Diary of a desi girl in pardes

Thoughts and books :).

2009-12-23T18:35:00.012-08:00

Hello! After all these days, months (and may be almost a year), it occured to me that i haven't written anything here for a long, long time. So, this is just an attempt to dust the cob-webs. For starters, i discovered some really refreshing debut books, and i am clearly looking forward to reading more works from the authors of these books. Two of these books are short story collections, vignettes mostly from the everyday world around us and sometimes from a hypnotic and very surreal world of imagination. The third one is a debut novel, which i liked purely because it broke quite a few stereotypes associated with "desi-lit". You do have the beautifully ornate sari picture on the cover and you do have quite a few of the standard things associated with what lies beneath such ornate covers, what you also get is a refreshing story of an ordinary citizen trying to make sense o the world around him.

And here they are, three very interesting and gripping works :

If it is sweet by Mridula Koshy
`Etudes by Aseem Kaul
The Sari Shop by Rupa Bajwa

And then, besides my standard fix of Murakami and Abe, I have also enjoyed reading the works of Banana Yoshimoto. I recently read "Kitchen" and "Hardboiled and Hard Luck" and was impressed by how simple words can sometimes convey very powerful emotions.

What's on your reading list these days?

Oh, and meanwhile I also visited Boston, along with my dear friend MD, in late summer this year, lots of fun, as always :).
Besides doing a highly touristy thing like taking a duck tour, the other highlight was going to Brookline Booksmith, the best bookstore ever! Meeting my friends Ms. Doll and Ms. E. and just walking around in my old neighborhood , besides eating in our favorite places, awesome! You know what i mean :).

On blue skies and sunshine :).

2008-09-05T19:23:00.000-07:00

There are times, when we just go on about our lives like a machine. Oftentimes, for me, this has included spinning a cocoon around myself, albeit involuntarily. Those times, when we just offer ourselves to the day to take us through it. And for what it's worth, i love those days :). But in the midst of it all, there are moments that make you sit up and take notice, of the world and people around you.

The moments when you suddenly notice the blue skies and the splash of gold around you, when the warmth of the sun comforts you like never before. When an ordinary cup of chai tastes like elixir, because it had that extra ingredient of love. When someone calling you "silly" actually feels great, because it's your lil' niece who spouted this wisdom :). Those are the moments when i love being the butterfly, fresh from the warmth of my cocoon.....

Having spent several deliriously joyful days in my cocoon, i took a lil' time to step out and soak in the warmth of the glowing sun and just walking under the gorgeously beautiful blue skies.
And just being mesmerized by the vastness of the ocean.
It was a bliss to feel the raindrops, to see a gigantic full moon waving at me from up there, to just laugh on silly things and all the goodness that comes with it. To watch fireworks while it was raining. To giggle like a kid, with a kid, while watching the dolphin show at the Baltimore aquarium. To have mad, mad fun on a dragon boat at Inner harbor, and then proceed to have an ice-cream, even as we shivered. To take a walk through the fog on the Golden Gate bridge and feel surreal every moment of it.
To stand in the line for more than half and hour, just to ride the cable car-even though you could have taken the Muni and saved much time. Just because it felt just the most appropriate thing to do. To shop silly and to know that its OK to sometimes do things for yourself. To sit in the sun and have masala chai after a really fun day. If only it were possible to say it all in words.....For now, i will just leave you with few pictures. They are the reflections of those fun moments, the moments of just being.....

The best part-doing it all with your friends :). Golden girl and MD, yay !!!!!!!! we did it!

Thoughts.....

2008-05-31T17:29:00.002-07:00

Surprised? I am :-D.

Wanted to write a lil' something today. Its been a long, long time since i made an appearance here. Sometimes, words appear and then disappear, before you can string them together.....The silent scribbles in the diary of the mind. Sometimes, thoughts flash like a firefly in a corner and then fly away. Other times, you do end up finding words and then shaping them into a definitive something. The something, that will tell it like it is.

This just happens to be one such moment, and i am making sure that i catch the thoughts before they dissolve :).

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Few days back, i had a lil' trip back in time, with this beautiful piece of poetry and music. Its a musical rendition of a poem by Faiz (The video link is from a TV drama called Dhoop Kinare, which was popular even in India). I am not attempting to translate the poem, because no words can accurately translate its depth and the beauty.

It is one of the most beautiful combinations of poetry and music, ever! I first listened to this when i was really young, barely a teen-ager. The melody grew on me and so did the lyrics. The lyrics beautifully and poignantly describe the soothing effect that long-forgotten pleasant memories have. And few days ago, when i listened to this song, i felt soothed, blessed by the beautiful, long-forgotten memories.....
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I've recently caught up with my reading, and have been reading Murakami like an addict :-D. Besides some of his novels and short stories, i have also enjoyed reading some really inetersting books about mind and music, neuroplasticity, paranoia and the concept of self. Which means (or atleast there is a lil' bit of likelihood) that i would write about them at some point :).

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Oh, and the pictures that you see here, are from Santa Monica (where else?). Love the Santa Monica pier and the promenade.

These pictures were taken when MD was here in winter.

The ferris wheel in the picture is the old one. The new, solar-powered ferris wheel was inaugurated this week.

So, i did manage to capture some thoughts, didn't i :).

Chai and pakode :-D.

2008-02-02T18:17:00.000-08:00

Oh, don't go, yet. You haven't reached my food blog, you are doing fine, still on my diary. Its so happens that old habits have prompted me into chirping about something gastronomical (and by the same token, emotional?) :-D.

I have gotten back from having some "chai" and "pakode". This is a combo, that i lighten up my weekend evenings (when not at home) with, quite frequently. Before you decide to feel jealous, let me dash those hopes. In the interest of full disclousre, that "chai" is from Starbucks! and the "pakode", well they are a close cousin, the falafel :-D. . By all means, feel jealous about the latter, because what i just had, are the best falafels ever (and they are served along with the best hummus and very-very hot saunce). And like i said, i get to enjoy those on a rather regular basis. The "chai" however, is a tricky/sticky note here ;).

I know i am making myself available for some criticism here for "enjoying" the Strabucks kinda' chai. Even though i have it quite often, the "chai-tea latte" at Starbucks (or Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf or Pete's Coffee, or at any one of their cousins), isn't remotely like what i know as chai, with or without the masala. A hundred million people have said that before me, and an equal number is more than likely to say so after me. The name "chai-tea" itself creates confusion, exemplified by the following conversation that i had with my ex-colleague and friend AK, who hails from Russia:

Scene: AK and me standing in the line at Starbucks at workplace, waiting to order.

AK: "Musical, i have to ask you something-What is chai?"

That question drew him a strange look from me. Knowing that chai means the same in Russian as it does in Hindi, it sounded a strange question.

Me: Chai means tea in Hindi, and i guess its the same in Russian.

AK: (Big grin on his face) Yeah, true. But then, why do they (Starbucks) list chai separately and not with tea? So may be it is different indeed.

Me: They are trying to use the term chai for their version of the Indian style chai with spices, milk and sugar. Since in India we call it chai, i guess they just have been using that term. But their version is very different from homestyle masala chai.

And AK was happy, having freshly illuminated himself with the difference between "this" chai and "that" chai :-D.

This debate, whether the chai-tea or whatever is worth your $$ and attention or not, will go on. For me, i have a couple of choices, either to go to the local desi restaurant and order a beverage (many a time after waiting atleast for 15 or so minutes) which might match the taste, but may be served at a temperature totally not acceptable :-D or to go to Starbucks, and get some beverage which is not the same taste, but i can get it boiling hot! I choose both, depending on my mood and time :-D. Oh, and while i am at it, i must tell you that i recently discovered some tea bags for "Indian Chai: Classic Indian Chai with exotic sweet spices". Its black tea with spices, which suit my palate perfectly. For once, i don't reall feel the need to add any milk or sugar to this. The aroma is perfect! I wish they would make something similar with green tea as well, and then we can enjoy kahwa too :).

What can i say, i am shameless. I like that name, chai-and while i continue to treat myself to my home made REAL CHAI every weeekend and some weeknights (along with the delish goodness like upma, paranthas and what not), some weekends when i am not at home, and missing my buddies, i let the emotional appeal of that word get the better of me. I miss chirping with MD and Golden Girl over a cup of hot chai, i miss how Ms. Moon demands that her chai should not have any spice in it. And to think of it, i never even had much chai or coffee till i got into Graduate School. Like i have said before, chai and pakodas are the best combo, especially when friends are around :-D. And having a less than optimal "chai", with what i will again describe as the best falafels ever, sounds pretty good on such evenings :-D.

My lil' vacation :)

2008-01-26T18:01:00.000-08:00

Here i am, after a long hiatus (or whatever else you may choose to call it) :-D. And its not that i've suddenly come up with a brilliant idea for a post that i am typing something here ;). Still wondering what to write! And while i do that, i will share some tid-bits about my lil' vacation :).

The typical winter time scenary :-D

It cudn't have been any other place, except Golden Girl's, this time. After she moved to the East Coast, our almost daily chai/coffee etc. sessions, where we would share our day-to-day stories came to a halt. So, i just wanted to be with my friend.....and off i went to.....

The Liberty Bell

Philadelphia :).

There's something about the winter skies :)

Besides, its always fun to enjoy a lil' "real" winter ;).

It's sunny, but very cold ;)

And there i was, right there, with my dear friend, again :).

In Philadephia

It always feels like home at her place. It is like a home for me. You know, the place where i can do anything that i can do at my place, including making some chai at my own will, without anyone having to offer me, as in "Please have some chai" etc. :-D. I am not the least bit hesitant at her place. It feels good, when everyone there asks me to make tea for them :). So yes, in more than one ways, i was home for this vacation :).

Besides her Aayi feeding us all the best of goodies, and her daughter playing naughty tricks on me like we had never been away from each other, besides her hubby requesting another cup of tea with all the affection that he could, i got the sheer comfort of being with Golden Girl, the sheer comfort of being with my folks :). We didn't go out much, there really was no need too. Sometimes, you just need to be at home and enjoy.

We did see around a bit in the city of Philadelphia and also took a lil' trip to Pittsburgh.

A view of downtwon Pittsburgh

And on the way back from Pittsburgh,

Ooh, totally lit up :)

we encountered a lil' flurry, which was the only snow i saw.

Pittsburgh is a lovely city, in more than one ways.

Another pretty view of the city

Lovely architecture, so many universities, a decent public transport system-i really liked the place. There's a lil' vista point from where you can have a pretty view of the Pittsburgh downtown and also take a cable car ride on the incline :). And certain things about the city, including the really sharp inclines on the roads (or free roller-coaster rides, according to Golden Girl), reminded everyone of San Francisco :).

You won't believe it, but the only touristy stuff i did in Philly was a cpl. of hours before going to the Airport :-D.

A pretty buggy/carriage

So, Happy New Year everyone (yes, i am wishing everyone after Republic Day!). Will be back with more stories :).

Give me my sourdough :)

2007-11-14T15:47:00.000-08:00

Yeah, yeah, as if i could do without talking about food here for long ;). Well, there is no recipe here, and there's a lot more to tell before i get to the "food rant", which makes it suitable for my diary. If you want to snark on the inappropriate title, so be it :-D. So, last week i was away for cpl. of days for a conference near San Francisco. The conference was near a tourist spot, Point Reyes, about one and half hours away from the city. We drove to Point Reyes from San Francisco late in the evening, which meant that we would encounter fog and low visibility. That would only add to the already difficult, serpentine route on highway one :-D.

The Bay Bridge was closed that day, because of the oil spill that everyone has heard about now. We had to make it to the conference by 7:30, because a colleague had her presentation the same day!! After crossing the Golden Gate, we were on our way! While driving through the foggy, dark and very serpentine route, we didn't even realize that we were driving sooooooo close to the ocean!! That realization would set in after a cpl. of day on our ways back, when we would be driving during the day time. This part of highway one is really scenic and gorgeous during the day time, but in a very dizzy way! The many twists and turns can leave one car-sick!

Highway one, on the way back

The conference venue was kinda' obscure.....we missed it, went ahead a cpl. of miles, only to realize that we needed to turn around :-D. This place, as a colleague intutively remarked (which turned out to be an accurate hunch)-was an ex-rehab place!! The place was around a bay, very dark and foggy, just like everywhere else around there, in the night. But we were thrilled to have reached in time, and safely at that! What with a cpl. of deer and a coyote sightings during the drive!

The next morning revealed the true beauty of the place! Lush with pines and wildflowers, it was refreshing! The place is near the sea-shore and has cute lil' trails to explore and enjoy the natural beauty and fresh air! Whatever tiredness (and bitterness) we had gathered from our drive the day before, all melted away!

A big plus about this place was their kitchen! They surely took good care of the vegetarians :-D. I have written here before about how conference usually reserve pasta and salad for vegetarians. Why complain, i will agree with you that conference food in gereal isn't anything good. But here, they had a huge number of choices for breakfast, one vegetarian soup and great bread for lunch and dinner everyday, besides some really well done salads, pastas, vegetables and desserts (except the first day when people felt if the cake was doused, no, make it soaked, in marsala, instead of a gentle drizzle!). I was kinda' thrilled :).

It was nice being San Francisco after a long time, even if that meant mostly driving through the city. I love the city, and i don't mean just the tourist attractions. I love the fact that they have a reasonable public transport system there and a lot of other such things :). No plastic bags, for instance :). And it has something like seasons (compared to Los Angeles) :-D. There's a lot more thats nice and lovely about this city. I just like the place, i love it, actually!

So, on our way back, we stopped at Fisherman's Wharf for lunch-we went to Boudin's. They are known for their sourdough. and i am known for my love for sourdough. i was really hoping something yummy, having had their bread a number of times. All my hopes were dashed when the only vegetarian sandwich on their take-out menu was NOT ON SOURDOUGH! Now you know what made me sour enough to entitle my post thus!! I am not a big fan of cold sandwiches, and the "No sourdough for you" didn't make it anymore pleasant for me :). What made it more painful was the sight of everyone enjoying their breadbowl (well, clam chowder in breadbowl) :-D. My experience during the conference had spolied me into expecting something great :-D. But seriously, was i expecting them to have a fake corn chowder, sans bacon, on their menu, just for people like me ;). Not quite, its Fisherman's Wharf, so naturally the emphasis would be on sea-food. But a sandwich with sourdough wouldn't hurt, though may be, for those (including vegetarians) who visit Fisherman's Wharf for reasons other than having sea-food (which many say isn't great), may be its a decent idea to have some vegetarian soup that can be served in bread bowls :-D. I have to tell you this though, i made myself a nice breadbowl with fake corn chowder soon after i got back home!! ok, not that soon, the next day :-D.

