Snapshot of the week

It might be strange to do a snapshot right in the middle of the week. However, I've been so busy lately with a number of things going on that I felt I needed a reset. And what better way than to snapshot it and reset it (like the VM images)?

• Slept way less than I'm used to - leading to my body complaining on it. I swear not to do it anymore.
• Started movie watching again - to be exact, after two months (time in India + time in Neverland after I got back).
• Met up with almost all my friends here and had loads of fun in the past two weeks... definitely been a busy two weeks (and that explains the lack of sleep).
• Missed talking to K... and I can't believe work-life has caught up with us already :(
• Planning another trip to India in June (yeah, another one :))
• Did something I thought I'd never do when I was in 10th grade - I lived in my car for straight 16 hours!! :O Now, if alone I lived there for 24 hours, that would get to 'thought I'd never do when I was in 3rd grade' status!
• Became a florist for two hours just to find that is one of the harder jobs since it involves a lot of work that requires A LOT of patience. But now, I have a very special keepsake for life ;) 
• Loads of things to do - so much to do that I quit my to do list and caused life to go into a spin. Can you believe that I stopped using sensible to do lists when I most needed them? One more to add to airheadedness category. Now I've to purge to get life on to-do wheels again!

Now that I've snapshotted the most important parts of life, its time to do a clean reset. Hope everyone is having a fun wednesday! :)

Ad times!

Here are two ads that caught my attention recently. Both are super good - totally capturing the spirit in their own way! 

The Global Debt Clock

Here is an interesting link on the global debt clock. I've been checking this one for the past few days and the rising debt has been definitely concerning, if not downright scary!! 

Advaitam

One of the best short films I've seen in Telugu. I can totally envision this friendship - I've seen an instance of it in real life. Different people, different settings but the same friendship. Hope you like it as well!

Snapshot of a week

Ok... this is a snap shot of two weeks (let me pen it down before I forget them all):

• Trip to Glacier was good. The scenery was amazing. And I ran into R there. Small world! :)
• Saw triple fireworks for July 4th. That was a total new. Every July 4th is way different from the previous ones. This time, we were in neverland.
• Attended a tamil drama in which two of my friends were acting. We got to sit at the first row (probably the first time I've ever done it) but that experience was fun. Also, the sets were amazing - they had put in a lot of effort into getting it right. Even the small details were handled right - as they say, the devil is in the details and they had nailed the devil right, for most parts.
• Attended a dosa fest at a friend's place - man, first time I ate fish dosai :D
• Had a horrible dream from which I woke up in cold sweat :( Even thinking of it now, I can't stop shivering. I've never had a dream where I cried so much. I wouldn't go into the details, but suffice it to say that I wish I had not dreamed it at all.
• Met a school friend in a grocery shop and we spent an hour catching up :)
• One of my cousins is moving to Canada soon - am both happy for them and sad that I'd missing them.
• Porkodi and me did some egg shell dancing together! :D  
• Rest was all work, usual chaat with friends, lunch time and on and on.
• These two weeks were a lot quieter but I managed to waste a LOT OF time yapping with people. As a result, my work has suffered a bit. 
• And I'm no closer to getting anything done :( All coz of my yapping around. 
• My movie watching and music has taken a nose dive as well. I managed to finish a couple of books though (which is way less than what is average). Yapping again!! :(
• I missed watching Harry Potter at midnight this time :( 

I'm super tired of a few things/people. K says that they are as they are but that my image of them has gotten sharper and that is causing issues. I think I understand what K says but don't think that is the only thing to be blamed. I think their images have changed as well. We are good so far but I think we'll head butt soon - I hope to God that it doesn't happen. It is a bother and I don't want to cause much churn. Longer loops might help but that is problem avoidance and not problem solving. But I'm at a point where I can't solve the problem (they should change it) and the problem avoidance is all that I can do - so I do it gladly. But that takes a lot of effort and I'm so not used to putting in this much of effort into this sort of thing. And this is causing me to stress a lot :( I'm trying to push the stress on to work but I end up yapping to clear it out. Hmmm... so far not a very happy two weeks. Lets hope atleast the next week is more fun-filled and in general, happy.

History of English in ten minutes

Came across this youtube series detailing the history of English in ten minutes. I wish someone did the same for Tamil as well :)

Too much parenting?

