Shyam's Blog

Family + food --> fun = my vacation in Detroit. What else do I need for a perfect vacation? A big 10-day stay here with arrangements to 'work-from-home' is a welcome treat for me.

Really missing my cats today after hearing to stories of their dogs in the office meeting! One Monsoon, it was raining heavily and a small creature was crying for shelter. It was all wet and no energy to move because it's mom had abandoned it. This was my first kitten - lussy, named so because it was white in color. One can term this as a street cat, but, soon, it became part of our family by being around our house and playing with Table Tennis ball. A harsh night saw a pot in our garden fall on it to end it's existence. Few weeks later, my dad brought home a super baby from a rehab center - 1 month old female golden kitten. Dad liked a Japanese movie in which a kid's name was something like, 'Chungya'. In those lines, he named this 'Chungnyee'. ha ha. Once we had taker her to a Vet and he was surprised to know its name. This kitten was so small that it didn't even know to drink milk from a bowl. For many days, we bottle fed with a small bottle with a sm...

It is boring to remember 100s of names and 1000s of dates. Who came and who died next? Why people fought there and when? They all won or lost the battles/wars. 'mujhe kya lena dena?'. This is what I felt when I was studying History in school. Now I know why that History teacher was teaching History ;). Recently, I am going through a book on World History and get these questions, "Who is there to prove all these? Are these really true?". Many of the current texts on History are written by person X/person Y and not many have questioned them. For example, the buzz topic, "Aryan invasion"! (Read here ). While reading history about other countries/continents, I am just assuming that whatever is there in the book is true. Even pre-civilization history is one thing I always question. All those BCs - 1900 BC , 1700 BC.., who knows whether it really happened then? ;). If I want to write a fiction, I will write about me going back in time and running through those da...

It is so quick. 2006 is coming to an end!

I was running in the gym and my mind was running faster than I;). "Why is this gym so empty? Why don't people us the facilities? If these were provided in our country, people would have flocked the area round the clock." This thought led me to one of my most sought out discussion - education system. When I was a kid, people visiting home from the US explained a lot about encouraging kids in activities. There were few comments on me moving to the US. I mean, it was just a dream then. Coming to today's world, I surely feel that India too has developed in the past one decade. It is a fast paced world out there. Talking about education system, people always discuss the pros and cons of the systems in both the countries. Pros in India being, standard of education is high and tougher competition. Cons being, some might say that education in India is not industry oriented, in other words, not practical oriented. Continuing with pros - this ends at a certain level of the educ...

Picnic Spot Bridging two ends Harmonic waves

My friend showed me this original track (Code Monkey) online. This track is for all crazy remixers ;) who can put anything to this track and send it to the original creator. You too can try something ... http://www.jonathancoulton.com/ Within minutes, I put my voice to that. Listen to remix here ...

I am just back from "cloud nine", the place of dreams and fantasy and there is no space for the so called 'world'. It is so weird to start a blog like this. The title too is a word repeated thrice. I have many other options for the title, like, "visit to Chinmaya Mission, Boston", "Phil's Surprise Birthday Party", "Party filled with music", etc. But, let me stick to the one I chose and will mention why it was chosen. This is a blog where names are not hidden in algebra like, person A or person B. I name people here AS IS because, the whole blog gets weight by that. It was Phil Scarff's 50th year Birthday which was arranged by his wife, Megha, at the Chinmaya Mission, Andover, MA. It was an hour's drive for me with the birthday balloons filling my back seat. After reaching the venue, it was time to arrange for the party scheduled to start at 2PM. It started well with Noram, who is a Jazz Guitarist. It was my turn to sing - I sa...

Morning tea couldn't be a more shocker than this. See the caption and the picture which is from today's newspaper. FYI, that is the victorious ace shooter, Jaspal Rana in Doha.