And, to those, who love a breadbowl: please think before ordering one, especially if you don't intend to finish the breadbowl! There's a lot of food wasted, why would you want to contribute to that! Or may be we can have smaller bowls? I told ya, i was gonna' rant ;).

Mind and music :)

2007-11-11T20:20:00.000-08:00

Its late in the night. I am waiting for my bus at the bus stop, tired, completely jaded, may be even a bit frustrated.....I reach my bag for the music player. The music begins to flow, into my ears, into my nerves, into my soul.....the same three songs spin again and again, as they have many a time before, soothing my soul, comforting my nerves. As the music plays on, i feel the warmth and brightness of sun, the flakes of snow melting on my skin, the pampering of the breeze.....in my thoughts, i walk with familiar faces in familiar places. i smile, i cry.....i think the thoughts. i walk with a spring in my step, almost dancing. i am in a different place, i am in different places.....these virtual trips to wherever are sponsored courtesy these few songs.....yet again, i travel through time and space: the music, my wings.....

Snap! the music player is off-i am "myself" again, back in the real world.....much soothed and ready to go!
.......................................

Music does it, to me, to everyone. Very true to my name, eh ;). It has got the power to touch the innermost core of human mind. Remember this story, about music? There are many more such stories. Dr. Oliver Sacks has narrated many more stories Musicophilia : Tales of Music and the Brain.

I am really looking forward to reading this one. Dr. Sacks' writings are about human mind and hope, and this one blends a favorite along, music. Check out the following video: Dr. Sacks talks about Music and Parkinsonism:

and this one: "A bolt from the blue", a story about his friend, who developed a passion for music after being struck by lightening!

There are more videos on Musicophilia.com.

And i know, i love me some floating on the cloud of music :).

The diary turns one :)

2007-10-16T00:41:00.000-07:00

Yeah! The diary turns one year old today.....it was a year ago, that i began chirping on these pages. The pages that have nurtured me in many ways.....the pages that are a reflection of who i am.

You know the warm and strangely comforting feeling that one derives from turning the pages of an old diary..... The color and the smell of old pages invokes nostalgia.....recreating thoughts, images, feelings.....That is what this diary is for.....

Its really fun reading my own thoughts :). Sometimes it makes me wonder, if i were the person who wrote all that! Really, its fun looking at how my thoughts and feelings have shaped up. The many thoughts that i have poured here, have also sometimes given my friends and me a chance to cherish good old times.....

And the diary has become a space for me to chronicle the books i read, the occassional movies i watch and my holiday trips :).

he he, and did i say that the diary has some dedicated readers too ;). Though most of them refrain from improving the comments statistics on this page (hint, Ms. Moon and MD) :-D.

Few days back, i was wondering if i should be changing the look of my diary. I decided to let it be.....it looks as comforting as a favorite old book, that i'd love to read again and again.....

This may not be a well written blog, it doesn't pretend to be-but its a corner where i can feel cozy :). Now what can be more enjoyable than that :).

I saw a bumble-bee :)

2007-10-10T23:33:00.000-07:00

Last week, my friend Swiss-Miss chided me a bit....."You have no life", she chirped! As i chuckled shamelessly, she continued, "You should enjoy life a bit, go out, have some time for yourself. Lets go to Lake Shrine this weekend".

Ah! This was not the first time that she asked me to visit this particular place. To her, this place means a lot. In her words, "Its so serene and peaceful, totally takes the stress of your mind". She always vividly decribes this place and its beauty. After my failed attempts to avoid going there, i finally gave in. I didn't want to upset a friend and given the fact that i was not feeling too well, i decided to take the plunge :).

The lake shrine indeed is a lovely place, with the lush greenery holding a beautiful lake in her lap, and its wears mostly an au naturale look.
Nestled in Pacific Palisades, near Pacific Coast Highway, this place did provide a few moments of calm, what with two lil' falls, a serene lake, swans, a variety of flowers, butterflies and even a bumble bee :). There is a service held in the morning for meditation, according to Swiss-Miss. She usually attends the same on weekends. We went there in the afternoon, so i didn't get to see what it was all about. For us, the main purpose that day was to go out and enjoy. And we did :).

The main reason my friend thought i would like this place is, ofcourse, its Indian roots/connection. The place was founded by Paramhansa Yogananda in 1950 and has Mahatma Gandhi memorial too.

These pictures are not the prettiest, but i enjoyed taking them :). It was quite adventurous though! You are not allowed to talk on your cell phone, and i clicked my pictures with a cell phone camera!! Not that i was talking, but its easy to misinterpret :).

Isn't that a pretty picture :). There were only two swans in the lake and i caught this one at the right moment. The garden is full of beautiful flowers, including roses, which are really fragrant!

And here's the picture that made my day :). A bhanwra/bumble-bee! Hadn't seen one in ages! It was a site to behold!

They even have a small suvenir shop/store. They have a great incense collection, and me being an incense lover, i did indulge a bit :). It is indeed a nice place, and we had a nice outing. After we got back to the University, we had our really late lunch at Elysee. It is a bliss to top it all with a chocolate cheese-cake, i tell you :).

Dreams and the duality of life.....

2007-09-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

A cpl. of days back, Ms. Moon and i were chatting online and she happened to share a cpl. of her poems with me.....lovely writings! They really did strike a chord, because in many ways, they reflect my own thoughts too :). One of them talked about dreams.....dreaming with your eyes wide open.....and how they are equally wonderful, as the ones we see while sleeping.....may be even better! Atleast they don't leave us halfway through.....Dreaming at my own will, that sounds fantastic, even reassuring.....as i said, i am a dreamer :).

Its raining outside right now. Raining after a long long time.....The weather has changed so much since the bright and crisp morning.....and so have my feelings.....Swinging between hope and thoughtlessness, i have suddenly found my ground.....and i know, its okay to dream.....as i said, i am very much a dreamer.....i dream about reality.....

..............

That is an oxymoron.....Well, life presents you with lots of duality.....we just need to let go and accept this duality :).

Few days back, i was waiting at the bus-stop.....completely tired, and completely hopeless.....figuratively and literally.....i tried to cheer myself up by engaging in small talk with a cpl. of students who enquired about a bus schedule. They had been waiting for a long time. Finally their bus arrived.....they left, with a smile. Smiles are infectious, i smiled too :). And then, i noticed something.....A poor, homeless man was picking through the trash. That is an everyday thing, they sometimes pick out plastic bottles, cans etc, i thought. But this was different.....he picked out two huge plastic cups, almost filled and drank up the soda greedily.....as a tear rolled down my cheek, the homeless guy burst into a nervous laughter.....Was he happy? I don't know, i won't know.....but i learnt that life is all about living on.....i tucked my small worries and tensions into a tiny pocket in my mind.....my bus had arrived.....

Away from oneself :)

2007-09-14T23:38:00.000-07:00

Oh! This is not some sad poetic reference for me being away from the diary for quite some time :). And you'd rather not get me started on that! There's already plenty of "i am lazy"' "i post only when i really feel like" stuff in the earlier posts ;). This one is about taking a real trip out of your own self and floating free :-D. Brought to my inbox courtesy dear buddy MD.

Few days back MD mailed to me about a cpl. of articles published in Science, about out of body experiences. We have all heard stories of people claiming that they had an out of body experience. Till recently such experiences were thought be either figments of someone's imagination or a result of treating yourself with hallucinogenic chemicals! However, things have been changing. Rick Strassmann proposes that in natural states, body's own hallucinogens such as DMT can trick one into an out of the body experience. And finally, there are these papers now, which describe how, without even taking any help from endogenous or exogenous hallucinogens, you can trick your mind/brain axis into having an out of the body experience! Finally, a more scientific and humane look! The authors basically have aimed at "disrupting the spatial unity between self and body" to quote them.

Read more about it here.

The experiments involved use of head-mounted video displays and manipulated the sense of touch to create such an experience. The subjects were made to see their own backs using the video displays and by manipulating the touch, they were made to feel out of the body!

For one of the studies, a team led by Bigna Lenggenhager and Olaf Blanke, both of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, asked people to stand in front of a camera while wearing video-display goggles. In one experiment, subjects saw the camera's view of their own back, computer-enhanced to create a three-dimensional "virtual own body." When the subjects' backs were stroked with a highlighter pen at the same time they saw their virtual back being stroked, they reported that the sensation seemed to be caused by the highlighter on their virtual back, making them feel as if the virtual body was in fact their own body.

Adopting a similar strategy to attempt to induce out-of-body experiences, Henrik Ehrsson of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, asked men and women to sit in a chair and don a video headset connected to two cameras that provided a stereoscopic view of their backs. As a subject viewed his or her own back from behind, Ehrsson used two plastic rods to simultaneously stroke the subject's chest and a location behind the subject's back. Although people felt the rubbing on their chest, in the headset they could only see Ehrsson's arm moving behind their back, reinforcing the sense that they were sitting at a location behind their actual body. The experience often elicited surprised giggles, says Ehrsson, who has tried it out himself. "You really feel that you are sitting in a different place in the room and you're looking at this thing in front of you that looks like yourself and you know it's yourself but it doesn't feel like yourself," he says. "It's almost like you're looking at a dummy." Nearly all subjects reported similar impressions on a questionnaire.

Brilliant, really! These studies remind me of the famous experiments by V. S. Ramachandran, who used mirror-image experiments with body-image, when he tricked the mind of the patients to cure phantom limb pain and tried the same for mirror agnosia and made the patients feel that the object they were asked to grab was within the mirror!

What's there in a name!

2007-08-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

The answer is: 21 million dollars! As ridiculous as it may sound, but yes, the worth of art is measured by the name who possibly created it! That's the real world, my dear!

Few days back, it was found that a painting titled "Head of a Man", which since long had been marketed as a work of Van Gogh, and was apparently worth 21 million dollars, was actually not his work.....Fair enough. But what gets me is the sentence that has usually been following this news bite everywhere: that the painting is no more worth the prized amount!! Thankfully, WaPo has this redeeming quote from Gerard Vaughan in their coverage:

"It is very important to make the point that it's not a forgery," he told reporters. "There is no evidence to suggest that someone produced this picture ... to pass it off as a work by Van Gogh."

Valuing a work of art by just the "name" of the artist? Art appreciation assumes a totally new dimension!!

Wonderland and the old dreams.....

2007-08-01T22:32:00.000-07:00

Few days back i finished this book "Hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world", a very surreal book by Haruki Murakami, my first book by this author. The book is too true to the title, and i don't mean it in a negative sense at all. It narrates two stories, from two distinct worlds. On on hand you have the really modern, fast paced wonderland and the other one is, well, the end of the world! The wonderland story is all about information wars, the strange new ways of protecting information, which use the most sophisticated device of all times: the human unconscious mind.....this world is not as simple as it looks! While the story in the wonderland is all about mind, the end of the world allows its citizens in only on one condition: that you have to surrender your shadow, the mind! The shadow then wilts away at some point, and that makes you a true citizen of the end of the world.....and while the shadow awaits its end, you would read old dreams: the broken pieces of mind and memory.....which ones belonged to someone.....

Two stories, two worlds, one connect!

Two sides of the brain, working independently?

Two minds within one?

Sounds lovely? Yes, it does! And that precisely is the surreal feeling i enjoyed the book for. The narrative is psychedelic, almost like a feverish dream! The only distractions to me, were, some of the lead character's obsessions (you'll know what i meant, when you read the book!) and the really show piece like female characters! The book could do without them (but thats my opinion). But you can easily ignore all that, and just enjoy the journey into these two worlds.....

The book has some crazy sounding, but interesting thoughts on mind! The author surely is fascinated with human mind.

The book has no ending.....or does it? You decide what to call it.....to me, it was an image of the beginning.....

and i think of Alice in the Wonderland.....

She likes it ;).

2007-07-22T23:40:00.000-07:00

Ms. Moon, my dear dear friend, recently announced that she likes this diary blog better :). While many of you many not agree with her, i perfectly understand her reasons for this verdict :)). Its always more enjoyable when you know a bit of the backstory, eh? What say Ms. Moon :)). After all this blog has all those cups of chai, chit-chat and Boston stories.

While it is interesting to share what goes in my plate, for me its equal fun to write what goes on in my mind.....and that sort of nudges me to look at the posting stats! One post a month!! My inner voice says, "Sharam Kar" (have some shame)! where have i been! and i promised to Ms. Moon not to proclaim myself lazy anymore :)). So take it as those pages of the diary which remain empty, because there was too much to say.....or may be just nothing. How else do you describe emptiness.....Oh well, moving is a part of life.....Golden Girl has headed eastwards.....MD back to Europe.....One moment so full and the next one hollow! Takes time to reassure oneself that they are still there with me.....in thoughts, and yes, on Gchat and Skype ;).

Its funny, this whole definition of being close! Ms. Moon and i chat almost everyday even as we go about living in different continents. But while i was home, we hardly got a chance to talk much!! So draw your own conclusions :)).

And yes, not to leave you in this web of words, i present you with some pictures, for your viewing pleasure.....Enjoy :).

He remembered music and love.....

2007-07-16T19:54:00.000-07:00

This is the story of man who, while forgetting most of the things due to his amnesia, remembered two things: Music and Love.....A WNYC mp3 on the life story of Mr. Clive Wearing, narrated by Debrah Wearing (his wife) and Dr. Oilver Sacks.

The whole story is amazing.....I have a feeling that this is gonna' be a part of his forthcoming book "Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain".

