R-Rated

DISCLAIMER: The post is ridiculously long even for my standards, continue at your own discretion. Just kidding. Ahhhh - the joy of July!!! 4th of July weekend, a trip to NY/NJ to meet who else - you guessed it. S, S, Y and A {identities protected as these folks are VIPs and are in the witness protection program of a high profile case}. With that out of the way, K and I left town on Friday night in a highly tension-filled ride to Milwaukee with traffic problems ensuring that we almost missed our flight to LaGuardia. But, of course we made it to the airport on time (got to say, Kirti ran like a deer to the terminal) and we were on our way. Flew with Frontier for the first time and must say, in spite of staying true to the words "Discount Airline", the warm and delicious chocolate chip cookies was a welcome surprise. An hour's drive from LGA to Mahwah gave the 4 of us some much needed face time. It is always fun to meet Sam and Such and this time was no different. After a g

With the summer - or sort of summer - kicking in, pollen season is in full bloom. And just like Phoolan Devi wrecking havoc in her heydays, Pollen Devi was leaving a trail of sneezers and wheezers on the war path. Your's truly truly had a disastrous few days beginning of June emptying boxes of tissues along the way and making Walgreens a tad bit happier with my spending on medications. I cannot remember the years prior to this whether my health was this bad, but I am thinking I am not immune to these allergies. Sundays have been particularly bad - for K - considering I have been bed-ridden almost 2 straight weekends - while she took on the regular Sunday-tasks upon herself. Poor soul :) But (hopefully) I have conquered the elements now. To celebrate that and the fact that the Taste of Chicago was happening this weekend, K and I decided to make a trip to the city to have some fun with cuisines from Chicago. After a round of samplers from various outlets, we took a lesson in making

Between India's World Cup victory and now, there have been quite a few significant "world" events - like the Royal Wedding and the death of OBL - but I just thought there is nothing new to share about these topics anyways. For one, I still hold a grudge against England for all those years of colonial rule and the bloodshed that resulted in splitting an undivided India. Secondly, writing about OBL was just too sensitive (even for my blog) but more importantly there was nothing that I could have written that would have been even remotely interesting. So finally, with the advent of summer, it was that time of the year when the sunrise feels just a little bit happier and the evenings a lot more longer - Memorial Day Weekend 2011. Just like last year, Kirti and I met with few of our closest friends from New Jersey (Sam and Such) and from Nebraska (Yogesh and Anuja). The planning for the trip began much earlier in late March when a casual conversation turned into where to do we

Let me start with this: INDIA IS THE WORLD CHAMPION OF ONE-DAY CRICKET . We have waited 28 years for this day, having come real close in 2003. Lets just say that this victory, more so the path taken for this victory has re-ignited the passion and interest in me as a cricket fan which I was a few years back. Its been a case of redemption for the 2003 team members who played their best cricket during this edition of the World Cup. Sachin, Zaheer, Viru, Nehra, Yuvraj primarily come to mind from the feeble memories of the heartbreak in 2003. While the league phase of the World Cup was nothing but ordinary due to the horrendous planning, the knock-out phase was just mind blowing. Knocking out your chief nemesis in the Quarters (the once mighty Australians), dismissing your arch rivals in the Semis (the always unpredictable Pakistanis) and holding your nerve to edge out possibly the best team in the tournament (the never-say-die Sri Lankans), I am truly delighted for Team India: THE MEN IN B

What have we allowed ourselves to become? How have we become so insulated from all the (crazy) things that have happened over the past few months? I guess we (Indians) will probably never have back problems. Why? Coz we don't have a spine. We allow the scums to carry out their "work" and in due course, these become what we have become so accustomed to - SCAMS. Commonwealth Games SCAM, 2G Spectrum SCAM, Adarsh Society SCAM, Nira Radia, Lalit Modi, Aarushi Murder Case etc. Few years ago, the basic necessities of the common man were Food, Clothing and Shelter. Add a new "requirement" to the list . In 50 years, I predict (no Nostradamus here) that India either will self-destruct or we will have another "East India Company" type takeover. Everyone is going to become so greedy, so corrupt that we are going to lose hope of any law and order and more importantly self belief. Villains like Suresh Kalmadi, A Raja blatantly challenge the public, the media, the co