R-Rated

Sam is back in town, this time for good. Bugger drove from Delhi via Udaipur-Mumbai-Pune-Kolhapur-Dharwad and reached Bangalore in 5 days. Total distance driven in 5 days: 2502 kms. As a result of this great achievement, or lack thereof, we planned to visit Lalbagh Botanical Gardens. Expected a lot from this place specially after seeing some pictures that were forwarded from people who had visited previously. What total crap!! Covered the entire garden and couldn't spot one flower. There is an area called Lotus Pond, but the pond is a mess with empty plastic water bottles 'beautifying' the Lotuses, and not one Lotus spotted. Moving on to the Rosery, which you guessed it right, not a single Rose lining up the place. Guess it was just not the right season. Another so-called attraction was the Aquarium, closed!! It is a paradise for couples who want to get away from the maddening rush of the city itself, but with the number of people staring at them, there is no solace in the

Just stumbled upon this article on CNN.com from Chuck Thompson. The following is from his new book, "To Hellholes and Back". I found this really funny, though for some it might be offensive. But who cares, enjoy the ride. http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/none/no-argument-indian-salesmen-are-evil-geniuses-735666

Sign on an ice cream vendor's stall in Bangalore read "FURIT SALARD". This is pretty damn close to the "I AM SUNAMI" sign in terms of funny captions/postings. I am going to be on the look out for more of these. While I was in college back in Mumbai, I used to travel via train from Mulund to Kurla and then hop on to an auto to reach VESIT. Kurla station in Central Mumbai is like a library of real funny & cringe-worthy captions written in English. Pasted on a pillar once was "DO NOT SPIT HERE, PEALEASE". It was literally like some one was pleading not to spit there. Unfortunately, I don't think the message and the PLEASE was strong enough to convince anyone. There was 'fresh' spit all over the hoarding. One of the most common sights in late-night Mumbai are the Chinese food stalls in possibly every nook and corner of the suburbs. While the food itself would be delicious, you would encounter the most liberal use of the English language jus

A new bug bit me while I was in Europe. No, not the bed-bug but the Twitter bug. After having profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn, Orkut etc. could Twitter be any far behind. So, those who are interested, you can follow me on Twitter at @RajAnan. Am I not a propaganda machine? My wife would surely agree. More blogs and tweets to come up in the coming days from Namma Bengaluru . Stay tuned.

As written in the previous post, I was scheduled to fly out to a country with 5-digits and starting with an I. €100 to anyone who thought that country was Italy. Milan, in particular, was the 'next' destination for me. But just a short trip it would be. Left the comfortable confines of Amsterdam for Milan on Saturday morning, scheduled to report to the client on Monday. Sight seeing on Sunday then, right? Wrong. Terrible weather welcomed me to the birthplace of the Congress Party chief and unfortunately, I was confined to my hotel room on Sunday. Many difficult and screwed up things in Italia. First, English language is a 'foreign' language and hence a rarity for any Italian to string a perfect sentence together. Second, taxi fares in Milan start from the time the taxi 'starts' from its location (Linate airport, most times). So by the time you are actually seated in the taxi, you already have minimum €10 to pay. The farther the destination you need to be pick

Another Wipro colleague took me to Amsterdam for a drink on Friday night since it is my last week here in the Netherlands. After a quick stop at his place to meet his wife and baby boy, off we went to the pub where he hangs out quite often. Translated into English, the pub’s name is The Stork and instead of loud music blaring out of the loudspeakers, this time for a change, it was just loud people. It is incidentally one of the oldest pubs in Amsterdam. Needless to say, lots of ‘senior’ folks who showed up were having the time of their lives. My colleague’s favorite bartender was not present and the reason was that his wife had passed away. That did not deter couple of folks to crack a joke on the deceased lady. Bundled around this corner of Amsterdam were all kinds of pubs. The ones that play loud music, a pub situated in one of the few remaining wooden buildings, a gay bar and for equality, a pub founded by a lesbian in the 1920s. After a round of ‘biers’ (just one glass of Brand Bie