Summer time and a trip :)

2007-06-23T14:02:00.001-07:00

Aha! i am here again! i won't repeat myself by calling myself lazy and such ;). its for the world to see :)). but there are reasons other than laziness for not showing up here for sometime! reasons, as warm and wonderful as a trip home, after three long years. A trip that packed a whole lot of goodies for me in a span of a lil' more than two weeks.....way more exciting than a roller-coaster ride :). Quite on the lines of a good, hearty and flavorful meal, which has all the ingredients and spices ;).

The joy that i felt holding the new additions to the family, my niece (my sister's daughter) and my nephew (my brother's son), in my arms.....i had been hearing from everyone how much my niece reminded them of me.....and indeed in many simple, subtle ways she is quite like me and i am thrilled that we hit it off instantly :)). Its strange and heartwarming how she reminds my sister and me of each other.....I find her smile and eyes like my sister and my sister in turn finds her looks to be like mine.....My nephew, on the other hand, is naughty, just like his father ;).

In them, the kids, we look for reflections.....reflections of our own childhood.....when things with apparently simple (only apparently, because i believe its not easy being a few months old, being totally dependent on someone, going through teething, ear-infections and such.....and not even being able to tell anyone, it just seems easy now, because we don't remember any of it! ).

Reflections there are, aplenty.....even when we sometimes look at ourselves in the mirror, we find reflections of our loved ones.....our parents and grandparents.....reflections, that reassure us that there is always someone with us.....

Yes, after three long years, i was home.....and then, it was like i had never been away.....

Still tingling with the crispness of summer sun , still feeling the comfort of evening breeze.....

Thoughts :)

2007-05-06T14:29:00.000-07:00

I have been away for long!! and never imagined that i would do so ;). May be i was just being lazy. I have recently equated myself with Garfield :)). But hey, i have really gotten that lazy to not even type a single word over here for one full month! Irritating and amusing at the same time. Or is it because i didn't have much to say. Not true, cuz' there's been a lot that i felt like writing. Probably i published those posts in my dreams ;).

Recently, a very very dear friend of mine Ms. Affection visited me. Actually she was in the city for a conference so we met up quite a bit. it was fun, good fun. We have known each other since M. Sc. days :). I didn't get to show her around much (as if i myself have seen the city a lot), but we did go to a cpl. of my favorite spots, including The Third Street Promenade and the Santa Monica Beach :). And we enjoyed every bit of it, including the lil' ride on the Ferris Wheel after a long time! Its good to be childish sometime :)).

Also, inbetween i had to take cabs a cpl. of times. There's a certain cab company based in Beverly Hills which usually is very reliable. The first thing (or one of the first things) that i got asked after i got inside cab was "Miss, are you from India". The cab drivers, both elderly gentlemen asked this really endearingly. And while we chatted on the bad traffic on 405 and so on, it turned out that both of them were of Armenian origin. Infact, majority of the employees in the said cab company are of Armenian origin. These two gentlemen had daughters my age and had really sound knowledge of India and also "Bollywood" errrr.....Hindi movies! One of them asked me if Zeeta was a very popular Indian name. When i told him that i hadn't heard of this name before, he asked me if Geeta was popular. And i suddenly felt illuminated about what he was trying to say. He was referring to the popular Hema Mailini movie "Seeta aur Geeta" :). The other gentleman talked a lot about his daughter and other kids her age.

He said he felt good that i was so polite and respectful to him and then narrated a horiifying incident on how two young ladies his daughter's age, took the cab and didn't pay him and threatened him!! I had to believe him because he clearly sounded shaken as he spoke about it.....he was grateful though, that the next day when he went to the hotel where he had dropped them the previous night, those two kids were found creating problems in the hotel and given their due. His thoughts on having your roots in a certain place were also very touching.....in his own words, "You belong to place because you were born there, you learnt the basics of life there.....but you also belong to the place where you set up your shop, make your home and babies, see them grow up, the place where you turn from a young guy to a Grandpa, the place you pay your bills and taxes, the place that gives you food, fruits and water....."

Tickling: self vs. non-self :)

2007-04-07T07:42:00.000-07:00

Jay Leno might think that its really ridiculous for a John Hopkins team to study why one can not tickle oneself, while there are bigger health reltaed issues facing man-kind. But this one got me thinking.....after all, its tactile impulse that the neurons receive. How does the brain figure out that it is self tickling and thus there is no need to jump etc ;). Our brain is smart, wired so, that we don't jump each time there is a self tactile pressure. When one tries to self tickle, the brain knows where and how the tactile impulse is moving, because its your own fingers generating that impulse. But for non-self tickling, its always a suspense! The brain can not track whats going to happen next, an alarm is set off and there you are, tickle tickle, giggle giggle :).

Apparently its our cerebellum that can distinguisgh between expected (self) and un-expected sensations (Original research article). Upon self-tickling, the cerebellum can signal somatosensory cortex of the brain on what sensation to expect, and this dampens the tickling sensation. Also, to quote from Robert Provine's article:

Tickle, an ancient laughter stimulus, is a means of communication between preverbal infants and mothers, and between friends, family, and lovers. Because you cannot tickle yourself, tickle involves a neurological self/nonself discrimination, providing the most primitive social scenario.

Its interesting how our brain is wired to distinguish between self and non-self: and isn't that the first line of defense.

Reign over me.....

2007-03-25T17:21:00.000-07:00

This Friday i went for a movie-my first movie in a theater this year, and the first one after MD left for Europe.....We always wanted to see a movie in the CREST theater, which usually screen good indie movies and has a nice decor.....but somehow couldn't make it! But finally, i got to see a movie in this glittering theater.....

An old photo of CREST theater

By now, you all must be knowing what this movie "Reign over me" is all about. About someone having gone through a loss, leading to a total disconnect from the world around. About tragedy invoking denial.....and denial it is.....a strong one at that. Charlie Fineman shuts all the doors on any thoughts from his past, after a tragedy (or rather the tragedy).....He's living in a cocoon, if living is a suitable word here. With the ear-phones on perpetually, he moves about the streets of NewYork City on his trolley scooter, plays video games like there's no tomorrow, does few things obsessively and tries to escape by watching Mel Brooks flicks. All in a hope, that he can escape-a hope that makes him shun anyone who has anything to do with his past. His flight response, his denial is so over-powering that he refuses to recognize any kind of loss, be it his own, or a friend's. Yes, after years of living in a cocoon, he does find someone he opens upto-solely because the person doesn't have much clue about his past.....

There's no Adam Sandler in this movie-i only saw Charlie.....i am not willing to believe that Charlie is not real. He's very much there, there are many Charlies in this world..... His eyes don't meet yours, he mumbles a lot, he's as blank as empty space.....and the fact that i was watching this movie with someone who lost a dear one in the same tragedy in real life, and the familiar looking places from New York City, which very often made the backdrop, didn't make it any easier......i am notorious for shedding tears while watching movie-i even cry during penguin flicks-but this was something different.....something hit me real hard-its hard to explain what it could be.....especially in a particular incident when Charlie's friend suffers a loss, and all Charlie says is , "lets get breakfast", followed by some more gibbrish.....how hollow and drained can anyone get in pain..... but i have to remind myself that this is just a movie.....

Charlie, the near reality and the rest of the movie.....and i guess i should talk more about the latter. Don Cheadle, who plays Charlie's friend, and a dentist, is good and Liv Tyler (the shrink) quite OK. But the movie does have a perpetual irritant.....the character of the dentist's patient-she's really irritating.....But the movie owes a lot to Charlie. They say its Adam Sandler-the same guy who does movies like "Click", i say the movie has only Charlie, a real, believable person.....and any comments on him being a cross of Bob Dylan (for looks) and Rain man (for personality) are not well taken! Mike Binder, the director does a fair job in building Charlie' character, though the movie could have done away with some irritants.....You can read his interview here.

Go, meet Charlie-this is one more story to tell us about the tricks mind plays on us.

Something yummy awaits you :)

2007-03-24T00:05:00.000-07:00

Dear readers,

You know that i never leave an opportunity to talk about food-so this time i went whole hog! Yes, i made myself a lil' online food-corner. And my chirps in this diary continue as usual :).

Hope you are all having a good time.

Cheers,
musical.

Reading Sybil.....

2007-03-18T17:49:00.000-07:00

I finished reading "Sybil"-a book by Flora Rheta Schreiber, last week. This book had been on to-read list for years.....but having read the reviews, i could never summon enough courage to read it. I finally did, early this year.....

The book is about a girl Sybil Isabel Dorsett, who suffered from Multiple Personality Disorder-based on the life of a real person-Shirley Ardell Mason. Multiple Personality Disorder is a condition where you have a conscious waking self and the other alternate selves who rise from the subconscious/unconscious mind.....and the waking self has no clue of their existence.

Sybil, who first dissociated into her waking self and an alternate self at a young age of 2-3 years, had no less than 16 selves of different ages who inhabited her being.....two of them being males! This is touted to be the most complex of such cases. Sybil found herself united into one whole being in her 40s, after she went through a whole series of psychoanalyses-some based in hypnosis and sodium pentothal (the truth injection).....Her dissociations apparently originated as a defense to protect herself from the childhood abuse.....and that, to me, was the toughest part of the book.....the other possible cause being the conflicting religious values she faced.

In the book you meet Sybil and 16 selves, her parents, her room-mate Teddy Reeves, her psychiatrist Dr. Cornelia Wibur and even the author of the book. Her 16 beings are different from each other.....the volatile Peggy(s), the French sophisticate Vicky, the baby like Ruthie, Vanessa, Marcia, Helen, Marjorie, Nancy, Mary, the guys Mike and SID (after Sybil's initials), the un-named blonde and Sybil, as her waking self. Each with different desires and skills, each a fragment of what were to be the whole Sybil. Sybil was a really good artist.....some of her sketches are provided in the book-different selves preferred different style of painting.....some of her works can be viewed in this link.

There has been some controversy on whether Sybil was a multiple personality or an extreme case of hysteria. It is said that Dr. Cornelia Wilbur delibrately induced personalities in her patient during hypnosis.....and that it had something to do with the book deal. More details on this controversy can be read here. Shirley A. Mason, Cornelia Wilbur and Flora Rheta Schreiber are no more in this world to share the truth.....Apparently, Dr. Cornelia Wilbur's archives and notes were to be opened in 2005. May be that would bring some facts to light.

The book scores, whether as a work of pure fact or part fact-part fiction, am not sure. If its fact, then its one of the most complicated tales of human psychology and if fiction, then its imaginative! The book is reptitive at times, but only to underscore Sybil's trials and tribulations. The description of her selves is rather vivid and you connect and empathise with each of them.....and you are sure to miss them after the book is over. The pages dedicated to childhood abuse are graphic.....very painful, and i admit, i skipped through those partly.....it was too difficult to take.

Sybil gleefully enjoys her days being all for herself, after all her selves have been united.....on how she can do simple things all by herself, without another person from within taking over her.....

And in this respect, it gives a message similar to many of Oliver Sacks' works- We have a lot in life to be thankful for.....simple things that we don't even think about.....Like being one with ourselves.....

Yeh hai Cricket!

2007-03-18T17:34:00.001-07:00

I guess its high time i should detach myself completely from Cricket! i know, i have been telling this to myself since years now.....what with all the match-fixing and the politics ridden scenario of Indian Cricket. But then, the game is far too enticing to avoid.....and like many an enticing thing, this one often leads to heart-break!!

Y'day, during our weekend chirping, no sooner did MD start whispering a few words about India-B'desh match, i began lecturing her on why i am not opening any of the web-pages that provide live coverage of the game. This, much to her chagrin! And then.....half way through our conversation and after hearing repeatedly from her about the dismal score, i got into the trap! yes, i was fervently refreshing the pages.....and i don't need to tell you how it ended. But, kudos to the Bangladesh team-they played real well.....

The results implied fans being upset, really really upset. A cpl. of days back dear ladies exchanged this friendly banter on which Rahul rules: Rahul Sharma or Rahul Dravid.....Bee, who was rooting for Dravid is now finding Gollum hotter than him! See, we girls have more than one reason for being upset. and may be guys too.....atleast those who paid for channels showing the World Cup! (sorry, i don't any girls who have subscribed for the said channels-good sense prevails sometimes).

ab aur hum kya kahein.....this is one time i am really tutoring myself to abstain ;). ah! the trap that Cricket is.....

and our historical arch-rivals didn't well either.....On a more upsetting note, y'day's events have been followed with something really sad.....

Yeh hai Cricket.....enticing, heart-breaking, addictive.....

Am bracing myself to fall into the trap for the next game!

Chirp chirp.....

2007-03-16T17:36:00.001-07:00

Right this moment.....

The weather outside is bright and crisp, typical of SoCal. and i want my share of this brightness. Dhoop, this brightness is so soothing. remember that song, "kachhi dhoop, kunkuni dhoop".....its quite fun to chirp with your friends on a bright, sunny day. Bring in some chai and snacks, and its bliss :).

i spoke to Ms. Doll Wednesday night, and we exchanged the ritualistic weather trivia as well :). Kinda' crazy that while she was freezing, last weekend SoCal had record high temperatures! it had us both in splits. whats worse is that she craved for ice-cream as i longed for a hot cuppa' chai!!

and y'day i caught up with Ms. Moon and Ms. Wisdom on the chat. i often chat with Ms. Moon, but to find Wisdom online is bit of a rarity. i wrote a hello to them both. and while is was chatting with Ms. Wisdom i infomred her about my two-timing ;). Its so turned out that Moon and Wisdom were also two-timing me, they were chatting amongst themselves too :)). Girls, can anyone stop them from chattering ;).

hmm, and then there are those weekend chats with MD, its always like the good old times, when we would sit and chirp over a chai.

Oh, and meeting Golden girl over coffee sometimes and what do we do-Chirp :)).

This chirping makes us what we are, giving us a chance to connect with others, sharing thoughts and ideas.....helping each other grow.....

Sheetal, Manjul, Komal.....

2007-03-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

Sheeta, Manjul, Komal.....

These words convey heartfelt emotions.....emotions of comfort.....comfort felt by the soul.....soul that was touched by the soft, comforting emotions.....

Yes, and these words belong to a song so melodiuos, so poignant that it evokes the same emotions in you.....

Y'day, while chatting with MD, we discussed about Sharatchandra's books.....and the one that i felt most about that moment was "Chirtraheen".....and as all of his books, this book to has strong female protagonists, my favorite being Kironmayee.....

