New

Its 9 in the morning and one hour since I arrived.
I am in a corner noting the whole scene unfolding in front of me.

People are moving around with determined, focussed faces like they have somewhere important to go and something important to do.

I am bored and bewildered. A most confusing mix of emotions to be sure.

Everything is new to me and I am new to everyone.

They all seem to be talking in a weird language that sounds familiar but is not, or is it the vice versa. I am nodding my head knowledgeably right along with every one. Are they all feeling as lost as I do? Or do they really understand what is being said and done? But how can that be? Aren't they are all as new to this as I.

Is everyone discussing something important?
Have I missed something?
Have I completed everything that needs to be done?
What does fate have in store for me next?

I really should get up and move around and check out what is being done.hmm! But I am so comfy right where I am and drowzy .. so here I am sitting in a corner, noting the scenes unfolding in front of me,feeling bored and bewildered....

Sing with me

Singapore is one of the loveliest places that I have visited.
What makes it really a worthwhile place is that every attraction there is totally man made, with hardly any help from nature. Even the forests there are secondary rainforests.
The second largest island, called the sentosa, was a prison in the british time, which was later converted into a tourist attraction, to the extent that no one would even know that it had prisons there unless expressly told so.
And the whole thing came to , due to the vision of one great man, Lee Kuan Yew.
They hardly have any crime and everything works like clockwork. No wonder the citizens there are so proud of themselves and their country.
They have four national languages in Singapore: Mandarin script, tamil, malay and chinglish (english spoken by chinese).

We would need to understand and speak chinglish if we need to converse with the people of chinese origin there, which would be the taxi drivers, shop keepers, hotel receptionist, guides and just about everyone (except those in little india...but thats a story for another time).
The chinglish is spoken in a singsong manner with no words more than two or three syllables max. Please note that if spoken grammatically, it will not be understood, and do remember not to pronounce full words. For example you can ask a taxi driver "Mustafa can?" and he will promptly reply "can can"... which translates to "will you drop us at mustafa?"(Mustafa being a BEEG mall) and he sez yes. But ask him the full question, the chances are great he might give u a blank stare :-)

Coming to Little India. the only place in all of singapore that is, what dya expect, not so clean. I was told that the police and govt tried and tried and then decided to just let the indians be... Mera Bharath Mahan!!!
It feels just like any indian market. But ironically while everyone goes shopping there... no one wants to actually stay in Little India.

With Christmas just around the bend and Singapore was getting all set to celebrate in style. The Orchard street is the place to be at this time. God! but the place was beautiful. This street is full of malls and the whole place was covered in lights and santas and mannequins and what not. It reminded me of Las Vegas during Christmas time.

All in all, Singapore is a great spot for vacation and for those interested, some of the more memorable places to visit are: the night safari, the jurong bird park, the sentosa island with all its attractions (esp the songs of the sea, laser show) and be sure to go on a city tour to get a feel of the place.
U can also check out the Singapore travels site for more about Singapore.

Of course if u plan to stay more than 3-4 days, there is no guarantee your English might be able to weather the trip.
Bon Voyage!!!

PS: Ooops!!! Did I forget to mention that it is a great place for shopping. Be ready to lose a big chunk of loot there are at the various malls...esp on Jewellery and Electronics. :-D

Chicken Soup

Have you ever read the Chicken Soup Series? I was just reading the Chicken Soup for the Soul... again
Lovely thought provoking stories that makes u want to run outside and right all the wrongs and make everyone happy with just a smile and a hug.

Anyways here I was reading the chicken soup, all misty eyed, about stories on Love, and how love helped the soldiers fighting in distant wars and what not

when suddenly a thought struck me.. What would happen if Bush read the chicken soup books?? Would he stop threatening Iran next and let the world live peacefully?
Sigh!!! But for that he would first have to learn to read huh?!.... :-(

Absolute Power Corrupts absolutely

“Maatha Pitha Gurur Devo Maheshwarah”
In a country where Teacher is considered even above God, their behavior seems to be nearer the devil. Parents send their wards to school, telling them to consider it as their second home and trust the teachers to treat them as their own children. This absolute power and trust seems to corrupt abslutely.

In US the teachers cower at the thought of going to school, as they are never sure when they might get shot by some student holding a grudge.
In India, the students have nightmares featuring their teachers from school.

