Windows Vista – Windows Live Writer

This is just a test of the Vista WL Blog writer. You can basically set it up to publish rich content to any of your blogs.

Tai...

Today is 29th Dec and Tai (my grandmother) is in my thoughts as it was this day that she passed away. It has been a long time but some days you do not tend to forget irrespective of the passage of time. Every one called her "Tai" and my grandfather "Dada". The so called best days of life which usually are the childhood days were spent in their presence. My brother and I were lucky to have them live with us during those days. They nurtured a pretty big family I must say with 5 girls and a boy, which I still wonder how they managed to do during those days. I have a very hard time with just one.

But today I want to write about her. She was the go to person for me when both mom and dad were angry at my wrong doing. She would be the protective shield. She liked entertaining people all the time, no matter how big the crowd or how small the place. And for that, one has to be a very good cook which she was. She was also a cleanliness freak and also very detail oriented. She always had answers to our naive questions. She liked paan and ice cream quite a bit. She was always excited to take us out for ice cream once our final results were out. That was kind of a ritual for us. She used to be there with me when going to school, waiting for the school bus and was never afraid to give a piece of her mind to the driver if he was running a little late. She always said what was in her mind. She had a very good dressing sense with special nav-wari sarees for special occasions. She was like every other grandmother in the world, and then some more. That extra special quality that every grandmother has, to make her your grandmom :).

Winter has set in!

Winter has set in! It really seems like a whole season has gone by since I have written anything on my blog. I guess there is always a phase when you just don't feel like writing anything if you are a blogger. Well actually a season has really passed since I blogged last around Dassara. Diwali has come and gone, and along with it the taste of the faral and the sweets that were made during that festival. Our first Diwali, in our home, so it was special in a way. We did put up some lights and celebrated with fire crackers, played teen patti and managed not to lose a lot of money, was involved in organizing a Diwali event for the Utah Marathi Mandal which surprisingly turned out very well for the first time. Then we celebrated our birthdays, threw a party in a very nice banquet room which we managed to get due to one of our friends living there. Someday we plan to throw a party where the kids will get to enjoy more than us, that would have to mean, no alcohol and at a place like bouncing off the walls or the jungle jim's playland. The next day, my cousin and her husband visited us from India. It was really good to have them over for a few days, always feels nice when the house is filled up. We went to Moab for a couple of days as that was the warmest place within our reach. Moab is always fun, the downtown reminds me of Matheran and Mahabaleshwar for some reason, I don't know why.

I got myself the Canon Speedlite 430 EXII external flash as a birthday gift. I first used it during the birthday party and boy was it worth it. The external flash along with its powerful light, and bounce and tilt features make the photographs look so much better, got some really good captures. Then as I had promised my self a few years earlier that I would never go in the early morning to a thanksgiving sale, I somehow landed there at 4 in the morning, this after a party earlier which went pretty late into the night too. After that I have renewed my promise once again with the exception of online shopping. I always think that Cyber Monday and Pink Thursday after the Black Friday is kind of a lame concept. Why don't they make the black friday deals even better so that they don't have to deal with left overs?

Yesterday was a feel good day, why?, just because I watched Sehwag bat for 6 hrs and beat the s**t out of the so called lions. I do not remember seeing a more demoralized team than SL. It was sad that he could not reach 300, but I am pretty sure there are more of these special innings to come. He really does not get the praise and the attention he deserves and finally when Sambit Bal wrote on CricInfo, comparing him to Viv Richards, one of not so ardent fans of Richards commented from across the border saying "This is rubbish, only Hindu mentality can think like this.", to this I would like to say, thank god for the Hindu mentality and thank god for it was SL else you would have already killed the coach and called off the test. For now though, I am eagerly waiting for the team to be the #1 test team after tomorrow's result.

9 years!!! Wow!!!