And i remembered how i had found her character so striking, so well etched.....

and then, i thought of the song, that belonged to the televised version of this book. i came across this song through Sukhan's blog that links to this wonderful archive of Sh. Salil Chowdhury's music.....

and this song played on.....just as beautiful as the lyrics are.....i thought i would share this song (below):

Sheetal, Manjul, Komal

and i am still humming this song to myself.....feeling nostalgic.....

The coffee world stars ;)

2007-03-06T11:59:00.001-08:00

This is very much in line with what i was talking about y'day. Well, sort of! Last night, i read this on Yahoo news :). Actually, i didn't completely read it then-and thought oh, well! this is about some local budding desi coffee shop naming themselves Starstrucks and trying to give Starbucks a tough time by sort of copying their name! I looked at this news in detail today morning, and was even more surprised who was behind this idea. I was shocked to learn that it was Shahnaz Husain, the queen of herbal cosmetics world!

As such, this whole idea didn't please me much. And not because i go to Starbucks a lot. Well, we all know that Starbucks is now trying to set up shop in India, and this comes close on the heels! If you think your product is great, why not provide them competition in the right spirit, based entirely on the merit of your products. And coming from such a well respected person, this makes the whole news even more pungent! I wonder how she would feel if someone tried to market herbal products which had a brand name similar sounding to her own brand.

If anything, this might actually hurt her business. Most irritating is that she is not willing to change the name. Quoted below is her response (Courtesy Yahoo News/Reuters):

Why should I give it up? Hundreds of others are deceptively similar. What to do? They have opposed and we will fight."

I personally would have thought of her venturing into the Cafe' chain business as an interesting move-go to her brand salons, get a spa treatment and enjoy coffee with your friends! It would have certainly made some news and people would definitely have lapped up the concept-its sad to see her making into news of the wrong kind!

Enough said!

That is so not fare!

2007-03-05T12:58:00.001-08:00

Friends, there is a whole big world of blogs there talking about my favorite topic-FOOD :). Yes, food blogs are fun, they are a simply great podium for sharing thoughts and idea about the fine art of cooking. I am particularly an ardent fan of desi food blogs. These blogs write all about food-describing recipes in detail (with step-by-step instruction), sharing cultural trivia about regional dishes, creative and fun ideas for healthy khana and above all great, great pictures. I love cooking too, but i am lazy :). Cooking great food is one thing, but it really takes a lot of that extra something and plenty of hard-work to post nice detailed recipes with fantastic pictures on a blog.....These writers do it for the love of cooking, with an intention of sharing what they have learnt with years of experience.

Sample a few great blogs like Mahanandi, My Khazana of Recipes, Foodie's Hope, The Spice who loved me, One Hot Stove, Saffron Hut, Saffron Trail, Sailu's Foodand many many more (you would find the links in these blogs, and i am going to link them soon too).

Much respect to these bloggers for sharing their wonderful creations and pictures with everyone. and yes, they make it all available to us for free!

Lately, though, desi food blogosphere has suffered a lot-several big-time portals have been copying recipes with pictures from these blogs and posting them on the web-without ever taking their permission or even acknowledging the author! Now, how disgusting is that! I first read about this on Sailu's new blog on how Sify had stolen pictures from her blogand posted them on their food forum! and today i read this , this and this on Mahanandi, Sailu's blog and Trupti's blog, respectively. Yahoo India had stolen recipes from Surya Gayathri's blog. Now, how disgusting is that! These bloggers are ever willing to exchange and share their work, so why not give them due credit for their pictures and recipes, or request them for participating officially.....and don't give me this piece, as to how daal recipe would be more or less the same! Please, daal recipe may be more or less the same-but the language, presentation, little suggestions and pictures ARE NOT!

Friends, if you can-please do write a few words on your blog about this. We should totally support fellow bloggers in their fight against this sort of injustice.

Whats there in a name ;)

2007-03-01T19:41:00.001-08:00

A cpl. of days back i had an interesting exchange with the wrap-around/duttee guy. So, he was looking at a signup list for some instrument and came across my labmate's initials, and he thought its me (our first names begin with the same letter). I told him it was my labmate. He then asked me what was my last name (he knows and pronounces my first name correctly)-when i told him my last name, he was like, "wow! thats a cool surname".

Hmm, surprised, i asked him what excatly was he implying. He said that i had a very traditional first and last name, surprising me even more. So, now i was a bit irritated and amused at the same time, wondering why he was going on about my name. He then said, "Like, you know, lot of people change their name soon as they come here-its nice that you didn't". This puzzled me even more-because what he said first that he found my surname cool, without knowing what it meant didn't really suggest me that he was pointing to an issue like changing your name in a foreign country. What he said also indicated to me that some people actually change their last name also!

Anyway, i asked him to elaborate more. He then said that he had an Indian friend who changed his name-so no one ever knew what his real name was. All he would say is that people are going to find it difficult to say his name. I told him that i didn't know anyone like that in person, but have read/heard about it from others. And you know, it really surprised him! He went on to tell me that he found this to be a common practice in people from Asia. He then said, "I have a long Spanish name too, and i have chosen to keep it that way" with a wink. He finally left me with this, "I wonder what will i do, if i ever visit Asia-i'll have to find myself a cool name" ;).

Now, in my opinion, if someone prefers to change their name, its fine. May be they don't have the patience to teach everyone the correct pronunciation of their name everyday and also they might not like their name being mispronounced. In same cases, it can truly change the meaning of a name. However, changing the surname! does that really happen! No clue.....

Anyway, as i said it was an interesting exchange-thought i would just share it. and am glad that people think my name is cool :)).

What an award.....

2007-02-25T23:21:00.000-08:00

So, its Oscar time. but thats not what i am gonna' talk about.....here's to the Razzies-for being the worst awards! and the single great reason they win themselves this honor is this.

Yes, Manoj Night Shymalan, according to them is not only the worst director but also the worst supporting actor! and he "wins" these "honors" for his 'Lady in the Water".....really! now, that was not a bad movie, if you ask me! infact i found it pretty alright-not his best, but not something that would get him these accolades either.and he definitely doesn't qualify to be the worst supporting actor in anyway!

The movie was a simple fantasy.....with a simple message, that each one of us has a role to play in this world.....we may not know it.....but we are all here to do our bit. To me thats a fine message.

He's being labeled a man full of ego.....
"He cast himself as the savior role of the film on top of everything else," Wilson said. "Shyamalan falls into one of the traps that's almost guaranteed to win you a Razzie, when you let your ego run rampant as that man did." (From the CBS news link mentioned above)
Now, this is going over-board. His was not the saviour role-he was just the link that brought things together, someone who clearly couldn't do things alone.....Rather, he got the fantastic Paul Giamatti to play the protagonist.

If you have seen the movie (or have read through the links above) then you know that this was just another fantasy. How different it is from other fantasies that have graced the silver-screen!

Oh, i forgot, he deserves all this hate, because he actually criticized the critics!

Really, the only thing that could possibly be criticized was the over-the-top portrayal of the Korean family.

Some of the opinions expressed here and here and sounded more balanced to me.

Criticism is always better than hate!

Tasveer.....

2007-02-15T22:57:00.000-08:00

Ms. Moon e-mailed some old pictures to me y'day.....

Pictures from the days when she was here.....pictures before she left Boston to head back home.....pictures of a long walk near Jamaica Pond, and that picture in which she labeled me as a dreamer.....pictures of her, Arshi and me.....a few pictures from Arshi's mehndi ceremony.....

The random chit-chats, the thoughts, the feelings-it all came alive.....

it was just another lil' trip we all took together.....

Moongphali :)

2007-02-14T17:45:00.001-08:00

I simply can't stay away from talking about food for long :).

and right now all i am thinking of is.....Moongphali, yes-my favorite winter-time snack.

This word itself is evoking nostalgia.....ah! the smell of roasted moongphali, with the chilka (shell). you could buy it from kiryana stores in bulk, or small packets from the rehdis/pheris/carts.....hmm, buying moongphali at the bus-stop while waiting for the bus after college used to be a favorite pass time. interestingly, this wonderful thing is also popularly known as "time-pass" for these very sentiments. i recall, how as a lil' kid, i used to bother my Dad to remove the shells for me.....that taste and aroma of moongphali from Desh is something out of this world. i have not found that slightly sweet and milky sort of taste, much desired if you want to eat plain mongphali, in the varities sold here.....the local varieties here go well with salt, while i don't recall having relied on salted moongphali alone back home except for the occasional fried moongphali with masala, besan wali moongphali, or the different namkeens with moongphali. the desi moongphali infact tasted equally good plain! roasted and with shells, or boiled (in salt water) like we used to get it in Bangalore.....the closest anything got to desi moongphali is something dry-roasted from Trader Joe's. I also love their spicy Thai Lime and Chilli moongphali. its yummy.....Golden Girl and i often munch on that with tea.....just like that, for time-pass ;).

Oh! i am missing my favorite snack.....

Commercial Habit ;)

2007-02-13T13:48:00.001-08:00

So, it is Valentine's day tomorrow and love is in the air ;).

ahem, some of you may still be wondering which presents and gifts to buy your beloved and few of you are definitely worrying about the scenario if they don't like your present! sounds familiar even if you don't much care for the V'day stuff. i am sure we all have friends/people around who have really been bitten by the V'day bug.

Please don't get me wrong, i don't want to sound biased-but mostly its the girls who raise a big hoo-ha if their boy friends/fiance's/hubbies don't invest enough time and money into this day. Atleast, thats been my observation-please let me know if anyone has observed otherwise :).

Anyway, so today we had this lunch-time discussion on Valentine's day celebration in different parts of the world. and no surprise, it seems to be an omnipresent vocation of love-birds ;). Those who think of this as a Western menace, please-even the Americans debate if this is really worth being classified as a festival, or so i heard at the table during lunch. But most interesting was a rejoinder from my Japanese collague, who verified with me if V'day is in the same standing in India, as it is in Japan, namely a "Commercial Habit" :)).

P. S. : His wording may not be the best English (in his own words), but to me, it sums up the situation rather well :).

Now this could be some advertisment :)

2007-02-13T00:20:00.000-08:00

These days, we are witnessing those bizzare, silly and often distasteful Mac vs PC ads. i so hate the negative campaign! Anyway, if you feature John Hodgman as a PC, who would give Mac (no offense meant to Justin Long) a second look ;). he is probably the only redeeming feature of these ads. Apple Inc. could certainly take some inspiration from videos like this (created by HappySlip, e-mailed to me by MD). Now this makes a very fun and creative potential ad :).

he he, its inspired by my all time favorite James Blunt song.....

While surfing HappySlip's home page, i came across this: yes, a fake Steve Jobs web-page :). There's a fun post titled "Since Linux keeps coming up" :)).

More funny trivia: for today's episode of Heroes, they showed the latest Mac vs. PC commercial that totally bashes Vista (not linked in the post, cudn't find it)-but at the end of the program they had "scenes from the next episode, presented by Vista" :)).

Have fun, folks :).

This is really crazy

2007-02-01T17:27:00.001-08:00

Here's something really crazy!

You know how there are these people who are totally ignorant and crazy.....the ones who don't know what they are talking about, the ones who think they are the best!

Well, so here goes.....

Few days back, a colleague informed me that his brother was going to Bangalore for work. He then asked me something like, "Do you need vaccines to travel to India".....i told him that i never take any vaccines to travel back home-but i kinda' knew where this was going. He then said, "I thought so too. I mean, anyway, because Bangalore apparently is a big city and so it must be fairly westernized and clean".....i gave him a look and went about my business.

and so now that his brother is in India, the dude feels the need to come to me and enlighten me with this, "Hey, my brother is now in Bangalore and you know what, they even have a 48" plasma TV in his room, its pretty impressive".....and i said, "Oh, good (with a 'so what' expression, because again i knew where this was headed to." and then he said, "No, i mean so they are actually quite advanced. They have all these things". Like he was imagining a place full of you know what.....(fill in all stereotypes).

I know you'll ask me, "so whats your problem here". So, the dude here is trying to tell me how my country and my city are so sophisticated, good enough, in a very "here's your certificate of being westernized and sophisticated" kind of way.....Hold on, please don't jump and draw your conclusions about his identity. He's just gotten his citizenship a few years ago and is from a country thats struggled rather painfully with its economy in the recent past. Its not about where you come from, its about "how you think others are no good" kind of attitude that i have problems with!

Having respect for others doesn't hurt.....

Searching the search ;)

2007-01-31T14:47:00.001-08:00

I came across this bit while surfing Slashdot, and decided that i had to share this.

Apparently, "Yahoo" has become the #1 query on Google! also, a lot of people seem to be searching for the term "Google" on Yahoo.

Now, you may ask, whats the point.....hold on, i am still SEARCHing for it ;).

So, what may sound so funny when you read this, isn't actually that funny. plz. read the post on the link for more details, while i just summarize by saying that a lot of people are using search boxes rather than address boxes to surf the net.....many of them probably not aware on how to go otherwise, may be because one or the other web page is their home page and so on. its an interesting observation, and well, something that i personally won't make fun of. There are plenty of people (like some of our elderly folks, e.g.) who may not understand the nitty-gritties and do what just works for them (as many people point out in the discussion linked above). Interesting to me is the fact that what people just do on their computers shows up as a funny statistics for these rival search engines :).

and these kind of interesting links are cropping up! This one is really worth a click, just try! The name suggests to me that it promises the best of both seARCH rivals!
and yes, i am throwing in some nostalgia here :)).

lets start from the beginning.....when people would use (and many still do) Lycos, HotBot, AltaVista, MSN with almost equally; when Yahoo used to be powered by Google (am i right, i sort of recall that) and there used to be a google.stanford.edu web-page :).

or when we used Netscape Navigator (and that its sort of a forefather to Firefox :).

Aha, and how i can forget about using Telnet for email, which via Pine was my only way of emailing long ago :). yes, those official email addresses.....before i discovered, um well, Hotmail, Yahoo mail, Gmail and many more :).

and well, there used to be this 'Broken Pipe Error" while surfing the net ;). and then"Connection to host lost" message after logging out from the email.

How was that for some nostalgia :)).

