of june, but every time I find myself complaining about the weather, I stop and want to be grateful considering what other regions have been through weather wise, back to why I've slipped on the eta for the puzzle and I'll blame the runny nose and this slippage has no penalty associated with it unlike my current project.

Are there days when it just seems like the burden of the whole project is on you and everyone around wants a slice of you? The flagged items in my inbox is just an indicator!

Blogged using the blogger app on android.

Auld Lang Syne 2010

2010-12-31T23:51:00.000-08:00

It's finally time to sing Auld Lang Syne to 2010, a year of new beginnings, new opportunities and new experiences and truly, all's well that ends well.

I wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year but most importantly I wish you enough for the New Year 2011.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish enough "Hello's" to get you through the final "Goodbye."

Quoted from the internet

This post is for the future

2010-12-31T21:50:00.001-08:00

I'm blogging using an app called blogaway. I was surprised to note that despite owning blogger, google does not have an app for this. I think this app works well though and my new android phone is pretty awesome overall, not just for angry birds, or that would make it one expensive game. Reviews in the near future.

Kodak smile

2010-12-30T22:27:00.000-08:00

And just like that it is the end of an era. RIP Kodachrome, you have captured some of our best smiles, some goofy and some fake, some tears and then some dramatics that we did only for the camera!

Gone are those days when we carefully loaded the film into the camera and not everyone in the house was allowed to do it or wanted to do it, it's not rocket science, but there is a correct way to do it and stressing over a damaged film roll was not particularly appealing and certainly the rolls themselves were not inexpensive either. The days when we thought twice before clicking a picture, when we made sad long faces as we got to the last of the 36 captures, when we looked forward to the opportunity to head to Foto Flash and have the film developed. The picking up process was even better as we'd cheat and check some of the photographs in the store itself or along the way and chronologically placing them in the album.

I got my first digital camera, a Canon A95 in 2004, it no longer works but served me well. And the cycle continues, point and shoot, a cent a picture or a dollar a picture whichever works and makes you happy :)

The car under the bridge

2010-12-29T20:29:00.001-08:00

Part of my everyday commute includes a short walk under a freeway, four contiguous blocks of concrete with tonnes of load on it, what if it came crashing down? But that's not what I've been pondering on! I almost always notice a lone car parked in the dark shadows on the two+ lane road with someone in the passenger seat ... I ponder as to where the driver is, what conspiracy he is hatching that makes him want to park his ford explorer* day after day under the bridge. What about his partner who sits idle, waiting for him? Puffing along the way or waiting for his guardian angel?

*Vivid imagination could have led to distortion of facts

Bart and Caltrain

2010-12-09T22:55:00.000-08:00

I already know all the stations on the Bart and Caltrain between here and to where I need to go. Although I was surprised to note that the Bart is slower than the Caltrain or at least the one I take. The oh-so-infrequent times when the B train emerges from the tunnels, it's speed is slower than the cars on the parallel road whereas the C seems to zoom by the cars and it is out in the open most of the time. Have to experiment with the cable cars and the regular buses, add public transport to what I love about the move!

The numbers game

2010-12-05T22:51:00.000-08:00

Started off well and continued the momentum right until three quarters of the year. And then there was a hiatus and now I don't think I can make up for the lost time especially with only so few days left in the year. Well, I reckon, there's no need to!

No mystery here: It's only the post count for the year, my hyper sensitive numbers part of the brain has been working overtime, that's all!

My angel on the tree

2010-12-05T22:38:00.001-08:00

I think I need to start blogging tweet style or this blog could turn into a relic! That aside, I've put up a few Christmas decorations around the house, it is early but since everyone here has their houses decorated so beautifully, I decided to give in. Of course, mine's not as elaborate as theirs, but it makes me happy!

Back in the days, I don't think we ever put up the tree, lights, other decorations and the star any day before the 22^nd or 23^rd, the day when the Christmas holidays began in school. The Star was important, there were multiple ones but one central one outside with lights, these are the big colorful stars made of cardboard paper you see in houses in Mangalore, naturally the top of the tree had to have a star too or an angel, the youngest member of the family always got the chance to put that up. The nativity crib was something we didn't put up in the beginning, but later on it was the most awaited (NOT! since it takes so much patience) activity right on Christmas eve.

Around the same time we also made kuswar at home because it was impossible for the mother to do it all alone without help. No more home-made rice ladoos, chaklis, banana chips, kokkisa, neu-reo, keedyo, gulleo, thukdi or sharing tray fulls of kuswar with the neighbors and relatives. I don't know if anyone in Mangalore makes all this at home anymore, I hope some do.

Bringing down the tree and other decorations and carefully packing them was something no one wanted to do, but usually right on Jan 6^th someone would half-heartedly kick start that initiative.

The move happened

2010-11-17T06:02:00.002-08:00

A number of strings were pulled and a number of tantrums were thrown and to clarify none by me. I just sat back and let it all come to fruition. Now it's back to the awesomeness that is San Francisco and the Bay Area, most importantly the people, the place and the beach!

XNA-NYC-BOS-NYC-BOS-NYC-XNA

2010-10-18T19:20:00.003-07:00

A phone call and before I could even think about it, let alone over-think, I had flight tickets, bus tickets and a weekend pass for a seemingly long has always been in the works but never materializes trip to Boston which also included NYC for the Comic Con.

My future self will probably remember this trip for running on pure adrenaline, no sleep for almost 36 straight hours and probably her first ever experience riding the greyhound. I've heard awful stories about the greyhound and the trip into NYC did fit the category but the return trip evened it out and made up for it too, this despite having tickets for 18 hours later and being allowed to board at the time we wanted. I don't want to chronicle too much in here, the 200+ pictures each tell a story of how wonderful a time I had.

Boston is lovely. To my host, thank you.

The olive theory

2010-10-17T21:50:00.009-07:00

Say you meet someone who shares the same birthday (date and month) as you, has a particular last name that seems to conform to the round-robin list of last names your school friends and now their spouses have, whose sister's name is the same as your sister's, who drinks coffee with exactly three quarters of a teaspoon of sugar, who loves olives (since you hate them) and who is a fan of Lost. That must be too much of a coincidence right? I mean, certainly this is God himself intervening, so he's got to be the one for whatever reason?

So you've heard, 'Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous', but do you truly believe that? Sure, I believe in angels and miracles, the power of prayer and faith moving mountains and as much as the two concepts may seem intertwined they are not.

Predictable human logic picks out clusters of coincidence from a myriad of ocurrences without investigating the layer below the too good to be true coincidences, the layer of the skeptics. That's where the Texas Sharpshooter fallacy comes in, I have been guilty of attributing greater significance to something that was perfectly probably only a natural order of events at various stages of my existence and I might still do it.

'You can't ascribe great cosmic significance to a simple earthly event. Coincidence, that's all anything ever is, nothing more than coincidence. There's no such thing as fate, nothing is meant to be'. This is a quote from 500 days of Summer, it's not verbatim but it struck a chord.

Back to the fallacy, this is what it says 'The fallacy gets its name from imagining a cowboy shooting at a barn. Over time, the side of the barn becomes riddled with holes. In some places there are lots of them, in others there are few. If the cowboy later paints a bullseye over a spot where his bullet holes clustered together it looks like he is pretty good with a gun.By painting a bullseye over a bullet hole the cowboy places artificial order over natural random chance.' Go read it all here and on wiki too.

Famous Bakery

2010-09-16T21:10:00.004-07:00

Ever since we had learnt the nuances of crossing the road on our own, Famous Bakery came into the league of our little extended world. Currency notes in hand we used to practically run to the bakery, Mama always told us how many to bring in total, but the assortment was up to us.

By default I'd pick a minimum of one egg puff for myself, possibly a meat and occasionally the veg puff. We'd count the change, mumble a few words in Kannada in response to the Tulu from the Famous uncle and hurry back to eat the garma garam puffs. And then we just learnt who wanted what.

Since it's been a long time since my teeth had the pleasure of biting into one of those egg marvels, I decided to take matters into my own hand and my stomach thanked me as well after the little attempt.

The puff pastry sheets truly simplified my work, but it is impossible to achieve the typical layers in this sort of puff coating.

I hope the pictures speak a thousand words!

He remembered

2010-09-11T21:56:00.004-07:00

It's always the little things that make you smile, that make you cry, don't they?

It's been a week of uncertainty first, then lows and highs. I'm not sure at what level of the cloud or wave or fire I'm on right now, I'll know soon enough but I reckon it doesn't matter ( This is where I go on about how work is work and should not determine your state of well-being, but it's not entirely true so I'll let it be). You know this thing we do, every year with goodbyes and the farewell lunches, that's what it is. If you're lucky you'll do it only once every two years or longer. Yes, change is constant yet it is those moments in goodbyes, that will last forever. This story is not about team goodbyes, it's about forging the unlikeliest of relationships, something that I might have the tendency to do!

It was just before the thanksgiving holiday of last year that our team was moved into the current building they are in. It may seem like a short time to get to know someone or even forge any kind of relationship with, let alone someone who knows in the security team. Every morning he was there, his usual beaming 70 old year old self making sure that no one entered the building without their badges or give us our temporary passes on the days when we thought we lost it but had only misplaced it, and over time we'd just banter during my breaks.

He had stories for every season, every vacation he took and every single time we talked he would ask me for my name, saying it was a difficult name to remember. I know he loves baloney and cheese and loves going on long drives into the wild open country land from Oregon to the Mt. Rushmore and everywhere else in between in his truck. He asked me if I knew how to dance and then invited me to come up to his farm-house on some weekend, saying I reminded him of his niece who was away in college, he had stories of the now sprawling buildings where we worked to those from the good old days. It was always fascinating to hear those narrations of his family, kids, parents and even his community. As I bid farewell to him yesterday he called me out by my name and asked me why I had to go and if I would come back to the office, he remembered.

And then it was only the office ...

The silver slipper

2010-09-10T15:40:00.003-07:00

The unthinkable happened today, I wore slippers to office.

I mean who wears slippers in a professional work environment? I used to wonder about those women who did even though it was casual Friday's (Okay, before you think bata slippers or bathroom slippers, they're not ... infact I think they didn't seem out of place with the jeans!) And I must say it was like breaking some kind of shackles, roaming free into the open wide world :-)

Just wanted the world to know that, it was my first time.

A little tradition

2010-09-08T18:00:00.000-07:00

This post will continue to satisfy something I noticed recently, a little tradition if I may call it that. There's no point to be made, there's no advice to be given and there's no experience to share.

I'll leave you with the lyrics from Ryan Star's Breathe, only because I've been humming it all day.

She's fine, most of the time
She takes her days with a smile
She moves like dancing in light
Spinning around to the sound
But sometimes she falls down

Breathe, just breathe
Take the world off your shoulders
And put it on meBreathe, just breathe
Let the life that you leadBe all that you need

A margarita for you and a scotch for me

2010-09-01T18:28:00.017-07:00

He skimmed through it first, then seemed to be memorizing it. 'Are you sure, this is your resume?', he asked me. Apricot* is my co-worker who works for a 'sophisticated' consulting company and just wanted to *see* my resume even though I really did not want to share it! When I asked him why he had turned into doubting Thomas, he droned on about not expecting it be as technical as it was, saying most women work in QA or Support or in Functional roles, not to belittle those roles as I've performed in the first two in various stages of my career, but why would anyone think something like that?

Coming on the heels of the debate on 'Too few Women in Tech' in the blogosphere, I thought I'd chime in, what with my fair share of experience working in male dominated teams. For context, in my current project, I'm the only girl in a team of 32. However, the program as a whole has better ratios, not just in Business Functions but also in other technical teams. I'd like to think that the skewed ratio in my team might have something to do with the niche skill-set, EAI and all, but I can't be sure. In any case in 3 out of the 4 organizations I've been a part of in the US, women held very powerful leadership roles with significant influence on the programs they lead so the balance is really hard to figure.

Where did it get all so skewed? We were about 75-25 in favor of the boys in my engineering class (Computer Science), streams like Mechanical had zero girls whereas Bio-Medical, Architecture, Electrical had more girls. When I started my professional career, I think we were almost 50-50. >

From the teams I started out with at my current and only employer, there really was nothing to talk about the male-female ratios in the team, it was fairly balanced. Over the years some of my female co-workers have opted to move out of the company for personal and family reasons, got a transfer to development centers in other locations again for the same reasons, prefer not to travel out of the country again for the same reasons. I don't believe these are constraints and given a choice, a need, I'd do the same without much thought.

Constrained or not, I am certainly not the epitome of women in tech, not one of those juggling a perfect family and a perfect career, I can't speak for them. Not to sound shallow and despite my characteristic sun sign traits, it can never be perfect, I probably strive for it more than the girl next door, but I can be happy not achieving it and this is a perfect example of digressing from the topic at hand!