I recently read an article about parenting and its effects; sorry, too much of too good parenting and its after effects. One of the best articles I've read on this issue, it kind of pushed me to take a serious look at the differences in parenting when I was a kid (sigh! yeah, there was a 'was' in that sentence) and now (colleagues, friends, my landlady, etc who are parents). Living with a five year old every day gives you a clear view of where the parent stands vs where the kid stands. I should say that some of my cousins and my landlady actually do a good job of it (I don't think I can resist the kids' cuteness when they ask for some more chocolate milk or some more TV/internet time - I've started saying 'lets check with your mom!' when put in a sticky situation).

I don't think I had much choices when growing up - we had a rule of eating what was made that day (even though it was just idlis (we had it EVERY DAY for breakfast) or dosai) and not asking for something that my mom hadn't made. The only allowance was Maggi day, when my mom would relent to our constant badgering and make Maggi (she had this yummy way of making it with veggies and stuff - but I think my sis and I would have eaten it even if it was just Maggi - we were (and still are) that crazed about it) for dinner one night out of two weeks. Even that, my dad would frown upon saying its not healthy. My mom was serious about healthy stuff and Maggi would take a back seat for the next two weeks. We had to cajole her for hours to get it out again!

The same rule applied to Rasna (does anyone remember that ad where they showed a Rasna girl with 'I love you, Rasna'? She was every kid's dream), TV time (homework first and then TV - oliyum oliyum (a song telecast show) on friday nights + movie on sunday were big deal when I was in 4th or 5th; 6th-college - I had to finish the long list of chores/practices to do before TV and novels), story books (only if we did really well in class - a story book for every A grade. I'm sure most of us would've had mini libraries of cherished books that we exchanged with each other simply because we couldn't buy them at will - I have friends who became friends just so we can exchange books :P), play time (two hours max), movies/excursions/trips (one or two a year??), etc, etc. And pocket money was practically non-existent at home. We could get however much we needed but we had to justify our purchases (the hardest was explaining to my mom that I wanted to eat at the canteen every day just for the heck of it - my mom frowned upon it unless it was some special day, like the last day of school or something). We would get one or two rupees once or twice every few weeks and that day was treat day amongst friends. We'd share one samosa or two pepsis between five friends and yet the part samosa was all the more delicious than the ten samosas that I buy now. 

But I still think my childhood was amazing simply because we knew what the rules were and knew what the limits were. Most importantly, it was because we knew our parents won't change the limits. We could cry and cry but once my mom made some dinner, there was no changing it just because I didn't want to eat it. I could either not eat it (allowed for one day) or eat it but request what I wanted 'nicely' for another day (even then, it was at the discretion of my parents to really decide if it was good enough to eat). I still remember hating wheat upma but being forced to eat simply because it was healthy. I think that made me appreciate all kinds of foods and stop being a picky eater. I still have some pet peeves of preferring noodles over rice, chicken over veggies, etc. But those were habits that I picked up in grad school and not when I was growing up. Even now, if push comes to a shove, I can eat anything (eg: bland food) and still not complain much.

Now, I see most kids just getting all they want (or are my expectations too high?). Aakash sleeps every night after watching two hours of TV and gets a new toy every two weeks. He also gets to go to McDonalds (yeah, chicken nuggets are his favorite) every few days (otherwise he won't eat his dinner properly) and has a slew of Happy meal toys which he plays with for maybe half an hour and then throws them out. For his bday, the gifts he gets are in the range of $100 to $500 and he doesn't play with most of them anyways. His latest craze is Justin Bieber (can you imagine a five year old liking a pop star?? ) and thinks Superman is for 'kids' (don't ask me what he is!!). He has an iTouch already and demands that new games be downloaded every few days. He is the one who plays most games on my mobile (I stick to bubble burst most times) and thinks most games are boring. If things are boring even now, I don't know what will happen later in life. There is only so much entertainment and fun that the world can possibly provide.

I only picked Aakash as an example because I see him day in and day out and have known him since he was three and a half years old. Almost every kid that I know is super smart and don't minding showing that they are (which is good some times but then puts us adults in a weird position where you cannot count them as adults (which they are not) but cannot treat them as kids (which they are)). So, you tend to treat them as younger friends whom you can appreciate and play with but really cannot tell them if they are doing something wrong - some days, I've itched to tell a kid that what he is doing is wrong or is not the right thing to do but have held my tongue simply because his parents let him do it. If they are fine with it, then I cannot possibly say anything against it right? But I remember when I was growing up, everyone had a free rein in telling me what was right and what was wrong. Not just my parents, but my aunts, uncles, grand parents, my parents' friends, neighborhood uncles and aunties, my mom's colleagues, sometimes even the maids and driver that worked for us would tell me something is right and something is wrong. Atleast with the maids and my driver, my parents would consider if the advice was really right but with everyone else, my parents decided that since they were adults, they knew better than the kid (ie me). And the adults around us didn't hesitate in correcting me or my siblings if we did some mischief.