Here is a song saying, "I am blessed seeing Him." "You have filled my eyes of mind. I have traveled countries making me more ambitious all the time. Make me see within." This piece is an elaborate one which is around 20 minutes. The first part is the rendition of the raaga giving a mood to go into the lyrics of the song. After the song is complete, here comes the improvisation with the seven notes of the raaga (melody). Set to a cycle of three beats, this song is in the raaga, 'pantuvarali', which is similar to the 'puryadhanushri' in the Hindustani style. I have tried to keep this raaga improvisation on the lighter side and not make it sound too orthodox. The reason behind choosing a lighter and softer touch is the song ahead, which is a semi-classical piece. The swara impromptu in the end is a real-time rendition of notes which just flow from no-where and vanish out. Basically, I mean to say, I may be good/bad at points which I have no control of ;...

Today's practice song in the raaga ' yaman kalyani ' Listen here...

Now-a-days, Indian cricket team doesn't play a cricket match, they are really a mismatch to any team. Less said, the better. The way they are batting is like pack of cards just falling one by one. I have no words to explain how they played today's game against South Africa. My dad might have more words; I will steal them and come back to add more ;).

Am back with a 1000-mile tour of Thanksgiving to Washington DC and Princeton. It was a good tour to see a new place, meet friends and relatives, and have some great fun. Drive from Boston to DC was filled with rain and drizzle for most parts of the drive. Back home, I started from DC at 5AM and did my pitstop at Princeton to visit my cousins. It was timed nicely to arrive at their place for breakfast and coffee. After completing a wonderful breakfast, it was time to rest and spend some time with them. Soon, it was lunch time. A good lunch and saying bye, I started my second leg of my drive from Princeton to Boston. Knowing the traffic on I95 near New York, I did a mistake again. I took a chance and that turned out a 2-hour delay. When I was stuck in the downtown, the 'tank' got filled. Finding an exit was like a miracle for me. Once I found it, I was hunting for a gas station for that 'tank' thing. What to do??? Downtown mein gas station kahaan??? I found some Subway, ...

It was a day full of "Smithsonian". Washington DC = Smithsonian, is my equation. Taking the Orange Metro from Fairfax/Vienna Station to Smithsonian Station, I started exploration of the museum by noon. Smithsonian is an institution of museums right at the heart of Washington DC. It is THE world's largest museum complex. I could do a fast trip of half of it today, the rest is reserved for tomorrow. Map of Smithsonian Trains system everywhere in the US (and Europe) are almost the same. Today being a holiday, I could see lots of people with kids in the train. One family of 4 with two kids barged in at the last minute. With a couple of seats remaining, I thought they will be taken by the two kids, but turned out different. The couple settled in those seats with kids standing, holding the bar. One of the boys was very sharp and used to ask a lot of questions - "where is this train going?" , "which is our stop?", "how fast is the train going?", ...

After a 8-hour drive last night, I reached Fairfax at 3 AM. It was a good drive with not much of traffic jam. Near Baltimore, the otherside of the traffic was standstill for nearly 10 miles! I think all were heading to NJ from Washington DC area. With 2 pit stops and I coffee mug, I completed 475 miles in 9 hours. Plans for this tour - roam around DC and then drive back to Boston via Princeton on Sunday.

I got up late and was obviously late to office on the first day of my new project. But, commute was very very fast - infact super fast. Once I was on my seat, I saw if anyone has arrived. No one was around. Not even my boss. My dress was casual with a T shirt and shorts. Kewl naa??? Slowly I got to talk to people in my team. First thing that happened in the morning was joining a bridge for daily 'ticket issues'. It was a 15-minute meeting with people talking in Greek and Latin as far as I was concerned. Once I was out of meeting, I got to know more about the terms used in there. Went to the kitchen and prepared my lunch :). Back to work after lunch. After some email checking and talking to friends online, I was back to setting up things. This company has a help desk of its own - a toll free number which I used to dial to set up my email and other softwares. On the other side, was a person with familiar accent, "Hello Shyam, my name is Mahesh. How may I help you today?...

www.rajshri.com is the buzzing website of the day. Go to movies section and watch Hindi movies for free! (online streaming) It was good to watch "Chitchor". Though I had listened to the music for decades now, I had no idea about the picturization of the movie.