For those women who have made it to anywhere in tech, it is a choice (sometimes with kids in tow), that could make stress at the workplace part and parcel of your life, that could give you sleepless nights, that could bring uncertainty in your life, especially for employees like us. There can be no bets on your next project location or it's duration or you can choose not to do it all. You'll say men face the exact same thing too, but while performing the traditional roles for women it is just not possible, it's not a sacrifice. *I just couldn't coherently state my thoughts in this para and it still doesn't sound right in my head, but'll have to do*

In essence, no one blames the men. Advocating equal rights is one thing, but no one expects free-passes just because of gender, not in the corporate world. If I encounter a glass ceiling, I will conquer it on my own, the key being if I want to and that's the only reason for so few women in Tech.

*Names changed to protect the innocent until proven guilty.

The Great American Apparel Diet

2010-08-24T20:32:00.000-07:00

I must add, that never was!

Predictably the diet in the previous post was for shopping, although I hope that one day I can go on one of those diets that normal people go on. It was supposed to last a month July 20 to Aug 19 specifically targeted at only apparel shopping, brought on by the yearly cycle of potential (packing/moving/wondering-where-all-that-stuff-that's-not-going-to-fit-in-two-bags-came-from)! my own feeble attempt at joining the minimalistic revolution and the bandwagon of austerity.

Like someone once said, if you want to be on a diet, you might want to stop hanging out by the dessert cart and unfortunately that's exactly what I've been doing. In the past month exactly after I decided to go on this diet, I became the de-facto shopping guru for all those going on vacations and back for good, to pick out gifts for mom's and girl-friends and sisters and then to stock an entire wadrobe after an airline so kindly lost their luggage. It wasn't the back-to school or the better-than-tax-free sales in AR or the tax free sales in OK that made me budge, it was the darned coupon from JCP, well ... the mauve shirt was well worth it, but so much for control.

Perfect reason for not making such stupid resolutions.

My new diet

2010-08-01T16:58:00.000-07:00

I've decided to go on a diet, that was last week - July 25^th to be exact and so far I haven't faltered. For starters it will last for a month so you'll know how it goes or not but I must say August is a rather tough month to go on such a kind of diet, with back to school and all, but here's to persistence and all the other adjectives you can think of for such an event, that's if we and my tan survive this week with all those heat wave warnings and three digit plus temperatures that's been forecast!

A little piece of his ear

2010-07-23T18:44:00.005-07:00

It was a razor-sharp pair of scissors, almost brand new and way too big too, completely inappropriate for cutting hair, let alone a little child's hair, the girls should have known better. They were all prepped up, large mirror, tall chair, couple of extra pair of hands to hold the kid down, just in case!

There he was in the chair, his cute self. I don't think he was excited ... I mean have you ever seen little children in a barber's shop or a salon? the havoc they create, phew! Anyway, she seemed to have done a good job, the hair looked neat and cropped, a little uneven on end, but would do for her first time, unfortunately she found a long lock near the left ear, that's when it happened, like a scene out of a silent movie all in slow motion! She had chopped a little piece of his ear, a very tiny, minuscule piece. It probably didn't hurt since there was no howling, after all it's all tissue. It did grow back and the ear and it's shape turned out just fine, but ever so often he remembers her as the sister who chopped off a piece of his ear!

She's sailin' away

2010-07-14T18:47:00.003-07:00

Ever been excited about something but when the time comes, for various reasons you just seem out of it?

The project scope seemed interesting before it was executed, it made my heart do a little jump however, sadly along the way it just seemed to have lost it's charm. I don't know why? the message was drafted, the original draft being the final message ( I surprised myself there), was ziplocked, packed into my bag and awaiting it's finder. The quest for the perfect bottle died before it even began but I think somewhere in the hustle and bustle of the first three days of the trip and the lack of sleep, I simply did not put in the effort required to procure a bottle I wanted the MIB to rest in. Despite that, when I set out into the middle of the ocean from the Keys, I knew without a doubt that I was going to cast it out, bottle or not!

After a fun first half of the day, I unwittingly had to recruit a partner in crime from one of the crew aboard the boat we were on. Since they were serving food, there were a few empty bottles to spare, sadly they were plastic and too big. Ideally if it was plastic, I'd have preferred a 0.5 ltr bottle, but then really at that point I had lost the right to talk about my preferences! Naturally his curiosity was piqued at my strange request and despite my not revealing my not so elaborate plan, he was able to guess what it was for. Of course, considering that we were so close to the coral reef and that there were laws protecting the area and everything in it and that he was an enforcer, he did ask me not to throw it out just yet.

Here she is all prepped up for her journey, after all what's on the inside matters more than the outside.

Honestly, no one would feel like throwing a plastic bottle into that part of the ocean, it's so pristine you can see the ocean bed and the marine life underneath even from a comfort place on the boat. It was my intention to toss out the bottle closer to shore for all the practical reasons and more and as soon as the coastline of Keywest was visible to us, my partner in crime helped me with my whoops, 'something overboard, but no need to go after it' moment. All I saw was 'her' sailing away into the deep blue ocean and a sense of peace came upon me, I don't know if it was just that moment, the sea always has that kind of effect on me.

Posted this on buzz as soon as my phone was within range of a cellphone tower!

I had to do this and even if it did not happen in the perfect way I wanted, I still have a hope that this was not the end, and she will be found and then there'll be a part 3 to this series :) I just might do this again though, in more familiar territory, closer to home.

The standstill checkout line

2010-07-12T19:54:00.006-07:00

It is a well established fact that I have the worst luck when it comes to lines at the checkout counter, no I don’t just end up in a slow moving line, the checkout line almost inevitably comes to a standstill as soon as I join it, it does not matter if it was a self-checkout line or even a line for those *dumped a few items just so that I can make the ‘20 items or less’ line*.

I usually don’t mind the wait, it is fascinating to watch the story of someone’s life unfold ever so slowly right in front of my eyes, okay maybe only the story of their grocery shopping, but it’s interesting nevertheless to learn the shopping habits of my fellow shoppers. The large stock of aerated drinks, the mounds of frozen pizza, macaroni and cheese, the green capped bottles of milk, organic vegetables, all so mesmerizing!

Ever so often I’ve ended up in a line where the line’s delayed for no other reason than the ineptness of the checkout assistant, but that’s rare too, most times I simply always end up in lines wherein folks are paying with cash, counting to 79.11 dollars in change or paying by check which for no apparent reason seems even more tedious and then those other times when the customers themselves cannot recognize the vegetables/fruits they have in their cart and the hassled assistant ends up playing ‘In pin safety pin’ with the grocery chart trying to figure out those veggies!

Onto my latest experience, you can probably visualize the state of any fridge after a vacation and despite needing a vacation to recover from my vacation, I had to head out to stock up, made up a little list (I know it’s sad, but I still occasionally make lists and this trip needed one!). In addition, I am also known for the speed with which I can pick out items from the shopping list, the list is useful on such occasions to prevent mindless meandering.

I should have learnt something from all my checkout situations, or so you’d think but really you can’t beat murphy’s law, ended up in a line with just one other person group ahead of me, two women and two kids and it did seem like they were almost done checking out. Like I always do, got hold of the divider and loaded up all that stuff from my cart onto the conveyor, neatly, there's an order to that, that some just can't understand.

Checkout dude’s brows are all messed up, I can see that’s not a good sign, he is immersed in what looks to be a check, sigh! then he presses the call button, he’s clearly waiting for help. tic, toc, tic ... Surprisingly she doesn’t waste too much time getting there, all authoritative, she goes through the items on the receipt and says no, the milk can’t be checked out! What the ... From what I could hear, the form of payment the women were using did not allow them to buy the whole milk (red cap).

Dude tries explaining it to the women, they show no sign of understanding (no comprendo!, that’s where espanol would have come in handy), they seem to be grinning away or maybe that’s just the look! Dude says he will return with 2% milk cans (blue cap), thankfully he seemed to have decided that the family could survive on 2% milk!. These assistants are just too kind is the first thought on my mind, bless him. The women were heavily made-up and their clothes ... well they could use some money to buy clothes that were a little less revealing! anyway dude comes back (probably took about 4 mins, with the milk section being in the back and all, it is a brilliant strategy if you must know, more on that some other time), re-scans everything again, presses button, supervisor comes and all’s good. I can hear the sigh of relief from all the people behind me, yes a line has formed now. Quite frustrating it was already, had to resort to doodling, twiddling!

I can sense something though, there’s two more milk cans that's not been scanned yet and you guessed right, those too have red caps on them. They seem to want the receipts to be separate and they're going to use similar checks again, no once bitten twice shy or whatever!. With a urgency I’ve never displayed in a grocery store, I scooped up everything on the conveyor into my cart and hurried out of there, I could see that everyone else had followed me too ... As I was finally all settled into another checkout line, I could see dude go back to swap red cap milk can with blue cap milk again and when I had my receipt, he was still peering away into the receipt and waiting on his supervior to give the green signal!

p.s Were those checks some kind of benefits, then why would whole milk be a restricted item? I can be nosy, but was just not in the mood to ask that day what with all of us already in a beleaguered mood.

Today is June 21st!

2010-06-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

Today is June 21^st.I'll call it C-Day, not to be confused with D-Day from the MIB reference in my previous post. I want to say it is the beginning of the rest of my life, but then that would be me being dramatic and all although that's something I do ever so often and then I do think every new day is the beginning of ... you get my point, so let's just stick to C-Day.

I've always had a fascination with June 21, maybe if I was not born on the day I was born which I think is a great day to be born on, then I'd have wanted to be born on June 21, sound weird enough? :) As it is, we have two Gemini's in the family, another cusped Gemini would have been disastrous :P

Back to June 21, the birthday of Prince William (which girl my age hasn't had a crush on that cute ~~boy~~ fella at some point in their lives, tell me?), the feast of St. Aloysius College, the birthday of our current Bishop (Mangalore), summer solstice (appropriately we have a heat wave warning today) and I'm sure some more equally fascinating events, so I'll record mine too.

To satisfy my curiosity, I looked through my archives and found there's only one other blog entry dated June 21, that was in 2006, so much for the fascination. Going forward, I will *try* to post 'something' on every 6/21, I encounter!

Message in a Bottle - Feasibility and Initial Planning

2010-06-10T18:11:00.000-07:00

A draft version of my message is ready and sealed in a ziploc bag, it will be cast into the deep ocean next month with little to no fan-fare, at most probably a picture to capture the event if possible.

Ever since I can remember, I've wanted to send out my own 'message in a bottle' hence forth referred to as MIB, I think the pleasure of sending out one is slightly elevated than receiving one and of course nothing can beat receiving a response to a MIB. I've had umpteen opportunities to do it but I reckon better late than never.

The feasibility and initially planning was nothing like I've ever done in any previous project, a 5 year old could do it! Once I knew that I would have access to a deep ocean, the wheels in my head started turning and I knew there could be no better time to create my own MIB. Next came the little tough part, the content of my message? Knowing me, I had to caution against the finder drumming a tl;dr, I knew I wanted to bring a smile to the person who discovers it, I can almost visualize a girl or a boy reading it, with a grin on their face and that is what I've set out to do in my draft. I still call it a draft version as I'll probably modify it another 7 times until D-Day. Then came the easy choice of using my email id as the preferred method of response, when they find it, if at all they wanted to tell me about it.

MIB should be sent in a fancy blue transparent bottle, no? Anyway, due to the logistics involved in procuring and transporting said blue bottle, I 'think' I'll have to stick with either a wine or beer bottle and then comes the real trick of how to seal the cap, haven't figured that out yet, but can't let the MIB wiggle its way out of the bottle, now can I?

The end of The End ... we will be found

2010-06-05T17:07:00.001-07:00

Two weeks since that fateful air accident in Mangalore and the very last episode of Lost too and no, I'm not inclining towards any paranormal co-incidence between those two events. My involvement was naturally with Mangalore as a city for all the flying I've done through Bajpe airport and Lost, well ... you know fan-girl and all.

Every time in this past year, when I've mentioned to my fellow Indians that I was from Mangalore, they would jokingly ask me if I was one of the girls dragged out of the pub (thanks Muthalik and all those before him, you made Mangalore infamous) however these past few days, I seem to be have become the unwilling catalyst for aviation related conversations! If only IT professionals could design our runways ...

Back to 'Bad Robot' no more, every lostie would have their 'back-story', how and why they got hooked onto a show as complex as this.

My back-story is simple, the trailers for 'Lost' started airing in India sometime in 2005 and since it was going to be on Star Movies, we assumed it was a mini-series, rather than a show with many seasons, maybe a few hours long max and with an airplane and island storyline, it easily caught my attention. No matter what, come rain or come shine, power or no-power, the whole family would be gathered around the idiot box every saturday between 7 to 9 PM for the next 13-14 weeks. No other show, not since the days of Surabhi or the weekly Kannada/Hindi feature film on doordarshan (not that we had channel change option then) received the kind of dedication from all of us like this show did. Mother and Father were just as focussed as the rest of us.