Bas ek cup chai.....

2007-01-30T10:56:00.001-08:00

Last night, i so felt like having a cup of tea.....late in the night, when i was so tired, i longed for that cup of warm and soothing elixir.....

i did get up and make myself a cup of hot masala chai. and as i was sipping on my chai, a few thoughts were brewing in my mind.....oh! i was nostalgic again.....

What is it in this cup to make me so nostalgic-besides milk, tea, sugar and the spices.....what is that magic ingredient.....

That magic, that warmth comes not only from this wonderful mix having reached the boiling point, but all that goes along with it.....

A lot happens over a cup of tea.....tired minds try to find excuses to unwind-all in the name of "bas ek cup chai".....its not chai that one craves for, its what comes with a cup of chai thats most comforting.....if you are alone, you mull over things, giving yourself enough space. The chit-chat, the sharing of thoughts, when you have chai with friends.

The countless cups of chai that i had with my friends late in the night.....dicussing the projects, the work, the movies, music festivals and a lot else.....the chai in that canteen may not have been the best, but the comfort it brought, definitely was.....we all used to share our thoughts over that cup of chai, in that canteen which everyone knew as the Tea-Board.....ironically so named, because there was another cafe' in the campus run by the Coffee-Board, which people simply referred to as the Coffee-Board!

The chai that i shared with Ms. Moon, even though sometimes it was just Dunkin-Donuts' vanilla chai.....or the plain chai at home, as Ms. Moon hates elaichis in her chai.....the thoughts mattered most.....the thoughts that secretly brewed along to make the chai a magic chai.....

The tea-party with Arshi, which was special in everyway, because it gave us time to talk and share books, thoughts and indulge in plain movie gossip sometimes :).

The chai with Ms. Doll, when we both sat silent and just sipped on.....for friends understand without words, what goes through each others mind.

The countless cups of chai at our favorite Indian corner or Starbucks, which MD and i shared.....discussing the latest news and work.....and which we both miss a lot, now that she's in a different continent.....

The chai that Golden Girl and i enjoy during our weekend brunches, watching her four year old daughter play.....and sometimes during the week, the hot chai/coffee brew that we buy from the vending machine.....just because we are lazy to walk a bit, and get "better" tea/coffee.....it doesn't matter. we just sit in our favorite corner, and the chai just tastes as good.

its that something extra in this cup, that makes me nostalgic.....

its that something extra in this cup, which adds a flavor that lasts a lifetime.....

Hope you are enjoying your cup of chai.....

For all the fans ;)

2007-01-26T00:35:00.000-08:00

So, Sendhil Ramamurthy made an appearance on Jay Leno's show tonight :).

Jay starts off by sort of chanting Sendhil's name multiple times-kinda' showing off that he got it right :)). And then the "Hero" shows up (WOW!!), looking his confident best.....you just notice a hint of desi shyness, so boyish :)). And Jay gloats again that he got Sendhil's name right, "So, i got your name right, its a tricky one-i practised all night". Sendhil sweetly says, "Oh, you did a great job.....even better than me". (sure honey, considering how you say Mohinder Surresh) :)). Just kidding, Sendhil proves himself to be an absolute sweetheart.

Jay obviously has some desi-related questions for Hero.

He starts off by asking Sendhil about where he comes from. He tells us that he was born in Chicago and three years later the family moved to San Antonio, Texas. Jay asks him about his parents and Sendhil proudly tells that they are from Bangalore, India (cheers from some audience, making Jay and Sendhil chuckle)!!.

And then Sendhil shares in response to Jay's question about representing desis in mainstream roles on TV (i guess its his favorite question for desis-recall his interview with Parminder Nagra) how it was to be shooting in a small desi-owned motel in Monrovia (CA), where desis cheered him big time. Go India-so said Sendhil :)).

Though i have issues with this role being that mainstream, he still portrays a cabbie! May be mainstream means sufficient screen time .....

And Jay also brings up the sticky topic of choosing a seemingly non-conventional profession (from desi view-point). Sendhil confesses that coming from a family of doctors, it was a bit tricky to initially share his career-choice with his parents, but they are his big time supporters now. He himself has trained as a pre-med at Tufts where he had to enroll for an arts course to graduate, which made him turn to acting big time.

He also mentions that while he trained in dramatic arts in London, he adapted a British accent all through to get around smoothely :). Now we know where Mohinder's style comes from :)).

Yes, the guy doesn't do a convincing job of doing desi accent in Heros, yes he says Mohinder Surresh they way he does. But having seen him on this show tonight, he sounds very honest about what he's doing and is clearly proud of representing desis on small screen. (or is he just a good actor-hope he wasn't acting here).....Some girls call him Mr. Hot n' Sweet-dunno' about the hot factor-but he's definitely sweeeeeeet-really adorable.

Wish you much luck brother :).

Friends-2.....

2007-01-21T20:32:00.000-08:00

For every Dhoom, there's a Dhoom-2. So, here's the sequel to my post :).

I am all about friends, who mean a lot to me.....and i don't mean people who casually (mis)use the word friend/friendship. i mean the ones, who truly care.....

And i am so happy that one of my friends Ms. Love recently became a Mom the second time :). So she's do betiyon ki Mata ji now :).

and then y'day Golden girl and i had lots of fun-she's truly Golden-heart of gold, really!

Best of all, i got in touch with some old frinds recently in the true spirit of X'mas season.....after a long time.....they are colleagues turned wonderful friends.....

Ms. Happiness, who loving responded to my first email to her in two years within 2 hrs. after writing.....i had missed so much in between.....in her words "Musical, feels so good to hear from you.....i first opened my eyes big to see, if it was truly you.....and now that i am sure its you, i have a big smile on my face, really"..... Ms. Happiness, who's name reflects her personality and what she does for others around.....and who would treat me with generous helpings of home made bread and hummus. it was quite a reunion.....we both caught up on lots of things.....and are hoping to keep in touch.

Ms. E, who shares my love for ear-rings (like Henry Blofeld), replied with the same chirpiness as always.....she of the crisp Boston accent and famous temper (the latter by her own admission) :)). Ms. E, who shared work woes and love for the city of Boston.....Ms. E, who remarked that i didn't say "like" five times in every sentence-so i still very much belong ;). We shared coffee and lots of gossip :)). We met after a long time, and it was fun.

and meeting Doll was wonderful.....chatting through the night.....lots of things that we never said before.....

and missing Ms. Moon.....

and having that bit of fun with MD before she left for Europe.....in a city that we both love.....

and then.....

Kudi guaach gayi.....(literal: the girl got lost).

Many days back, i had asked, "When will there be the next tea-party".....and my hopes were re-kindled.....i picked up the phone and called.....after almost two and a half years.....the same voice mail greeted me.....i wondered if she would call back.....

The next day, while i was shopping at Macy's with MD, that familiar voice said to me on my phone, "Hello ji, ki haal chaal. Main taan sochiya si ki kudi pata nahin kithe guaach gayi e (and i wondered if this girl was lost).....". It was Arshi.....The same voice, the same questions like, "Tumhare baal abhi bhi utne hi lambe aur khoobsurat hain" (is your hair still as long and lusturous)".....in those five minutes, while we were still thinking of what to ask each other, secretly we had found answers to all our questions.....She promised to meet up the next day.....

Pic: Prudential-Fond memories for Arshi and me

and i know, i am still waiting.....

and i know its enough that i heard her voice again.....

we didn't meet up, she didn't call me back and answer my multiple voice-messages.....

but she didn't need to.....

so, when are we having the next tea-party.....

Now, thats quite a mocktail :)

2007-01-21T17:14:00.000-08:00

Hmm, my friend, Ms. Wisdom e-mailed me this clip a cpl. of days back :). It goes by the title "12 days of Christmas for a brown".

Quite a hilarious mocktail it is: you can find all the typical masala here. It kinda' also serves as your guide to desi stereotypes ;).

Enjoy :)).

Teach me more ;)

2007-01-18T11:06:00.000-08:00

It is often said "Child is the father of the man"....., i don't know about that, but kids certainly can teach us the science of politics :)).

You can actually compile a book titled "How to get your job done" by taking tips from these tiny ones :).

Atleast, i think you can ;). And i have proof.

Few days back, while in Boston, we all went to the Boston Commons when it was snowing. Ms. Doll, her hubby dear and her four and a half years old boy (who's my hero) were with me :). It was snowing a bit, but really not too cold. After we got out of the T-stop, my hero looked around and then we all went around enjoying the snowy day, watching the making of ice-sculptures and taking pictures. After about an hour or so, my hero complained that he was really feeling cold, "Mom, i'm freezing". and Doll was worried, wondering why? because he had three layers on and it wasn't really windy.....the kid shouted again, "Mom, its so cold here".....and then, after a few moments of silence, he shared this gem in the softest and sweetest possible voice with a naughty glint in his eyes, "and so, we can go to the cafe' (pointing at Starbucks)-it would be nice and warm inside. You, Dad and Maasi ji can have coffee and i'll get some cake".....Doll and me really burst out laughing-for my hero loves Madeleines and that was what he was eyeing outside the T-stop :)).

Shampoo ho to aisa :)

2007-01-17T12:25:00.000-08:00

Ah, here's an incredibly atrocious shampoo ad that i found on youtube :).

Have fun :)).

Charles, Charlie Card and more :)

2007-01-12T18:08:00.000-08:00

More Boston stories, about the city and the folks.....

It is just amazing to go back to a city you are familiar with. There hasn't been much change, the same places and people-the same familiar and comforting surroundings. I even recognized the lovely girls, who worked at the Longwood area Starbucks and CVS :).

Pics : Park Street , X'mas Tree at Boston Commons and the State House

The first noticeable change was that my all time favorite Lindt's store has moved from Longwood Medical Area-so i had to go to Cardullo's at Harvard Square, which has Lindt's and lot more :).

And yes, finally MBTA has said bye-bye to the token system and introduced the cutesy Charlie Cards (drumroll please, and do view this link-must see)!! The system came into being not so long ago and hopefully would do quite well. There are some teething problems: for one, it sometimes takes a lot of patience to recharge-the vending machines may not read your credit card well. But overall, i like the concept and design and have saved a Charlie Card as a suvenir :). Pic: The Park Street T-stop
And the wonderful outing with MD (who was taking a brief vacation in Boston before flying to Europe. See, that was another great reason to be in Boston) at the Harvard Square: eating at Tanjore, watching a movie (The Good German) at AMC Loews and then walking upto Memorial Drive to stop by (and take pictures, ofcourse) at Charles, the gorgeous Charles.....
And we had fun, walking around.....enjoying the Boston skyline.....

Now, i am not going to review this movie! and
would rather sum it up saying that it was high on style (great cinematography) and low on substance. Geroge Clooney, who i am a huge fan of, didn't do much except parading in uniform like attire!

Also, one evening it finally snowed.....just a day before i was leaving.....Ms. Doll smiled and we decided to go out to Boston Commons to see the ice-sculptures :). Snow.....the first snow is always beautiful.....

and now is the time to share some desiyana, Boston style :).

First, the restaurants: I only ate out thrice:once at Tanjore, another time at Indian Entree' in the Corner Mall food court in Downtown Crossing and then at Indian Chilli Cambridgeside Galleria. I must say, i was pretty disappointed with both the food courts, more so with the Indian Chilli-the hostess is really rude. She doesn't really care if there's a customer waiting or not! and food at both places was also just OK. The Indian Chilli stall used to be Alladin's at some point-the food and service were a shade better then.

Tanjore was OK, had decent service-the sambar and chutney were too sour though. But atleast, MD and i could sit and chat for long-thats what made it worth it.

So, the conclusion is that MOST (not all) desi food court stall are not worth it-i really wish they would be, though.....

and i really missed not being able to go to Gourmet India in the Coolidge Corner (Brookline Booksmith, a wonderful bookstore is located there-and yes, i didn't amange to got there). Decent food and the simplicity would make me go for it :). and they apparently have food-court stall in several malls in Greater Boston area.

and also, i missed the Bombay Cinema.....at Allston, on Comm. Ave.-they stopped playing movies long ago.....

Hmm, and then i had this interesting incident in the T :).

There was this strange guy in the train, who i noticed was looking at me. I tried to ignore him. and then minutes later he was saying something not so audible. I thought may be he's asking somebody about a stop or so. He said the same (similar sounding) thing a cpl. more time, and then i realized he was asking me something! I still didn't get what he was trying to say, given that he was talking really too soft.

and thats when he asked in a more audible voice "Are you of Indian nationality"- and i said "yes". and he smiled and then went on to say "You look like an Indian" :). Hmm, i wondered, what would he ask next! and then he asked this gem of a question, "Are you also into hotel business, because most Indian who i know are into hotel business" :)). I really tried hard to control my laughter!! and finally managed to put a stern look on and firmly said, "No". By this time, other people, especially women around, were on an alert mode, as they wondered if this guy was crazy! He continued, "So, what do you do?". When i briefly informed him about my profession, he was, like "Wow" and went on to say "Oh, yes! many Indians are doctors and scientists. BTW, are you into psychiatry" :)). The woman next to me gave this a guy a dirty look and next thing we both noticed was that it was time for us to get down :)).

So much for desi related fun :). Will chirp more on friends and folks i met there, soon.

Pics: Downtown Crossing, Inside the Prudential Center Mall and near the Boston Commons

My lil' vacation :)

2007-01-04T16:03:00.000-08:00

I had been having dreams.....vivid, rich dreams.....crazy dreams.....

I poured out nostalgia all over this blog, and held some close to my heart.

I longed to sit outside that Starbucks, on the benches.....in my dreams, i saw cob-webs in the elevator that i used to take to go upto my office.....

and much contemplations later, i decided i had to be there.....

and thus my trip to Boston.....

every city has a distinct smell.....a distinct flavor, a distinct style.....that brings those who love the city back into her lap.....

and i got a chance to feel it all.....

the Longwood Medical Area, the food-court where Ms. Moon and i used to share our thoughts, where Ms. Doll (who played my host this time) and i chatted over coffee and even that CVS, where sometimes we would just walk in, to de-stress.....

The smell of Green Line T.....the familiar sights of Brookline and Coolidge Corner.....