By now you (& I) are accustomed to the cold-rainy-windy environment here in Amsterdam. With the majority of last week spent at Hoofddorp office, it was time to move out of the city to either Rotterdam or Haarlem. The weather forecast for both places for the weekend was…… cold-rainy-windy, so I decided to take it easy and visit Haarlem. Haarlem is about 30 minutes away from Hoofddorp as compared to more than an hour and half for Rotterdam. As a result, slept late on Friday night and woke up just in time before the McDonald’s breakfast menu stops being on offer at 11 AM. Caught the Zuidtangent# 300 from De Hoek (pronounced as Dohook, spelling classes for my non-Dutch friends) and reached Haarlem station at 11:30. Reached the city center, precisely 5 minutes from the station. The way Haarlem is ‘structured’ is that there is a big church in the middle (hence the term, city center, duh) and there is an open market for cheese, flowers, vegetables, fruits etc (old fashioned stuff) and the

On Saturday I planned on seeing Den Haag (The Hague) and the surrounding areas. With tips from the hotel crew, I zeroed in on Scheveningen and Madurodam. Took the Intercity train from Schiphol to Den Haag – Holland Spoor and caught a tram (for the first time) to Scheveningen. Unlike the US, the Netherlands is comfortably connected by trains, buses, taxis, canals and of course, by cars. So there is never really a sense of helplessness while traveling within the city or within the country. Scheveningen is that part of Den Haag which has the best beaches in the city. But then again, with winter just introducing itself to the country, there wasn’t much to do other than just take a stroll along the path parallel to the beach. There is a magnificent pier with upper and lower decks that ends in the water with an attached casino and a restaurant. Went to neither, but the walk along the open upper deck was very calm and relaxing. Just the right solace I wanted (Don’t take me seriously when I sa

My journey to India has completed just more than 3 months and now, unexpectedly, I find myself on a trip through Europe (of all the places). Thank you, Wipro. So as I prepared myself for this trip to Amsterdam, the Netherlands, a lot of my older memories from my first international flight are flashing right in front of me. Just a little over 7 years ago, precisely in the wee hours of August 8, 2002, I boarded a Lufthansa flight enroute to Chicago (and Cleveland) via Frankfurt. Brought back a lot of nostalgia from that night. While on that night, I kept thinking, is a Master’s degree really worth staying away from my parents; last night, I thought, wow, what an opportunity to make a name for myself. 7 years have passed since that maiden flight out of India and here I am all grown up and (nervously) ready to win some business for my company. Boarded from the Bengaluru International Airport and must say, it is an International Airport. By the time I got to my seat, my battery was dead and

Wishing you and your family a very happy Diwali and a prosperous new year. Keep rocking!! Picture courtesy: http://www.indianswv.com/images/diwali.jpg

Posted on the back of a Tata Sumo in Bangalore: "Don't overtake me............I am Sunami". Just Brilliant.

Take a guess what it would be. No, just take a random guess. Fine. Barack Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize . Oh My God!! I almost fell down from my chair when I first read the headlines on TOI. I just couldn't believe my eyes. How could the Committee which decides these (prestigious) awards just handover the Peace Prize (of all the things) to the President of the US, whose country is involved in two bloody battles in Iraq and Afghanistan. One alarming note I read on the CNN website was that the nominations for these awards were were to have gone in on February 1, barely 10 days after Obama's inauguration ceremony on Jan 20th. That was enough to decide if Obama should get the coveted Peace Prize or not??. Apparently, the Committee comprises of quick decision makers. World over, the common topic of discussion is that the Nobel Prize has lost its credibility. Mahatma Gandhi, the ultimate symbol of peace, was not awarded one. That says it all. I wonder what would have happened had

