2009 - The Year That Has Been

I don't know when, where and how 2009 breezed by. There were LOADS of things I decided to do at the beginning of this year - on the professional and personal front. Hardly a few have been completed. And some have not even been started! Such as:-

1. Cleaning my room to make it look perfect (I like to be optimistic!)

2. Shopping for clothes I will USE

3. Writing my travelogues

4. Finding the treadmill wire

5. Buying a new cell phone

6. Dining at Basilico (Its Shridhar's fault, not mine, that this has not yet been completed)

7. Blogging regularly

8. Reading all blogs I decided to follow

9. Completing reading all books / articles on my reading list

10. Searching for the said books / articles

But I have managed to:-

1. Learn how to use Facebook effectively

2. Start making lists like Mia Thermopolis

3. Design and decorate my alcove

4. Fall asleep while reading a book with the lights on in my alcove

5. Got recognition for my work (That is one professional accomplishment)

6. Read a bunch of e-books while at work and still got a thumbs up from my boss (for my work, not the e-books)

7. Attend wedding ceremonies of two friends and enjoyed them thoroughly

8. Take the GMAT and score decently

9. Feel surprised and have even resented, at times, at the changes I have observed in me and the people around me and not show it on my face.

10. Talk to a friend after a long time :)


All in all, not a bad year. Just a fast one with me and a couple of cousins pleading for it to slow down, month-wise ;)

Maya - Re-visited

Lately, I have done a lot of retrospection, thinking about various people, places and incidences. And I thought of Maya!

For those of you who do know her:
I have mailed a couple of people asking about her, but no leads. She has disappeared! Totally! I would have liked to follow her, though.

And for those of you who do not know her yet, get to know her! Following is a mail I sent more than two years back and a dear cousin (Muah!) saved it for me in the form of a blog which I am happy to copy-paste from her! :)

I still get that mixed feeling of admiration and heart-wrenching happiness when I read it. And for all this, I sincerely hope she is very happy.

" Maya, a lady in her late 20s, probably 27 - 30. She is a 8th standard drop-out from छबिलदास School (Rucha, its a school which was ONLY good during our आजी's schooling years and probably a few years after that!). Her family lives near Curry Road Station, very near to लालबागचा गणपती. Her mother works as a cleaner at Mumbai airport. Her father probably does a similar kind of job somewhere. She looks after patients who have very little hope of survival or extremely old people. She was a so-called nurse for a kid with lukemia. She was jobless after 5 years as the patient was no more. Then she was offered a similar position with a family to look after their very old grandfather. She was and I think still is with the same family.


Do you know where she lives? In the Heart of Central London !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Her second employer was so happy with her work that he sponsered her work permit and since she already had been in the UK for the past 5 years, he even helped her with her residentship.


Today, a very proud Maya is one of the official residents of the Queen's country. In these 11 years, she has travelled to Nigeria, Spain and Italy. She converses very well in English, though not that very fluently, with a bit of an accent !!!! She knows Marathi, Hindi and Gujrathi - reading, writing and speaking. She cooks very good Gujrathi food (it was a part of her second job). And of course English for her daily life.


I met her when she had come to meet माधवी मामी. When she registered with मामी's marriage bureau, मामी told her that she would not accept any registration fees from her as it would be entirely मामी's pleasure. But when she completed the form and left, she had quitely slipped 100 pounds between the pages.


It was संक्रांत and Mami gave her गुळाची पोळी which was generously soaked in ghee (there is no तूप here !!). That was the first time she said she had tasted a real गुळाची पोळी!!


I sent a usual Sunday nite mail to aai and just as I switched off my laptop, I remembered I forgot to mention the most important event of the weekend. I was sleepy and thought I would do that from office tomorrow and with that I turned off the light at midnight. But for the next 40 minutes, I just couldn't concentrate on sleep. Somewhere in my mind a voice was saying, "Send the mail NOW! Tell everyone NOW ! " So now its 1:00 am, Monday morning and as I finish writing this mail, I feel completely relaxed and genuinly happy for Maya. My Sunday evenings are generally spent in thinking about the boring week ahead or which company have I left out for job applications. But I couldn't help feeling absolutely happy for Maya today !!


3 Cheers for her."

What's Your Time?

I am wondering if you know what "time" you live in? Are you "with times", "ahead of times" or "behind times"? And by 'you' I mean the society in general.