Having heard about so many great teachers in the history, it pains me to see the absolute indifference and downright cruelty of the teachers of today.

I remember my primary school days, when I used to pray that I could grow up and go to the higher classes very soon so that teachers would not hit me.

The dedication and the urge to strengthen the foundation of the nation that used to make teaching the noblest profession, is no more. Today if a person does not get any other job they just take up teaching. The saw “Those who don’t, Teach” is taken literally.

The young students are hapless victims of these people who take out their ire and irritation from personal issues on them. What angers me is that they do not find anything wrong in the saw “Spare the rod, spoil the child”. For every child the teacher hits, they must be hit back twice harder.

I know of a person who became mentally challenged when his math master hit him on his head for not doing his homework right.
A student in north India was made to clean the toilets in his school, because the teacher had a grudge against him.
A student in Chennai had her hair cut by the teacher because she did not have it in two braids.
A student in a school next door got locked inside the classroom by a careless attender, and after almost two hours when the girl’s mother came searching frantically for the girl, she was found in the classroom, frightened out of her wits. Instead of comforting the child, the school’s headmistress whipped the girl for not having been more careful, right in front of the mother and the mother did not even stop her. (I would have whaled the lady and sued the school, but that’s just me:-p)

While we know all this to be true, the schools still insist that it never happens and the management just does not care. But what is really sad is that many times even the parents do not find anything wrong with it. One parent told me that his father and teachers used to hit him when he was young and look how high he had come. I could only look at him with disgust and shake my head.

While the number of dedicated teachers has gone down, it would be amiss to say they are no more. There are thankfully still a few teachers left who really want what is good for the students rather than a convenient whipping post to vent their frustrations.

Illiteracy – The darkness

Close your eyes and think for a minute. You are illiterate. When you open a book you can admire the beautiful pictures in them but not the squiggly stuff printed on it. You are eager to know what the picture is all about but cannot find a way to do it.
You cannot read books, check out the internet, understand many things being said on TV and have no clue what the newspapers say.

*shudder* Even thinking of such a world is worse than a nightmare. All those beautiful stories never read, opportunities lost, and always dependent on someone else for something even as basic as signing your name.

I was reading this book about a rancher who, to give his brothers and sisters the opportunity to go to school, forgoes school himself and ends up illiterate.. He subscribes to National Geographic, so that he could at least see the pictures of beautiful things if not read about it and he keeps his illiteracy a secret from everybody.
The story goes on about how he faces a lot of difficulties until a teacher he meets helps him learn to read and write.

But the point here is that I was trying to put myself in the rancher’s place and think what my life would be like if I could not read and write. No books to read, no blogs to write, friends lost as I would not be able to keep in touch. No place to go.

God!!!!! That would be the ultimate definition of darkness, wouldn’t it.

Cuckoo - My Bane

What can I say, there are actually people in the world who like the caterwauling of cuckoo and think is a happy sound...
Me! I would take a crow's cawing anytime over the cuckoo

I hate cuckoos… especially the demon cuckoo that sits right outside my bedroom window.
Every morning 3.45 AM sharp "COOOOOOO"... persistent little thing that it is, it coos until I wake up... and as soon as I start dozing again ..."Cooooooooo".

Aaaargh!!! I hate rainy season and I am going to stone the damn bird as soon as I get my hands on it.

Now I know why they say the crazy “have gone cuckoo”… They too probably had one right outside their room.

Oh! For a night of uninterrupted sleep... sigh!!!!

Going to the dogs

I swear the world is going to the dogs and me along with it.

Guess the whole world is bored and just running around like a headless chicken.

Thankfully its only during those rare times when I stop, look back and wonder what I am doing that it strikes me as crazy.



Everyone is bragging about what they did to see the Sivaji movie, it seems to be a matter of social status. I guess I am somewhere in the range of a worm socially for not only not having seen it and having absolutely no curiousity or interest to see it either.

A colleague paid 1000 bucks, booked in advance and then had to stand and see the movie for the three hours, coz it was the first day, first show and he was completely satisfied. the police were not able to control the crowds at the theaters that day, mostly becuase they were fighting to get into the theaters themselved :-p.

If I had paid 1000 bucks to see a movie I would expect a red carpet welcome and a royal treatment...so there!!!