How will it be to say, "Everyone born in this country will stay and serve/work in this country. No crossing borders for work in the next 20 years." That will be the day which will have two visa interviews if at all they want to "visit" US. ha ha ha. One will be strict (hopefully) Indian interview which should prove that the candidate MUST return to India on a required date, else, his passport will be made invalid. Second interview will be the usual US consulate interview. Are you laughing? Did the people of US laugh when US said, "restrict outsourcing"? The US did this to save its economy. Their statement is same as the one I stated above, only difference is, US targeted Companies and I am targeting individuals. When the economy looked dismal in the US, it was essential for them to save from going below a threshold. People here who had no jobs were given first opportunity/preference. What does all these indicate? They want to save themselves. If the people...

Think of India sixty years ago. It was a nation under the hands of someone who ruled the colony for centuries. Being ruled by others, the people of India had become mere slaves in the hands of the rulers. Poverty everywhere, there was famine at one place or the other killing millions. Plague and Malaria also was rampant. If we go 2-3 generations above us, it is usual to see a family with more than 5-6 kids. Many times, we hear that the family lost someone because of some unknown disease. That was the state of this present country which is now considered as a prospective super power of the world. How was it possible to grow to this level in the past 60 years? Is there scope for more growth to achieve the status of 'developed country'? Time only will answer the question of future. All these make India a role model nation to other countries in the third world to stand up to the growing competition in this fast paced world. It is also an example to the people of India to check out ...

Does anyone have ideas to bypass the Ad in rediff.com? When I click on any news, I always see some gift Ad above which says, "Click here to skip Ad". This has become a big menace to read news in rediff in recent times. Another nuisance is people inviting me to join Gazzag website. Has anyone faced this menace of getting tonnes of invites from all corners to join Gazzag?

With a routine call to my dad to start the day made my breakfast a superb one. I called my dad as usual. He asked, "What's for breakfast?", for which, my answer was, "Idli and I am planning to make chutney." Dad: Do you know how to make good chutney? me: hmmmm , I know my regular way. I have coconut, coriander, and pudhina. Dad: No, no... Do this way and tell me what you feel. First, warm two spoons of oil in a pan. Add couple of spoons of 'urad daal' and make it golden color. Add 2 green chilies and put pudhina. Also, add coriander and coconut. Pint of 'ingh' is also good. Once this mixture is warm, grind it. Add bit of salt and small piece of tamarind. Chutney is ready! Put 'vaggar' (tadka) as usual. me: OK, will try for sure :). After trying the combination mentioned above with idli, it was a dream idli-chutney breakfast. Thank you dad :). Now, how to make idli batter??? :) This is simple, but requires patience. Here is my combination...

This is the most sung song by me. Listen here . Nothing special about this recording. Just that I experimented with my keyboard for the first time :).

Yesterday, after visiting a program in which 60 odd kids sang one after another on stage, I felt that there is a need for one good Indian barber. Not even a single boy had a good hair style. This was my first observation in a program where kids who are students of classical music were each given a chance to sing a song. In India, haircuts are so neat! There is some form of style on their head. Here, every head of a boy looks like an egg :(. No style..., hair not combed. When such a boy comes on stage and sings a song, the whole image of the song goes waste. I could not imagine a kid in a gathering 'un-combed' in India. Forget about hair. On the contrary, it was not the case with girls. They were neatly dressed in traditional attire and few of them did sing really well. I went to the organizers and asked, "they are singing so well, is there anything like a prize for appreciating their talent?" They said, "No, nothing like that." If I were to organize anything...

One knows about himself if he lives all by himself. This is what I learnt after living away from home for nearly five years now. I talk to people who have the luxury of staying at home and getting things done for them by someone other than themselves. They are so dependent on others - right from, washing clothes, arranging food to shopping gifts for their friends. Is it not essential for one to experience life all alone? This implies, just make everything for yourself - right from finding a house for rent, managing finance, setting up a home, arranging food (cook or eat out), getting accustomed with people around to get things done, handling bills, etc. All these small things are not found essential till a person leaves his home sweet home. Once he is out, there comes the jhatka, dheere se. Tiny issues like these have to be solved in between hectic work schedule or graduate school. Here comes the big advantage of having a quick learning ability and adaptability. For me, it was a real g...

