R-Rated

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...

Wish you all a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Hope the new year brings you all that you hoped and prayed for. Stay safe and have fun!!

Whatever I said last week about snowfalls, please do me a big favor and throw that "good feeling" out of the window. I guess I jinxed it as Mother Nature was not happy today (She still isn't done) and everyone is feeling her wrath. A weekend in snowy, wintry Chicago will change the perception as to how you look at the upcoming season. So strong was the blizzard this weekend that the New York Giants football team was stranded in Kansas City and they were not even scheduled to play the KC Chiefs. They were to play the Minnesota Vikings at the Mall of America Field (previously the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome) in downtown Minneapolis. A terrible snowstorm did not even allow travel near the state of Minnesota and the old stadium could not withstand the pounding. Here is how the stadium would look on a good day. And here is the stadium today. The city got pounded with snow and unfortunately the storm dragged its feet all the way to Chicago and the rest of Illinois. Sitting in...

It snowed this weekend for the first time. Enough said, this is going to be a white Christmas and a long winter to look forward to. With every snowfall comes great complaints about short days and never-ending nights. Depressing to say the least. However, with all those years living in snow-clad regions it is about time we embrace and appreciate the beauty of all things white. Christmas and snowfalls bring about the colors from all the cities across the country with decorations lasting a few weeks to months into the new year. Winter wonderlands come up at communities inviting suburban folks to have a few smiles and gawk at the decorations. Heavy snowfalls are no reason to stay indoors. In fact, they are to be enjoyed outside by building a snowman and having snowball fights with close friends (and enemies if you can find them and entice them for a fight). Snowfalls are to be enjoyed on mountains where ice-tubing and ice-skating are as eagerly looked forward to as a sizzling summer aftern...

Thanksgiving weekend, Kirti off to India, what else but get the hell out of town. That I did, in real quick fashion by snapping off a cheap deal to get to New York/New Jersey to meet Sam and Such. What if I had to travel from Illinois to Wisconsin and then fly to New York and get to New Jersey to meet these two, it was worth every mile driven, every mile flown, every dollar spent at the toll-booth and every bit as relaxing as I had expected the trip to be. Talk about much ado about nothing, the airport X-ray scanners and full body pat downs, that is: NOTHING. No one seemed to be bothered and no one raised a ruckus about it at Milwaukee or in NY. Spent the best part of Thursday walking in the cold rain on the streets of Manhattan figuring out our next hot-spot to cover and for a few brain-cramp moments we mistook Bryant Park to be the unmistakable Rockefeller Center, wild enough to think that just because there was an ice rink and people were having a great time that this was it. Even w...

Being in touch with family and friends is always a must-do for all of us NRIs. I am not much of a talker but I do call my family twice a week for about 6-10 minutes of updates from both ends. Same goes with Kirti and her folks and her calls last for about 10-14 minutes. What I don't understand is some of our friends have their customary/mandatory calls every weekend and some calls last at least an hour and some even more. My first question every time to Kirti is "What is there to talk to parents for more than an hour?" Both of us are literally at loss for words every single time. Just for the heck of it, I have tried talking to my parents but almost always close to the 7 minute mark, I am done. I have nothing to talk about and surprisingly enough, my parents have no tidbits or in Kirti's terms, no more masala khabar . Even if there is a marriage or an occasion in the family, we just don't go beyond the threshold. Raise your hand and drop a line if you are like one...

Back after a refreshing trip to Sin City for the Labor Day Weekend, we immediately got back to the preparations for Ganesh Chaturthi. Traveling to the desert and back to Chi-town literally had us in a tizzy for the rest of the week. I haven't felt jet-lagged in my 5-6 trips to and from India but this 3 hour Red-eye from McCarran to O'hare was just tiring. Reaching Chicago at 5:30 in the morning and then picking up the Boss from the hotel at 8:30 and then staying at work till 5:30 was exhausting, so exhausting that we both dozed off at 8:30 every night for the rest of the week. Back in Vegas, a lot had changed (obviously) since 2002. We stayed at one of the older hotels (Riviera) and it showed. Nicer hotels like the Aria, Cosmopolitan, Wynn & Encore had altered the Vegas landscape. Still the kings of the Vegas Strip are The Bellagio, Caesar's Palace and The Venetian and throw in a mixture of the Mandalay Bay, New York New York, Luxor and MGM Grand. Lots of free shows and...