Last long weekend of the trifecta (Eid, Dusshera and Gandhi Jayanti) and it was quite a pleasant one. Headed off to Hogenakkal Falls on Saturday morning. With a comfortable drive of less than 4 hours from Bangalore, we reached there before noon, not before stopping for some hearty breakfast at A2B (Adyar Anand Bhavan). Every local was keen on advertising the falls to be as grand as the one in the US and Canada. What is it called? Oh yeah, Niagara Falls. Not quite the same but pretty neat. Water levels were great and the Coracle ride from the river banks to the falls was, well scary in the beginning to comfortable towards the end. The falls is 'supplied' by the Cauvery, which flows from Karnataka into Tamil Nadu and which has been the topic of many political rallies and controversies over the years, not to mention the 'home' of the sandalwood brigand, Veerappan. Took a bath in the river after ages and almost got sucked downstream because of the strong undercurrents. Not

Got absolutely drenched Thursday night due to the heavy downpour in Namma Bengaluru. The last time this happened was somewhere in the late 90s after college or so. To make matters worse that day, we got stuck in traffic for nearly 2 hours, for a 10km ride from El. City and the fact that we were starving to death because of a light snack in the evening. But alls well that ends well. Got a good night's sleep and was back to work before time the following day. Sam flew in from Delhi on Friday night and went around town last night (Forum and Koramangala area to be precise) and then to a friend's place later on. Earlier in the day, met a family friend after nearly 10 years and had a good time catching up on old times. Caught up with some ICC Champions Trophy match between India and Pakistan and called it a night past midnight. All in all a good Saturday after a long time. Planned to watch What's Your Rashee at the last minute, but, unfortunately (or fortunately) all the shows

Eid Mubarak to one and all. Long weekend in India. This one will be followed by one more (Dusshera) and one more (Gandhi Jayanthi). Literally, back-to-back-to-back. Good thing right. Naah! I will be in Bangalore till at least Diwali when I run off to Bombay again. One silver lining next week comes in the form of Samit who drops in from Delhi. Should be a good time then. So what did I do this weekend? Went off to see Wanted: Dead or Alive at the Forum on Saturday (all by myself). That's a first for me. Enjoyed a Salman Khan movie after a long time. The movie could easily have done without at least 3 songs. Thoroughly needless ones. With all the trouble Boney Kapoor went through financing the movie and the court troubles, not shooting those songs would have saved him some highly needed cash. Sunday went without much excitement as I was home watching movies on my roommate's laptop. Ended up watching Dil Bole Hadippa as well. Barring 15 minutes of watchable scenes, the movie is c

While I have been blogging for nearly 2 years now and that visitors (like you) are fairly low in number, I would still like to know who you are. Although I know one of my UA friend is a regular here (and yes, it is you Hari), I don't know who are the other frequent fliers. If you choose to remain anonymous, that is also fine, but kindly leave a comment or two in the message box that is on the right side of the webpage. I am trying to get a feel for how often do you stop by. The reason I am asking you to do this is because I need your help. No, it has nothing to do with donations or anything monetary, but here I am in my third month in Bangalore and I am absolutely bored. I need some suggestions to utilize my time efficiently and effectively. Please refrain from suggesting using the gym or joining a book club. These 2 are not my cuppa tea. My mind is 100% blank about extra-curricular activities and I need some 'external' help. One of my closest friends had suggested joining

Earlier this evening there was a near scary incident at work. A Korean/Taiwanese employee of the company was complaining about having a 'sore throat'. In the present circumstances, this could only mean one thing. Swine Flu symptoms. Well, not exactly. At least for now. The person was sent to a hospital for tests whose results would come 3 days later. An agonizing and uneasy feeling. The ironic or sad part is that multiple groups of engineers share the same wing in the same tower and yet only one group has been given the permission to work from home. And our group did not even come to know about this incident until about couple hours after the "sick" person was asked to leave. We are still supposed to report to work tomorrow since there has not been any official announcement. What to do!! I am just praying that the test results are negative and we can all 'breathe' a sigh of relief. Until then it is going to be an excruciatingly long and arduous couple of days