There are a community full of people waiting to kill a girl, including her father and uncle, in a not so far of country. All because she "dishonoured" the whole community by wanting to marry a boy from another community. The girl's father and uncle were arrested but the girl is still under death threat. Here I was thinking this happens only in "Poonjollai gramam" when the ooru Panchayat president decides to save "Gramathoda Maanam".



India and Pakisthan are all set to mend fences once again... this is expected to be a complete success until the next time Pakistan decides to bomb / kill indians. After which India will initiate a new agenda to mend fences



India has allowed USS Nimitz to park right by its doorstep, so that the US govt might find it easier to make India the next Afganisthan or Iraq.



10 people were killed in a suicide bombing in Yemen and I still cannot think of one social cause that would make me want to kill myself and 10 other people and I thank God for such favours everyday.



Amidst all this here are a 100 people worrying and working themselves to death so that some anonymous person half the world away might get a miniscule percent more interest on their investment.



Honestly, is it just me ???

Ze Romantic Man :-)

I have always held the opinion that the current generation of men are so much more romantic than the women.
While most of them will emphatically disagree with you, if you have the temerity the say it aloud. It is also undeniably true.

The movies “Sillunu oru kadhal” and “Vetaiyadi Villayadu” got released at around the same time. Having seen both, I wanted to hear the opinions of my colleagues on the movies.
Not much to my surprise all the men emphatically told me that SOK was an extremely good movie and VV was just so-so.
Most of the women, including me, had the exact opposite opinion

Another startling example of this had me grinning yesterday.

My company held a creative writing competition to rewrite the Cinderella story. Two people won the prize for best written story, a lady and a gentleman.

The lady’s perky story ended with “...the Prince and Cinderella lived happily ever after, though not together” where in Cinderella becomes a corporate giant and the prince marries the Fairy Godmother.
The gentleman had written a beautiful story about how true love triumphs over evil and ended with just “… and they lived happily ever after”.

Well who woulda thunk? :-)

Happy or Sad

I am happy. its like I have this small bubble of joy inside me thats jumping up and down and shimmering with all the colours of the rainbow. I just wanna smile and keep smiling and maybe dance with the winds.

Why?! I am not sure. Its not an exceptionally beautiful day and nothing special happened.

I guess I am just happy coz I am me, coz i am alive and just because.
What better reason can one think of.

I am listening to some of my all time favourite lovely songs in my ipod and typing this when I should be doing a 1001 things that are so much more urgent.

But before the finger of reality touches this bright bubble and it bursts I just wanted to share it....

Two hours later......
*POP*

sigh!!! Funny how the song that sounded so slow and romantic couple of hours back... sounds just a bit meloncholy now :-p

Back...again... I think!!!

Hey All, I am back in India and back to blogging, hopefully permanently on both cases.
Visited so many places and learnt so many things that are probably useless to life and enjoyed myself thoroughly for almost a year.

Everyone there told me that the first time I come back, everything here would be just that bit louder, polluted, brighter and alienish. But the minute I landed, I Just felt like I was... home.

The absolute disregard for traffic rules was of course mildly horrifying that is until I traveled during the peak traffic hours, then it became a free for all, life or death, roller coaster ride.

The second sneakiest means of transport on God's earth, after the two wheelers is the auto and a distance of about 3 miles took me a little over one hour to travel and by God! what a ride it was!

I was silently screaming (silent for fear that any sound might disturb the driver, which is of course stupid coz even my loudest scream would not have reached him amidst all the blaring cacophony of horns) with my eyes closed most of the time. There was an almost accident right outside my house when an auto and cycle were trying to gauge who could cover the distance between a turning school bus and the concrete divider and I had not even started on my journey.

I was gaping at the whole thing with wide frightened eyes... I mean I was the only one gaping at it with wide frightened eyes. Even the parties involved cursed each other a bit and went their merry way!!!


Oooooh yeah!!! I am home!!!

Buy Buy Buy!!

This is the motto of the united states. Until I went India shopping *, I never realized there were so many useless things that I absolutely needed.While I understand the concept of luxury and leisure, they take to heights unthought of here.