Unfortunately the dedication was short-lived since one, realizing that it's not the end after 25 hrs of not batting our eyelashes is disappointing and two, the time in-between seasons is distracting and something that we're not used to. Anyway, that was around the time I first came to the US and well, guess what, they were already ahead of me by a few episodes, once I caught up there was no turning back. I had been christened into a lostie. The only thing I started missing was the conversations we had about the show, bouncing ideas with my folks, out of the original six of us, only my brother and me kept pace and after a while, he got bored too. Along the way, I've met a few co-workers (mostly non-Indians) who were very passionate about the show and I remember going out for coffee once just so that we could discuss Lost!

The finale was a commercial fest, a mammoth 2.5 hrs and that after a long day at the Soup Kitchen. There may be a few spoilers ahead.

What I've enjoyed most about the show was the persistent story telling, the flawed characters who were not judged for their past, everyone gets an equal opportunity to start afresh. It's like agreeing that redemption is for all if one desires it, the end to me almost seemed like a spiritual experience, heavy with emotions and fore-thought. I will agree that over the seasons, it did get slow and ever so confusing at times, but that was no reason to stop watching. There are whole episodes that made no sense at all when I watched on tv, but I would go back and watch again, online or go to the forums, the online fanaticism is quite amazing!

Sometimes being a person of faith and a person of science at the same time is not at all easy, I can relate so well to the conflict, yet it's not about gloating who trumped the other. I liked the explanation for the side-ways world (it was exactly how I'd thought it would play out, it was the way I perceived it although there are still many open questions). I believe it's all about finding the other person that we connected with even if we failed to figure that out here, our faith and trust in people will be rewarded, if not here on earth, then elsewhere? And if I can say 'I trust you', that's the greatest thing in the world for me.

So where does all this leave us, can we just drink of the fountain and protect the light and be whole again? It sounds very biblical and convoluted too at the same time, is there really a cork holding all the evil back in, what's the guarantee that we won't plunge into whatever it unleashes? The end itself was still only about letting go of the limbo we put ourselves in, no man is an island and it's really okay if I don't have all the answers. This has been a great ride, I'll watch the whole show again, maybe with someone who has never watched an episode.

My own side-ways and future story is in writing and everytime I ask 'WHY', I hope to see the light from the tunnel just like Locke did albiet metamorphically.

Broken links

2010-05-17T09:24:00.001-07:00

You're bound to find a few broken links in places where my ~~beautiful~~ pictures on the blog originally were. That's simply because I'm in the process of cleaning up and organizing all the pictures that Blogger uploads to picasa and elsewhere in the universe when I added a pic to a blog post.

Until then we relish in the Google Not Found error!

My turquoise dream

2010-05-06T12:47:00.010-07:00

What is it about the sea, I've asked myself a million times,
In my head and in a pensive mood,
What pray be my connection to this vast expanse,
Who hath not desired the Sea?

She fades into nothingness, clicked somewhere along the Northwest Pacific Coast.

I've grown up by the Arabian sea, she with all her might, us building sand castles on the Panambur beach, the serene strolls on Tannirbhavi beach, the boisterous parties on Suratkal beach, thrown into the water at Kapu beach, girls day out at Summer Sands, office parties at Kotekar beach and what became our very own getaway spot from a few Computer Architecture and Object Oriented classes, Malpe beach. In the midst of all those, somewhere is Fujairah beach and Khorfakkan beach and how can I can not include Goa and a little bit of northern Kerala too.

In my opinion there is really no option between flying out of Bombay or Bangalore, not that we had the Bangalore option while we were young. But flying in from Bombay will give you the best feeling ever, when the airplane moves in from out of the clouds and the Arabian sea coastline is visible, she dips, she rises and then she descends. That is a moment worth relishing and capturing and I've managed to do so on a couple of occasions, hiding from the prying eyes of the flight attendants!

Living inland this past year, I can feel the void, I can't hear her talk to me anymore. My feet have not been sucked into the sand, I don't have the sinking feeling, I have not felt the salt water on my face and I have not collected sea shells. Despite her wild roar on the pacific she beckoned me aboard the Seattle ferries, from Ocean shores and San Juan into the Pacific, to the most pristine blue oceans ever and although she seemed a little dull and down at Galveston in the Gulf of Mexico, she was always still only an hour's drive away.

I've heard from my parents that I was a water loving baby and with a bunch of baby pictures always with a hose in hand splashing water around the house, on everyone on myself, I can pretend to remember those moments. I don't quite know why I didn't learn to swim, her vastness scares me a bit but not enough as I can feel the bonding that is just hard to put to words.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me),
It's always our self we find in the sea.
- E.E. Cummings

I think it's time for some sea therapy, maybe that's when I will have my epiphany.

Venice queen

2010-05-04T16:07:00.003-07:00

I had a dream, it was on a gondola under the twilight sky, there you were, there I was and then there was the merchant of Venice.

In sooth, I know not why I am so sad;
It wearies me; you say it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn;
And such a want-wit sadness makes of me
That I have much ado to know myself.

I hold the world but as a world, '*';
A stage where every man must play a part
And mine I did on so many occasions,
the two 'tis heart will not forget,
That much I owe you.

To You.

Beer Shampoo

2010-05-03T18:09:00.004-07:00

I've heard of the joys of rinsing one's hair with beer shampoo and also of bathing in it. I certainly had no intention of trying any of these, what is the use of wasting perfectly good beer on hair, when you can drink it, no?

My viewpoint took a 360° turn when I realized I'd left a bottle of beer open all through the night and day allowing it to be contaminated and spoilt? I couldn't possibly drink that now, could I? That's when the beer shampoo plan was conceived.

Step 1: Heat the beer in a saucepan and bring it to boil (The recipe asked for reducing the content to 1/4, but I figure no harm in letting it be runny!)

Step 2: Pour in a few spoons of shampoo ( I used garnier fructis, this is probably only so that it will lather a bit)

Step 3: That's it, done. Use the beer shampoo.

I must admit, my hair felt good after using this beer shampoo although the smell from heating the beer did make my apartment seem like it was recovering from a bad beer hangover!

P.S Just a reminder, please read the disclaimer before attempting anything I write on this blog and the disclaimer's not updated either, so you're pretty much on your own here.

My Yellow Submarine

2010-05-03T13:18:00.003-07:00

Yet another puzzle bites the dust, this one is called Emerald Valley. My fascination with puzzles is now a well known fact, but I must admit to having an inclination only towards the landscapes by Thomas Kinkade. The portraits just don't impress me as much.

I'm also currently reading The Bridges of Madison County and I found Robert Kincaid to be hauntingly similar to Thomas Kinkade (not that I know the man!) with his camera and passion for landscapes. It was disappointing to note that Kincaid was only the figment of the author's imagination.

When something seems easier than baking bread, is it no longer worth the time invested? I think I've pretty much figured out the process for putting together these puzzles and working for a process oriented employer, the process has become so ingrained in me ... tsk, tsk. Here's a simple trick, start with the corners and work your way in. Make small piles ( I start out with 6 piles and then further into 12 based on the shape and colors) and that and a little bit of sunshine is what separates you from a pretty landscape of a 1000 pieces.

A sky of blue and sea of green is all that I want today, anyone?

RIP rzd.musings

2010-04-28T18:32:00.002-07:00

This is something I should have done months ago. No, No ... don't shed your tears yet. I'm not retiring this blog, I'm only changing the contact by email option (now you can start crying) which I'm sure won't be missed and before you say it, yes, I have to work on the html portion for the tabs (again!). I decided it's not worth my time and yours to have the email out there, after all there are so many other ways to send your comments.

I've met a few fascinating people through that id and that's probably an exaggeration too, but overall it's not been a pleasant experience. Back when I was elusive, it probably added to the charm or so I thought and I'm still appreciative for the bouquets and brickbats.

52 weeks

2010-04-25T11:43:00.005-07:00

I just crossed 52 weeks off my make-shift calendar, 52 weeks out of which some days just went by like a blur and other days which seemed frozen in some perverse time-experiment. This is also now my longest ever stretch without having made a trip back home.

It was a journey of a 62 hours undertaken with hope mainly for the future, for the unknown, for change (as much as it terrifies me) If my travel woes to getting here were any indication of things to come, then I should have simply taken the next flight back home :-) The hope still remains, though the words have had to be re-arranged through a tumultuous journey, although it may be for something different. It's not about getting priorities right, that's one thing that's been straight in my head for as long as I can remember, it's probably about taking comfort and solace in those small little nice things (something about counting your blessings?) as difficult as it may be to find them when your eyes are all blurry. It is about not letting it get to you if other people think you are not good enough and when you are judged for all that's not in your control and trust me I can sit here now all high and mighty and write this, but it's not easy to implement, everything in life is a work in progress.

The hardest part about moving to a new city is the settling in, the first few weeks when you wonder what you are doing thousands of miles away from your loved ones and you don't really know anyone around, but I've found it's not the case. The initial months are always the best, everyone is very enthusiastic in getting to know and just forming friendships. In the kind of circumstances we live in, there's always people moving out, getting married and then it's harder to keep up the social setting. This is also my first time in a multi-vendor team, more on that after I move out of the team :) Okay, this is sounding very Oprah-esque now. Must Stop.

'One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand'

Shampoo vs Books

2010-04-13T19:33:00.001-07:00

My shampooing habits have some similarities with my reading habits, that's all I can divulge for now.

The question mark?

2010-03-26T14:59:00.003-07:00

Hazelnut coffee or Regular coffee? Tall or Grande or Large ?No cheese, Extra cheese or Regular cheese?

We often come across a myriad of choices in our lives, someas simple as selecting between mutton and shrimp biryani other’s bordering and threateningour very existence on this planet! Exaggerating a bit, but what if you simplydo not have a choice, what if all the cards belong to someone else and all youcan do is play along, hope you somehow come out a survivor?

Can the cards be grabbed, can they be shuffled? Do you wantto do it, are you willing to go the extra mile, make the connecting flights? Youlike words like wallow? While all you want to do is swim and furiously acrossshores. Can you unwrite all the words that were written? Can you unbreak allthat was shattered? Can you make sure the spider does not start spinning hiscurrent *more deadly* web and this just after you’ve cleaned the old one?

Can you not do any of this? Can you simply continue livingone day at a time?

And then I wonder ‘Why I keep hitting myself with a hammer?Because it feels so good when I stop.’?

12:57

2010-03-17T20:16:00.003-07:00

The cooking range clock and the microwave clock were blinking 12:57, it couldn't have been AM since I could see the sun streaming in through the window shades and on my groggy eyes. My first thought was that I had somehow turned off the main switches for both the microwave and the range.

I turn off the mains for the heater as sometimes it gets uncontrollably hot and the heater knob seems to be mal-functioning, I hear ya ... I need to put in a maintenance request for that like I've been meaning to for the past two weeks, one of these days for sure!

Anyway, so I go check the mains and despite my still slightly dazed state of mind, I can see that all the switches are in the 'ON' position like the way they are supposed to be. I then fiddle with microwave and can see that it works fine and the range too. Finally it strikes me! I check the time on that little travel clock and its blinking 12:58 in not so much glory and likewise on the range and microwave too!

For the life of me, I honestly believed it to be closer to 3 PM or so! maybe it had to do with my successful attempts at making panpole (finally) and consuming them non-stop with that tomato chutney and copious amounts of chai or it had something to do with that mid-noon dream, I remember nothing of! In any case, 12:57 it was!

Give me my bone

2010-03-13T17:13:00.003-08:00

So there's this bone I am particularly fond of, I can suck on it until there's no semblance of juice left in it. Ever since I can remember the kitchen used to be our battleground and this piece of heavenly anatomy the prize for the victor, put on your best armor and pounce on it. Praise the heavens if there were a satisfactory number of pieces of the prize, if not, alas, be the envy of piercing eyes and salivating mouths!

If anything can turn me into a cannibal, then this is it! The bone marrow in that oh so delicious mutton curry. Growing up, mutton curry was always reserved for special occasions, unlike your usual chicken or beef or dukra maas. That piece of bone marrow would make even the laziest of girls to pick up the plate and hurry to the kitchen so that they'd be the first in line for the best of those bones.

It has been a long time since I have indulged and salivated on one of these bones. Unlike the mutton that's sold in Mangalore, we buy Lamb meat here, but that piece of bone is as succulent as ever and I always pick the packs which look like they have a few more bones! The ritual of eating is almost the same although not as tough here. The bone marrow flows much more smoothly over the tongue and is quite easy to suck on.

Back home, the ritual involved forks, the end of a spoon, toothpicks and pure pleasure. I spend a minimum of five minutes on each of these delicious things, making sure it is as dry as a bone when I'm done with it, soaking it back in the gravy and sucking the life out of that poor bone.

No wonder its called God's butter, to many more such bones in our lives!

quidnunc

2010-03-11T18:28:00.002-08:00

Who are all these people who say they are totally content in their lives? Tell me, I want to meet you, I want to know what makes you happy and content? How did you get there? Don't you ever suffer from the 'grass is greener' syndrome?

Most people I know are at various phases of contentment or so to say. If having a daughter seems like the 'it' for someone, just being married or having a companion may be the only point of satisfaction for someone else. Then there's some who don't want all that, they say they are happy the way they are, but then comes the huge 'BUT' they want to be *more* rich, want to own a yacht or have their 15 minutes of fame/maybe more or there are some who just want to be left alone, who don't want to be micro-managed, who want to be their own boss, who just wanted it to stop being so cold and snowy and chilly!