Just wound up a relaxing and refreshing trip to Mumbai this past week. Met with family and friends and had a great time catching up with details of the last 6 months. The new house is very spacious and airy. This is the first time in 23 years we have lived above the ground floor, 4th to be precise. There isn't much scramble about swine flu in Mumbai although one of my closest friends is down with jaundice for completely unknown reasons. The main "issue" for some of my family members (in-laws included) was the length of the mustache that I had grown. I had been growing a "handle-bar" moush for the past 1 month and it had grown to a fairly reasonable "length", I suppose. My father (and to some extent, my wife) have opposed any look that goes beyond a short hair cut and a clean shaven face. This time there was staunch resistance from my mom-in-law as well. My mother-in-law recommended that I cut-off the 'handle-bar' portion of it, but I was not g

A (slightly belated but) very happy Independence Day to all you folks!! Enjoyed my first long weekend in India (Janmashtami, August 14th). For the first time in my life, I experienced a full blown version of Lord Krishna's puja at a friend's place at midnight on Friday. The attention to detail was fantastic and the devotion displayed by Pandit ji and his cronies was thoroughly remarkable. The amazing fact about the night was the heavy downpour at midnight, which coincidentally was the case when Lord Krishna was born. Saturday and Sunday were equally painful because of the boredom. I still have not been able to get the laptop fixed (which was supposed to have been done by now already). Leaving for Bombay this weekend to spend Ganesh Chaturthi, first time after marriage in India and enjoy some quality time with family, friends and specially Mayank's baby girl, whom they have named Nayonika (Expressive Eyes). I will know my fate (supposedly) of my US trip end of this month,

An eventful weekend to say the least. While returning from work on Friday night, lost my wallet and mobile phone to a group of thugs that entered the bus just a couple of stops from my destination. In a packed bus (possibly one of the last to leave the Wipro campus) with not an inch to move, this group identified me as a weakling. It hit me just as I alighted from the bus that my wallet and the phone were missing, and so were the group that probably whisked them. A double whammy! one from the back jeans pocket and one from the front. Called up the bank to block the debit card from misuse. Next morning, made a stop at the Police Station to lodge a complaint and subsequently expect some action from them. High hopes. I end up paying the cops Rs 100/- for notarizing my report. For a moment, I didn't know who the thieves were. Got a new Nokia with the same number (after paying Airtel Rs 75/- for the same). The really disheartening thing about the whole incident is the fact that it happe

Went out to Nandi Hills and Bannerghatta National Park with roommate and his friends on Sunday. Had a terrific time with all of them. Got up at 5:40am on Sunday (after ages) and reached a beautiful foggy Nandi Hills at around 7:30am. Cloud covered hill top made it an amazing view and the crisp weather made it haunting. Later in the afternoon made a trip to the National Park, which to my satisfaction, had a lot of wild life to offer. The park staff had their and the animals' welfare as a top priority by posting signs that made the public sit up and take notice about tossing their garbage in dust bins only, not to tease any animals etc. But, looks like we were surrounded by blind people who just did not care for the advisories. Trash all over the place. One particularly funny moment was when an (educated) person was calling the leopard out to him as if he was petting a dog or a cat. One growl and he would wet his pants, thats for sure. Thats another thing where people need to be educ

Nicely settled in Bommanahalli, about 12 km from Electronics City. Good roommates to hang out with. The 3 others that I live with are from Delhi, Lucknow and Ujjain. The guys from Lucknow and Ujjain have a feel-good nature about them and life is very comfortable (for now). Finished a small assignment and attended the induction program (normally reserved for freshers). Why I have not been inducted even after 2+ years in Wipro could very well be a topic for another day. Kind of getting restless about staying in India (direct contradiction from the first paragraph). This restlessness is coming out due to professional committments only. Have to, have to travel back to States at the first opportunity. Awaiting my turn very patiently. Had my first tryst with the "stomach upset" bug couple of nights ago and I am still not completely out of it. Root cause analysis and preliminary investigations have led me to the Daal that was served on Tuesday night. FIR has been lodged at the near

Nicely settling in to a kind of routine. Getting re-used to the dust and traffic, cows and dogs, shit and trash. No complaints what-so-ever. Hasn't rained for the past few days but the weather has been kind. Cool breeze still wafts through the air and the sweat glands are keeping their mouths shut!! Just getting hooked onto Suduko on the cellphone. Let's see how long does this love affair lasts. Planning to go to Mumbai soon. Just don't know when.