Post it Notes itself an item we can dispense with and they sell post it notes dispenser here which allows you to tear one note at a time. well duh uh! In tamil there is a term "Vazhapazha somberi". The term was coined after the story of this really lazy guy who was lying under the plantain tree with his mouth open hoping that a banana would fall in, rather than expend the energy to pluck one. That guy would be right at home here :-p

Then there is the scotch tape dispenser,which allows a person to gift wrap easily, and it is even refillable. Of course you have to buy the refill scotch tape at this specific shop coz its weirdly shaped and cannot be got anywhere else. it even has a wrist band so that u can wrap it around your hands while wrapping the gifts...
Sooo much more easier than having a scissors and an ordinary scotch tape and at just 10 times the cost.

Another great invention for some 20$ was the magic flash card. If a child pressed two numbers and one of the mathematical symbol (+, - ) , it would do the function and give out the result. Of course this was for kids from 4 and above and so would do only upto 12 addition and subtraction tables…. WOW!!!!
what a thingamajick


Hmph!! I think I will get my child a scientific calculator for less than that and do with it.


There is no concept of getting anything free of cost. For a person from India, this is especially a big shock. Even water , tea and coffee, which we used to take for granted back in the offices in India, are charged here.


But, for a person with money, sky is the limit, Every whim can be gotwithout so much as moving a finger, and I do mean literally.


That said, I have already talked about the marketing skills here… and to prove just that, I have loaded myself with many of these essential(ly) useless stuff and not sure how to bring it back home ..sigh!!!



*For the uninitiated: "India shopping" is the fancy term given to shopping for gifts before returning to India.

Back!

Hey All, Been ages since I even opened my Blog. It was always at the back of my mind that I was ignoring a good friend and that was not good :-p ... But time and work conspired against me.
The only thing I could think of to write were codes and more codes :-p

Oh Before I go on.. A very Happy New Year and Pongal to y'all

Just got routed to a blog by a friend... rather interesting. Not the blog by itself, but the various comments it seems to have gleaned.

Interested may check out the "Dull" hyperlink in the Links section.

Hey I tried chicken, shrimp and Steak. So whats the big deal huh?! The big deal is that I am a pure Veggie.
Well so were the Chicken, shrimp and Steak that I tried...Made of tofu.. pretty tasty stuff too.

Hmm!!! those who have missed out on seeing Guru... don't. A pretty good movie

The top spot of this year was not even my first helicopter ride but getting kissed by Mickey Mouse in Disney .. hehehe.. It sure is a child's ultimate paradise. What a place!!!

Until Next time then

One Year Yayyy!!!!

Hey I complete one year of blogging this month... wow!!! no wonder they say the time flies on silent wings...



Aur isi kushi mein, I am working over the weekend... :-)

Hype and Hoopla

Talk about Hype and hoopla or talk about US.
Everything here is the World's best, biggest and greatest. Coz the world is US and US is world.
Atleast that is what the people here believe. (don't believe me? check out some of their newspapers)

The world's biggest tree, the banner screamed. Come and see it in the Sequoia national park, it said.
So there we were, 10 gullible desi's, lunch packed and car rented, eager faces glowing with expectation, looking around, searching for the world's biggest tree.
But where was the tree? all the trees around us seemed to be huge but of almost the same size and we had seen ones larger than these.
Oh yes!!! there was a tree fenced all around...That must be the one!
So onward we marched to it, to find another placard. Yes!! this was the world's biggest tree, not in size but in Mass... well duh uh!! I am sure they measured the mass of every tree on God's Green earth. How about our Adyar "Alamaram" then?
I have seen photos of trees in the Amazon, through which they drive trucks... Is the mass of this tree greater even than those giants? Well so they say!!!


Lake Tahoe, our guide said, was one of the most beautiful lakes in the ...what else.. world. When u go on a cruise on the lake, be sure to look out for the island with the castle on top of it.
Being a hard core romantic, I had already built the castle in my imagination with turrets and dragons and princesses and knights and had my eyes peeled so as to not miss it.
It was twilight and the light was dimming, but hey we are talking of a castle... one does not miss a castle even in the dark right!!! When suddenly, "There it is" screamed the guide. I ran to his side to see what he was pointing at. Yeah there it was, a tiny island with a stone shed that looked like the tower on a castle...that was the castle they were so proud about. *Bang Bang Bang* (that was me hitting my head on the cruise railing!!! Sigh!!)