I had never been away.....

and through that week, i lived in the same apartment where i used to live before.....the same apartment where i played a host to Doll, when she just came in from India and now she was playing my host.....the same apartment, where Moon lived before us both.....the same apartment, where Arshi and i lived together.....the same apartment where Doll lives now.....

I had come home, my second home.....

i dusted those cob-webs indeed.....writing to some friends after ages and seeing the sparkle in their eyes, when i met them.....and i have lots to share on that.

Happy New Year :)

2007-01-01T23:35:00.000-08:00

Here's wishing you all a very happy and joyous new year.

and a belated Merry X'mas :).

I am just back from a lil' trip to Boston, more on that soon.

Once more, hello and warm wishes to everyone.

Wrap-arounds :)

2006-12-22T00:15:00.000-08:00

This is a cute one now :). There is this guy at work whose step-Mom is Indian. The guy keeps telling me tid-bits about her all the time. But the other day he said something really amazingly cute.....

So, we had this holiday lunch at work and i got seated next to this guy. We were talking about general stuff, including dressing up for such parties. Thats when he happened to say "Oh, you know, my step-Mom has the most amazing dresses. They look gorgeous, with all the dazzling embroidery-those wrap-arounds. They are the most feminine outfits. I am never able to prnounce the name correctly-sarrrrri, right. But those are the coolest wrap-arounds ever". And then he quizzed me as to why i don't wear saris for such office functions :). (well, dude why do you forget that we have to do experiments after those lunches etc, and i surely don't want to wear my best dresses, when i know i'll have to spend time in the lab afterwards).

This was followed by something even cuter, and i mean it. He so cutely said "but, i hate the wrap-arounds for men-despite her (the Mom's) best efforts and much pin-tucking, i still haven't learnt to carry off the duttee (dhoti)" :).

And i smile on, wrap-arounds, yeah-thats how i used to pull my Bro, whenever he sported dhoti-kurta ;).

Friends :)

2006-12-21T15:37:00.000-08:00

I know, i've been away for a while.....infact, i've been missing the blog :). thats height of narcissism ;).

Have been meaning to write since last weekend, but first i got sick and then there were few other things to take care of. Yeah, i finally got cold too. Oh, hold on, i am fine now-and anyway, you don't get sick reading a blog :)).

This week, a very dear friend of mine said bye-bye to the City of Angels, as she moves to Europe in a few days. needless to say, i am missing her and our adventures together.

We met a lil' more than a year ago. She was returning home from work, i was getting back to the lab after getting my evening coffee. As we waited for the walk sign, we found someone familiar around us.....yes, familiar. and then suddenly, we exchanged a smile and we both went "are you from .....". We exchanged phone numbers and email ids. Aha, and that was the beginning of what turned out to be a great friendship, spiced up with lots of food, movies and chit-chat. Thats why i like these desi-desi "where are you from"s.

We happen to be from the same graduate school-different departments and would have barely noticed each other in the campus.....(barely enough ;) to light up that faint spark of familiarity. The other common zing-thing we discovered within 5 minutes of our conversation was that we both had spent great time in Boston at some point :).

A whole year of good things, shared and experienced together-would last us both a life-time.....not only through the millions of pictures we madly clicked everywhere around, but also through the warm words, both spoken and un-spoken.....

i wish you a wonderful future and hope you make great friends in your new place.....

MD, this city isn't going to be the same without you, and i hope you would be back sometime-our favorite desi restaurant (and the friends we've made there), the Fox theater and the rest of Westwood awaits us :).

Bubble gum chirp :)

2006-12-13T21:15:00.000-08:00

Here's a really funny and yet silly desi bubble gum commercial for Big Babol.

What's hot: The animation, music and umm, even the theme is not bad-very funny actually :). "Nervousayiyega nahin" is the cutest Hinglish bit :). The adoption angle is sweet.

Whats not: Bad, bad lyrics! I mean "ande diye khaas" doesn't sound too poetic! thats the silly quotient for something that could have been the funniest ad in recent times.

Random thoughts.....

2006-12-11T17:13:00.000-08:00

If i were looking for something to charge me up, then the bright sun-shine would be it, the blue skies, the splash of gold around and that fragrant mist of flowers in the air.....

but since its dark outside right now, and i am indoors, i decide to reach for the orange in the grocery bag.....the rich inviting hues, the flavor, the mist of fragrance from the orange peel.....is enough to liven me up.....

Dancing with the penguins :)

2006-12-06T21:23:00.000-08:00

Whats your favorite dance style: Bhangra, tango, tap or salsa-bring it on!
Mumble wants you to dance along-Mumble, the cutest penguin ever (besides Pingu).

Oh! and i've been meaning to share my meeting with this lovely penguin since a couple of days. A meeting that made me laugh and cry.....gently tugging my heart strings.....

I am clearly besotted :).

I met Mumble at the Fox Theater where he's currently making an appearance, and in style! His show is named "Happy Feet"-it leaves everyone happy.....and touched :).

Rarely there is any movie that tries to address many things at the same time, and does it so wonderfully well.

The story is about Mumble, a lovely, cutesy penguin, who's different! Different, in that unlike others in his 'hood who sing their way to glory, he expresses himself with dance. Born to Momma and Papa penguins, he's not particularly well received by his community, but lives on with a smile. He finds his muse in the pretty Gloria, who's every young penguin's heart-throb. Our dude makes friends with the cutesome foursome penguins, who are naughty and full of beans (but also feel the pain of being from 'the wrong side of town'). The naughty bunch enthuses Mumble, dances along with him and takes him to a philospohy spouting guru Lovelace (voiced over by Robin Williams). Together, they solve the mysteries of the penguin-land, doing everything penguinely possible, reaching out to the other worlds and having their voices heard.....

This penguin-land story has many shades of what we desis are so familiar with: here are few things that make you nostalgic ;).

1. Its a musical :). Yeah! and plenty of dance numbers ;).
2. Momma and Papa penguins singing a love song (Baghban, anyone!).
3. Mumble wooing Gloria in typical Hindi movie style (playes a saviour to the damsel in distress: imagine the baddie running away with heroine's purse and the hero chasing the baddie. well, in this case its about a fish :)). Mumble dances for his beloved, while she sings on.....
4. Our hero fighting the baddies and reaching out to the aliens single-handedly! He's surely a super-sweet super hero :).
5. Song and dance in the graduation party :). (Papa kehte hain and more).
6. Father and son duo dancing crazy ( Rock and Roll Soniye-Mumble and Papa make the AB duo of penguin-land ;)).
7. One of Mumble's amigos singing for him (just like Kishore Kumar sang for Sunil Dutt in Padosan :)).

See, the Hindi movie school works!

Mumble, you are good. You are great. i totally heart you. and i sincerely hope and pray what you did in the show, someone would do in reality too. Wanna come and stop by on planet earth.....

Al Gore must be a happy man :).

Verdict: GO watch the movie, NOW! Mumble takes us through this joy-ride bringing lots of things to our attention. As a bonus, he DJs some great music and lots of it. Its really heart-warming to hear some great songs from back in time.

P.S.: I noticed a desi contribution while the credits were rolling: Sonal Joshi is the Supervising Dialogue Editor here.

Elephants in the head

2006-12-03T00:10:00.000-08:00

Y'day i was wondering if i had hallucinations about the whole elephant thing. I tried to cover my angst under the mask of pun and humor. No longer are those things of much use.....

Today was a real busy day. I am tired, drained and hurting.....

After finishing my work at 9:30 PM, i was leaving when i met one of my colleagues. She's a SwissMiss, a great friend and wonderful colleague. She had come to take care of some experiment quickly-and brought her friend (who we shall refer to as SillyMiss) along. A casual chat about the silly conversations we had at the dinner table y'day ensued (we were in two different corners). She mentioned how someone was super-mean to her. And i ended up mentioning about the E-thing. Like most people y'day, her jaw dropped too.....and then SillyMiss contributed the following with all her intelligence and knowledge.....

Me: "The guy next to me was ridiculous-he asked Do you still have elephants roaming around on streets in India.

SwissMiss: "OMG, thats so ignorant, silly-really stupid".

SillyMiss: "But, isn't that true, right (looking at me)".

Me: "NO! its not".

SillyMiss: "But no, its true, aren't they on the streets in the villages".

Me (trying to hold myself): "NOOOOOOOO!" and the (angry) music played on.....the songs of how elephants were seen in zoos and circuses were sung.....no avail.....our girl just won't stop.....

SillyMiss continued arguing for the next couple of minutes.....illuminating my ignorant self.....

SwissMiss looked on in embarrasment.....

The contentment of a great lunch and wonderful time spent with a dear friend in the noon couldn't last me through it.....no chai would work today.....and there aren't even any pictures of the beaches and palms to soothe.....just the thoughts.....about whether we were talking about the same geographical coordinates.....

and i sincerely wish that there won't be more stories of this sort to share.....

P.S. There were more things to share.....chance encounters with two desi couples.....one sweet and another one strange.....will chirp on that sometime else.

The great dinner time questions by and for a desi :)

2006-12-01T23:57:00.000-08:00

Hmm, today was a busy day :). Have been up since 5:30 AM. Too tired right now, but i must share this with y'all. You must know, i am a real foodie and a chatter-box. and so this post is about my lunch and dinner today-and the chit-chat while taking care of my calorific needs ;). Hold on, this isn't as simple as it sounds. There are those lunches and dinners that you love to attend, and then there are those that you have to. The latter is the focus here, folks.

You know, these are the lunches at the most expensive restaurants in the best of hotels, where you go as a part of professional obligations/duties :). The celebratory lunches and dinners.....;).The kinds, where the ambience promises to be great, but the dining leaves a lot to be desired-both in terms of whats on your platter and the conversations during food. Read on, this desi first asked some silent questions and .....got asked the most brilliant question ever!

And so, my lunch and dinner today was at two 'great' restaurants in Santa Monica in two adjoining hotels facing the beach-after a marathon session of presentations and discussions. I totally love this place-ideal setting:beach, sun and warmth.....
The lunch, well, was a buffet: one salad, breads, cous-cous, ravioli, fish and chicken. Yummy, yeah :)). If only you knew that salad was just arugula leaves with the blandest possible dressing, cous-cous didn't taste like cous-cous and rest everything was not my cup of tea since i am a vegetarian. Colleagues informed that rest of the stuff could probably count as one of their least memorable outings! If only money could buy flavor and taste.....The dinner was more expensive, with fewer vegetarian choices (one salad and a ravioli). The food was fine, OK Some discussion with colleagues and some senior people, very interesting thoughts and experiences exchanged while waiting for the main course.

but here are my questions: 1. Why can't such places provide better quality food for the exorbitant prices they charge. 2. Why does the vegetarian choice end at either a very rich ravioli or a very light salad (indeed, this has been my experience at the so called fine dining places). The learned and experienced chefs can do wonders (hopefully) with meat, poultry and fish-does it really take a lot else to dish up something vegetarian thats innovative, delicious and fulfilling.

And as they say, save the best for the last: so here comes the masala. During the dinner, the gentleman sitting next to me was chatting with me. He looked Indian (but he wasn't)-and asked where i was from. After talking about tons of things, including how difficult it must have been for me to be away from home all by myself (really, i get this a lot)-he popped the question :)). No, not THAT question, silly. What is the best thing anyone ask an Indian-any guesses?

" Do you still have elephants roaming around on streets in India".....(swoon).....

i am charmed.....the wit, the intelligence.....ah! my dil goes ummmmmmmmmm ;)

do you have any answers.....

i thought of this ;)

and this :)).

PS: Don't believe it? I felt may be i was hallucinating! but no, other people heard it too and were shocked beyond their wits.....and i thought such stuff existed only in bad comedies.....guys, i need a chai.....(rushes to the kitchen). Let these pictures soothe a hurting desi dil.....

Where's the authentic desi accent!

2006-11-28T11:18:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have ever watched Heroes, surely know that the series has a reasonably prominent desi angle-presented to you as a father and son duo, who are Professors in Genetics from Chennai University. Dad Chandra Suresh (played by Erick Avari) and sonny Mohinder Suresh (you know it girls, Sendhil 'heart-throb' Ramamurthy). The story has the Dad proposing a certain theory of evolution, with a strange touch of out-worldly mystique put together in a book named "Activating Evolution"-disappears and dear beta sets out to search for him. And nothing to your surprise, drives a cab once he lands in NYC. Streotypical, hmm, very much-but still significant footage is dedicated to Mohinder's character. Sounds good, yeah-well, no! That's the problem-they don't sound "good"!

So, Mohinder talks in an accent which is a very strange amalgam of desi, amreekan and Brit accents. By his own admission, Sendhil was asked to adapt a British accent.

“The producers wanted a very specific accent. I did an Indian accent, and I listened to tapes to develop it. Then they came back and said the guy was educated in English, so it should be a British accent, with a lilt of Indian. My accent changes throughout the pilot a bit, because then they wanted it to be predominantly English. It’s kind of been a work in progress. So now, it’s very English with Indian hints.” ( See Nirali for more).

Now, people like me who are born and brought up in India find this very perplexing. Most of the higher education in India is in English, but i haven't seen anyone educated in India in recent few decades, talk in British accent ever. What were the producers of Heroes thinking?

Further, y'days episode (and few more before that), featured Erick Avari playing Chandra Suresh, who very dreadfully pronounces his name as "Chaandraaa Surrreshh" with a distinct Amreekan accent. There is nothing Indian about his accent, whatsoever!! Few people even disputed if he looks Indian enough-well, to put those troubled minds to rest, he has Indian roots. But couldn't the actor have made some effort at getting the accent even a bit right.

From the desi perspective, Kavi Ladnier was the saving grace. She got her accent reasonably right and her dress and make-up were also very authentic. Wish there were more of her and wish she would inspire some authenticity :).

Hmm, so either we have the strange mutilated accents passed off for desi accent or forced British/Amreekan accent....."what is a desi accent anyway, with so many regional twists", says the critic. Grrrrrrrrrr, desi accent is one of the sweetest, got it-so better get it right.

Feels like :)

2006-11-27T22:23:00.000-08:00

So said the weatherman-"feels like" so many degrees.....

what it actually "feels like" is very personal ;)

otherwise why would you see some people still in shorts and half-sleeve t-shirts, while others are dressed perfectly for a trip to the poles :)).