Our society is such a varied mixture of everything thrown together, all mixed up and confused! And then that same mixture of confusion thrown back at us in different forms, that I sometimes wonder how we (or at least I) manage to stand up again after a new series of this throwing and catching game of mixed confusions takes place?

All this has confused me beyond limit! :) But what I really want to say is that how do we manage to survive peacefully in all this mess that we call the 'traditional Indian culture'? Or is it just me bothering about apparently insignificant things?

At least that's what MY society is like - the people I meet everyday and those that I don't.

To quote a few unique examples... the first one that comes to mind is a former colleague - a classic case of timeless confusion! A simple, plain-Jane, good girl and starved in the name of religion. So starved, that I thought her to be much younger than she actually was when I first met her. Plain-Jane fasted for most days of the week not knowing (1) the significance of the day, (2) the deity/God she was supposed to be fasting for and (3) the 'rules' that are to be followed during a fast! When asked why she bother about all this when she didn't know answers to any of the above, all she would say was, "That's the way it is. I can't help it."


And do any of you (yes, you, the reader) have answers to any of the above? Are you aware of the 'rules' that I am talking about? Maybe not. Here are a few:

(1) When a person fasts for one day, that day is counted from dawn to dusk.

(2) Coffee and not tea is allowed during a not-so-strict fast because coffee beans are not native crops/plants of this country. Same for potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts and chillies. (Yes. Thank Mexico for all the spicy chillies.)

(3) God does not come to your rescue if you do something stupid like wait in queue for long hours in scorching heat outside his temple (which he NEVER claims, by the way) while fasting and then faint on your way home.


The cherry on the cake was Jane not eating red-coloured potato papads on one of her fast days because I told her she could not have them if she was fasting! I said thay because the papads were fried. Not because of the colour. But she thought it was because of the colour (She told me so).


The next case is of a friend trying to be 'ahead' but is in fact between 'with' and 'behind' times. While finding a suitable wedding present, I came across a beautiful set of earrings in silver. But was advised not to buy those (by Aai) because (according to Aai & I fully trust her with such things) she and her family are a little conservative and such people usually prefer the newly married girls in their families to wear gold jewellery. Silver jewellery is for the younger, un-married girls! "What crap!", was my immediate reaction. "If silver jewellery looks good with an outfit you are wearing, then you wear silver jewellery! What has that got to do with your marital status? And does jewellery not symbolise wealth?" All Aai had to say was, "These girls wear outfits which only go with gold jewellery."

This same friend will soon be leaving her job as she is moving to a different city after marriage. Given the current economic and job scenario, I casually mentioned that continuing with her present job till an equally good one is at hand will be wise. Hers is a love marriage. So I thought a little adjustment will neither be a problem nor a mis-understanding. I was gently reminded that it was impossible to work out such a situation and it was best not to discuss it further!


I understand that such changes are not possible overnight. But why don't we use our own brains while deciding what is good for us and what is not? Afterall, we have been given the power to think so that we can employ it for our own use and betterment. Not for Nature's amusement!


All said and done, I wonder which "times" do we live in? "With", "Ahead" or "Behind"?

For September's Sake

I have waited the entire month to find something to blog about. Nothing seemed to be remotely interesting. So on this 29th day of September of the year 2009 (शालिवाहन शक 1931 or विक्रम संवत 2065), the following is for September's Sake...random pictures taken on spur of the moment which I shall never upload anywhere else.

My hyper-active, clever nephew, Raadnya

A born drama-queen, my cousin, Shreya, on her 4th birthday

Thankfully, I just got half a blue-coloured worm painted on my nail as against the WHOLE earthworm in black that my cousin got!

A new beginning amidst the concrete forest?

My photo identity card when I visited Pfizer. Apparently, these cards are issued to EVERY visitor EVERY day. Their office building has just 3 floors - ground + 2 - and they still have a lift! The company has SO MUCH MONEY!! But will they pay us??

Two of my friends discussing their exam.

And the remaining. This was after a seam-splitting dinner of chicken and fish taken from a good phone camera by a not-so-tech-savvy मावशी! But I like it all the same :-)

Starstruck !!