Further, us older kids were expected to be 'role models' for the younger ones - whether my own sister or my younger cousins or even the young kid in the colony who played with us. If they were caught doing something wrong, then we had to take some rap as well for not 'keeping an eye' on them and making sure they didn't do anything wrong. Mischief was fine whereas other things (like petty fights, jealousies, etc) were frowned upon. We had to resolve them amongst ourselves. I don't remember much incidences where my parents stepped in in the kids' fights. I even remember resolving fights and issues amongst playmates simply because I couldn't go home and tell my mom that I didn't want to play any more with kid X whose parent Y was opposite our house. And we didn't have much choice because we couldn't do much without our playmates anyways.

Also, it is getting harder to wow kids nowadays. I had to rack my brain to gift something to Aakash for his bday that would wow him and still be useful and fun. He already had a number of toys, his other gifts were an iTouch, soccer shoes, motorbike, some high end toys, etc. Finally I had to settle for a group activity kit which he could do with his cousins and a new Wii game of his favorite Super Marios (that wowed him for exactly one week. Sigh!). Gone are the days where parents used to throw a simple bday party with cake and rasna and we were done. For Aakash's bday, my landlady booked a party room in Chucky Cheese, ordered pizza and drinks for all, had a special Super Mario cake and gave party gifts to every kid that came in. Its all well and good to do it sometime but gets harder to beat expectations every year. Aakash's fourth bday was similar with Sponge Bob cake - this year, he made it clear he didn't want anything less than a Super Marios or Bieber cake. Excuse me?? A cake is a cake, even a simple one should've given the same fun since we are all going to eat it anyways. And he forgot about that cake after a few days.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for wowing kids and giving them the best experiences parents can give. But life is not just a string of happy moments. You cannot eat just sweets for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There should be a balance in everything and failures and rejections are part of the deal. So, get your kids exposed to a wide variety of experiences, both good and bad, and let them grow up as mature adults and not some protected ones in a bubble.If not, they would become adults without a deep sense of commitment to anything, not even to having fun. Life, then, would become a meaningless set of events - that is the worst thing a parent can give his or her child. 

PS: I do know that all this is theory and that since I'm not a parent, I can't really talk about the choices parents make when bringing up their kids. I'm all for the choices that parents make, since after all, its their kid. But, all I ask is, keep a balance and show your kids what real life is like. Once they know that failures are not a big deal and that success is never elusive, they'll learn to love and enjoy life more. Treat them with an iron hand in a velvet glove and your kid might thank you years later even if he screams for icecream every night now. For, you cannot protect them forever and its best that they fail in your arms than fail where you cannot hold them.

Snapshot of a week - update

And, oh... forgot to add the following things:

• Went to a Seattle Sounders game with M. Lot of firsts for that one - had a good time with M and other friends, my first live football game (it actually ended before I got bored - that is a plus!), 100th game for Sounders and good goals (two of them were super funny!), ride back to home in a bus late at night.
• Installed a basketball hoop at office to play. Oh yeah, my company is that cool!
• Organized two lunches and both went well. The company is getting more and more interesting.
• Saw a bunch of movies - loved 180 though there is something missing, Ip Man series - loved it for the company I went with, some more tamil ones. Got to start serious movie watching soon. But we are in summer and I don't want to spend time watching movies... and what little indoor time I get, kindle takes my attention.
• Finally, finally got my book moved to publishing (as in, real publishing - at the printers with the feel of ink on it). I can feel the printing happening on each word as I look at the script. Now I understand how writers all over feel. Though I'm one of the authors, I can't wait to see my chapter and book in print.

Looks like this week has been good, overall... lets see what the next week brings - I've already got a trip, a few movies, a lunch, a few chat sessions and a few talks lined up. But this hope, this is what makes life fun - As Anne says, 'half the fun in something is in expecting it'. And, I'm going to expect things fully!