Whatever, i am loving the Cold but Bright (atleast today) SoCal weather-simply great.....

"feels like" Wonderful :))

Teesri Gali ka Vihar :)

2006-11-24T23:07:00.000-08:00

The original motive of this post was to give some friends (who are currently enjoying their vacation elsewhere) an update of my extra-curricular activities, and that i WAS enjoying the holiday time. But as the day progressed, I realized that my excursion was turning into something blogworthy, a truly desi tunnel vision experience. Hmm, so here goes:

Its the Friday after Thanksgiving-6:00 AM, wake up with an interesting news on the TV (TV that’s been playing whole night, and usually does), about a new likeness based search engine like.com that would allow you to shop for your favorite celebrity style goodies. Quite “go-shop”inducing news. Even otherwise its been constantly drilled into my head by friends and colleagues, how I must go and avail the early bird discounts.....Well, so today I decide to go check it out. Hold on, but in the subsequent news, Chris Schaubel is reporting on how different stores arepotential wrestling zones.....Ohhhhhhh no, I don’t want to do that-the shopping bulb is dimming.....then, I have this brilliant flash. Go Santa Monica, Third Street Promenade. I assure myself that it wouldn’t be too crowded.....and thus the day begins. I get up, get ready, have breakfast and am off to SHOP.

10:00 AM, I reach Macy’s, avail some good discounts-buy a bag and a pair of ear-rings.....am completely emotional seeing ear-rings, they so remind me of Ms. E, one of my friends in Boston for whom my present always was a pair of ear-rings.....and no, neither I, nor she have and Henry Blofeld fixation. As I parade around, I hear some Marathi, she’s a really sweet Aunty ji and soon approaches me to ask if one or the other color would be better for the scarf she wants to buy for her daughter. We have a cute lil’ exchange, wish each other and move on.

11:00 AM, I walk out of the Santa Monica Place after spending some more time (and money) at my all time favorite: The Bath and Body Works . A block away I am greeted by two Indian guys, one of whom has a big Nama on his forehead. The guys say “Excuse me Maam,please take a minute to look through this book about meditation, its free, you can take it”.....and the dude hands out a book with the title “Bhagvad Geeta”. I wonder if Geeta has just been reduced to a book on meditation. I am a lil’ upset now, I politely refuse and walk on and keep wondering about it for next few minutes or more.....and I worry if this kind of preachiness is doing anyone any good-come on, if you really want to talk about it, put up a stall, keep the books, let the interested people come and do it for themselves.

11:20 AM, there is a sudden urge to hit the bookstore. I contemplate stopping by Borders on the way to lab, completely unaware that I am in front of one :). realization dawns upon me and I walk in and buy a couple of books (will write about them soon). BTW, I didn’t like this store much, they have very limited desi and psychology collection.....Westwood store is better, anywday. but I loved the lady who helped find a certain book.

Aha, and all this while I have also kept my camera-phone busy, clicking pics for whatever its worth. The pictures range from the really fake looking but cute X’mas trees, my favorite Poinsettias, balloons, flowers and what not :).

11:45 AM, I am at Express, and I am out within 15 minutes of idling around. I move on to Levi’s and soon realize that i am plain bored.

12:10 PM, am a bit tired and need something to charge me up-I decide upon Starbucks and get a Chai-at this moment am not interested in too much caffiene-just some warm liquid to soothe me. I lounge around a bit, reading one of the books I bought and listen to the music playing in the background. After Chai, its one more round of pictures, another lil’ walk to Santa Monica Place, and on the way am about to be greeted by the same bunch of guys, when they realize that I have been there before . they catch hold of a Japanese guy instead, who also politely refuses them and moves on. Inside the mall, I notice a shop named “India Arts”, am not sure if it refers to Indians from Asia or the Native Indians.

1:20 PM, hunger pangs.....I am in the food court now, and look around aimlessly. I know where I am headed to. I so feel like checking out the Indian corner here: Tandoor Cafe’. The owners are a cute Aunty ji and a gruffy Uncle ji. The girl on the counter is asking people to try out “samples”, she’s not Indian and so its a bit tricky to place the order as I end up ordering Palak instead of Spinach . Confusion sorted, I buy an onion naan with palak ka saag. I find myself a seat and sample the food.....The saag has got a lil’ sweet taste. I was hoping for something with my favorite ginger and a bit spicy fair.....its strictly OK. The naan smells fresh, its got a freshly baked home like quality (you know the smell of atta in tandoori rotis when you just take them out of tandoor, that smell)-its a big portion, has great texture, crispy outside and fluffy inside, but I strongly wish they had added some salt to the dough. and hope am not being too critical. I really wish them to be a hugely popular and succesful Desi food joint.

A picture of my khana

2:00 PM, am about to finish my lunch and I notice an Indian girl sporting Trojans t-shirt, as she sits close by and smiles. I smile back and we have the usual exchange-its sweet. She’s from Ne Delhi and I inform her that I am from Delhi too (well, that’s not completely true, I am from Amritsar, Delhi, Bangalore, Boston, New York City and Los Angeles equally). She is a graduate student doing Computer Science and claims that its very predictable. We exchange few more silly things, wish each other and I realize its 2: 30 PM and I have had enough masti for the day. I better go to the lab and do some work .

So, this is the story, full of Desiyana-ekdum interesting and enjoyable.....hai na Tunnel vision turning the Third Street Promenade into Teesri Gali ka Vihar.

Today's menu

2006-11-23T12:46:00.000-08:00

Its a holiday, time to eat something yummier than usual.

The SoCal weather finally feels like a bit wintery, lil' foggy and chilly:).

So Chai n' mooli paratha for b'fast.
Pita Sandwich with hummus, sprouts, zucchini and tomato, with hot Cafe' Latte for lunch.

and the menu should not just be about food, today's menu must include calling up friends, listening to some great music, watching a good movie/reading a great book and thanking all the good people around.

May be its the corner grocery store people or may be the T, Subway, Blue Bus staff, may be the doorman in the apartment building, anyone who's doing something for others.....wish them a great holiday with a smile. Thats the nicest topping on today's menu.

Be cozy, happy and have a good time.....Enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving :)

2006-11-22T15:25:00.000-08:00

Great, so we have a long weekend coming.

To rest, enjoy, make merry and be thankful for all the good things we cherish....

Turkey or no turkey, cranberry or blueberry: enjoy it your way.....

Enjoy and be thankful, to God, family, friends, life and whatever else you may please.....
Often, i hear it from some people "Oh, we don't beileve in Thanksgiving"-well, you don't have to believe in something to be thankful.....if not tomorrow, be thankful sometime in your life.....

If nothing, be thankful for the long weekend and the sales afterwards........awwww! ;)

Indiawich!

2006-11-22T13:28:00.000-08:00

Aha! the title of this post sounds strange. Many of us have heard of Naanwich, and i really heart this wonderful fusion khana, but Indiawich-well, that was a surprise, hehe.

So, the story goes, there is a sandwich place in West Los Angeles that goes by the name East-West Sandwich. they specialize, and you are right, in fusion sandwiches. and so they have Japanwich, Chinawich, Koreawich and INDIAWICH!

And this is one extremely popular place, popular among all sorts of people.
and here's the descrption of their INDIAWICH, reproduced here ad verbatim, for your reading pleasure.....

Our INDIAWICH™ sandwiches are prepared with madras curry powder which gives them spicy but not overpowering flavor.

and this interesting creation is presented in two glorious flavors:

Chicken yellow curry and yellow curry salmon!!!!!

Now, if anyone can answer the following questions for me "whats Madras Curry powder" and even if we assume that it refers to some spice mix with Southern Indian Spices that flavor our beloved Sambar, rasam, palyas and kootus, i certainly am left wondering, if yellow curry is an Indian dish i know of.....Go figure, this is your Thanksgiving homework :)).

Boston, Tea-party.

2006-11-16T18:11:00.000-08:00

One of the things that i miss most about Boston is the tea-party.....and i am not talking about the Boston tea-party. Way past the midnight, Arshi and i would have our own little
tea-party :) .

Arshi attended Art School during the day and worked in the night at an apartment help-desk in Prudential. But there were days when she would have a day off from her work. and those were the days we dedicated to the mad tea-parties :). Sitting outside near the apartment entrance, in the cold midnight that Boston so lovingly presented us with, we would sip on chai.....we would share pakoras, namkeen/nimko and many a dream.....endelessly chatting about how we wanted the things to be and how they actually had been. We would passionately talk about the books that we had read, the movies we enjoyed.....and the songs we so loved.....we would play on the same songs again and again, and never be tired of them.

we would talk about her workshops and my experiments.....the nice and the mean people at work.....and about the things that bonded us the most.....like our language, Punjabi and our passion for food. She loved sooji-halwa and would often ask me to make some.....yes, that what we were upto, making halwas and frying pakoras in the wee hours.....she would sometimes bless me like an octagenerian Bebe ji "Tere bachhe jeevan".....and we would burst our laughing. sometimes she would just make some mehendi and would insist that i also apply some.....we talked about mehendi a lot and tried to recall the Punjabi wedding songs :). she was like an elder sister to me, always so caring.....

few days back i was looking for something in an old bag.....and i found some notes on yellow stickies.....i had saved them when i left Boston.....those were the notes Arshi used to leave me.....our schedules being so different.....one of them said "Dear, the daal and sabzi in the fridge were yummmmmmy, promise to make you some aloo-parathas over the weekend, and BTW, thanks for the book-its great." and a B'day greeting card for me, which had a picture of me that she had clicked.....and another note about missing the tea-parties (written during the days when she was working towards her exhibition at school). we had many tea-parties after that.....we moved on with life.....any clue when will there be the next tea-party.....

Why do i blog.....

2006-11-13T18:36:00.000-08:00

i have been asking myself this question, "why have i started blogging". is it just to pour out whatever i have within me. to share few things, with myself or someone unknown. why is it that i am typing this.....
i have to still think of an answer. an answer that would give me some insight into my own mind. aha! ya forgot that certain things are subconscious?
is it to put down things that i have been saying to myself, and then hoping someone else who shares these thoughts would read them and tell me that i am right. or that someone would tell me that i am not.....
and who is that "someone" that i am writing for. is it just me or.....
do i really want someone to even read through some personal thoughts, or no.....silly question. its a blog, everyone can see it.
or is it just that i want to talk.....we all talk, chirp-everyday, all the time.
all i know is that right now, i feel like saying all that i am saying.....
yes, i blog bceuase.....i feel like it.....

I crave

2006-11-01T14:31:00.000-08:00

The good things i am craving for right now

I crave.....

hot masala chai and mirchi bajji

warmth of the sunshine outside

mints and very strong ones at that

a warm coat (my sweat-shirt isn't warm enough for this room)

a great book to read when i go back home (something as readable as Anne Frank's Diary, that book really talks)

fragrance of the roses, no, my hand cream doesn't smell like roses - hence the craving!!

more sunshine and a winter like feel at the same time, talk about paradoxes

The week that was :)

2006-10-31T15:42:00.000-08:00

Aha, haven't chirped for quite some time. am back. haven't written a word since Diwali. so, here goes.....

So, on Diwali day i just met some friends for a chai and early dinner-hold on, after work . we meet at our usual desi restaurant very close to work-not a great one, but lets say we are used to each other.

but the most touching thing about that weekend was that i got a chance to talk to my brother-who's now a proud Dad. "wow, we are growing old"-he quips. Love that! yeah, sure.

and so life goes on-its another warm SoCal week in store. and i am just lazy so i don't blog at all. not lazy, just into my own world.....

one of my friends has been mentioning about another girl whom she met around her work place. and last week i finally met her. a nice person, very affable-we are from the same profession and there is a Delhi connection.....we chirp on about multiple things at our favorite hangout, munching on chhole and kulchas (folks, folks, don't go green in envy-this is not the kind of chhole-kulche taste that these very words invoke). after all, the chhole-kulche from a thele-wala (cart food-vendor) is beyond comparison.

and onto another weekend.....the week has gone by so quickly. i am always lazy on weekends to pack lunch to work-actually i have something like a brunch, so takes a while to go hungry again. and thats the thing, my dear. in the evening, you don't want to eat something substantial that would dim the chances of a great weekend dinner. so, i am hungry, just hoping to finish work and go home (fleeting thoughts of a great sandwich and cream of mushroom/broccoli soup from local deli, hot sambar and rice/rajma-chawal and planty many more goodies)

and thats exactly when i remember that i have to go to a friends place and from there to a function, with her. i reach her place and when i buzz the door-bell, she's on the phone with someone and insists that i talk to her, emphasizing that its a her she's talking to . i take the phone, and spend a few seconds guessing who it is.....thinking her to be another friend.....but i don't say much and then suddenly a flash ....."oh! how are you"-its a friend i recently caught up with (well, recent is a few months ago). and she's in another continent. we were together in Grad School. we catch up again, on lots of things.....my lovable host makes me a cpl. of crispy dosas because she's heard me (and my hunger pangs) scream on the phone a few hrs. back. BLISS :). i dig on the light and yummy food and then get up to make chai for both of us. we still chirp on with our friend on the phone and ask her if she wants her cuppa too.....

Diwali stories

2006-10-21T08:08:00.000-07:00

Happy Diwali, everyone. I am sure you are all having a wonderful, colorful and a thunderous diwali :).

I just woke up-had real great dreams about Diwali.....Oo wow, all the phooljharis, chakris and anaars. As I call home, I can hear the sound of fire-crackers in the backdrop. and friends are writing from home abot what they are going to do for diwali. am I jealous ;) . what do I do for Diwali? ha, ha-go to the lab :) and go out for lunch.....

This year my family welcomes two new members: my nephew (brother’s son) and my niece (sister’s daughter). Their parents are a bit worried that the diwali dhoom might upset the lil’ ones.

And I am thinking about how I spent my Diwali last year-it wasn’t anything great, especially with the happenings in New Delhi. and I felt disgusted with one remark from an Asian colleague “Oh, they had such trouble for a festival, innocent people targeted-why? India is not an important country”. and I went all GRRRRRRRRRRRR. well, umm, not that loudly and rudely. but I challenged her to explain what she meant!! I turned out that she meant politically neutral and with her English not helping her enough she uttered the unsavory!