Today it will be 9 years since the first time I left India to come to the US. Yes 9 long and eventful years. It is unbelievable how fast time flies by. Almost a decade gone by in a flash, it seems like. It seems like only a few days back that I had decided that the job which I was working in India was far too boring and that I wanted to study more and had decided to give my GRE exam. After some time it was time to say good bye to the family. There were parties being held before the departure with some enthusiastic relatives handing me flower bouquets at the party as well as the airport. I had flown just once before this and the excitement of flying was there initially. Then set in the fact that I was going to be away from the family for the very first time in 23 years and that too at such a distance that only digital communication would be the way to get in touch with them every now and then. After saying the goodbyes we went to check in fearing that the nice things that mom had prepared would be confiscated. Yes I had my future college roommate accompanying me during our Swiss Air flight. I remember meeting a sardarji sitting next to me and ranting about how he did not get a last minute flight with British Airways as they are the best in takeoff and landing. He literally gestured with his hands to show how the BA flight lands differently than all the other flights in the world. I thought that was funny at first but then it got irritating. During takeoff my roommate’s eyes were as wide as an owl staring at a flashlight.

After the long flight and some desperate measures to prevent our luggage from being stolen at Zurich airport, we landed in Atlanta and then took a flight to Kansas city. There was a person waiting for us who looked a little like Kurt Cobain. He was generous enough to drop us at our residential on-campus place. There we were pleased to see a swarm of Indian students ready to greet us. One of my very good friends now, this guy cooked for us rajma/chaval. I'll be meeting him after a few years now when he comes to visit me during the Labor Day weekend this year.

There are some of the small things you tend to remember distinctly and some not so small things you tend to forget. Some first encounters with people in your life now are strikingly eventful, some are not. So after this initial phase of trying to find an apartment we finally moved into a nice polished one and were 6 of us. The 3 years thereafter were filled with some amazing memories to cherish forever. The doctor, the pretender, the ballerina, the boxer and the baby [since he was the youngest] were some really great guys that I had roommates during this time in Kansas City. The journey so far has been interesting with some achievements turning into fulfilled dreams, some not. We'll see how it goes ;).

M.J.

Can't believe MJ's gone. I was in a flight to Atlanta when I saw it on CNN. As they were flashing this breaking news story it was one of those moments where you want to rub your eyes to see what you are seeing is really happening. As the news sunk in one starts to wonder the frailty of life. The king of pop as they call it was no more. Thriller was my first compact disc growing up and it was awesome. It was worth every rupee as CDs were expensive and tapes were the way of life then. I do not remember the number of times I tried to immitate the moon-walk without success or throw the hat in the air trying to land it on the head and forget about standing on the toes. His entry on the stage where he shoots up from below the stage was simply mindblowing. SRK tried that in DTPH but looked stupid. Even now, listening to Billy Jean at full blast gives a different kind of high. RIP MJ.

Voting with the Middle Finger!!!

Really, that’s what everyone was showing after they voted. Well they were not flipping the bird but were actually showing that they voted. The EC in India has now decided to blot the ink on the middle finger. The last time I voted and that too the one and only time it was the index finger that was marked. Guess the election commission also has some sense of humor. Newspapers next day flashed photos of celebrities proudly showing their middle finger anointed with the royal blue ink. Some of the snaps were hilarious.

Voting or the ability to vote is one of the cherished aspects of any country's constitution, or should I say any country that exercises democracy. It is a proof of support you show towards a certain commotion, candidate, political party, etc. I personally love to vote but being in the US does not allow me to do that. I feel that the EC should start some sort of web voting for NRIs or people away at the time of the general elections. I was saddened to see that overall voting in Mumbai was counted at only 47%. That means more than half of the people of the most populated city in India do not care of the results that the elections may churn out. That’s really sad.

Someone asked me was it the fear of the swine flu I mean H1N1 flu (sorry not allowed to say swine flu anymore)? Really? I don't think so. People have summoned up courage to go to crowded places when more dangerous acts have been witnessed by the city. I am not sure what it will take other than bollywood actors asking people to vote on television, for the people to actually go out and exercise their fundamental right.

P.S. Talking of the H1N1 flu, that huge 40oz bottle of GermX lying on my office desk does not look so crazy now :) does it?

The Easter Eggu Bau Hunt!!!

I dragged myself for an Easter Egg Hunt [Eggu Bau == Egg for Aarav] last Sunday, yes on a precious Sunday with Radhika and Aarav to one of our friend's backyard. Egg and Hunt somehow don't sound right to me juxtaposed. The Egg in Easter symbolizes birth or rebirth in most of the current and the past civilizations. Hence used to decorate. In the end it turned out pretty good mainly because of the awesome weather and the kids had a good time. There were some really animated sugar high toddlers running around the yard creating plenty of mess to clean up for later. Sundays do sound so precious nowadays, just feel like doing nothing, staying at home kind of a day.I don't know if its global warming or the earth just needing more precipitation, but can you believe that its still snowing heavily in April. Good for the ski resorts I guess. But not so much for us, who are waiting to burn our tires to long road trips in the summer, so much to see, so much to do, places to go, people to meet, and enjoy the summer in spite of the blistering heat... wow that had a rhyme to it. Last year the summer was a blast! 1 SUV, 2 Camping Trips, 3 Months of rollicking fun, 4 National Parks, 5 Lakes, 6 Families for the get together, simply priceless!!! Hope this summer is as good as the last if not better.