Snapshot of a week

Here is another snapshot of a week post:

• Amazing how meeting some people changes our lives or provides such a shock that we change our views a lot. Here are three people I met this week: one - a cancer patient - I'm stuck by her resolve to enjoy every minute of life and her love for life itself, two - someone in management - it was nice to see the differences in viewpoints between hard core technical people and people in management and three - someone whose actions I'm trying to figure out - I had thought I had seen all types of people possible (either real life or movies or books) but it was an eyeopener and a lesson in humility thrown in somewhere. 
• Caught up with a couple of friends from my grad school after a long time - a conference call is so good when you are down!
• Met a few of my undergrad friends for dinner - I don't think any of us would've predicted we'd end up where we are eight years ago (no, not even five years ago when this blog was started!)
• Throw in a few chat sessions at M with friends. I'm loving every minute of them :) Definitely one of the highlights in daily life :P
• Crazy Saturday night - I think I'd become a UNO expert pretty soon - I managed to do the same mistake more than once at the same point. The second time was a deja vu! Despite J's efforts to educate me in games, its pretty dismal. Then G finished my game for me.
• Sidenote: I won all the games in cards that night!! So, there!
• Sunday afternoon - unexpected lunch and movie party... but I'm getting back to intern days. Spontaneous is the word!
• Sunday evening - met some of my friends for snacks. It was good meeting everyone (other than for bdays and anniversaries). I do miss the Kinect dinners we used to do - now everyone is busy and have more commitments to keep up. People can't 'just' relax and waste time anymore :( And I'm scared of growing older for this same reason - at one point, life would become a list of commitments to fulfill and the fun part would get lost. Even if I keep my life fun, I can't expect everyone else to do the same - and what is the point in doing things if you can't do them with friends? I'm not sure I know the solution to this one but I hope we all know it before it's too late!
• K is coming to Neverland after like an infinity!! That one news made my whole week :) I'm already planning a whole slew of things to do - a trip to Canada and Portland are in the cards! Lets see!
• Was totally down for a day or so (think Tuesday). I need to get a handle on my temper. It's usually fine but I flew off the handle for sometime and don't feel happy about it at all.
• Had a really nice chat with KG's parents - they know me from when I was a baby (literally!) and hearing from them was super good. That is also a reminder that my parents and their friends are not growing any younger.
• Got to be part of my dad's bday party! Thanks to technology and P :) I was feeling super bad that I couldn't be there (hence the bad temper) and the next day, got to do this!! 
• Finally used my kindle to download a couple of books - Saturday afternoons are best spent lounging on a camp chair in the sun with a juice in one hand and a kindle with your favorite books in another. Lets see how long this bliss exists.
• Heard that one of my cousins was moving to Canada soon! I'll so miss them!
• Realized that a lot of my friends have stopped/reduced facebooking because they are all busy with work :O. I'm still among the remaining few that likes and comments and wishes and what not. As a result, my name pops up more times in more feeds (atleast, according to J, I produce more noise on facebook :P) and that has its own set of issues. OK, this also proves I'm pretty jobless!
• Did a few late nights due to work - but life is pretty interesting.

Apparently, this is all I can think of about the last seven days of my life. I'm wondering if I should reduce facebook time and instead do a snapshot of week every week (and note things down as and when they happen). Atleast it would be a fun read a few years later ( not to mention that my facebook would be a lot cleaner).

As always, all comments welcome :)

ADMK to victory

மக்களே! மக்களுக்கு மக்களே!

ADMK வெற்றி வாகை சூடி இப்போ தமிழ்நாட்டுல ஆட்சி செய்ய போறாங்க. இனியாவது எல்லா வகையான அராஜகமும் குறையும்னு எதிர்பார்ப்போம் (நிக்கனும்னு ஆசை படறது எல்லாம் too too much!) 

இனி சிலரோட reactions:

அப்பாடா! ஆட்சிய புடிச்சாச்சு! அடுத்து சுவிஸ் பாங்க்ல புது அக்கௌன்ட் போடணும்! அந்த கருணாநிதிய... மகனே! இருடி... வக்கறேன் ஆப்பு!

அச்சோ! இப்படியே கடைசி வரைக்கும் இருக்கலாம்னு நினைச்சேனே! எல்லாம் போச்சே!! retirement பிளான் கூட இல்லையே!

அப்பா! நான் டெல்லி போக மாட்டேன்!! எல்லாரும் கனிமொழின்னு கூப்பிடாம களிமொழினு கூப்பிட்டு டார்ச்சர் பண்ணுவாங்க! 