Another example was the drive through the world's most beautiful coast, the 17-mile drive of Monterey bay. Yes it was awesome pretty! but wait! had I not seen something just like this somewhere else?.. Pondicherry beach?!

While it can be irritating, exasperating and pretty much amusing to us, we have to give credit for the kind of marketing and hoopla they create about even the most mundane things.

We spoilt Indians who come from a land where almost every street has a significance and a history to speak of, take it all for granted. Here though, they create their own history and blow it up so much, that we almost expect to see a miracle at every corner.

If only we had the same mentality back home, I think we can stop all other industries and mint money on tourism alone :-).

PS: I was most irritated when on a Ghosts and Legends tour on the cruise liner RMS Queen Mary. I was all set to get frightened out of my wits and kept following the guide everywhere, until the ...exit, And did not even see a fake ghost... aargh!!!

PPS: It has been a horribly busy monht. But found time to write at last…

Out of Body Experience

You have heard of stepping into another person's shoes?
Its a great teacher... shows whole new perspective of looking at a person.
What we perceive as haughtiness or snobbishness could well be an indication of fear or shyness or insecurity.
Of course it takes a little time and a little less ego to actually do it.
But everybody should try it at least once in a while.
Makes life so much more understandable.

On the flip side, Kindness and understanding are frequently misunderstood for weakness. While there is no cure for actual rudeness and carelessness for other people's feelings, it is rare to find people who are actually that way.

Another funny thing is that while we read about so many things, we always blithely think it would never happen to us. For example I have read that every bit of life's experience changes/ molds something in a person's character.
So true! I am sure my parents, with whom I interact on a daily basis, would be shocked by the changes; the last few months have etched on me. Heck!! Even I have trouble recognizing myself now and then :-)

Hmm!!! Looks like working too hard makes me philosophical... so let me stop before I am tempted to discuss the meaning of life :-)

Oh God!!!!

This is the only place I know where they greet even God with Chocolates and Bouquets. In US, atleast the few temples that I have been to, people bring bouquets to worship god. Also the prasad could be anything from nuts to chocolate fudge. Next they will be asking God out to the prom too

What is the difference between a Child and a Dog in US.


The dog has four legs
The dog is taken for a walk
The dog is kept on a leash when out of the house
The dog is petted and feted by family and friends of owner


The child has two legs
The child is taken out for walks
The child is also kept on a leash when out of the house
The child is also feted and cooed by family and friends of parents

Umm!!! doesn't seem like there is much in the way of differences huh?!
While I understand that leash is a great way of keeping the small toddlers in control. It does not sit well with me to see a child and a dog both in leashes.
I am told that pets are a great ease for loneliness, which is why the people here are obsessed with them. But it did seem too much of a overkill when I saw a desk with one photo of a child surrounded by 8 - 10 photos of a dog at my workplace.

Got a Brand New iPod. Video, 30 GB and I am still admiring it


Could not resist temptation and bought a 3 inch heels shoes (not stilleto... as I still do not have a death wish) and am now on top of the world (Pun intended)

Hmm!!! All in all a very eventful :-) and very very expensive :-( week...

Fone Funnies

I am still deciding if the hands free concept for phones is a curse or boon.

At least at the advent of hands-free, there used to be chunky equipment for the ear and mouth and a long black/white or whatever color wire dangling like a snake all over the person. Most times after couple of minutes of staring we could determine if the person was just plain crazy or was talking over the phone.

As usual technology had to put its long nose into this area too and spoilt everything. Now with Bluetooth and WiFi and what not, the hands-free has become so small as to be virtually unnoticeable. I have especially come to hate the Bluetooth after its booming popularity, here in US.

Why US? You ask. Simple. Half the people here are already crazy, so its all the more difficult to determine if the person sitting next to you, talking to himself /herself, is talking over the phone or just ahh... softheaded. Since loose hair is de rigueur, it is next to impossible to see if they have something attached to their ear or not.

Just today morning a passer-by on the road smiled and said good morning and I smiled back and wished him. He looked a little startled, then smiled and went along his way… only then I noticed the blasted Bluetooth dangling from his ear… he was wishing someone over the phone.

The other day a techno mad senior colleague stopped by my cubicle and started talking. Pulled out of whatever I was concentrating on, I could not make sense of what he was saying… I was getting increasingly confused until he stopped talking and proudly pointed to his... sigh!!! Yeah! New Bluetooth.