Listen to a lullaby Here

I get up late at 8:30am like a lazy cat. My roomie is already gone to office. I see a face in the mirror which is my virtual image - this is the only other face I get to see apart from my real face. Then, it is time to go online and check for my dad to see if he is online. Surely he will be around by the time I prepare my morning tea. After talking for a while about everything around the globe with my parents, it is already 11am! Almost time for brunch. I just notice that last night, I had ground the dosa batter. After checking the condition of the batter, I am satisfied to run to the grocery store and get some butter to make some wonderful dosas with butter. :). Dosa eaten - wow what a treat for myself. No one around to share it :(. chalta hai. It is already past noon. Time to check blogs of friends and also check news online. Also time to watch some news channels - Zee news, NDTV India, etc. Again try to catch up with parents to discuss on the news I just saw. Dad always not happy w...

News channels in India (for that matter, all news channels around the globe) are always filled with hot waves. I recently got a chance to view some of Indian channels after a long time and found that news time is full of talking from news studio to someone outside over video phone. One over hyped controversy now is about a actress talking something about dress code of women linking that with a holy book. Oh man! What a fight 3-4 people do on that news channel linked over video phone! That too, on the top corner, it will be mentioned "LIVE". One expert tells the news reader sitting in studio, "You don't understand the situation. You haven't read the holy book and you have no right to question. One should respect and follow the holy book". On the other side was one fashion designer who made things hotter, "I don't see anything wrong in what they want to wear. It is individual's perspective and we have to respect it. We cannot force every to strict...

New place to visit real soon - Toronto. Might drive from BOS which will take around 10 hours.

A thorough discussion on the concept of vegetarianism comes into picture whenever I dine with someone who isn't and who doesn't know the concept of it. Even though people know the reason, they ask it once more to hear from a different mouth. The whole concept of being a veggie is so simple that for one who is following it, there is no need to worry. For an outsider, it seems as though we are missing half the food in the world. I have seen many in the West who are vegetarian because of various reasons. I read that, Pythagoras was a vegetarian. One article even explains, Jesus ate no meat. With all the strings attached to being a veggie, it is a never ending discussion to emphasize it. One thing I don't understand about people who eat meat is, some say, "I don't eat meat on Saturday" or similar reason. Saturday is just an another day of the week. If they follow on that day, let them do it for rest of the week, else, they need not. Pretty controversial ahhh! Main...

One need not be a cake maker to appreciate a cake. Similarly, one need not be a musician to love it. If at all two cake makers sit and discuss about the difference in the tastes of two cakes, then, they will go into all the inner details (the process, ingredients, etc). Same is with music. If two musicians want to compare two songs, they can talk in musical terms. Basically, the idea is, whether it is music or cake, it has to be so simple that anybody should be able to appreciate the taste even without knowing the ingredients :). The above is one of the ideas in the book I am reading which is about Music and Science. This book talks about how brain-music-science are inter-related. Name of the book???? Will reveal later :).

This place is such a hopeless one when it comes to medical treatment that it seems as though you will see God (almost there in heaven) when you visit a hospital. Having experienced that once, I didn't want to be there. Still, I wanted immediate doctor's consultation. The system is so laborious that the illness might be gone by the time we find the right doctor. Without an insurance linked to that Hospital or doctor, the patient is nothing but a non-entity. I did my homework to find out the Hospital connected to my insurance and called them for an appointment. ME: Hi, I am ..., I want to consult the doctor today. When can I get an appointment? from that side of the phone came this answer... "hmmm, let me see. The latest appointment I can give is for December". What the ???????????? This is the medical facility in the place I live! All these insurance concepts and cost of going to a medical school has made medical treatment a big fuss. I have heard lots of instances tha...

One of my friends recently asked me, "It has been a while since you came to the US. What do feel about this place - then and now?" My answer erupted as slow as possible - "Yeah. It has been a while since I started living here. I am not a super power to change the whole US. US has not changed me in my basic thoughts. So, I don't feel any change".