"Captivated by famous people". That is what I am. STARSTRUCK!! :) And the star? A new author (from as much as I know) - Monica Pradhan. For those who are lost, she has written a really cool, contemporary novel about how the ABCDs* are ABC-ed. Actually, there is less of the confusion part and more of the "finding a new meaning to life"- cum -"mid-life crisis"-sort of situations. With mouth-watering recipes thrown in at intervals, this book is a great read. Specially for mothers and daughters. Not that guys are banned from reading it, but well...they are guys! I am not going to review the book here. Making it a 'compulsory read' for Mum, my aunt and cousins is a review in itself! But what I am going to write about is the starstruck part of the entire thing.

Blame it on my efficiency or recession, I found I had nothing to do (work-wise) yesterday morning at work. Since I was reading Meg Cabot's blogs (another fantastic writer!) and was very much into books (when am I not?), I decided to Google Monica Pradhan. Not getting satisfactory information, I FB-ed her. Something got into me and I sent her a message (& a friend request which embaressed me A LOT as I couldn't undo it). But YAYYEE........ she not only replied back promptly, but also accpeted the friend request. So YAYYEE........ again !! And that is why I am starstruck!!

After the initial bubble of excitement ebbed a bit, I decided to blog (Mind you, I am still floating!). But for my initial reactions, read along:
"This is just so cool you know. Because Meg Cabot, J. K. Rowling, and so many other favourites have a huge fan following. They can't really take time out and reply. But this lady is just GREAT !! Besides, you know, I have never joined a fan club or some thing like that. Nor am I a celebrity-worshipper. But this is so cool!! :) She is a proper author and now a 'friend' (YAYYE... :D). And she seems totally cool about adding me as a friend!! And all this is so exciting because:-
1) Most of the authors that I like/love are dead (except the 2 mentioned above and they can't reply for the reasons stated above) so they can't reply as it is !!
2) And this is just so cool...saying "Yeah. Monica Pradhan...nice lady... A friend of mine you know..." (Oh so cool. Sounds super cool when I read it!)"

Can't stop grinning ear-to-ear!! Imagine this: My name has been added to a good author's friend's list on a social networking site !! Wait till I tell Aai.

*American Born Confused Desis.

"Its all about the liquid Ma'm!"

An hour at a beauty parlour is a good way of expanding one's knowledge on a wide range of topics - Bollywood gossip, latest films, household remedies on infinite problems, train crowds and rush hours, latest numbers of piggy-flu deaths, weekly offs, pollution, diseases, latest on the daily soaps and reality shows, scandalous marriages, children, rains or no rains, senior colleagues who are not present, junior colleagues who are present, rising costs, un-availability of vegetables, problems with in-laws, .... and it goes on! During my last visit, little did I expect that I would learn more about biochemistry!

While getting my hair trimmed, the hair-dresser started commenting on greying hair at early ages. For those of you who know me well will know that I have a lot of white/grey hair ever since the last of my school days. Now, this kind lady was patiently explaining that one should not pull out grey hair. I nodded (to the extent possible to let her know that I was listening) thinking, "Of course not! It would hurt a lot!" But she had a different story to tell.

"People always pull out their white hairs Ma'm. But you know Ma'm, it is not good to do like that. You know, there is a liquid at the hair roots (I beg your pardon?). When you pull out you hair, this liquid spreads to the surrounding areas and goes into the roots of surrounding hair (I was silently crying "Miracle" by this time). And they also become white!" (I couldn't control the hysterical burst of suppressed laughter any longer, so I said aloud, "Really? Incredible science!!"

And I was thinking, why do they not teach this at college-level? Its all about controlling the spread of that stupid liquid! I mean, if science can control spread of harmful rays, water pollutants, virus (up to a certain extent), then why not that damned liquid?!

Friendship Day & more...

Friendship Day calls for celebrations! And thats exactly what we did yesterday. I was hoping to meet at least 5 of my friends, but managed to meet just 2. But this blog is not going to be about my friends. It is going to be about my parents' friends (who also happen to be my friends' parents!)