அய்யா! இந்த அய்யாவ நம்பாம அம்மாவை நம்பி இருக்கலாமோ! கொஞ்சம் ஓவரா தான் போய்டுச்சு பேச்சு! இனி நான் என்ன பண்ணுவேன் ஏது பண்ணுவேன்! கேப்டன் வேற வந்து நொங்கு எடுப்பாரே!! ஆத்தா!! 

இதுல பய புள்ளைக option வேற தரானுங்க! velanguvaanungala? 

வேண்டாம்! வலிக்குது அழுதுடுவேன்!

யப்பா! எவ்வளவு டார்ச்சர் தந்தாங்க! இப்பவும் நம்ம ஒரு வோட்டு போட்டா, லட்சம் வோட்டு போட்ட மாதிரி! யாருகிட்ட! நம்ம கிட்டயேவா!! கிங் மேகர்னா சும்மாவா?

அய்யா போய் அம்மா வந்தாச்சு! இவங்களாவது ஏதாவது நமக்கு நல்லது பண்ணுவாங்களான்னு பாப்போம்! 

PS: all the above is sondha karpanai, but the images suttufied from all over the web. Indha images thandhavangalukku nandri hai!

Dravidian women - paintings

Came across this amazing oil painting work online... too good! I was blown away by the life in each of the paintings and the level of detail in each one! It was like watching a photograph taken by a renowned artist with a good SLR! I'd suggest you see every painting there - though the water colors, drawing and acrylic were not that impressive. And the face of the women portrayed, I could relate to each of it - I could see a friend, a relative, a co-passenger in the bus, in the train, a college mate and so on. The effect of lights and the props to bring the scene liveliness is totally cool! Usually people stick to inanimate objects or simple life subjects when they do oil paintings. Trying to capture a person's emotion, that too women, on oil painting is not small task and the artist has excelled in it. Each painting speaks! And I have no higher praise than that! :)

Spent!

I came across an interesting game called Spent. It captures the daily struggles that most poor people face in the world. Though it is geared towards American economy, it applies to poor people in India and most other places. Do try it out - it is a good eye opener with regards to your priorities in life. It definitely was for me!

Paarthathum Kettathum

Daily, morning carla pogumpothu ethavathu ketkarathu, vela paarkarapo ketkarathu/paarkarathu, facebookla makkal post panra videos pakarathu ellam en hobbies (periiiyyyyaaa hobby nellam sollapadaathu!). Adhula silathu apdiyae manasula gondhu pottu ottikum. Inniku paathathu/ketathula silathu idho:

• Oru payyan classla oru edathula utkaara maatendraanu avan teacher tape pottu avana chairla ottitaangalaam. Adhuvum poster ottara kutti tapela. Adhula andha payyanukku psychological stress vandhuduchaam - idhellam ennanga idhu? I remember getting hit on the hands with a ruler for all the classroom mischief during 3-5 grades. Ivanga ennadanaa, oru kutti tapela suthinathukku psychological disorder nu solranga. Haiyyo! Haiyyo!
• AC on panrathukku, switch, remote mattum illama SMS moolamaa kooda activate pannalaam... idhu US la illenga... saatshath namma Chennaila thaan! Remotela panna mudiyaathathu SMS enna panna mudiyum? Maybe officelerndhe SMS anuppi veedu porathukkula, AC on aagi veedae cool aaganum nu vachurukaangalo?
• Maalaiyil Yaaro song, even after so long, is good.
• Adhe pola, Janani Janani songum... even though its on the slower side, it is amazing.
• Sathi Leelavathi dialogues (adhuvum, "ennayae pudikala break pudikala enna?" Lol! :D) arumaiyya!!
• Vijaykanth + ADMK should be a good enough kootani against DMK. And they have around 59% of political clout. This election should be interesting!
• BJP standing alone in all constituencies in Tamil Nadu is bad, very bad for them politically. Pesama avanga ADMKvoda seralaam... Innum konjamaavathu deposit varum.
• Vijay as Vandhiyathevan in Maniratnam's Ponniyin Selvan - not sure how it'll go. But if he spoils that part, he'd get into my least favorite actors in the blink of an eye!
• Tax time in US - seekiram tax kattanum yaa! Oore atha pathi thaan pesuthu!
• Facebook among the most hated tech companies - Idhukku like button ellam illaya?
• Correctional officers being victims - looks like a new trend in Neverland :(
• Somalia pirates earn around $10000 a year, which is like 17 times the average salary there. And all this for a bit more, if not the same, level of risk. Avangalukku risk edukarathu rusk saapdara maathiriyo?
• Cricket, cricket, engengu kaaninum cricket, yaarudan pesinum cricket, edhil ketinum cricket! Ellam world cupin maayam.
• As a side benefit of WC, sema super ads!! And I get to see most of them! I loved the Pepsi ad collection for world cup.
• Naalaiya Iyakunar short films ellam nachunu iruku - saw Vinai, Sattenna maaruthu vaanilai. 
• Some more TED talks! 