The Amazing Charlie Chaplin.

"I love walking in the rain because, nobody can see me crying."
- Charlie Chaplin

Such immortal words, what a fabulous artist, a great comedian who brought smiles to the faces of millions, but was sad and depressed from inside. Sometimes I wonder, are all clowns that way? Making people laugh is not easy, it requires an enormous amount of talent and spontaneity. Nowadays its all about funny dialogue delivery but this guy did not have those tools at that time. Or may be he did but he did not choose to use them; who knows. His movies were silent and his body language and expressions were all that he needed to make people laugh. I think that is a really special trait.

Did you know that there is a whole planet named after Charlie Chaplin? Such was the impact he had during the WWI and the great depression. His "The Kid" is one of my favorite movies. As a kid I used to watch almost all his shows on Doordarshan, yes as we call it DD1 or DD2. As I was going through and organizing my DVD collection I came across a movie of his, so I decided to watch if for a while and it was same as if I was watching it 20 years ago, simply timeless.

The Indian Cow: Hope you don't forget your english after reading this!

This is a true essay written by a Bihari candidate at the UPSC(IAS)Examinations.
The candidate has written an essay on the Indian cow:

Indian Cow

HE IS THE COW. "The cow is a successful animal. Also he is 4 footed, And because he is female, he give milks, [ but will do so when he is got child.] He is same like-God, sacred to Hindus and useful to man. But he has got four legs together. Two are forward and two are afterwards. His whole body can be utilised for use.More so the milk. Milk comes from 4 taps attached to his basement. [ horses dont have any such attachment

What can it do? Various ghee, butter, cream, curd, why and the condensed milk and so forth.Also he is useful to cobbler, watermans and mankind generally. His motion is slow only because he is of lazy species., Also his other motion.. gober] is much useful to trees, plants as well as for making flat cakes[like Pizza ] , in hand , and drying in the sun. Cow is the only animal that extricates his feeding after eating. Then afterwards she chew with his teeth whom are situated in the inside of the mouth.

He is incessantly in the meadows in the grass. His only attacking and defending organ is the horns, specially so when he is got child. This is done by knowing his head whereby he causes the weapons to be paralleled to the ground of the earth and instantly proceed with great velocity forwards.He has got tails also, situated in the backyard, but not like similar animals. It has hairs on the other end of the other side. This is done to frighten away the flies which alight on his cohesive body hereupon he gives hit with it.The palms of his feet are soft unto the touch So the grasses head is not crushed. At night time have poses by
looking down on the ground and he shouts . His eyes and nose are like his other relatives. This is the cow.......

The ALL-Nighter!

Ah the nostalgia of going through an all-nighter has hit me as I sit in front of the computer working on some client related issues. In short, the client is to be shown a demo of the site first thing tomorrow morning and it is having last minute issues. As I dig deeper, I ponder over the prospect of an exciting all-nighter. There is hardly an engineering student in this universe who has not enjoyed the deafening silence of the night trying to get his or her assignment turned in or preparing for the next morning's board exam.

As boring as it sounds, trust me, we actually used to look forward to these nights during school and college days. Although some nights were simply work-horse-like others used to be fun. The venue used to be different, the music changed over the years, the tasks used to vary but some things that we always did were drink lots of tea from the chaiwala or at home and eat lots and lots of maggi with an extraneous medley of eggs; yummm!!! There was a friend of mine who loved our company so much that he just used to come there and sleep it out like a baby. Others were easily distracted by the then new MTV and channel V music channels. As dawn neared the frequency of the breaks used to go up.

Ok looks like it was a false alarm and everything seems to be in order now after some intervention from yours truly. Tomorrow is president's day well actually today since it's well past midnight, so a Happy President's day to all of you!!! Whatever that means, I have to work though :(.