But, there’s one Diwali that’s very close to my heart. Boston, circa 2003.....

its a Diwali weekend-am back home after finishing a bit work in the lab. as I sip on some masala chai, the door-bell rings. Hmm, she’s home-my house-mate Arshiya. She looks at me and greets “Happy Diwali ji”-and I greet her back with the same. as I serve her some chai she quips “where are the lights”. and that makes me think, hmm, yes, its Diwali today. But then, am I supposed to celebrate this year.....Mom has left us for the heavens this year.....i think. I am quiet. and Arshi asks me, “kahan kho gayin aap”-i remind her that Mom is here no more. She smiles and hugs me and echos what goes on in my minds just as she hugs me. and we understand that my being happy and enjoying is only going to make Mom happier. She would actually not like it, if her child isn’t happy. I look up and break into a tearful grin and I hear my sweetheart Mom say “Chal uth, aiwayein na ro-ja uth ke kuchh kar. Aapni saheli naal bahar jaake aa” (”get up, don’t cry like this-go, do something-go out with your friend”). Thanks sweetie, I chirp, as Arshi looks on if its for her. She knows the answer.....and goes to set up the X’mas lights on the windows.

Dressed up, Arshi and I go out. Its quite chilly and we decide to walk upto the Bombay Cinema for a Hindi movie from our apartment in Brookline. I am told that theater no longer screens Hindi movies. On the way, we stop at Kashmir, an Indian store and buy some diyas and sweets. We pick up a coffee from Dunkin’-Donuts and buy a cpl of samosas after we reach the theater and get the tickets. The tickets are for “Pinjar”, a movie based on Punjabi writer Amrita Pritam’s novel by the same name. We anticipate a great movie as we both are Punjabis.....from the two sides of border. We munch on samosas while watching this movie that revolves around the story of a girl Puro, set in the turbulent times of India’s Partition. We are both a tearful shadow of ourselves, crying in bucketloads.....the movie ends and we both come out with a heavy heart and begin walking home. But as we walk, we feel lighter.....we laugh at this situation-an Indian and Pakistani girl watching and crying through this movie together. its a hindi movie like situation, we joke :).

We reach home, its another round of chai, this time with aloo-paranthas. We light the diyas and then sit and chat and within five minutes we realize we need some therapy.....we break into tearful grins again and pick up the casette for Chalte-Chalte and enjoy our beloved SRK dancing to “Gumshuda.....”

Darshan, embracing the baggage?

2006-10-21T00:11:00.000-07:00

This morning i saw a trailer of the movie Darshan, The Embrace (L'etreinte) - there, its on my nerves again, have to talk about it.

Well, last month I got a chance to see this movie at a theater in Santa Monica. I have met Amma (courtesy one of my close friends) once while she was visiting Los Angeles this year. I found her to be very simple, child-like and innocent and her darshan means a warm embrace. She sits there the whole day, hugging people-all sorts of people. Amazing energy she has, she smiles all through, chit-chats with people around and doesn’t look a bit tired. She’s Amma (Mother in many Indian languages), lovingly so called because she hugs like a mother. And this was a movie about her, so I thought why not-must go and have a look.

Flashback: Its mid-September. A lil’ chilly in down-town Santa Monica. Hmm, its already 7:00 PM. I am a bit excited- a movie about an Indian saint here in US-lets see what its gotta say. Its a movie made by a Dutch guy, Jan Kounen. I am with a friend. We walk into the theater and take a seat. There aren’t too many people around, mostly her followers who’ve come to see the movie, hoping to see their beloved Amma. The movie begins with some vintage clips of Amma’s interaction with people who come to see her and then goes on to describe about “the hugging saint” a bit. The focus shifts to a young French woman, who’s come to see Amma. For next few minutes we are made to explore her spiritual journey, or so seems the aim of this footage. But, the camera just seems more interested in documenting empty corridors and even when it captures humans, its without much emotion and dialogue. In the latter few reels, we get to see the lush and beautiful Ashram in Kollam and few snippets of Amma. The movie then takes us to different cities (Calcutta, Benares and Jaipur) in India, where Amma goes to meet people. This is interspersed with Amma’s interaction with her devotees in Ashram. Its nice to see her dancing and singing, interacting with lil’ children, talking and even giving a part shy and part cute, but very sweet interview to the film-maker. The movie just sort of brushes on her charity work and her teachings, the former mainly in the form of footage from TV newscasts. There is also some beautiful old footage of Amma as a young girl on the swing and Amma doing Poojas-something sort of personal about the once lil’ girl, now a revered mother to millions. The movie concludes with a replay of the footage showing the young Amma on a swing. The movie is over and I am a bit disappointed, actually a bit off.....and I am just starting to tell this to my friend, who shares the feelings about the movie.

I hear someone say now, “whats your problem girl, with this movie?” Problem? I want to shout, No-I have PROBLEMS with the movie (and with some reviews too).....

As the movie progresses and takes us to different cities in India through Kounen’s camera, we are made to sit through footage that doesn’t necessarily focus on Amma or her energetic gatherings. There is a shot of a bus going to another city, and there multiple shots of hungry childrem in the slums in Calcutta, dust and grime-the cliche’ we are so used to seeing about India. And this goes on and on. Yes, there are slums in India-but how relevant is that to a movie about a saint. You know you are completely done when you see a carcass of a calf being consumed by maggots.....and that becomes the focus for a couple of minutes!! Pray, whats the relevance. and to top it all, as some touchy souls informed, its a calf.....In the whole of the conutry, all the film-maker finds is a dead livestock to focus on and disgust the audience. Or is he trying to convey something like “look, look-they worship cows and then leave them for maggots’ edification”. Worst, how does this become relevant to a documentary on the life and work of a motherly saint! Thankfully, the footage in Jaipur and Benares gets slightly better. The movie just has us taking a few glimpses of Amma and how she interacts with her devotees. Thankfully, it highlights her energetic presence and her wonderful gift of a hug to one and all. But, the movie doesn’t even explain the meaning and essence of Amma, the word and the persona. Instead of a film on a person and who she is, it merely follows her around and then mixes it up with irrelevant stuff and serves it to the audience. It doesn’t matter to a gora in the audience-hey have seen “India is poor, India is dirty” crap before. But it matters to me, an Indian-and where I come from-things just don’t look this way-its this and much more. Things could have been better.....If only Mr. Kounen had refrained from selling India’s poverty and instead focused on telling us more about Amma.

This agony is made worse when you see such irreverant stuff written in National Newpapers:

Quoting from http://movies2.nytimes.com/2006/07/26/movies/26dars.html

“Mr. Kounen, who is Dutch, wants everyone to share his captivation: watching the white-garbed faithful line up by the thousands for a smile and a cuddle, his camera is guilty of lingering on the faces of the beautiful. Abundant shots of lush foliage, pastel-toned rooftops and sizzling sunsets are also a far cry from the images of Indian deprivation we’re accustomed to seeing on the news.”

Another strange thing is the use of this song "Jab hum jawaan honge" from movie Betaab in the background whenever a young Amma is shown on the swing. I know it sort wants to tell us that this lil' girl will one day blossom into Amma. But given the context of the song, as we have seen in betaab, it sounds out of place. Besides, the movie doesn’t choose to tell us much about the charity work Amma does and even her hugs are presented as mere statistics. There is more to a hug than just numbers in my opinion, you'll know if you ever hugged anyone.....or may be I am being too harsh on Kounen.

Do I even need to say more-its Friday night-am just back from work and completely tired, so I guess i’ll take leave for now. May be I am over-reacting, may be not. Afterall, the guy has made this movie on a shoe-string budget and made a movie about an Indian mother, a woman who’s hugging millions and doing charity tirelessly-is that what I am expected to day (one more cliche’ and this takes the cake).

Happy Diwali and have fun.....

Who's the rat

2006-10-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

Am back. to chirp about the movie i saw this Tuesday. if you've seen the movie already then the word 'rat' is hint enough to guess which one. yes, i am talking about "The Departed". i watched this movie for three different reasons: 1. its got three of my favorite actors (Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio). 2. Its set in Boston and i am in love with the city, having lived in the Brookline area. and 3. It was playing in the famed FOX theater in Westwood that i never stepped in before, because they rarely play movies that i want to watch.

So, the movie is about finding the rat-the mafia suspects that they got a rat and the Police 'the staties' think they got a rat too. and rats there are, aplenty. Even the ones you don't suspect might be rats. I would have personally liked the term "mole", now made famous by desi media. Jack Nicholson plays the don Frank Castello and as usual does the job too well. Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio play the cops Sullivan and Castigan, respectively. Matt Damon is quite good, but show here belongs to DiCaprio, who lives the role. Martin Sheen plays Queenan, a fatherly chief of special unit and a perfect mellow foil in the movie to Nicholson's ruthless Castello. Mark Wahlberg is the abusive sergeant Dignam, really abusive and induces hate instantly-thats some performance too. Who's the bad cop-go, watch the movie. We also have Madolyn (Vera Farmiga), who is the department pyschiatrists and love interest to? umm, no spoiler, watch the movie.

Plenty of four-letter lingo, really plenty. do you want to get immunized for such language-its a must watch then ;). there is some unabashed use of racial-slur too. May be its there to make the stuff look more believable. and ah! how can we forget the corner convenience store-wallah desi guy. Though for a change he is not made to put on an un-authentic desi accent. it sounds more believably desi than most in recent past.

The movie can get a bit confusing towards the end, making you wonder "whats going on here"-but hold on, the last few scenes solve the mystery and you are good to go back home thinking that you didn't really waste time. All in all, a reasonable movie to go for.

Dada Dadi Ki Kahaniyan

2006-10-16T23:49:00.000-07:00

Few days back i was playing with my friend's four years old when she just jumped into my lap and nudged me to tell her a goshto (a story/tale in Marathi). and i did, the story i had heard so many times, over and over again from my Mom and Grandmom.

And that took me down the memory lane..... the different stories, told and retold by the elders in the same wonderful style. the stories were told with masterly sound effects and perfect expressions, recreating the whole scene.....how vivid the imagery was-one could just see the cute kittens and rabbits, the mean wolf, the pretty princess, the graceful queen and a lot more right there.

Sitting in Grandma's lap and enjoying the warmth of her shawl's bukkal (bukkal: throwing one end of the shawl over the left shoulder, known as bukkal maarna in Punjabi) in the winters or just enjoying the gentle humming of her pankhi (hand fan) under the starlit sky in the summer , every night, i would enjoy countless tales of courage and bravery, beauty and riches.....she would tell stories and riddles or bujharataan/baatan on demand :). in her mock anger, she would say "i told this story even y'day", but i would go on requesting. there were many folk-tales about phool kumari, the queen and her maid-servants, the gith-muthiyas (mythic dwarfs who live in paataal-lok,meaning below the ground), jal-pari (the mermaid like mythic crature), panchtantra, Alif-laila, Bhagat Pooran ji, stories about the legendary warriors and saints, peers and faqeers, religious stories about Krishna ji, Ram Chandra ji and the Sikh Gurus. There were stories from her own times also-stories about Netaji, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, The World Wars and 1947. and whenever i would request her for a story during the day-time, she would say "you are not supposed to tell stories during the day-time. the travellers lose their way". sure, with such wonderful stories, they would!

Here are a few stories and i am glad that i found this link to share (God bless the people who compiled this).

I just mentioned about Punjabi tales, because thats where i come from. But our culture is a treasure-trove of such wonderful tales, in different languages.This tradition of narration and dramatic rendition is fading slowly. if you/ your elders have such tales to share, please come forward :). Lets hope that "Once upon a time" just doesn't become once upon a time.....

Shaadi ya.....

2006-10-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

Many of you would have come across sporadic, strange marriage proposals from the shaadi-byah type web-sites or through other channels.

there are some who are probably (and you don't need to be a rocket-scientist to figure that out)sending the same mail to everybody: "hi, i am interested in your profile, if you are interested in mine, please contact me at :xyz@abc.com". there are some absent minded ones who don't care to leave even a contact address!

then there is another "DANDAman (guy with a danda/lathi)" breed: sample this gem"i love to dress well and exprect the same from my spouse (good so far) and if you are not into dressing well, i would have to take you for shopping to overhaul your wardrobe".

some male lurkers can be seen expecting their to-bes to be really "she should be taking care of herself well"-what does that mean? do you want her to be independent, i appreaciate that-but the following few sentences emphasising about manicures and pedicures suggest something else!

there are few who introduce by saying "i have a degree from a prestigious institute and am currently working at a fortune 500"-well if you are spending enough time to say this, then may we please know, where exactly!

A friend recently mentioned about a call she received from a guy's Mummyji:here goes-
Mom: Hi beta, i am xyz's mummy.
Ms sakhi-saheli: namaste aunty ji.
Mom; arrey beta, aapne namaste kaha. aajkal kaun namaste use karta hai( u said namaste, who uses this greeting these days)! so on and so forth.

and then "beta do you wear skirts etc, mera beta abhi US jaane wala hai-to thoda match bhi dekhna hoga na" (my son is going to US soon, so we have to get someone who matches).

and then some have a very practical quest" kya aapke paas H1B ya green card hai"-usually reserved for girls who are either in India or are here on F1 or J1 etc. or some men back home trying to woo women working here in USA in the hope of getting here, nothing wrong with that-but the way they ask is crazy and usually the first thing when they email/call the girl.

one may be a man/lady of few words, but this is really too few! PHEW! "i am tall, athletic guy in city XYZ" or" i am a slim, smart and educated girl"-no details, cliched and no one knows who you are and can be!! and for everything else:will tell you later.

with such proposals, one either laughs or fumes, but i bet you can't ignore them-so enjoy.

anyway, this is a sampler-share some of yours whenever you can :)

Day 1.

2006-10-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

Hello folks, am here to share some thoughts with all of you who care to share the same :).

to just say a few words, i am a desi girl in pardes. a scientist by profession and a lot of other things in my own little world-hope to share my lil' rants on desiyana, mind and food.

hope to keep chirping.

Cheers,
me.