It is a sunny Sunday morning here and with a cup of tea in hand, better would have been to have a local 50-page newspaper in hand and settling at one place for the next couple of hours. Instead, here I am, writing my blog with my tea. There is always a feeling that some things in life remain evergreen. Even though generations change, technology advances, the concepts of those evergreen things remain the same. What are these 'evergreens' I am talking about? The first example is newspaper - A real hard copy of newspaper in hand. Though Internet and television give exhaustive information, newspaper is a newspaper. I am sure, it will go on for ever. Second example is going to a movie theatre - Again, technology, pay-per-view, video rentals, home theatres have come into picture, nothing can defeat the effects of a real theatre. How can one get the atmosphere of 'going with a friend, standing in the line to buy tickets, munching a snack around, getting into the theatre with a big...

"nanna haadu nannadu, nanna raaga nannadu, ...." After many years, I got a chance to watch this movie, Suprabhata, today. Interestingly, the above song says what I am doing now. I am doing what I wish to do - taking a small break before my next assignment starts. This also gives me time to see places and get ready for my new project. Having 3 projects in hand and taking time to decide which one to choose will take time :). Hence, a break like this is always necessary. Now, you have a break and watch the song below.

Roads of White Mountains - Fall 2006 Curve sign at White Mountains Zig Zag road at White Mountains

Lake and Houses - White Mountains Fall foliage Uprooted tree with mushroom A colorful trail

Cape Cod is famous as a tourist attraction for its scenic resorts, beaches and golf courses. Also, it is one of the favorite places for weddings in New England. Here are some of the Sunset pictures of the Cape. Sunset near East End Grill 'Sky under Fire' during Sunset at Cape Cod A majestic Swan at Cape Cod

Fall Colors of New England (Oct 2006) Picture #1 Fall Colors of New England (Oct 2006) Picture #2

'kaash mein woh kiya hota', 'kaash mere yeh woh hota..'. When my mom gave me intection with that thick needle, I said to myself, "I will surely take revenge on all these doctors. I too will become one one day and when I give injection, the patient should die of pain". This was thought when I was a kid and hated injections. ha ha ha. It was really scary to see that boiling water and doctor taking syringe and needle out of that; concetrating deeply on the dosage and then going for that unsympathetic prick. All this drama for simple fever ;). Lots of things have come along my way which was always an option. Just seeing that Engine driver, my brother used to dream of becoming one and drive it from Bangalore to Kadur in that Mahalakshmi Express. I too dreamt of becoming a bus driver in the Ghat sections of Malnad. Both of our dreams did not end there! Surely we became Engineers, but Software type. ha ha. The above one was mere freaky thing to think which kids usual...

"Turkish Bath" was one the best Jazz pieces I have sung for. This is a very catchy piece with good rhythm and nice improvisation. Prof. Goodmundson invited me to add extra music to their original piece to put something different in the show. It was my honour to be part of this show what was witnessed by 600+ packed auditorium. Here is the video recording of this. Though the recording looks and sounds poor, I like this because, it surely projects the ambience that was there inside when I was performing this live.

How important is making decisions? That too, making a right one. There are many instances in life which are 'decision making' or 'turning points'. But, I often think about - "is making a decision enough in life?" My answer is NO. In one's life, how many decisions are made in the category of 'most vital'? At the time of making them, do we have a complete overview of future? Also, what is the amount of time spent in making those decisions? Overall, few days/weeks? Ok, put it, few months. But, there is that whole rest of life which one has to spend in order to capitalise on such decisions. There are lot more challenges one has to face even after making best of the best decisions. My idea is, we have to be sharp and prudent in choosing something we want. At the same time, have to be ready to cope with future, face it and solve it. Never look back and feel, 'I made a wrong decision' - no harping.

Merchiston Tower, Edinburgh Do you remember taking Log of a number and doing calculations; and finally taking antilog of the result? Here is Merchiston Tower in Edinburgh where John Napier was born. Napier (1550 - 1617) was a Scottish mathematician and physicist who invented Logarithms. This building was built in 1450s. Merchiston is a prosperous residential area in Edinburgh.