Our parents met 22 years ago, when we started school, and have come a long way since then. Hats off to them and long live their friendship! Lately, however, they have started acting like teenagers. I have been the sole witness to this event when we were at Saral, a village near Alibaug. And as if squabbling, arguing and chattering like kids was not enough, they have started planning on watching movies. Just yesterday, at the above mentioned Friendship Day celebration get-together, following was the conversation that had me frozen on the spot with the sambar spoon suspended midair.
सं काका: "ऐका जरा...'लव आज कल' ला जायच का? रात्रि चा सर्वात शेवटचा शो? पीव्हीआर ला जाऊ या."
पू मावशी: "ए हो...आम्ही पीव्हीआर ला गेलो होतो दोघे... खूप छान आहे."
सं काका: "कुठला बार पहिला सिनेमा आपण? हा....'कंबक्त इश्क'. धमाल आहे रे सिनेमा...फुल टाइम पास."
बाबा: "हो. मंगळवार बार पडेल."
शि काका: "मला मंगळवार नाही जमणार. शुक्रवार जमेल का?"
सगळे: "हो जमेल की. मग ठरल तर...ह्या शुक्रवारी 'लव आज कल'."
...............
Moving on to other things, I have started reading Atlas Shrugged, again! And there are so many parts that I did not completely understand the first time I read it, that I am glad I started readng it again :) This is a must read book for all who hate to see ability being wasted.
...............
Coming back to the topic of friends, our parents will be celebrating 25 years of friendship 3 years from now. I wonder how many of us will be there for the "event". It does seem strange that the people because of whom they got acquainted may not be present on that day. I hope at least one of us will be able to make it.

CCD

Social networking sites - and Facebook is what I am specifically talking about - have given rise to CCD.
Compulsive Commenting Disorder.
And I have started feeling repulsive about it, so much so, that I sort of like it when nobody comments on my status/quiz updates.

I guess I am just being... well... ME. The not-wanting-to-talk-to-too-many-people-and-not-wanting-too-many-people-to-talk-to-me Maitreyee!

Of Times Gone By

Ever wondered about the first page of a history book? Has anyone ever read it? May be time has! It must have even lived the first page of history. And is sure to live long enough to tell the real story about everything. Only if it had a tongue!

Some of the things I would like to know from Time:-

1. How exactly was the first living cell formed? And how/when did it replicate?
2. Was Nature so pleased with herself that she went on indefinitely replicating cells, so much so, that they formed dinasours?
3. How did the Harrapan people sound like? I mean, their voice. How was it?
4. Who invented the fire and who invented the wheel? Were they proudly smug about it?
5. Did Marie Antoinette really say, "Then let them eat cakes, instead"?
6. Who was the one who thought that observing stars could lead to something? Did he/she have any idea what a lot of science as well as a lot of crap it was going to lead to? (No, I don't think he did!)
7. Before the Big Bang that led to the formation of the current universe, was there life anywhere at all?
8. Did गणपती really exist?
9. When Australia and New Zealand broke apart from the main land and sort of started drifting away, did the people and/or animals notice it? Did they jump from this part of the land to the other and then back when the two land masses were close enough?
10. And where did Jesus Christ breath his last?

Only if time had a tongue...

Mail's Here!

I love getting mails. I mean, the conventional, postal mail. Though these days, it has reduced to bank statements, cell phone bills and the likes of it, I still love seeing an envelope with my name on it. It gives me a feeling of belonging to a place though I am physically not there! (Not cell phone bills!). Too bad we never got anything from school/college send to us by post. Though I got my felicitation invitation through post, I sort of knew it was on its way, so I don't like to count that. It was a photocopied letter, anyway.

I also love writing letters and occassionally posting greeting cards. They are much better than the stupid flash e-cards that are available. Its just that these things are more personalised. They convey the 'real you'. I agree this form of communication is extremely slow than the ones used today, but I never feel elated in the true sense when I get an e-mail. Hand written letters, even if they are short, always rock!

The hand of the writer moves along as he/she writes the letter...one can never get such a feeling with an e-mail (Fingers of the person punched certain keys? Ew..I don't think so!)
Reminds me of a book, "The Walled Garden" by Catherine Dunne. A major chunk of that book is in the form of letters written by a mother to her children. Also, I could truely connect with Snape's feelings when he found Lilly's letter. So true. My eyes stung reading that bit. Because I myself have a few letters written to me by my grandparents and cousins that I treasure a lot.
On the whole, its better to pen down one's thoughts than to type them out. Is it hypocricy on my part that I am blogging about 'pen-ing down thoughts'? I wonder.

_ _ _

Indian people DON'T understand the terms 'office' and 'colleagues' !! Or at least the ones in my office don't. Certainly don't.

About 2 months back, there was this girl who joined office. Lets call her 'A' for the time being. She used to call me दीदी. And not the entire दीदी; used to be just दी. Ewww ............. And she called a few other guys (more or less my age) भईया !! (Can't write that properly. Something wrong with the Devnagri font tab). Its an Office, for crying out loud!!