Ithana media interaction iruku, adhuvum less than 8 hoursla... idhula paathi time vela vera panrom! I'm sure everyone has a similar level of media interaction in day to day life! No wonder we are called the 'information overloaded' generation (idhuvum innaiku padichathu thaan!).

Snapshot of a week

Snapshots are fun in that they help us capture life as it is right now. And they help us remember how life was when we look at it a few years later. Here's a snapshot of my last week:

• Had to finish some work at office and wrap up a long week.
• Got ready for a much needed holiday with family and friends. That included going shopping for a dress, packing stuff, making sure all the loose ends are tied, parking my car correctly, cleaning up my room and home before I leave (so that I don't have to do it when I'm back all tired out) and a million other things to do before you go on a trip.
• Had a snow scare due to which I had to move my trip a bit (and plan all the logistics like getting dropped off/picked up at the airport along with the move).
• Had a crazy long flight where I met a tattoo artist who was an interesting companion and she yapped away to glory. All I had to do was nod and the conversation was in full sway.
• Got to spend some quality alone time with each of my nieces. They are at the stage where playing with both at the same time is not enough anymore and I have to make sure to spend time with each without getting the other all worked up and feeling 'I'm missing on things'.
• Was surprised how much B had grown in the last few months. She is fast slipping out of the toddler mode and into the first grade mode. Though, there are still some cute moments... and I intend to make the most of them :)
• Got to check off two more things in my list of '101 things to do in US'. Sadly, nowadays, the list is getting filled slower and slower. But the good thing is, I'm past 75 in that list now. Hopefully, I'll hit 101 soon.
• Did a long drive with some great company. It was fun since my last long drive was months earlier.
• Got a good insight into the Telangana issue. Though a split might be good for this case, I shudder to think of the aftereffects of this in each state across India. Some that I can think of: Gujarat, Kashmir, NE states, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra. As an Indian, I'm really concerned and worried about all the infighting going on. Hopefully, things get resolved such that India doesn't get affected as a whole.
• Realized that the 'Mannipaaya' song of Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaya has awesome lyrics in Telugu. And, I loved that song itself. 'Vinntunnava' is a constant on my player now. Note to self: Start appreciating the music itself and not judge based on the lyrics of a song.
• Had a blast of a weekend after a long long time, a slice of grad school life after almost two years. Now, I know what exactly I miss from grad school. Though professional life is fun and I'm fine with it now, grad school experience was too good.
• Talking to K has become more and more fun - I'm constantly amazed by the breadth and depth of stuff we talk to each other about.
• Felt bad for MG, one of my favorite couples. I thought they were perfect together (despite some obvious differences)... but then things were not to be.
• Was pretty riled up on Monday due to a bad disagreement. The sleepless nights and long talks didn't help matters much and I was a goner by the time I hit bed yesterday. 
• Missed a few b'days when I was gone. Oopsie! (B's favorite term :))
• Got some sunshine, the most precious commodity at Neverland. Even when inside, I was boning up to the window to get the maximum sunshine possible. It felt good to have the heat beat at your skin after months of cold. However, I also realized that I can never be super happy with that much heat since my skin was totally disagreeable to it. And so, Neverland sticks to cooler weather :)

Till Thursday, see you guys!

A day with Akaash!

PS: I found an old blog draft with Akaash and thought I'll complete the draft today.

Akaash is a cute little boy who is 4 "becoming 5" who makes life and all the small things in it interesting! And he is Akaash and not Akash or Aakash (the spelling I use most of the time and get corrected! By him, nonetheless!!).He is my land lady's son and is always up to something. Our story starts two years back.....