Seems like a weird occurrence in the Cyber Zone inside Wipro El. City. There are about 50-55 PCs through which one can surf personal email websites like Gmail, Yahoo etc. I have used about 5-6 computers for my personal use and the alarming fact is the number of resumes/CV that are saved on the desktops. Employees really want to get the hell out of here seems like. Hope they get what they want. Going to check my first house today at a place called J.P. Nagar about 8-10 kms from EC. Lets hope the search ends successfully and I get to move in to a house before Sunday. More to follow.

So after a chaotic and scary air travel from New York to Bombay to Bangalore, I reported to work on Monday, July 13th only for my Manager to tell me that he was at another location and would not be in the office the whole day. Great start. With the help of a colleague, managed to look around the campus (which to me looks more like an engineering college campus than a technological major). People are hooked on to their cell phones all throughout the day. It is going to be fun little experiment for me trying to settle here. I am not familiar with the city and it is going to take some effort from my end to get those nerves settled. I was almost expecting to be duped once I landed here but that adventure so far has been smooth. The weather here is fantastic. Cool and calm. Guest House is comfortable and within the campus and the office building is exactly at a 3 minute walk from the GH. Workwise things are a bit slow (it's only been one day for God's sake)!! Will write more as I co

Whichever way you may want to put it, my US journey has been halted by my visa extension denial by the USCIS, because of which I am heading home to India this Saturday. Reporting to work on the day I land in Bangalore is going to be a challenge along with the other issues that I might be facing during my stay there. I don't want to think that I won't be back in the US. I am going to pursue all means to convince my managers back in Wipro to send me back on a new H1B visa. It is going to take some work and a lot of persuading but it must be done. Looks like I have all my bases covered there (for now) although several questions are yet to be answered, like how to reach the Guest House from the airport at 5:00am in the morning, how to contact people without a cell phone etc. I guess I will figure those out as and when I reach there. Leaving Kirti behind is going to be a big heartache but again me being the ever optimist, I am sure things will work out for the better. Moving back to

I just got the news from my Akron roommate that our Master's advisor Dr. Glen Njus passed away. This is really upsetting and sad. He had done so much for us when we initially landed here in 2002. He took us under this tutelage and we worked in his lab for 2 years. His teaching skills weren't the most exemplary as he hated teaching in a classroom setting. He loved spending time in his lab at Akron General Medical Center, reaching early to start working and on most days skipping lunch. Multiple cups of black coffee and cigarettes did the trick for him. He was very supportive and tried his best to fund and educate us. He once told us (when we were vary of graduating without a job in hand), that we must graduate on time because that was what we initially came to the US for. Graduating on time under him was a must and he made sure of that. He gave us full freedom to execute and finish our project/thesis on time and helped whenever we hit roadblocks. I even got my first position at T

Call it delayed or lazy, I just saw Slumdog Millionaire last night. Hoped to see the movie with an unbiased outlook. I have been BABU in Mumbai. BABU --> Born And Brought Up . I do feel a special bond with the city. I have seen the highs and lows of Mumbai as well. The initial reaction that I felt after seeing the first 15 minutes was that Ram Gopal Verma had written the screenplay of the movie. No one has captured the slum and gloom of Mumbai as well as Varma has. The movie was definitely enjoyable but certainly not Oscar-worthy. There were much better movies in competition this year at the Oscars for best movie, best director and other awards that this movie took home. A R Rahman deserves an Oscar but not for this movie. Lagaan was a masterpiece but he was not even nominated for that. As has been discussed in various other blogs and news articles, if an Indian director had made this movie, it probably would not have gathered so much attention, not to mention worldwide awards. As f