And since this week, another girl 'D' has joined। All that she has told me about her is that her name is 'D' and she is from some small town in Maharashtra. And she is so country !! And why am I expected to give her parental guidance?

Why? Why does this happen to me? Why do I end up meeting "absolutely country people" where ever I go? This is positively disgusting!

P.S. The reason this post is not titled is because I am too irritated to think of a suitable title for such irritating events in office!

Weather - Nice and Sunny!

I have been observing the weather for the past week. Bright sunshine, clear skies with an isolated white cloud. Slight breeze, enough to keep one from sweating, but not enough to get a nice cool feeling. Well-defined shadows of people, cars and cattle on the concrete roads. All this reminded me of Maldives :)
And suddenly, I could smell the salty sea. Continued to smell it even while I was stuck in traffic...and even now as I sit in my air-conditioned office at the end of the day, typing this and thinking about the abnormally long 'To Do' list that is starring at me from my table.
But whatever...And the rains will be here soon!!

Indiam Premier League or Intellectual Property League

I am not a very devoted follower of the SpicyIP group blogs, but do read an eye-catching-titled entry at times. I am numbed seeing the way people, particularly team owners, are cashing in on the popularity of IPL.
Just this morning I heard on the radio that Reebok is giving out customised team jerseys to the ardent IPL fans. And this was the SpicyIP blog that finally made me blog about something (again!) I don't like very much:
"Along with everyone else cashing in on the success of the IPL, IPR firms do not seem far behind. With the objective “to protect IP, make a profit and increase brand valuation”, teams like the Deccan Chargers have opted to create an IP portfolio, including trademarks for team logos, copyright over player uniforms and website layouts.
The Mint reports that the exponential popularity of the IPL has led team owners to recognise the inherent brand value attached and proactively protect the same. Aside from The Deccan Chargers, the Kolkata Knight Riders seem to have also applied to the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks for protection of their mark in the fields of financial services, insurance, beauty care products (amongst others) and the Mumbai Indians have filed trademark applications for cosmetics, musical instruments and photographic equipment etc.
Apart from the more traditional protection, with the aggressive promotion in the real world has been coupled with a more defensive approach on the internet. The teams have opted to drive away cyber squatters by pre-empting unauthorized linking of team websites to other sites as well as pre-empting squatters from buying the team domain names.
With matches becoming more exciting, these concerns are definitely well founded. It certainly looks like it has become the Intellectual Property League!"

100 Books

The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up? Instructions: Put an X next to the ones you've read.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen X

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling X

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 1984 - George Orwell X

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott X (and the sequels too!)

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (Duh! One is enough)

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell X

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (Have read the one meant for kiddies, but not the original one)

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma - Jane Austen X (This is PnP with different names;))

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen (Did not attempt due to above reason)

36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (Searching for a copy)

40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne X

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell X

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown X

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery X (All of them, thanks to a dear friend)

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel X

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (Kiddies version)

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding X (Both. And loved them)

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville (Kiddies version)

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (Kiddies version)

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce

76 The Inferno - Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens X

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle X (The entire original collection, thanks to tai and S)

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute X

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas X

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo X

And there are so many of them which do not feature in this list that I have read... BBC needs to get in touch with me!! ;)

Julie Andrews On Turning 69

To commemorate her 69th birthday, actress / vocalist, Julie Andrews made a special appearance at Manhattan's Radio City Music Hall for the benefit of the AARP. One of the musical numbers she performed was "My Favorite Things" from the legendary movie "Sound Of Music".

Here are the lyrics she used:

Maalox and nose drops and needles for knitting,

Walkers and handrails and new dental fittings,

Bundles of magazines tied up in string,

These are a few of my favorite things.

Cadillacs and cataracts, and hearing aids and glasses,

Polident and Fixodent and false teeth in glasses,

Pacemakers, golf carts and porches with swings,

These are a few of my favorite things.

When the pipes leak,

When the bones creak,

When the knees go bad,

I simply remember my favorite things,

And then I don't feel so bad.

Hot tea and crumpets and corn pads for bunions,

No spicy hot food or food cooked with onions,

Bathrobes and heating pads and hot meals they bring,

These are a few of my favorite things.

Back pain, confused brains and no need for sinnin',

Thin bones and fractures and hair that is thinnin',

And we won't mention our short shrunken frames,

When we remember our favorite things.