Two years back:

It's been a while since I've lived day in and day out with young kids (not counting the few days I catch with my nieces). So, imagine my surprise when the teeny tiny son of my land lady comes in marching and wants to play sponge bob with him. I had no idea what sponge bob was and was wondering how I'd play it (effects of too much protection from kids commercialism - read toys). Then, during that golden summer, I spent a good amount of time with him - playing sponge bob, picking tomatoes, trying to scare the old kitty in the neighbor's house and so on. I didn't get to spend much weekends with him but the weekday evenings were fun times for us. A good way to relax after a day in office (yeah, planning trips and other recreations was sure hectic!!)

A year back:

I moved Neverland to S and my first thought was to stay there again. And I got to do it, six months later. Now, Akaash was older and had moved onto Thomas the Train and Power Rangers and Dora (yeah! Guys do watch Dora too). On most days, work ensured that I went back home only after he had slept and weekends were spent traveling. So I didn't get to spend my last December holidays in Neverland.

This year - Summer:

January to summer was spent planting the yard (not that we'd do much since my landlady hired someone to do most of the work and we just planted some of saplings and plants for fun - tomatoes and tulips are my favorite) and partying and evening trips to the lakes. Akaash graduated from playing with real toys to playing with the Wii. Since it was his last summer before he started school (and we feeling sorry for him for starting the institution of school - you don't get holidays forever after!!), icecream trips and play dates abounded. Throw in a few bday parties and the summer with him was nice!!

This year - Fall and Winter:

Thanks to Akaash and M (the Kinect boss), my game playing skills grew rapidly and I got reintroduced to Super Mario, Ninja Turtles and car races and introduced to bowling, baseball, etc. The entire Fall season was spent either playing at home or at M's place. Akaash's latest obsession was Buzz Light year and others in Toy Story. The cold season is letting us devise new indoor games and recreation stuff. For my part, I made sure he reads atleast three books a day and he is my staunchest supporter for the library! :) The stories about his school and his friends and his teachers and classes and homework is a new tale that I look forward to every day. The countdown for Halloween and the drama around it was exciting followed by similar ones for Diwali and Thanksgiving. Now, he's all eager about Christmas and we've put on light decorations of Santa, reindeer and candy canes.  

In Retrospection:

College was the kind of fun where we go and experience something new all the time. Most of my activities now are still similar to college life (read movies and trips and hangouts with friends). But this past year, it's been a different kind of experience to see someone (especially a young kid) get excited for all the small things like lighting diyas for Diwali, lights for Christmas, baking cakes and cookies, the first tomato of the season, etc. He has something to marvel and be excited about everyday. Though he has his own temper tantrums (you should see him trying not to eat food (unless there is chicken nuggets or milk involved) and when his dad comes to pick him up for the weekend), he is my youngest pal in Neverland and makes life a lot more interesting. I'm all set to have fun for the rest of the journey and can't wait to see how it would turn out. Making the change to live a life different than what most of my friends and I (in the past) was accustomed to has brought on its own challenges and experiences. And Akaash was one of them. And I'm glad to have decided to take this one on! :)

Now, if you excuse me, I've to go and win the MarioKart and reach the castle! :P

Finally, fall!

Fall is here finally!

The leaves are turning golden yellow with some turning deep red while others turn a Hokie orange. The combined effort is worth the chilly mornings and dewy cars that I have to clean up before I start to work. How I wish I had my camera (I lost it at Dubai while in transit from here to home) to capture the glory of it all! Every day drive is a pleasure now (more than at other times) and I've started taking a round about route to work just to see the trees there. My campus is very pretty with trees arching in yellows and reds and getting to work early means you have the road all to yourself. Also, there is a set of hedges in the parking lot that have turned a deep red while all others remain green. I catch myself imagining how the entire mosaic would look like when seen from the sky. It sure would be pretty!

However, the nights come early too and by the time I reach home, the lights have faded. My roommates and I have stopped our evening walks (we did it during summer time when we had sunlight till 8 pm) and have resorted to watching movies instead. We watch a mix of Hindi and English movies. That, with cooking and cleaning up and general chatting, fills evenings and nights! Not that I'm complaining but I do miss the sun and walk part of it! We are thinking of morning walks (which never work because of our varied schedules) but the chilly mornings tempt one to snuggle into the comforter instead of braving the cold. 