Again it is a question of 'what' after all this? Are your wants satisfied or do they keep blossoming? I want a little of the grass is paler and grass is greener syndrome in my life. I want to be grounded, settle for something while continue my quest for everything else. Where do I draw the line, what are these lines made of?

There are days when I live in a black-box and sometimes I live in a blue-box. Give me a little bit of sunshine or let me enjoy my cup of coffee in peace or just lick that frosting off the cupcake one day and on some others a trip to the moon would not suffice! I draw lines in my mind for all those boundaries and sometimes when they was wash out, I re-draw the lines that were originally drawn in chalk, now in felt-tip pen. They might fade too, but that's okay, I'll be happy then or I'll draw those lines with something way cooler! Maybe I'll narrow it down, maybe I'll widen it just a little bit, maybe I'll pick precisely something that is all wrong for me, but then who knows until it has been tried, has been tasted, maybe that's the way we're wired.

And a simple want after a long mentally exhausting day at work! maybe just enough?
'All I want to do is go home and kick off these incredibly painful shoes, eat pizza and watch some really bad TV where people’s lives are more screwed up than mine.'
- Addison Montgomery

Quid-nunc is from the words 'what' and 'now' describing a person who does not cease to ask 'What now'! Isn't that what life's quest is all about?

Okay, done with my rant. Don't even get me started on the lines that separate the wants from the needs!

The joy of owning a dog

2010-03-01T04:55:00.003-08:00

vs the trouble?My neighbor next door owns a poodle, he's an adorable little thing. In case you're wondering he looks something like this dog

I do favor dogs over cats, in fact my paranoia flares up when I am in close vicinity of the feline variety. In any case I know it is too much trouble to own a dog here although I'd be more favorable to the German Shepherd or Alsatian or the Golden Retriever type of breeds. Coming to why not, as long as we live in our apartments, with a rather stringent pet policy and spend a significant amount of time outside with no one at home, caring for a dog is just not possible and really we can't have the dog fend for himself now, can we?

Maybe owning a dog comes with the white picket fence and the kids and the suburban living or NOT!

For now I make do with Caramel (in pic!), and then there's Pluto the little doggy and Dunno, the panda and oh, how can I forget the real dog from back home!

Country living

2010-02-28T13:32:00.004-08:00

Yet another journey of a 1000 pieces was complete on 1/1/2010 despite my really wanting to complete it by 12/31/2009 and its taken only all of two months to put up a picture!

There isn't really a story this time around, only just one significant common denominator in both these completed projects. The half assembled piece went through a move this time around and more precariously this time I might have to add as I didn't bother to pack it up. I was surprised when I put the last puzzle piece in as I was pretty sure I'd lost at least one piece in some car along the way or in the grass! or that someone had stolen it!

This puzzle is a part of the Thomas Kinkade's Country Living Series and unlike the last time I own this through and through in every sense of the word and it was completed with zero help.

Jab we met

2010-02-18T15:01:00.001-08:00

There she was scratching her head and furrowing her brows.The question was simple, ‘Do you remember the first time we met? Even if herlife depended on it, she could not!

I’ve been asked this question a few times in the past few monthsfrom acquaintances, friends with varying degrees of friendship and I must admitmost often than not I draw up a blank.

I mean unless you dropped wine on me or were dressed up asFrankenstein or we met me on the top of the Tower of Americas or we met in anairport or you rode on a horse all full in knight in shining armor style, when wemet first, I will probably not remember our first meeting.

Of course, if you were the first person I met on my first day at anew work location or you were that client manager who was in a leg cast when Ifirst met you or you were that co-worker who wore a rather distinct orangeshirt or that lab partner who turned up for carpentry class in sunglasses oryou were the hunk I gave wrong directions to the restroom, only to later realizethat I’d be working with you … then yes, I will remember our first meeting.

So does it matter? So what if I can’t remember the color of yourdress or the season of the year or the position of the sun jab me first met. I’vethought back to the first moments with my best friends and can’t remember most.Most of my better than ‘hi, bye’ friends would probably say that I came off assnobbish or prudish (for reasons unascertained to me) before they even spoke to me! I particularly remember this girl,from when we were in the first standard, there was a well … a sorta unspokenmutual hostility and then we became the bestest of friends and continue to be.

Can you remember the first time we met?

From KKKKiran to Marry Me, Marry Me

2010-02-14T15:06:00.005-08:00

Neither a fan of ShahRukhKhan nor of typical Bollywood movies, My Name is Khan ended up being the secondhindi I've watched in the US and this years after Khosla ka Ghosla!

Before the credits even beganrolling in, we got a taste of the true Indian spirit. You eye those perfectlyplaced seats which look like they are available and head out there all quietlyhappy that you decided to walk in 15 mins early only to be stopped by theperson at the end of the row with something like 'I'm holding these seats formy saas aur bhabi aur uski behen aur uski behen ki friend'! It happens on everyrow until you decide to cover your losses and head down!

Why would you beresearching on the erstwhile US President George Bush's itinerary and scribblingnotes if you weren't a terrorist, right? Wrong, you might want to meet him inperson to tell him just that and in the movie's timeline he's not yet erstwhile!

Coming right on the heelsof watching Khuda ke liye, the racial profiling theme seemed repetitive. It'scertainly not your typical Karan Johar movie until about the last half an hour.It skips the melodrama, the constant breaking into song, the lavish parties inlocales that either resemble the Mysore palace in all its grandeur or someswiss mountains, soaked handkerchiefs full of tears of the heroine or hermother or her future/current/ex mil, her sister, her best friend ... you get thepicture.

I get that this movie wants to conveya message - there's only good or bad people in this world, there's no middleground, there's no varying degrees of good either or bad for that matter. I don'tagree, but I'll probably not dwell on that now! And guys ifyou say Marry Me long enough and show her the San Francisco skyline on a foggymorning she will start singing the same tune back to you! How cornily Win-Win!

Kajol is as resplendent asever but I feel like there wasn't anything in her role, her portrayal as amother and as a lover and a wife were really lacking. It's probably going withher character's theme of resilience. Some little attempted humor with the intercoursefor dummies scene is blatanly ignored but again probably going with the movie theme this time.

There definitely are sometruly moving moments, like when Kajol's character keeps repeating time of death,the we shall overcome/ham honge kamiyab singing but the last half an hour ruinsit all. Crisscrossing from west to east while the military and FEMA is coolingtheir heels seems possible only for bollywood, and that too in a bus!

And then we got conveniently stuck in traffic, so that made a totaldriving time of 6 hours for a 2.5 hour movie. Well, I shouldn't really be complainingalthough I'd have written a better review if they decided to cut that last halfan hour!

What is the meaning?

2010-02-02T11:56:00.002-08:00

I came across this word document I had running into about a dozen pages with random tidbits, almost like one of my old diaries with cut-outs, poems, quotes, notes, recipes and other stuff!

This post will pen-down one of those pages, skipping some important words!
1. greatest
2. ruler's counselor
3. pearl
4. flowering/in bloom
5. messenger/messenger of God
6. light/saintly woman
7. star of the sea
8. will helmet/protection
9. fame and happiness/slender and fair
10. helmet of God
11. radiance
12. alive and well
13. new village
14. famous warrior

Snow footprints

2010-01-31T19:08:00.002-08:00

I absolutely enjoy putting in my footprints on fresh pristine snow. There's so many emotions attached to that simple act, I can't begin to explain it. It probably stems from my slightly obsessive attitude towards order, I haven't figured it out yet!

I can sit hours looking at the snow fall on the side-walks, on the grass, on what was once the road and not bother doing anything else. The act of looking back and seeing your footprints or rather I must say shoe-prints is exhilarating, uplifting, simple as it may be.

Try it, it sure will give you a good feeling.

Here's a slightly skewed measurement of the snow we got this past weekend.

The lone glove

2010-01-19T11:55:00.004-08:00

There she was sitting in the bottom drawer; she keeps longingand hoping that she finds her better half. She looked all around her and foundanother one just not like her, she was black, and the other was red, a littlelonger too. The black glove couldn’t quite fathom why she wasn’t discarded? It’snot like she could be matched with the red glove!

Yet, she still has hope, maybe when her owner rummagesthrough her couch, she’ll find the one missing glove or maybe she’ll buyanother pair just like her or maybe she’ll learn to live!

Come winter and I find myself missing a glove, so now I havetwo single gloves, I can’t discard them. What if it is a serendipity situationas unlikely as it may seem? Maybe I should also write my number on a 5$ billbefore using it at the grocery store too.

Of course the attachment to the gloves is not as much to thehead cap I lost a few days ago, the only one I’ve really bonded with, the one I’vepossessed since my sister gave it to me years ago, from the hills ofkodaikanal.

This usually happens with socks, not to me though, maybe I’mmore careful with socks, it could be the fact that I have a few that are allthe same and it won’t matter if I miss one, 3 exact same socks will still makea pair, no?

And then there are those pretty earrings, about 4 danglingsingle earrings and again they can’t be worn mismatched. Maybe I’ll find thesecond one, maybe I won’t.

C'est La Vie

2010-01-01T21:37:00.011-08:00

And as long as it doesnot hit the fan, it’s all good and even if it does hit the fan, as long as itdoes not hit you, it’s all good and even if it does hit you as long as you canclean up good, then it’s all good, maybe it was even worth it, maybe you’velearned something, maybe it will enrich you!

That’s 2009 for me.

Spending the firstfour months of the year in my hometown sparked some much needed realization,re-thinking and resolutions. In retrospect, I think the initial charm ofworking in Mangalore had just started wearing off. It was an almost annihilationvs acclimatization scenario at work too.

Then the assignment,having heard of the single street, desi dominated culture, I was kinda preparedfor what I was getting into. However I really got off the wrong foot on thestart of the trip itself with trying to postpone the trip by a week so that I could castmy vote in the Loksabha elections (missed polling day by 3 days). I think it wasdisappointing with my enthusiasm for administration and politics at their zenith during the time especially considering the efforts to oust ‘anti-secular’candidates, not that it was successful in the end and not that my vote wouldhave made a difference to the result!

I did not particularly enjoy playing the lead role that was forcefully thrust on me in the movie that was titled with a literaldefinition of being taking for a ride in Mumbai and then having to deal with the most arrogant staff at the ATL airport was just over the top! Thanks to them, I missed my connecting flight and was subsequently on stand-byfor 3 more and then had to spend a day in Atlanta, all this after a painful 17 hrjourney plus the 15 hours in transit!

From the PacificNorthwest to Northwest Arkansas, the differences are stark. Of course, it’s notthe geographies of a place that make or break you, it is the people. Nothingmuch changes at the workplace and even if it does, I don’t want to dwell on ithere. Slightly averse to workplace friendships, looking back, it’s been a goodyear with friendships and despite all the long distance friends I have, I cancount at least one good friend here.

Where would I be withoutmy long distance friends? Be it the innumerable travel tales or the little pieces ofadvice on health-care, the constant cribbing about your ex employer or ex girlfriend, thecountless pictures from every single occasion back home, the process of learning to climbtrees while rediscovering myself in the most surreal ways, smiling more and being a part of me while I made sure my glass is always half full(be it with wine or vodka or more recently whisky!) . You’ve stood by methrough the rain and snow, you are very much appreciated. And to my sister, youare beautiful in every single way, you are loved.

If you blameme for the decisions you made in life, fine. Get on with it, move on, I still love you,there’s no two ways about it.

To my two best friends who are expecting babies onthe very same day and coincidentally on my ma’s birthday, I wish you the very bestand to my friend who’s facebook status can no longer say ‘single andcomplicated!’ you’ll be okay, you have a beautiful future ahead of you and don't forget the enlightenment you still owe us ;’). To all that’s been amiss in 2009may it find its right path, to each of you, to all that you do in this year,may it make you happy, may you have no regrets and at the end of the day, take the time to wait for the smile that the eyes began and keep smiling.

And now thissounds like a speech! Happy New Year 2010.

Feliz Natal

2009-12-24T15:38:00.003-08:00

Merry Christmas to you all.

May this season serve as a reminder that the old has passed, there’s a new beginning.
It's a time for rejoicing in all that we see
A time for living, a time for believing
A time for trusting, not deceiving
A time for giving, a time for getting
A time for forgiving and for forgetting
A time for hating and fighting to cease.

Good Morning USA

2009-12-11T12:33:00.007-08:00

'The best part of life is when your family becomes your friends and your friends become your family' -

What struck me the most about this report? certainly not the fact that Diane Sawyer is quitting GMA but rather the above remark. Is that what we aspire for? probably not, not consciously for sure but inevitably it happens and the journey people make from friends to family and vice-versa is truly remarkable and one to be cherished.

The few moments before I get on to the daily drudgery of work these past few years, I've spent with GMA, the drone from the show's anchors, Sawyer included have kept me company while preparing that cup of chai, through grabbing a quick breakfast or skipping it, through checking email and on those rare ocassions of searching for the keys!