So the next time I was walking by his desk and heard him talking, I blithely assumed he was on the phone and continued walking, until he called my name and asked where I was going when he was talking to me. :-p

Someday I am either going to hide the instrument or preferably throw it from the tallest building I can find here .. :-)But until I get the courage to do either its going to be one incident after another

Cuisines and I

This is probably something that no one expected from me, including myself, but I thought it was about time I wrote about it anyway.

As a rule I believe in the phrase "Eat to live". Except for a craving for a pasta or dosa or pizza now and then, food had never interested me, Neither cooking (Shudder!) nor eating.

Since I landed here though, I find myself obsessed with trying out cuisines from different parts of the world. It is a new and very enjoyable facet about myself that I have recently discovered. I

It all started when I was in SFO, cribbing about having had nothing but Indian food for almost 3 months and heartily sick of it... my friends therefore fed me different types of food and I was hooked. It is especially challenging for a veggie.

So here is a list of different cuisines I have tried so far

Thai - Pad Thai, Panang tofu, Red curry and a Thai ice tea - It was different. They seem to use a lot of coconut milk and tofu in their dishes to make up for the loss of meat

American – I am calling this American for the lack of name to call it by. But we had soup and sandwich… would that be English cuisine? ? I have also tried doughnuts, bagels (this is actually mid-European) , burgers, onion rings, French fries etc.

Mexican – Enchiladas, Burritos, Tacos, Tostada, Quesillada (have I got the spelling right?) and the all-important tortilla

Italian – Of course the Pasta and its different varieties like Penne, Spaghetti, Fusilli which when mixed with the olive oil and freshly ground pepper is perfecto and do not forget the Pizza (even if it is not exactly the Italian version of it. I hear the bread used in Italian Pizza is much thinner than what is generally used world around)…On a side note, the restaurant I went to, taught Italian in its rest rooms :-p

Chinese – Noodles and fried rice and Boy!!! They had this lovely chilli sauce that promises to blister the tongue… ummm!!! 情人 (thats chinese for yummy heheh)

South African – Sambusa (Samosa basically), Chapathi and Dengu (a dal of sorts and some salad ) and South African Vegetable Biriyani (almost like our chapathi and biriyani)

French – Baguette, Croissants, pastries, Soufflé ...ummm délicieux

English – Custard, Pudding (desserts but nevertheles…)

Indian – Nothing needs to be said here.

The stuff that I plan to eat in the very near future include

French – I hear there is something called a crepe that tastes good and gotta check it out
Mediterranean – My friend has told me Cous Cous and Falafel are good.
Singapore - Zi Cha, Tim Sum (was told to try it but not sure what they are… will let you know once I try)
Ethiopian and Vegan – have been hearing a lot about it
Russian – I hear they sweeten all their dishes.
Turkish - No idea what it will have :-)
English – Kedgeree (something like our kichdi)

I have found a place where they have all these different food… and looking forward to go there soon…But my very next place to visit is the Taco bell :-p

Anyone with other ideas on vegetarian Cuisines... Do feel free to let me know. :-)

Sigh!!! Some days it is just not worth the effort to get out of bed... :-(

Diwali without firecrackers?

Should India ban firecrackers?

Oh my! God!!! Its bad enough that I cannot be around in India, during the most festive, colourful and enjoyable of festivals. Now they want to ban firecrackers in India and that too during Diwali… Aargh!!! Why don’t these people put all this energy in doing something really useful like saving the world? Can one even imagine a diwali without crackers? But sadly there has been a lessening of the bursting of firecrackers over the years… or am I just growing up and do not burst them as much as I used to…. Naaahhh!!!

People have just become more worried about the environment and society. Good! but not at the cost of diwali… no sireee..
Another reason I heard for not bursting crackers was that the firecrackers factories use maximum of child labour. Horrible thing, no doubt.

When the parents of such children were interviewed though, they gave an answer that was absolutely irrefutable. They said, that much as they would love to have their children go to school and study, this kind of labour at least keeps the children (if not the whole family) in food. What use, they ask, would education be when their children are not even getting the 2 meals per day, this way at least they do not go hungry. :-(

I tell myself, every time I burst a cracker, that maybe a child was able to eat today.

So have a Safe and Colourful Diwali!!! :-)