This is my fourth fall season and though I've seen it many times, it still does take my breath away to see a tree perfectly red on one half and totally green on the other side. I have a favorite tree that I compare every day to its previous day shade and it never fails to amaze me how much changes over a few days. Also, if you are in US and are thinking about a special place for seeing fall colors, the Blueridge Parkway is the place to go. I've not seen a more colorful place in fall, in all its glory and splendor! Every time you drive by, Nature shows a different visage and you feel as if you've never been at that place before. And, that is what I call a cure to eternal boredom!! :) 

Finally, some Indian cities!

I'm always interested in comparing how the costs would be for regular items and activities in different cities. So far, I've only come across apps that are US-centric. Finally, I found a website that includes pretty much all the big cities in India with reasonably accurate data. Check out Expatistan. This lead to some interesting discoveries. For example, did you know that Chennai was cheaper than Coimbatore and Bangalore cheaper than Chennai? It was funny to see that Big Mac meal (I'm assuming they mean the happy meals that you get in McDonalds) was costlier in India than in US. Talk about following the west at any cost, ha ha!

Quarter cutting and Boss A Baskaran

Recently I came across two movie trailers that had me expecting the movies themselves: Adhuvum, tamil movie... been a long time since that happened for comedy movies!

First, Quarter Cutting - looks interesting. I've already seen the Tamil Padam by the same team. And it was really good. So waiting for this one eagerly.
En favorite was "Naan Sura da" :D :D


Second, Boss (A) Baskaran - Most of Arya's movies that I've seen are serious ones. This is his first attempt at proper comedy (or atleast that is what the trailer shows).


Paapom epdi porathunu!

Home - really good!

One of the best and most disturbing videos I've seen in recent past. I'd strongly recommend everyone to click through this link. Though embedding is disabled and the video is long, its well worth our time to even become aware of the extent of this issue.

I'm sure everyone knows about this issue (one of the most popular topics ever since I was in grade school) but the extent of impact, that is where this video scores. Lets do our bit to spreading it! Do share it with your friends and family as well to increase awareness.

A sad day for speed-driving!

The first thing I see today morning is a link to an article that one of my friends forwarded. It was titled "As sure as night follows day, you are going to get a traffic ticket soon". Uh-oh! Not a good start at all... It looked like something B would say! But the mail was not from him. And I digged in. Before we go on, here is some background on my driving. I'm generally a safe but fast driver. I tend to think that if the driver and the car can handle it, then going faster is not wrong as long as you follow all the rules (excepting the speed limit rule of course!). Though I do drive fast, I always always follow the rules (especially the ones that are necessary/important). Never would you see me jumping a red light or do violent/crazy driving. Sure, I sometimes hit the pedal and do some zip zap zooming but all in such a way that the car is under my complete control. Almost all of my friends know it and I get teased for the fast driving now and then. 

Ever since one of my friends got his ticket, I've been tagged as "The next person in the group to get a ticket". Its even been predicted that I'll just surpass the officer's expectations and go to jail for speeding instead of getting measly tickets (oh God! no!!). And, as days went by, I kept hearing more and more stories of how someone got a ticket. Just the last weekend (yup! Memorial day weekend), a total of ten people that I knew got tickets (one of it was my friend's brother who was visiting - for not wearing seat belts in the back seat! Heights!!). And most were surprised that I hadn't gotten one. 

Now, me, wanting to hold on to non-ticketed state and not wanting the hassles of being ticketed (read: being a lazy bum), started following all the rules religiously (including doing a full stop before turning a right on red, B). Though this has toned down my driving considerably, it has also taken the fun out of driving. I miss the zip zap zooming and am afraid to actually take the highways for long drives for fear of just pressing on (and getting tickets).

According to me, the one thing that differentiates good drivers from great drivers is being able to drive safe AND fast. As far as I know, only a few people go on to become great drivers. Even among my friends, I am not comfortable with everyone's driving. Sure, I trust their driving. But not enough to sleep off in the car! I'm ever on alert mode to make sure things are fine. Sadly, that makes me a very light sleeper during car travels (either very short periods of sleep or longer periods of very very light sleep). So, naturally, I want to be one of the great drivers I know. I know I drive safely (read: don't do anything stupid, take calculated risks, handle situations without any issues, etc) but as for driving fast, I guess I'll have to stop that soon. And be stuck in the good drivers list for some time! Ugh! 

PS: I'm seriously considering not doing long drives/not using my car much AND/OR a trip to Germany (just for beloved Autobahn).

PPS: I'm also thinking of getting a GPS with the speed option on and training myself to drive looking at the GPS instead of the speedometer of my car. We should rather have the GPS speed-check in place of the speedometer. Oh bother!