Of course, I like the drone, it is very info-entertaining and will continue to be the show I watch in the morning, (if the cable works!) the little tidbits, the music and the little break for the local station with the weather which helps me make that oh-so-important-decision of 'Do I need to carry my tall umbrella to work!'

Deja vu

2009-12-06T19:25:00.002-08:00

I'm still around, for anyone still checking! and of course, of late my thoughts are limited to 140 characters, not more. The word hectic is such a good excuse, I always use it as an excuse for not returning someone's call after having not called in the first place for months, for not crossing off items on my to-do list, for not cooking... well, you get my point, the list is endless.

And then there was the move, that was really hectic!

The best time of the year is here and if I ever get down to buying a Christmas tree then there'll be some pictures, if not there will be some thoughts if not in 200 words, then in 140 characters for sure.

What is my middle name?

2009-10-25T13:33:00.010-07:00

I could probably have anumber of middle-names associated with me but for today, ‘procrastinator’ seemsto fit me just fine!

It is Sunday’s like thiswhen I have no clue where I am headed, not that Monday’s are any better! I don’treally want to ‘set the world on fire’, not just yet but often times when a ‘chotisi asha’ goes up in flames it’s probably time to start over, reassess or not. Could going with the flow take you anywhere?. Life of course takes the path that it’sdestined to take however ever, whatever ever we may do to change it's course.

I admire people who canadmit to what they are feeling, to just get done with it! I could do that on myanonymous blog but never where people know me! Bottled up would have describedme perfectly for most of my life, but probably not as much anymore and despiteall I am a through and through sucker for happy endings.

The list on the left can’tbe comprehensive; one very important item is missing and maybe a million others... I’ll probably redo it when I need another excuse for procrastination liketoday!

what might've been

2009-10-13T08:20:00.002-07:00

Was watching an old episode of One Tree Hill yesterday and was struck by this voice-over.

'It has been said that the saddest thing a man (or woman for that matter) will ever face is "what might've been". But what if a man is faced with what was, or what may never be, or what could no longer be? Choosing the right path is never easy, it is a decision we make with only our hearts to guide us. But sometimes we find our way to something better, sometimes we fight through the regret and the remorse of our mistakes, our malice and our jealousy and the shame we feel for not being the people we were meant to be and that's when we find our way to something better or when something better finds its way to us'

An Engineer's hippocratic oath

2009-10-03T11:26:00.007-07:00

Our convocation was held on Dec 8th, appropriately there was some kind of celebration in office too complete with a gourmet dinner, of course I did not think twice before skipping it! It's also the feast of Immaculate Conception, which is celebrated on quite a lavish scale in one of the parishes in Mangalore city.

We paraded around in our graduation gowns, ready to throw our caps in the air and posed for all those photographs although I must admit to have not seeing the output! Then came the dinner and most importantly the feeling that this part of the journey of our lives was just about done.

I don't quite remember if this was the exact version of the Engineer's oath we took, 'I solemnly pledge myself to consecrate my life to the service of humanity...', however since the person standing next to me seemed to have made up his own version of the oath, I think I was grinning silly more than actually reciting the oath!

It was an honor to receive the graduation medal and certificate from Dr. H.S Ballal and Dr. Ramadas Pai(I hope I've got the names right!)

Who lived in 110?

2009-09-21T20:14:00.005-07:00

Apparently, no one did, until we came along! I think it was a last minute allocation. The room was tinier than a jail cell, seriously! okay, I have not spent a day in a jail cell, but I am willing to bet it was!

Anyway, it did not matter, we had the best of neighbors and it was still the I Block and we could get to the common phone with ease! Despite all, I think I spent the least amount of time in the hostel in my second year!

The one particular memory I have is of our attempt at cooking aloo curry in our room, now why on earth would we attempt to cook anything that had aloo in it, while the mess had an eternal supply of that particular brand of vegetable, is beyond my comprehension. I think we spent more time arguing on whether the onions needed to be washed before cutting and cooking them, than the actual cooking time and you can guess which side I was on!

That's pretty much for the pictures of the rooms we lived in, in MIT unless someone is willing to enter the nicer New Ladies Hostel or the Old Ladies Hostel (that name cracks me up to this day, there's a comma in there somewhere... you can decide where to put it!) to click pics of our rooms there!

If tomorrow never comes

2009-09-20T22:05:00.013-07:00

A familiar face was missing when I went back home the last time, my grandma passed one day before I was scheduled to depart from the US, her favorite line to me was 'mote jaije, yeh burgainche jevan!' (you should become fat, this morsel of food is for kids). As much as you think you may be prepared, you can never anticipate how death affects you.

This is almost anotherone of those morbid sounding posts, so stop if any talk aboutdeath scares you! I have been pondering this thought since a few weeks,how fascinating would it be to write your own obituary? Ted Kennedy Jr, delivered a beautiful eulogyfor his Dad, no doubt he wrote it by himself, however was thereanything else his Dad really wanted to say about himself, his finalword?

If I were to write an obit and knowing me, you'd probably need to take out a full page in Udayavani or Rakno (Konkani weekly)! The best part it's a work in progress, I can keep editing it.

That brings me to another thought, as I was writing about MIT and Manipal and all the growing up we did there, I realized that the memory of receiving that call on that fateful Sunday morning of Easter was still crystal clear in my mind, although the conversation itself wasn't. It was ironically the day before April fool's day, the day before our sessionals.

How unfortunate is it for a young girl to write anode for her friend while still in college? (It was published in theyear book along with his sister's own eulogy). I remember trying to confirm that it was the Sujit I knew, since there were many other kids with the same name in their class. The church bells were ringing and my tall lanky friend from Sunday Catechism was no more. The circumstances were unfortunate and it affected almost our entirebatch. The service drew hundreds of our batch-mates and our Late ParishPriest (who spent most of his life as a principal of a college) had hisheart in the right place when he almost gave us all a lecture on how to live a good life, how not to disappoint the people who love us.

Having studied in an only girls school, Sunday Catechism class was our first opportunity at male friends and he was among the first, the last bench of the notorious girls! vs the last bench of the troublemaker boys! One each from each row have already passed on to a different world. From awkward teens to competitors in coaching class to drifting apart ever so slightly in a professional college environment, yet managing to catch up on some of those hour and a half journeys into College on those early Monday mornings.

I'm sure they are all in a better place today, we will all be... one day.

A penny for me and a dollar for you

2009-09-13T20:21:00.005-07:00

I was at the clubhouse today with an intention to watch the game (federer vs djokovic) on the big screen tv, but since someone else was watching some other game I decided to wait it out by the computers with my book for company. That's when I noticed them, a small baby sleeping soundly in her pram beside her Dad who seemed focused on noting down telephone numbers and filling in multiple forms online. On a closer look, I realized he was going through local employment classifieds online. I did not want to pry, but was close enough to see his screen without meaning to.

Anyway, when I decided to get out of there, he noticed me and brought a smile upto his face by way of greeting and as if on cue the baby started fussing a bit. As luck would have it, he seemed done and he greeted me verbally and started a conversation. Information was revealed that his daughter was 4 months old and that he was going to be out of a job next week and hence was looking for work. There was no mention of the lady but I'd like to assume she was back in the apartment. Southerners are known for their strong family bonding, more than the rest of America.

He spoke about health-care, struggling to make ends meet yet his attitude was positive, cheerful despite his plight. I know there are a lot of people in similar, maybe worse shoes the world over, but he chose to talk about it to me, there are so many such heartbreaking stories I've come across out of my limited volunteering work, yet each one touches you more than the other. I found myself praying to God so that he finds a good job and that they are kept in good health. That is all I could do today... unfortunately.

Bhagi Monthiche fest

2009-09-07T22:15:00.004-07:00

Not wanting to sound redundant, I searched through my archives and found that I had posted twice before on September 8th. Well, the titles are pretty strange! but then they were not specific to this feast.

Of finger licking!, Eating right? I think I should start reading into my archives more often, it should provide an insight into what I was ~~cooking~~, writing about back then ;'), probably not very different from now? Anyway, that in itself proves that this feast is a pretty big deal, more like was for me right now! although back home it still is.

You know the drill! kids offering up flowers in procession, the distribution of stalks of paddy and then sugarcane to the kids, preparing the novem jevan out of the rice distributed in the church and coconut milk (a specific combination of thick and thin), odd numbered dishes of vegetarian food and finally the most important of all, the entire family eating together. More than the event that this feast celebrates, it is the linkage withthe harvest festival that makes it an event for the mangalorean Catholics, much like Onam, Pongal in other regions. No special significance is attached to the day here in the US and there is no special mass either.

This is where I digress from the topic in the title of the post, like I do ever so often!

September 8th was like a July 16^th, the feast of Mt. Carmel, the day when we attended Mass and received brown scapulars or it was like those First Friday's of every month when the non-catholic students would get to play and we had to go to the church nearby for Mass. Teacher Joyce would macho up and be the pretend policewoman with her stud moves (hand signals to stop the traffic)! It was a sight to behold, a short petite teacher holding up traffic at a busy junction for minutes and queues and queues of girls in blue uniforms crossing the road! or the times when we had to mandatorily attend the 'Way of the Cross' on friday's of Lent in the College Chapel during our lunch hour. I do wonder if the Catholic institutions in the city follow all these customs to this day..., okay I agree September 8th can't be compared to any of this!

Wish you a Bhagi Monthiche fest, i.e. a Blessed feast of the Nativity of our Mother Mary.

On a footnote, Infosys started operations on this day in Mangalore 14 years ago and it became their second development center after Bangalore.

Room 206

2009-09-01T20:22:00.013-07:00

My thoughts and memories are kind of juxtaposed right now and hence the chronological order of these posts will probably not make much sense, yet my goal is really not to document every single detail but rather those that are worth capturing and of course if my mind lets me. If I had to write about every single event from my four year stay in Manipal, I would probably have to quit my job which pays me to live here!

I don’t think I’ll ever forget that Sunday, a couple of bags were packed and we hauled ourselves into the cab that took us to Manipal. It was a day that will be etched in history forever, okay I agree, in my history only! On getting to the hostel blocks, it did seem like I was put up in a nicer looking block than the person I traveled with. The dinghy room, the fact that the best bed in the room was already occupied, the knowledge that my roommate was a keralite (call me racist if you may but this was my first time out on my own and familiarity does not breed contempt, although I did know that the third roommate was a school-mate) did not improve my mood that was slowly plummeting into an abyss faster than the elevator ride to the top of the tower of the Americas. It was only in the II year that I realized the true meaning of dinghy, we’ll probably get to that or not.

A view from outside, that corner room was ours.

The ‘how I came about being allocated Room 206’ is an interesting back story too. The nuance of room allocation was something I learned only after spending about two weeks getting to know the girls, including religion and region. And yes, I do believe those factors played a significant role in determining your room-mates. Our floor was pre-dominantly occupied by Konkani speaking girls, all speaking it with different accents, the GSB Konkanis from the area, the GSB Konkanis from Kerala and the Mangalorean Catholics. Most of the rooms had all GSB Konkanis, all Mangaloren Catholics, a couple of NRI girls with a girl from Mumbai and some mix and match like in our room.

Back to that first day in the hostel, I decided to leave the bed in the middle for the third person and plopped onto the hard bed in the corner facing the door opening, there really wasn’t anything to look around for, the custom desk and chair for each of us, the steel wardrobe and the whole row of bathrooms on the corner of the floor certainly did not look inviting. I unpacked the bare necessities and joined the others who were looking for a store to buy some more other bare necessities from! Trudging back from Kamath’s, which was right opposite the basketball court, I found more familiar faces and then ended up in the mess, it was called Ananya (it means single or unique). Rows and rows of wooden benches and tables lined the mess, aloo paratha and tea/coffee was on the menu and it was something I’d never eaten before and for some reason with the whole first day in hostel mood, I have always considered aloo paratha to be something I do not like! this is my probably my opening to mention that aloo was the staple diet in all our hostel mess's right upto the fourth ;') I promptly traveled back home the next day as we did not have a few hours! And that was just so classic of us from around the area, we could go back to our comfortable beds into familiar surroundings while the rest of the girls had to tolerate missing home, some bit of ragging on the weekends and could never complain.

My keralite room-mate was the sweetest girl I knew back in the first year.

MIT and Manipal was the place where the transformation happened, from a teenager to the twenty-something’s.

Gulping down Beaver Lake!

2009-08-23T14:07:00.011-07:00

I think the weather of the past few days was the tipping point and the fact that most folks here seemed all set to resign themselves to a life indoors at the first signs of the fall season! Of course, we will not be joining their ranks anytime soon and are taking a few shots at the highly famed outdoor life here. This post will only talk about a few realizations from yesterday, I admit August is usually the month for realizations, but we'll get back to August and all of its life pondering questions at a later point!