One bean chalupa supreme, no beef only beans...and...one nacho cheese gordita, no meat only beans...and...one cheesy fiesta potatoes... Sounds familiar? These wonderlicious foods are an Indian vegetarian's savior in the United States. Right from the days of F1 visa and on-campus/off-campus jobs to earning insane amounts of $$$ on an H1B, these Taco Bell items are always going to be with you, no matter how many people come and go while you move on in your American way of life. I remember the second day of my American journey (08/09/2002), my friend Sai took me to the place that I consider a temple (strangely because of the 'bell'). The love affair started that day and still continues strong to this very day and surely enough, will continue to blossom. It has never happened that I entered a Taco Bell and came out feeling unsatisfied or to take matters to the extreme, never skipped on a bean chalupa. Now that is some feverish devotion. What say. I got to admit that I have star

Finally completed a superb 3-day Memorial Day weekend in downtown Chicago, arguably the most beautiful downtown that there is. Thanks to CityPass, saw 5 attractions with little to no wait times at the long ticket lines. Visited the Museum of Science and Industry, Navy Pier and Sears Tower on Day 1. Day 2 started early with Shedd Aquarium and Oceanarium, Adler Planetarium and ended with Millennium Park. Day 3, also early, started and finished with the Field Museum. Sears Tower (soon to be Willis Tower), Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum were my personal favorites. Adler was boring. Missed out on the architectural tour of the city. Chicago may be called the Windy City for its see-sawing political climate, but the weather was chilly and windy on the second day. Made grand and to the minute plans prior to the trip, but all that was washed out as soon as the plane landed in Chicago on friday evening. Decided to take Day 1 on the go and underestimated the time that would take to complete e

The people of India have spoken and its the UPA (again) who will form the next government. And what a victory it has been. Indian National Congress gains 205 seats by itself and the UPA has close to 260. The UPA can literally pick and choose from the whole gamut to reach 272. It is a slap on the face of the BJP led NDA coalition which had dreams of forming a (radical) hindu government. L.K. Advani, Narendra Modi and co. have to rethink their strategy of forming a stable party before they can think of leading India again. Dr. Manmohan Singh is the right man for the top post. As various media outlets have shown and his own profile matches that of a non-corrupt, thinker, non-judgemental person who is silent but strong enough to lead India out of this economic recession. Weak PM.... that's all shredded to pieces by the Indian voter. Advani is called the Iron Man, but that title should go to MMS and righfully so. MMS has a lot to look forward to and his guarantee that India will be back

And so after several unsuccessful attempts, I have decided to make this Memorial Day weekend an outing that I have tried to take for a long time. Its time that I visited and struck-out downtown Chicago from my list of want-to-visit-so-badly places. All the people that I know are seriously stumped as to why in the 9 months that we lived there, we couldn't see the place. Well, the situation then (2006) was different as we thought that Chicago was going to be our home for the next few years and that there would be ample time to visit. Ya right. Kirti eventually wound up moving back to Chicago and I remained in the wonderfully frozen tundra known as Minneapolis. Just the other day I was thinking, it has been 2 years in Minnesota, a place I did not think I was going to live for 1 year, let alone 2 years and counting. Having great friends made it possible. So the graph goes like this; Akron, Ohio (2002-2006), Chicago, Illinois (2006-2007), Minneapolis, Minnesota (2007-2009). The weird fa

So the second edition of the IPL kick started on April 18 and now in the middle stages of the tournament, it feels as to when the games are going to end. Can't help but notice that 4 out of the 8 teams in the tournament have various shades of blue for their jersey color (Rajasthan, Mumbai, Delhi and the newest entrant Deccan). Whatever happened to the other colors, God only knows. Guess every one is turning a blind eye to the rest of the spectrum. Kolkata is nicely sweeping the bottom of the table while Deccan are a surprising choice for the top. This is only the middle stages of the tournament so who knows how the points table might look towards the end. The Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics played out a fantastic and memorable 7-game series of the Eastern Conference first round. Boston prevailed but not before some butt-kicking by the under-rated Bulls team. Less than 2 months to go for the project to come to a close...unless...Wipro pulls out a bunny from the hat (once again.