When the joints ache,

When the hips break,

When the eyes grow dim,

Then I remember the great life I've had,

And then I don't feel so bad.

Ms. Andrews received a standing ovation from the crowd that lasted over four minutes and repeated encores.

Courtesy Bits and Pieces

The Laadli Week

I think it is a great idea to customise the western concept of celebrating commemorative days/weeks for a cause so very Indian in nature. However, compared to the other corporate-backed days/weeks that are recognised, I feel very little is being done on the PR front for the Laadli week. Please correct me if I am wrong, but there is not a single banner/poster in the entire city advertising the L. week. No newspaper has properly covered/followed the happenings of the L. week. Even the radio stations have failed to mass advertise this initiative. Infact, had it not been for MSN updates, I would have not known such a thing was happening in the country! (I do not watch much of TV!!)

Another point to be noted is that even though the funds are being raised now (funds were to be raised during the L. week which was sometime in March 2009) for the education of 600 girls in Sawai Madhopur, a village in Rajasthan; will the girls be able to attend school when the academic year starts after 3 months? Would it not have been better if the organisers had shown some patience and carried out this activity in the months of May-June when schools begin to re-open? Or even in July like those in Delhi?

But I am not complaining...a step has been taken towards realising a dream of mammoth dimensions! :)http://entertainment.in.msn.com/bollywood/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2929233

IPL

The IPL has had its fair share of attention even before the start of the actual event. Let it be the auctioning, the owners and part-owners, the venues, broadcasting rights - its all over the place. IPL never interested me as I am not a cricket fan (but interests me enough to blog about it ;-) ). But as an Indian and a world citizen, I have the following objections/queries, not necessarily in the order mentioned.

1. There is a difference when one plays for one's country and when one plays for a city, if you know what I mean. As far as my (tiny) knowledge about cricket goes, cricket's future as an inter-country game looks brighter than an intra-country game.
2. This brings me to the next point. The intra-country game. Though I am against pitching a group of 11 sportsmen against each other, the rest of India is for it. There is no doubt about that. And since IPL has been portrayed as an intra-country game, which it is, there is no point in conducting the event on another continent. The entire purpose of such a venture is defeated. Under these circumstances, is IPL still 'all about cricket' as has been advertised? May I remind that this is the INDIAN PL and not the INTERNATIONAL PL!
3. The venue issue leads to the next point. The inter-city competition. It is not a difficult task if the matches are held in India, as was last year. Are the sponsors expecting the same kind of enthusiasm this year?
4. Lalit Modi recently made a statement saying that continuity of the game was crucial than the profits! Are you serious Mr. Modi? If so, could you have not scheduled the event pre- or post-elections. Everybody knew that India was going to polls in 2009. Thanks to all the voters' registration advertisements post 26/11. Why not take a gap year instead? Raise a debt-note and return all money that exchanged hands during the auctions!
5. This brings me to the last point - auctioning of players - is it not like buying slaves? The difference is that the players get hefty amounts after every match. And international brand endorsements take care of the rest.

It is not that I am against IPL. Its just that it has blown cricket out of proportion. Cricket isn't cricket any more. Its more of glamour and less of sport. Forget cricket entering the Olympics!

But heyy...big deal! Watch the match, enjoy the game and forget it. At least Pak players are excluded this year!!