This was my first shot at jetskiing, not counting the kinda jetskiing from years ago at the Calangute beach. The brave ones, me included signed up to jet ski while the others rented a very uncomfortable looking fishing boat! (well, for the only reason that no other boat was available to rent)

A few of my realizations!
1. I can't ride a Harley-Davidson nor a jet ski, my good ole' scooty is perfect (although she doesn't belong to me anymore!)
2. The water in Beaver Lake does not taste any different from the tap water in my apartment.
3. It took me precious seconds, maybe about 10-15 to realize that I could actually float with the life jacket on.
4. Rafting actually seems like a lot more fun and safer option (the life-vests were more snug too).
5. I can still talk coherently when I think I am going to drown!
6. Speed thrills until the realization of being surrounded by vast expanses of water on a speeding water motor bike with cranky waves cranks up the nerves!
7. Knowing how to swim, it would do wonders for my slight water paranoia.
8. A fishing boat with a steam engine can notch up a good speed too, but it's no good for your back!
9. I can narrate the Cinderella story to a bunch of grown-ups with ease!

And to top it all, can you imagine getting pecked by these ugly looking fish? (luckily I was not) and I don't think it would have felt like getting a pedicure!
p.s: Most important, I will be forever grateful to the person who saved my life.

What's in an email id?

2009-08-18T15:16:00.006-07:00

I remember getting my first email id, two teenagers in a not so tiny cyber cafe on Light House Hill Rd in the Lobo Prabhu Apartments, I think it was called Cyber Delight and the rates for using the internet were hourly. Hotmail seemed like the one option, it was owned by Sabeer Bhatia then, anyway after trying for a bit we both ended up with some pretty good usernames for our email accounts. I desperately wanted an email id with both my first and last name but had to make do with just one of them and a combination of some other initials.

I’ve gone through many email accounts since then, some really obscure ones on rediffmail and indiatimes too! Today, despite having multiple email-id’s for various specific purposes, the usernames for most of them are something I have no contention with, except for a couple. Try as I may to retire that one email account, I have not been able to do it after starting the process about six months ago or maybe I’ve not tried enough. And then I think of the reason why I want to kill that email account, it’s not like it has some stupid name like cutegirl666! or is linked to some significant other who is no longer significant! Spam should be a good reason but then there is no surefire way to avoid it too.

Ever since I got my first gmail id on 6/28/04, it has trumped all and I receive *some* of my other personal email into my gmail account. Unfortunately, I do not have my very first email account today, due to the restriction that hotmail had in those days of logging in every 3 months, and it’s unfortunate because it had some important memories. Memories I know should be in the head although I think today most memories are on all kinds of servers around the world!

‘I have the helmet of God while in pursuit of fame and happiness all the while being slender and fair’

The ugly truth about the proposal with a hangover!

2009-08-15T13:27:00.016-07:00

It seems like forever since I did one of these multiple movie reviews.

Two rom-com’s and one com on the table! That’s their classification, not mine.

First 'The Truth', which in my opinion is not as ugly as it is made out to be and I’m not talking about the movie here. I think whatever is wrong with the ‘Ugly truth’ stems from our need to google for every single thing in our lives and a convoluted belief that we can't do without it. Can I use the eggs beyond their expiry date? how do I overcome a lingering cough? and of course the most important of them all... advice. Of course, I am guilty of all this too and my web history is something I'm not proud of!

Except in this case, it’s not google, it’s the once sensitive bloke from P.S, I love you, Gerard Butler, to the now sexist TV personality doling out advice to women on the supposed ugly truth. And sucking on his every word is Katherine Heigl, she can certainly do better than the role of Abby, although I must not forget 'Knocked up'!

I think there’s no truth in this movie, it’s just demeaning to the female population and well if there’s any truth then it sure is ugly. Of course, the checklists, control freak are claimed to be classic modern women attitude but is that the justification for this version of the truth?, eating tricks, hair truths!, dirty jokes in the workplace that should ideally be limited to someplace else?

Despite all, it had it’s funny moments and will manage to make you laugh which is probably only just what you really want from a movie, without applying your analytical skills! Again, Why did they fall in love?

'The Proposal', another rom-com sure was a better watch despite being predictable, but the chemistry between Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock… so not there.
And why is it always yin to yang, for once can't it be yin to yin?

'The Hangover', is a 95 min movie which seemed endless, that about sums it up, but no, the tireless charade through Las Vegas, the baby, Asian thugs, Mike Tyson and the protagonists… phew, what were they thinking? Stu was the only saving grace, who broke up with his long time cheating girlfriend. Lost tooth withstanding!

Chaddi Peter

2009-08-06T20:09:00.007-07:00

A conversation with a friend on social networking turned to orkut and then to the one community I was a *owner* of on the site which is the only one reason for keeping my profile active and finally to Chaddi Peter, certainly not a delectable conversation turner but to cut to the chase, and boy do I love chases! Okay, okay, it reminded me of this post that has been languishing in my drafts folder for weeks if not months and it concerns St. Peter guarding the gates of heaven!

I think most Mangaloreans would know or have heard of Chaddi Peter. Sounds like an exaggeration? Would it be appropriate to say that most students in the city of Mangalore know of him? Or I could narrow the pool to students of a particular mighty all-girls institution and possibly students of a few co-ed and boys colleges too.

Chaddi Peter, a permanent fixture at the gate with his khaki shorts, whichever way he certainly has an envious job, not that I envy his job but I’m sure some would. His job profile does not match St. Peter’s at the gates of heaven to a T, his focus was more on making sure the girls didn’t slip out and even more on making sure that the boys did not sneak in although I must admit, I have not knocked on heaven's doors yet, so I can't speak for St. Peter's job!

I remember this one particular incident (I think it was the Hindi hour, certainly it had to be since it was the most yawn inducing class we had) when we were contemplating slipping out through the side entrance of the Bendur Church but then his stare made us stop and turn right back. So, technically it was not an incident and well, girls will be girls and had discovered other ways of breaking out of the campus (hush, hush). Of course I’ve heard of sob stories narrated, the devious little plans hatched to sneak out and even more interesting were the stories of those trying to sneak in.

It has been a long time since I visited my Alma Mater, the place where I literally broke through the shackles, although I must admit the process started sometime in the 7th Std! and came into my own. It sure was one of the best places to study in Mangalore and I believe it continues to be. The gate policy could well have changed over the years but the familiar figure of Chaddi Peter was proverbial when I drove by the college a few months ago.

To Thomas (a.k.a Chaddi Peter) and to St. Agnes (Deus Fortitudo Mea), the second Catholic Women's College in India, you may not be heaven but you certainly hold some of my fondest memories.How did this post turn into a love fest for St. Agnes, ah well… that's the thrill of the chase!

I don’t get Apollo 11

2009-07-20T20:23:00.002-07:00

The Eagle has indeed landed and I will not be dwelling on conspiracy theories rather the fact that I don’t quite get Apollo 11 as much as I do Apollo 13! Of course this is purely personal and has nothing to do with the stereotyping of my gender or my generation. There could be the geek factor or lack thereof but then that could be discounted due to my fair bit of interest in ~~anything that flies~~, no not anything! gadgets that fly, strike that too, planes it is. I dream of Jeannie, X-Flies, JAG should be proof of that, just don’t ask me for the how and why!

Another pretty obvious factor is that the event happened before I was born, but then so did the World War, so did West Bank! On the other hand is Apollo 13, forever etched and its fascinating portrayal of the turn of events by Tom Hanks, Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris and 'Houston, we have a problem'. Brilliance overflowing.

Not to take anything anyway from One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind moment!
(The feminists would have been all over that one if Armstrong used that statement 20 years ago)

Neil Armstrong’s footprint on the moon.

Here’s my own little moon moment!

A decade gone by!

2009-07-19T20:15:00.001-07:00

Peter man no more!

2009-06-25T20:50:00.002-07:00

He named his mansion 'Neverland' and he apparently used an anti-aging chamber (if such a thing exists!) the man who refused to grow up is no more.

My tryst with Michael Jackson began with the 'thriller' and how could anyone not be amazed by the brilliant performer that he was (he had darker skin then!). My mom sure was. The opening sequence of 'Black or White' with Macaulay Culkin was played over and over when it was released. The head shaking and the disobeying parents part I guess was just so fascinating to us kids! I even picked the picture of his 'Dangerous' album cover from my bro's t-shirt as the project for my fabric painting class! Heal the World and 'We are the World' were the most popular songs for any kind of group singing in school.

The dichotomy of MJ is hard to understand but then why would normal people want to? Who is a celebrity without their crazy share of eccentricities but somehow in this case it was harmful to others too. Dangling a baby, child molestation (I know it was alleged but why settle? and his statements where he talks about 'Sharing the love' seem damning)are inexcusable. And then are the not so nice Urban Dictionary words that seem to have spawned out of the whole situation, face masks, bleaching, prescription use and bankruptcy all in the same breath.

When the news broke I had an inkling and then TMZ reported his death almost immediately without any confirmation & the rest is history created by twitter along with the buzz on the celebrity death in 3's phenomenon!, the news channels and all of us.

Despite all, he was one of the greatest performers of our time and one of the most well known persons in the world today.

A painter for a day

2009-06-20T21:48:00.002-07:00

Amidst production support and warranty support activities, the Community Service day was something to look forward to but who would have anticipated the hoops that employees of *certain* companies had to go through to be a part of such an enriching activity! I did get though the hoops and later realized that I was the only one representing my company, good for me and it’s really a shame that no one else from my organization wanted to be a part of this!

Community Service day is a yearly event with a number of options/groups that one could register for including Habitat for Humanity, Horses for Healing, Youth Bridge. I had initially opted for the Food Bank of NWA which involved shelving and packaging of food but then as my luck would have it, they were overloaded with volunteers and I got a chance to move to the ‘Rebuilding Together’ team.

All I knew of the event was that we had to gather by 7:30 AM at a local lady’s house with specific instructions on what not to wear. The bottom-line wear something you are ready to discard! After completing the formalities of signing up, sticking up name tags on the front & back of our shirts (so that someone can holler out your name when you are about to fall off a ladder!) we were all set for a make-over. Our project was to rebuild Linda's house, a modest two bedroom house which had seen its fair share of wear and tear. The officials from Rebuilding Together explained the process of selection and eligibility criteria for such projects including low income, county boundaries etc.

The group was divided into two, one with the hammers for the exterior work and the rest with the brushes for the interior painting. I was generously drowned in sunscreen so thought I’d pick up the hammer but the paint brush seemed to be calling my name. I did think painting was a relatively easy job but changed my view after an enormous amount of taping, roller painting (this was the best part), intricate edge painting, ceiling painting (no fun when you have to stand on a ladder and paint right above your head!) and a little bit of exterior painting too.

The painters were mainly responsible for three rooms, walkways & some bit of exterior, two coats of paint later and it was a beautiful sight to see. The exterior group had a hard time mainly due to the sun and humid conditions; they did a brilliant job of siding, fixing up the windows, doors and replacing a bit of the roof too. Of course the amateurs could not be compared to Nate but the ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures were proof of the phenomenal work we did.

The day ended with an after party to celebrate and learn about the accomplishments of all teams with food and games.

Yes, I did get paint all over me and in my hair. I ruined a pair of pants, shoes and shirt but I could not have been more content.

It is a bisi day!

2009-06-13T20:13:00.002-07:00

I've heard that Bisi bele bath is one of the most authentic food items associated with Karnataka, it certainly is not true for Mangalore or the Mangaloreans I know but then the coastal area has its own unique cuisine and most often does not associate with the rest of the State. Whatever be the reasons, I tasted bisi bele bath thanks to a 'work at home' week during the snowapocalypse that happened last Christmas in Seattle! A bangalorean colleague so kindly cooked for nearly 15 of us and that was my initiation to bisi bele bhath.

On an extremely hot day today, I decided to cook Bisi (hot) Bele (lentil - toor dal) bath (rice/beaten rice). I used the recipe from aayis recipes, I liked the fact that she used poha(beaten rice) instead of rice and I did eat only the poha version before. I've followed the recipe except for the jaggery (ugh!), tamarind & curry leaves (lack thereof). It does take a while to cook the toor dal without a pressure cooker (a situation I need to rectify soon or probably not!) and of course the frozen cut veggies made my job easier.

Her version is not spicy and mine wasn't either, so attribute bisi to the weather!

Step-motherly

2009-05-18T20:37:00.003-07:00

If blogs had feelings, my blog would feel that I was acting all step-motherly towards her and all motherly towards twitter! It's a good thing that neither has, if at all a reversal were to happen or if I ignored both completely.

Well the mother comparison sure is a poor one, it can't happen.

Painted Nails and Stiletto Heels

2009-03-09T04:42:00.002-07:00

Yet another International Woman's day has gone by and while the significance is beyond an exclusive section on Times Of India, TV/Talk shows on Breast /Cervical Cancer and a few public awareness campaigns against attacks on women, it does seem limited to just that.

The woman in the title of this post is not only the pub going, loose and forward woman. It is I!
It is my reference to the urban, professional woman who earns equal pay all the while trying to balance the high heels and a pepper spray. I agree, the intersection of these two groups will be a mammoth figure.