Some of the funniest jokes I have ever heard. Laughed my ass off. Actually, started reading this at work (after 5PM) and couldn't control my laughter. Hence read the rest at home. Courtesy: Elsmar.com/forums These are from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters that had the torment of staying calm while these exchanges were actually taking place. ____________ _________ _________ _________ _____ ATTORNEY: Are you sexually active? WITNESS: No, I just lie there. ____________ _________ _________ _________ _____ ATTORNEY: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all? WITNESS: Yes. ATTORNEY: And in what ways does it affect your memory? WITNESS: I forget. ATTORNEY: You forget? Can you give us an example of something you forgot? ____________ _________ _________ _________ ____ ATTORNEY: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo? WITNESS: We bo

This sure enough felt like a middle finger to the rest of the world when North Korea launched a 'satellite' in space on a (missile ) rocket launcher. It definitely looked like one from all the Google images that were shown on CNN and other american news stations. Kim Jong Il doesn't care and imposing sanctions on these destructive minds only makes their resolve stronger. But there aren't many options for the UN Security Council regarding this. The G20 summit happened in London last week and the Europe went ga-ga over Barack and Michelle Obama. Too much importance was given to Michelle Obama than the summit itself. Over a trillion $$ pledged to the IMF et. al by the developed nations. Good for them. Where is the money going to come from? Election campaigns in India are taking steam and the public is noticing every move made by the biggies (UPA and NDA). I strongly believe, UPA will form the next government and Dr. Singh will continue to be the PM. Unless, NDA has someth

Its been rather slow all through the winter with no new developments happening on the personal and professional fronts. Sure, Kirti made a trip here and we stayed at home for the best part of 2.5 days. Except for gaining weight steadily, I have not made any progress in gaining any additional knowledge about anything else. The keyword here being 'gaining'. The IPL has moved its base to South Africa for this year and God only knows how successful this time around the event's going to be. Knowing BCCI and all the money that's on the line, this year is going to be bigger and better. It probably would not have mattered to the BCCI if the IPL were to have happened in the Arctic Circle. BCCI will get richer by a few thousand crores and all franchise owners will recover their initial investments. Such a sorry state for the ICL which was a big flop this year. I did not hear any buzz from them (don't even know if it happened this season). I think its the economy that hit Subh

The epicenter of terror has become its own victim. By attacking the Sri Lankan cricket team, Pakistan has proved that it is the terror capital of the world. No sane person including sane Pakistanis can talk about Pakistan being a safe place anymore. With the Islamic law okayed in the SWAT region and the Northwest Frontier Province being one of the deadliest war zones in the world, no place in Pakistan is safe anymore and the virus is going to spread to the entire nation. India has bore the maximum brunt of these attacks and considering India's evergrowing population, India has to be more defensive and political in its attitude in dealing with these tough situations because frankly, India is not ready to deal with a full blown war with radical terrorists who have nothing to lose. And 26/11 proved that the border security in India is a big question mark. It is just unbelievable that Pakistan (for the above reasons), Bangladesh (Bangladesh Rifles causing a bloody mutiny) and Sri Lank

Things are looking better now that my father is back home recovering from the hip fracture he suffered beginning of February. Life has slowed down tremendously for him and my mother is trying hard to cope up. Last week saw the heaviest snowfall of the winter and unusually it was terribly cold when it snowed. A rare occurrence for freezing temperatures with snowfall. The past two winters in Minneapolis have been anything but good. Nothing special on the work front as well as the home front. Things are looking to improve at work with the project now lasting till June end with definite possibility of extension beyond the 2nd quarter of the year. Slumdog Millionaire swept the Oscars last week and for a change the Oscars seemed like a truly international event. Penelope Cruz (Spain), Slumdog Millionaire (India and Britain), Kate Winslet (England), Heath Ledger (Australia) and Hugh Jackman (Australia) definitely made it seem like a world-ly event, something not seen everyday in the United St