Phew

This is what happened today morning.
I was introduced to a guy (he was more of an Ape-ish looking uncle...as though he had excess bone growth!) by a common acquaintance. This new guy came to me and said, "I am told u had gone at UK to study. If you are OK, I want to ask few questions." (Note the wierd English). I told him I had no problems answering his questions. Once the questions started, I knew I had made a big mistake! Our conversation went as follows:
['AU' stands for ape-ish uncle. And everything in italics is what I say in my mind.]
*****
AU: How is everybody there?
M: (umm...what a question!! Are u referring to the Queen's pets or the sweeper who cleaned my apartment weekly?) Umm...is this relating to the universities or living or working? (I get no answer to this question.)
AU: I will get job? I have work permit of Saudi. So I can work in London?
M: (Do you really think you are allowed to work in the UK with a Saudi work permit??!!) I cannot say if you will get a job there. And definitely not during these times!!
AU: I can ask for work permit?
M: (May be he means apply for work permit) If a company interviews and selects you, then its the company's responsibility to get a work permit for you. Nobody can apply individually for a work permit as one applies for a visa.
AU: OK. But I will get good job?
M: (Right!! Now he is not happy with just a job. He wants a 'good' job.) I am sorry, but I really can say nothing about getting jobs.
AU: I also want favour. (Do you have no self respect??) My cousin is also there. He has hard problems with money. There is no bank account and he has cheque. So if you have known friends there, he can stay with them...(WHAT DOES THAT BLOODY MEAN???)
M: I think the International Students' Association at your cousin's University will be able to help better.
AU: Where is International Students' Association?
M: At your cousin's University!
AU: My cousin is not in University, he is in college. (OMG OMG OMG Help me !! HELP !!!)
M: (talking VERY SLOWLY and PATIENTLY) You see, there is a "department" in all colleges and universities to help and support international students. So may be your cousin can go to this department and they will help him!
AU: OK. 6 months before, I talked to a man called Mr. *** and he sent me letter about admission. In letter, he had wrote the start date of course and money to paid. Now last week again I talked with him and he is not there. Nodoby is there for long?
M: (NOBODY IS THERE FOR LONG ??? All humans are mortal, if thats what you mean!! And isn't there a possibility that he may have got a better job?!) Umm...he may have changed his job!! (What is the whole point of asking me this question anyway????)
AU: OK. Last week, there was another man (There you go....so there IS somebody else to answer your questions!!) He again send me same letter, only with date refreshed.
M: (Refreshed???) OK. So whats the problem?
AU: In letter he says to pay full amount. What if I have no admission and I waste money?
M: No University will ask for full payment of tution fees! Read the letter again. It must be 'processing fees for application'.
AU: OK. Processing fees for admission?
M: APPLICATION. (But let it be admission if it pleases you!)
AU: OK. What cost it will take to travel 2 hours there by road?
M: (Complete silence. I was literally stunned!) Umm...sorry?
AU: My cousin is 2 hours away by road from my University. I can say him to go and see the problem.
M: Ohhhh.....(I suddenly felt enlightened like the Buddha) I see....Well...I cannot say how much it will cost you. It depends on how far you need to travel and whether you travel by train or coach.
AU: My cousin stays 2 hours from University. Not very far. So it will take how much money?
M: (Poor guy was trying to put everything in simple words. Speed = Distance/Time. Where does cost feature in this?) I cannot say anything about the travelling costs. Really I cannot.
AU: (Still being stubborn) But you must have travel here and there for 2 hours?
M: (Trying not to laugh because it never occured to me to travel 'here and there' aimlessly for just 2 hours so that somebody 3 years later could have the benefit of my aimless wanderings!) Travelling costs don't depend upon the travelling time, well, at least not directly. If you reserve a seat well in advance, you can get it at half the price! Or you may even need to pay twice the amount.
AU: In Saudi, (You are not in Saudi!!) there is 1.5 km. Everywhere travelling will be same cost. Travelling rises 1.5 km, then money rises. (By this time I had serious doubts about his clearing his IELTS) So in London (note: Its London now. Not UK) how much money is needed?
M: (Very patiently again) I think the fares for train and coach must be determined in a different way in the UK. (Hello...of course!!)
AU: All travelling is based upon the cost of oil and petrol. So if you tell me, I can imagine cost.
M: I did not have a car when I was studying there. So I have no clue what was the oil and petrol cost 3 years back.
AU: May be you read paper. Paper always has all costs.
M: (F*** off !!! You expect me to remember fuel prices ??? I wonder if an Arab oil sheikh remembers them!!) NO.
*****
Phew....That was how my day started! And ended with me typing the conversation and re-living it! :)

Random Thoughts

I need to pen down my thoughts regularly if I have to do some serious blogging. Or else why waste cyber space?
Can cyber space be really wasted? The amount of data uploaded (or should it be 'scattered' since it is space?) online is un-imaginable. So where does this new space come from?
Talking about space, why do scientists look for life in the outer space? Isn't it a complete waste of time considering the situation we are now facing on Earth? True, I am not going to live long enough to experience the 100% melt-down of all the ice on the North and South poles, and true I don't care much about future generations when I yet have to achieve so many things in life, but I still feel that dealing with the situation at hand will be beneficial than looking for life or suitable living conditions for Homo sapien sapien in outer space!
"मैत्रेयी" "ऋचा" "आदिती" Look ताई, my devnagri fonts are working !! So happy :) Let me write ससा for you :)