She is the woman of today and while there exists a Moses' separation of the Red Sea between the various categories of women be it urban or rural, single or married, she still deserves her rights. Was it divine intervention that has made the fairer sex also the weaker sex? I don’t believe so, Adam did eat the apple of his own free will! The very fact that we need a Women's day is rather demeaning to the women of this generation, it is a reminder of the injustice that has been sown on this section of the society and continues to be sown to this day. I use the term injustice for lack of a better word, it portrays everything from poor working conditions to lower wages to the harassment she faces in the domestic scene and the workplace.

While it has been difficult for me to fathom the division, it exists although my hoops maybe quite different from the newly married woman trying to satisfy the dowry demands of her in-laws! Having almost never come in direct contact with this injustice, never been treated differently be it at home or in school or at work, recent events in Mangalore have brought out the intolerance of a section of the community towards *this woman*, it's probably their way of showing that we too should not be left out - injustice for all!

I should not have to fear about impressions. I should not have to fear showing a bit of skin as long as it is not vulgar, I should not have to fear going out to the pub for a drink, after all I know my limits and its legal (Drinking is not taboo in my community, be it Men or Women and I really do not think I am a potential for AA , I should have the right to decide for myself!) !, I should not have to fear about the religion of my companion or about the jewelry I adorn . I could go on and on about the fears, my point being there are already too many glass ceilings that need to be shattered without having to worry about appearances to a small fringe group of people with undue influence.

While the Mangalore pub incident happened, I was not surprised to hear differing views from supposedly likeminded people, my own classmates, with almost similar academic influences however differing domestic influences having more radical views and almost outright in their support to the fringe groups, who do nothing but spew violence on women. The infighting within the NCW on the subject is probably to be expected too. If Women can't stand up for Women, then who will? How can one not condone such attacks whatever be the circumstances that led them to a pub? And while I doubt the impact of the Pink Chaddi Campaign which I found oddly repulsive, almost promoting perverseness I understand the psyche behind such a campaign . It is not an age to be a doormat, dormant and although I may not be a feminist I am vocal, I'd like to stand up for my rights and not having a firsthand experience of the real evils against women including but not limited to dowry abuse, female feticide, female infanticide, sexual harassment, I'd like to see some change. If only I can be the change that I hope for!

On a side note, a few of my female counterparts in office are dressed in Sari today, I don’t know if they feel powerful, confident, I sure would not! I'd be tremendously distracted trying to hold up that 5 yards of cloth!

Movie Review: Rachel Getting Married, A wedding

2009-02-28T07:52:00.002-08:00

The title of the movie is catchy enough, unlike the plot which revolves around Kim not Rachel, a recovering addict and alcoholic who spends a trying weekend at home surrounded by her dysfunctional family on tenterhooks, seems familiar enough doesn’t it?

Kim (Anne Hathaway's)is out of rehab to attend her sister Rachel's (Rosemarie Dewitt) wedding. The family is made up of a doting, understandably over-protective father, a seemingly absent mother, a frustrated almost jealous sister, a dead brother and Kim herself who is supposedly remorseful for her behavior yet who does not show this by her actions. Her remorse seems limited to words and her actions are reckless and hence comes across as narcissistic. The entire movie seems to span a couple of days and this included two rehab sessions complete with the serenity prayer!

There are some sparks of brilliance especially in the conversations between Kim and Rachel however there is too much chaos all throughout, non-stop singing, dancing, music and toasting! Some parts are extremely sleep inducing, especially the toast at the rehearsal dinner, if so many people gave such long winded toasts at weddings there would be no guests left!

I don’t know why the wedding had an Indian theme. The bride and bridesmaids were dressed in Saris with a rather odd sweater top kind of a blouse, the groom wore a sherwani, paneer was one of the dishes so I'm assuming it was Indian food, an elephant with a chariot adorned the wedding cake and to top it all Kim compares herself to Shiva, the destroyer! Maybe it was some multicultural, the world is flat kind of theme since the wedding was inter-racial although there was never a mention of race which was noteworthy, and then were Asians and South American dancers too! The camera work with the continuous panning of shots makes the movie almost seem like a home video.

Despite the flaws, the movie would have been a good watch if the conversations were complete, if we'd seen more of the mother daughter relationship which seemed pivotal to the plot and if there was some closure and the unresolved rage was addressed. Anne Hathaway was nominated for the best Actress at the Academy awards for this performance.

Movie Review: In Bruges, A Belgian Vacation

2009-02-24T08:27:00.002-08:00

I must admit, I'd not heard of Bruges until this movie. Bruges is panoramic amidst stoned streets, beautiful canals and Flemish/medieval architecture. The movie starts with Ray and Ken who have made Bruges their stop on the request ( more like a demand I guess!) of their boss , for reasons unknown to them.

While Ray (Colin Farrell) cribs about how Bruges would not impress him even if it was the last place on earth or something to that effect, Ken is literally breathing in the sights and has decided to make the best of this stop all the while contemplating the reason for this particular vacation. Along the way, we get to know about their job as hitmen and about an unfortunate accident that occurred in their previous job. The movie is about the consequences of that accident and the effect it has on their lives.

The introduction of Ralph Fiennes as Harry, their boss happens about three quarters into the movie. Ralph is like a moth to a character like Harry and it is equally not surprising that he could pull off a Maid in Manhattan.We go through the rather odd pairing of Ray & Ken, as roommates, co-workers and genuine friends who take care of each other despite the odds. We have to dwell on the complex mindset of Ray, Ken and Harry and also the midget, the drug dealing girl, her ex, the pregnant owner of the bed & breakfast all amidst some truly amazing shots of Bruges.

A few facts
1. In Bruges is not a comedy movie by any standards even though the trailers seemed to convey that bit, there certainly are a few hilarious conversations but not enough to qualify and there's way too many gross death scenes!
2. Colin Farrell is of Irish origin, however it just seems so very weird hearing him speak in that strong Irish accent
3. Belgium they said is famous for Chocolates and notorious for Child Abuse
4. Alcoves is the right word, Nooks and Crannies is good too :)Some good acting, deep conversation, strong characters despite some extreme(profanity, gross/violent scenes) make this an okay watch.

A few good movies

2009-02-24T08:05:00.002-08:00

The next few posts are movie reviews (I'm not sure how many at this point), I've wanted to post them before the Oscars but you know what. Anyway, I'll try not to spoil the movie for you, if you have not watched it, however I do not guarantee that the reviews will be spoiler free.
And yes, to those who asked the lone coconut tree has a story, just no one who can write it yet!

The lone coconut tree...

2009-02-04T07:32:00.001-08:00

A new world record!

2009-02-04T07:20:00.002-08:00

Valentine's day is an international conspiracy that has come to light thanks to the saviors of our moral values! (those that can't be named) and is allegedly perpetrated by almost 2.2 billion people worldwide. That number is staggering by any realm of imagination and to come to light in the aftermath of a transformation of a *once* peaceful town now turning into national news material, makes me want to use the term 'unfathomable'!

Well, the above was my literal translation of this news story! warns against...

5 hours too soon

2009-01-27T05:31:00.001-08:00

Killing time at the Mangalore Airport is an almost impossible task, trust me when I say there is nothing you can do, you can't even take a short walk as the entire waiting area is a few sq. feet! Breakfast was on Kingfisher at the only restaurant within the airport, the book and handicraft shop held my attention for only a few minutes and of course the duty free shop was off limits to me (being a domestic passenger).

The only other outlets are a tiny tea shop, an MMP's Cashew and dry fruit shop, Karlsburg - Merchandise for Men!, Centrium foreign exchange where they sell 1 USD for 52 Rs and buy it for 45 Rs, another tiny hangyo icecream outlet which did not make a single sale the entire time I was waiting and a snack shop which sells puffs (a kind of pastry) at an absurd price, I had to ask if a pinch of caviar was added in it, I swear, she looked at me like I was weird! But then I think all airports in India are the same with regard to food, overpriced... And then there is one scanning machine as soon as you enter, I know it analyzes a sample of something, looking for explosives maybe, it was not used and the security guard would not tell!

One fact about the Airport, there are a lot of airline staff, they keep walking around, carry your bags into the airport if you want them to, they are on the constant lookout for people who may be flying on their airline, many might approach you if they can't see the tag on your bag! Don't know if it's a good thing. And of course there is no internet access at the airport, I don't say absolutely, because there are some ways!

Everytime I looked at my watch there were atleast two hours to go, the frustrating part, the delay was announced in increments, first an SMS of a 30 min delay, reached airport at + 30 min to be told that the delay was now 2 hours, then 4, then finally 5! and in this time, one source told me that my flight was canceled! Some passengers decided to harass the airline staff but really it's tough to blame them for the fog in Bangalore. (The flight did not leave Chennai due to the fog in B'lore and we were waiting for the flight from Chennai-B'lore to arrive so that we could depart! Circular effect).

Anyway, All's well that ends well.

Dreams... 10 years on

2009-01-25T05:52:00.001-08:00

I came across an essay I had written about 10 years ago which helped me qualify for the 'Teen of the Year' Contest, it was titled 'I have a dream and a plan to make my dream come true'. On reading it, I was not surprised to realize that I have still not achieved my dream! or even come close to its realization. The dreams in the essay seemed vague and obscure at first glance but the plans to achieve them were mighty.

I remember being quizzed about the content of the essay as a part of the initial rounds of the Contest and being asked why I did not have a concrete dream for the benefit of myself, rather than the world around me and no, none of my dreams involved world peace! My quest for *those* dreams continues even today and I did not find a single sentence in that 300 word essay (that was the limit) that seemed irrelevant, while it does not prove the vision of a teenager it only proves that while it may be easy to dream, coming anywhere close to achieving them is the hard reality. If I had to write an essay on the same topic today, I would surely need more 300 words, I'd have some of the dreams from the original essay and some with a little selfish goal too and I think the plans to achieve would be more elaborate, I can't say wiser! 10 years somehow does not seem to be a really long time ago!

Fashion Wednesday!

2009-01-20T08:20:00.001-08:00

This post has been lying in my drafts for more than a month and I was almost going to discard it… it thus has the most un-intuitive title I could think of!

'Fashion' started it all. I can safely say that to date this is the maximum number of bollywood movies I've watched in a stretch. Decided to watch 'Fashion', since one of my classmates had a non-talking appearance, whatever be the reason, I was not disappointed. The movie is set at a good pace and portrays an almost common and plausible story. The actresses Priyanka Chopra and Kangana Ranaut performed true to their characters and it was not set to the usual stage dance, tree song theme!

'A Wednesday' was another movie that has an impressive storyline. I have never really appreciated movies that portray excessive lawlessness, unless it were a superhero kind of a movie. Don’t ask me why, that's just the way that I like my movies! However the flow of this one and the non-paranoid rationale behind the main protagonist's actions are justifiable. Exactly the reason why I could not appreciate Rang de Basanthi, I was watching this movie with a group of people all of whom had already watched it before and seemed to be heaping praises galore on the movie. Halfway through and I was not impressed and I did not change my opinion when the final credits started to roll too. The turnaround from a fun, entertaining story to lives been plunged into a black hole was hard to digest. What was the purpose of the whole act?, All action seemed needless and the casual attitude of young men towards life irked me to no end.

A few other pure entertainers - Jaane tu ya jaane na, Rock On. Mere Baap Pehle Aap - leave your brains out of this one!

I don't want to over-analyze every movie I watch, but I'd like my brain to play a part, for the scenarios to be plausible of course the primary intention of watching a movie should not be lost. I would not watch a mundane portrayal of daily lives, entertainment counts!

touchdown at IXE

2009-01-01T23:49:00.002-08:00

Bold and beautiful was the approach into Mangalore Airport and despite being considered one of the most dangerous airports in India, I don't have to admit to ever being scared, not ever, not even as a kid. The landscape of Mangalore coming into the airport has remained intact, although the same can't be said for the city. Despite my slight aversion towards airports, who can not be charmed by these sights, over and over again?

Construction site of the new terminal

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T20:22:00.001-08:00

Unexpectedly good Christmas day despite being all 'alone', the weather playing spoilsport on my confirmed 'plans' and my own indecision about my travel plans. Total strangers can sure make you happy!

Here's to my first white Christmas :)

Snowmageddon

2008-12-17T16:11:00.001-08:00

Snowmageddon, Snowpocalypse was supposed to happen today in Seattle, the roads resembled those on thanksgiving, schools were shut and we were asked to work from home. I'm still waiting to see the first flake of snow, it did snow on Saturday, but today's forecast seems so totally off, I'd rather have completed the rest of my Christmas shopping! They've decided to blame the doughnut hole and Mt. Olympia, as interesting as it may sound it's not. I guess there's just one positive out of this, I can sign for the UPS package and not have to go pick it up!

December is supposedly the best month to write, somehow I think it's exactly the opposite for me and my excuse is not the usual! Work is becoming a mere whisper in my ear of late! but of course it's holiday time and farewell time all while looking forward to greener and warmer pastures.