Typical me that I thought a reality show like American Idol would be just another drama filled event with everyone wanting to win the grand prize. But I must say, I am hooked on to American Idol. There are some genuinely amazing talents who can sing. And it shows on the show why they need to win the title. People ridicule Simon Cowell for being brash and rude to the contestants, but he is brilliant when it comes to identifying a gem from the also-rans. Another show that I am beginning to like is Hell's Kitchen, a reality show for aspiring chefs. The show's main attraction is Chef Gordon Ramsey who is probably the rudest and arrogant person to step foot in a kitchen, but again he is simply the best. British personalities like Cowell and Ramsey are churning up America's best talents in the singing and the food business. No wonder they are coveted and so are the people whom they identify as the ones to carry a huge legacy on their shoulders.

Had been to the Hindu Temple today. One of the first things that I noticed about the temple parking lot was that it resembled a used Honda and Toyota car showroom. These two Japanese auto powerhouses have to thank the Indians all around the US for their exceptional sales. And this observation is true about any temple in the US. Pittsburgh Balaji Temple, Aurora Balaji Temple, Lemont Rama Temple etc are the few huge temples that I have visited and have been pleasantly shocked to see the number of Hondas and Toyotas in the parking lots. Lexus and Mercedes are also catching up. Seems the Indian diaspora is not gravely affected by the recession. They were/are smart about the money they earned. Talking about car sales, almost everyone from GM to Ford to Chrysler to Toyota to Honda to Nissan have seen their car sales decline by double digits. American automakers are struggling to sell their "bad" products to the consumers and this time unlike earlier years, the consumer knows better

Shri Ram Sene ... naam to suna hi hoga ..says Pramod Muthalik, chief of the new 'terror' squad spreading havoc in Mangalore. After the 'punishment' that was unleashed at the pub-goers couple of weeks ago, there is a new "law and order" in town so to speak. And the occasion to 'celebrate' the new law is none other than the scorn of the hindu-tradition loving purists, "St. Valentine's Day". The 'rule' apparently is that if a couple is found 'together' on V-day, Shri Ram Sene activists are going to get them married off without (apparently) resorting to violence. Unka maanna hai ki 'itna hi pyar hai to shaadi kyun nahi kar lete'. Fair enough. But what the hell does Democracy mean or for that matter Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Speech mean to a citizen of India. Nothing when it concerns the Sene. Also, noodle straps and some western wear are not allowed to be worn by females. Good God. I thought America is goin

25 odd days in India were probably the busiest and most hectic times in recent memory. The trip hardly qualified as a 'vacation'. Reached early morning on 27th and was off to Shirdi on 28th morning (4:00 am). Worst scenario possible: school holidays, sunday and unprecedented rush. Result: 3 hours of pushing and shoving and at the max 4 seconds of Baba's darshan. To top the day's workout , my mom-in-law, aunt and me lose our slippers to the crowd. Great way to say 'Welcome to India'. Travelled from Shirdi to Mumbai barefeet. Celebrated the new year at my in-laws' place and the chinese food ordered at 7:30 pm comfortably made its way to the house at 11:45 pm. Guess everyone was in the mood for chinese. In the end, it wasn't that great. But the anticipation and excitement for food was just priceless. Wish that never happens again. Went to a resort just outside Mumbai with my closest friends for a day and a half and had a great time there. Considering the e

Got back couple of days ago from a well deserved and a pretty hectic India trip. Very fruitful and a very enjoyable one as well. 60th birthday celebration of my father was excellent and went without a hitch and so did mine and Kirti's visa stampings. Back to work on the 21st and the pace is slow. More later as we look forward to the new year.