Keep, Think, Give

2008-12-04T22:20:00.001-08:00

It's that time of the year and unfortunately this is seeming to be more like a once a year ritual! wardrobe sorting it is and no this is not a task undertaken to clear clutter. I can guarantee you, my closet is organized, almost obsessively!

The 'Give' and 'Keep' piles are relatively simple, it's the 'Think' pile that bothers me. 'Think' has a collection of clothes, some that I feel I should no longer wear but have an attachment to, for e.g a gift from a dear friend or an absolutely low maintenance but slightly 'old' shirt and then there are those which I have not worn in months, but hope to wear 'someday'. The pile also includes some country specific/city specific clothes, I'd rather not dwell on them.

The 'Give' pile is ready to go into the Clothes Collection bin and the 'Keep' will be carefully packed, the 'Think' well, hopefully it has become the 'Thought-Keep/Give' pile when the time to pack my bags comes and then of course, it does depend on the the final weight of the suitcase, like I've said before, always constrained by what the airlines let me carry!

Band Aid Covers the Bullet Hole

2008-11-30T22:07:00.001-08:00

The title of the previous post seems half appropriate for this post about the latest terror siege that occurred in Bombay. Scars are rampant on all who experienced this first-hand and I am not sure if any souvenirs will emerge out of this, but the hope remains, this story could qualify.

The internet is aghast at the audacity of the attack, demanding action and with a scathing attack on the governance. Facebook communities have been formed and while I will not be joining any of them or vouch for the purpose they would serve, I will be wearing white tomorrow in allegiance to the country which has suffered the maximum brunt of terrorism, be it from external elements or from the in-grown factor.

It was a Wednesday morning, the day before thanksgiving and while I was browsing through TOI, I came upon the main story of a terror attack in Mumbai, I almost dismissed the story, casting it aside as yet another attack, what's new about it? Unfortunate is the situation wherein the citizens of a country can put aside news about a terror strike! I realized the enormity of the attack and the scale when news flash tweets started pouring in through my twitterfox popup.

Ever since, I've followed first hand updates on twitter, live streaming, joined the discussion on CNN (Wednesday's AC360 telecast was 2 hours long and saw a huge presence of the Indian diaspora joining in the live conversation on the 360 blog), have commented on various blog posts and have constantly been amazed at the response of emergency personnel to the disaster. When the fire was blazing at the Taj, I was almost hoping for a chopper to appear loaded with fire suppressing materials, but I guess India does not have one.

Yesterday, here in Seattle I watched while a paramedic team arrived in response to a 911 call in aid of a pregnant woman who was feeling faintish, all in under 5 minutes. The hope is for such a response time in India from any of the essential services, be it fire, paramedics or the police. India has a strong urban presence and despite the fact that a majority of the population still lives in rural areas, a service similar to 911 has to emerge. A question at this point, are roads the only projects covered by our taxes?

A few months ago, a colleague of mine was tracked down and interviewed by the federal bureau, all because he had hired a couple of boats for a ride through Lake Washington, this was his birthday bash(I could not attend due to unavoidable circumstances :)) and it seemed like someone allegedly reported the group for clicking excessive pictures. I can't say aloud or write about the nature of the allegations, however guys in a boat, clicking pictures of an important floating bridge, a vital link between two land masses, I leave it to you to piece it together. You might call it going overboard, but that is how serious security can sometimes be in this country, not always of course.

'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing', is a quote attributed to Edmund Burke, though I'm learning it may not really be his quote, anyway it does not matter who said it at this point! When Mangalore happened, there was a general complaint that very few good men (or women) took a stand to highlight the incident, it did happen eventually. Today, a number of good men and women have taken a stand, the attention of world media is on India (not so much on Nigeria, where more than 400 people have died) and it will take much more than band-aids to cover the gaping holes in our security, in our emergency response time. Has a lesson been learnt? Maybe, maybe not.

The title of this post is also the title of a Scarling song.

Scars and Souveniers

2008-11-30T13:59:00.001-08:00

I've mastered the art of dodging the bullet! literally but from the over-eager, over enthusiastic kiosk employees who are constantly in your face, trying to sell you something, be it a hair extension (seriously!), a nail set to make your nails all shiny without applying nail polish, wind chime thingies, aromatherapy packs, pro-activ, crystal souvenirs for every relative you could dream of while the above mentioned over eager, over enthusiastic salesperson badgers you into submission. And if you are the kind who finds it hard to say 'No thanks', then good luck. Don't forget, these kiosk/cart stores have no return policy either.

I remember a particular incident in a Houston Mall when three of us were walking down the mall and this Seacret Sea salesgirl pops, almost out of nowhere and practically took our hands and started polishing one nail each. Thank God for small mercies that I had painted my nails so she let me get away! The remaining two, were not spared, they emerged with shiny nails (one of them male!) and were badgered into buying 100$ worth of nail products and some other stuff all allegedly made with ingredients from the dead sea!

Our local Southcenter Mall has an umpteen number of kiosks/carts and has fallen prey to the cart culture. Nothing against this culture and considering that I come from a country where the cart culture business thrives. In fact it's just possible that you find some unique item you were looking for, from halfway across the world. It is the harassment and badgering that I condone, Isn't the retail tagline 'Customer is king', they will come to you, wait for it!

Dodging the bullet is nevertheless easy, my strategy is to ignore the kiosks completely, no eye contact and I even act as if I am deaf and blind too, it may be rude, but it works.

I was in Southcenter yesterday and noticed this cart with beautiful wood carvings of nativity scenes, rosary hands, last supper scenes all intricately and exquisitely carved. The owner seemed to be of Middle Eastern descent, Israelite possibly or could be Egyptian too. He explained that the statues were all hand carved out of Olive wood from Bethlehem and considering my interest in the Nativity scenes offered a 10% discount while querying if I was buying it as a gift!

I told him I wanted to buy it for myself at which he acted pleasantly surprised and seemed almost to be searching for a telltale sign that I was a Christian and no, I was not wearing my little cross pendant. He asked if I was from India and on my affirmative answer, said he did not know Christians lived in India!

My being a Christian from India surprises many, from the Ethiopian cab driver, my Russian neighbor, the midwest programmer who even asked me if it was tough being a Christian in India to the Vietnamese parishioner and the Middle Eastern kiosk owner. I told him there are 20 million Christians in India with an evil smile to the almost shocked look on his face and then told him that we make up 2% of the population, it seemed to make him happy!

I believed the hand-carved bit but was doubtful about the Olive wood from Bethlehem part, anyway I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and ended up with a carved set of a nativity scene. The discount was nullified by the 9% sales tax! Nevertheless a pretty nativity set to start the advent season.

Ask Annie?

2008-11-24T21:59:00.001-08:00

Okay, my name's not Annie! but how weird is it that I get approached for relationship advice not once or twice but thrice in one day and to think that I consider myself to be the last person to be handing out such advice to anyone! Not to mention the almost 10 minute conversation with a Comcast support person, talking about how she spent her weekend, her plans for thanksgiving and her woes and pros of buying gifts for Christmas.

Back to the drawing board, that's the terminal where all sorts of requests come in, including a few to start writing a book! I tell myself, don't flatter yourself! and considering my recent work, my supposed publisher has decided to abscond and ignore my calls, but then since I am getting pretty chummy (my definition of chummy, not yours) with one Associate Producer of AC360, I could have a shot at something!. Maybe its time to start with a relationship column, How does 'Dear Annie' sound?

The point of the above rambling was to linkback to an interesting post Cupid makes a few Mrs. I do like the title, Enjoy!

Déjà vu

2008-11-23T21:37:00.001-08:00

I almost get that foreboding sense of paramecia; no it’s not a kind of amnesia… though I wish it were. ‘Mark all as read’, is the only option in Google reader right now, except for the new items from friends and they sure are scarce to come by.

I remember logging into work during my thanksgiving vacation last year and actually making some code changes to handle a CR! This year seems no different, except for the fact that I can’t possibly code in the current situation! (Read can’t possibly with some dramatic effect :’))

I could be a workaholic, having a lot to do keeps me more sane than not having anything to do. Clearly that is not my problem, my concern is when the credits start to roll and I find my name missing. All those late nights and successful deployments seem to count for nothing if you choose to leave the project for an uncertain future (read bench!).

This plane must fly! Of course I don’t expect credit when it does.

On a side note, I ended up with two quarters of Hawaii yesterday, was presently surprised considering that it was only released 20 days ago, almost makes me want to go back to collecting state quarters again, but no, no way.

Yes, we did

2008-11-09T22:16:00.001-08:00

It has been a historic week for the US and the world too. Of course, I am glad the election and the debates are done, no more interruptions for my favorite TV shows! Today's episode of The Amazing Race like the previous one had India as the pit-stop. It's great to see India in popular shows like this, but unfortunately the nastier side of India seems to be dominant, hilarious moments nevertheless.

In my attempt to to catch up on the backlog of movies, it was Body of lies and Nights in Rodanthe this week. Both the movies are miles apart however good in their own little ways. Surprisingly Quantum of Solace was released in a number of international locations and including India before the US release...wonder why the week's delay?

It's already that time of the year, shopping malls are decorated in red and green, supermarkets have created a special holiday section and people are changing their ringtones to 'Deck the Halls'!. This year is going to be unlike the past two years, I've already made sure of that! Thanksgiving 2006 was midnight shopping in LA, while 2007 was Lake Tahoe, 2008 is going to be brilliant!

Bulldozing the bully

2008-11-09T21:32:00.002-08:00

My approach to dealing with the bully at work so far has been pretty much one of indifference than action. I guess it does not work too well in all situations. Yesterday I decided to bulldoze the bully into submission! literally only, not figuratively before you imagine me with a bulldozer swallowing that poor chap!

Of course, me being me... I did not feel good after the deed, dwelling on how I could have dealt with it differently, maybe I could have added a bit of humor in my reply! looked for a resolution rather than revenge! Somehow being so outright...that's just not me as they would say! Looking back, I think, I had to reply, to free myself from the tangles of any mis-doing, after all I was in the right.

I've come across my fair share of bullies at work and elsewhere, be it the know-it-all colleague, or the colleague who takes credit for your work, nit-picks on every aspect of your work, portrays his resentment by being bitter, obfuscates your emails or even that demanding friend who makes you feel guilty every time you disagree with a suggestion.

Matthew 5:5 says 'Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth'.

Not in this case! I believe, we make our own bullies. A bully will follow you only as long as you allow them, stop showing your left cheek ever so often. Advice of course that is tough to follow.

I'll take that hour back

2008-11-01T22:47:00.002-07:00

It's that time of the year...again, only this time its time to turn back the clocks for that extra hour and I'll take it gladly, and no I am not glad because the bars can serve for an extra hour! Of course, I am not going to set the time before I sleep, what fun would that be? the best part is waking up at 8 AM and realizing that it's only 7 AM, how awesome is that!

If you must know, I was not pleased at all on March 9th! I wish they would turn the clocks back on a Monday, there's nothing like getting an extra hour of sleep on a working day but then I dread to think of the reverse scenario!

Is it possible to lose time? As it is traveling through time zones can be really weird and confusing. India to the US is not so bad, but consider traveling from New Zealand to the US, you will infact be arriving at your destination before you left the source. I remember a trip when I was flying from Nevada (PST) to Utah (MST) and on to my final destination Seattle (PST). I go one hour ahead and then go back one hour, the flying time did not make much sense and I didn't think about it too much then, coz I was practically running to the plane to avoid getting stuck in Utah.

Consider a case where you have traveled to a daylight saving country such as the US before they advanced their clocks (if it was 2008, before march 9th), so essentially you've lost one hour, however you don't need to fret if you would continue to stay in a daylight saving country (US or Europe) until they turn back their clocks(Nov 2nd). But what if you traveled to a non-daylight saving country such as India or a state such as Arizona say in October?, where is that all important one hour? beats me!

Glad I have my hour back, thank you!

Every leaf is a flower

2008-10-27T23:03:00.001-07:00

Autumn is a second spring where every leaf is a flower - Albert Camus

We traveled 3 hours into the mountains of Western-Central Washington, North Cascades to be precise to catch a glimpse of the acclaimed fall foliage. This is what we saw (10/26)

The below pic is from right outside my apartment and there was more of this all along the way (10/19)

But of course, the first snow on the mountain peaks and some amazing home cooked food consumed in the near freezing conditions made the drive worthwhile.

It's all about the shoes

2008-10-27T22:36:00.001-07:00

or rather stilettos.

Strutting around in these almost 4' heels gives me good reason to visit my pedicurist with no guilt!
Clothes maketh a man and shoes maketh a woman or so it may seem but don't forget the accessories to go along with the shoes, jewelry, bags, scarves, coats and of course clothes!

What's it about shoes and hand-bags that make us go gaga over them? I've got at least eight hand-bags with me right now (I know this is a small number, but don't forget this is a temporary residence and I am always constrained by what the airlines let us carry) a couple of which I have not yet used! and then the shoes (have to find all of them to count 'em!) like the one above, which are worn once in a blue moon.

What every woman wants... a great career, a good man, and comfortable shoes - lots and lots of them. Quote from JAG In any order...

Go on while I figure this out.