Scott's Monument, Edinburgh (click on the image to enlarge) OOK not thou on beauty's charming; Sit thou still when kings are arming; Taste not when the wine -- cup glistens; Speak not when the people listens; Stop thine ear against the singer; From the red gold keep thy finger; Vacant heart and hand and eye, Easy live and quiet die. -Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)

'kalasmelogra' is the term I should give to some of the things I realised during my UK visit. Right from food to the English accent, the world is a mixture of all types. In one sense, I myself had this question, "Am I not mixture of many types?" See the picture above. It is Edinburgh Iyengar Yoga Centre on one of the main streets of Edinburgh. I was very curious to knock the door and have a quick interaction, but couldn't find time to do that. Edinburgh does have Indians, may be around a thousand odd. Most of them belong to couple of Universities there, or on work permit for small projects. Coming to food - I was totally confused what to eat. There are so many Indian restuarants that I could even choose between them. Most of them have this typical, "Indian and Bengali Restaurant". It was interesting to see that "Bengali" or in few cases, "Bangladeshi" cuisine. End result was, I didn't go to any of Indian hotels, rather settled for...

After a great conference and vacation, I am back in Boston. It was a wonderful tour of the UK with lots of memories. With a few hundles like running out of cash at crucial juncture and no yogurt rice for dinner, most of the things went fine. On the last night of the tour, I hunted down for a dosa restaurant in London. After waiting for 30 minutes, I got to eat wonderful idli, vada and dosa - no doubt my best meal of the tour. I learnt many tricks too. Never keep your camera inside your bag. Keep roaming around the place with a camera on you and if possible a map in hand. At one instance, I was not following this "traveller's dress code", and people on the streets thought otherwise. I mean, it is not advicable to talk to strangers without a dress code ;). Next trick - never believe in one person's directions. Always reconfirm. I boldly asked one guy in teens - "Where is the cricket ground?" He promptly showed me the stop to get down from the train. This was 2...

Lords Cricket Ground London For a cricket fan like me, visiting Lords was always on the list. One thing I missed was a visit to Silverstone - home of F1 British Grand Prix. Here are pictures from Lords. The museum inside has a very good collection of photographs and cricket gears. It also features original World Cups - The old one and the new one. The guide tour inside the stadium is very interesting. Photography is not allowed in the pavilion end. This is where players come out from. They also take us to the dressing room. I was standing in the balcony where Kapil Dev and Indian team were seen rejoicing the 1983 World Cup. View of Pavilion End There is also a big section of the museum showcasing the Ashes Trophy. Fact File: England have not won a Ashes test match in Lords since 1934. That was the last time England defeated Australia at Lords Cricket Ground! Most recent Indian to score a century at Lords in a test match - Ajit Agarkar (109 not out) in 2002. There is one "Members...

Pictures from Wimbledon Wimbledon mesh Court #1 (not the Center Court) The Center Court was under renovation. They plan to build a dome on the Center Court which will be completed by 2009.

First thing about London - Most expensive place I have ever been to! Second thing - A must see place on earth. Main Attractions: 1) Buckingham Palace (cameras not allowed inside) 2) Big Ben and Parliament 3) London Eye (day view and night view) 4) Tower Bridge of London (day view and night view) 5) Downtown in general 6) Wimbledon (for Tennis fans) 7) Lord's Cricket ground (for Cricket fans) 8) Chennai Dosa (Wembley Central Station on Bakerloo line) London is always busy. Trains and buses start early in the day and close late at night. There are many things to do in London. Here are some of the pictures. Buckingham Palace Big Ben: This name 'Big Ben' is for the bell inside this clock. This is attached to the Parliament house. This is Not London Bridge. This is called the Tower Bridge of London which was photographed just during sunset. Tower Bridge few minutes after sunset. Big Ben and Parliament as seen from London Eye. London Eye: Great place to view the city from the top...

First day at Edinburgh This tour was my first one to the UK. English accent is different! When I applied for visa, I used to pronounce, Edinburgh as Edin-burgh. Later, before flying to that place, I came to know that it is pronounced as 'Edin-borough' or 'Edin-borrow'. When I landed there, people pronounce it as 'Edin-barrah'. This picture is the royal museum of Scotland which is in the heart of the city. Inside are painting and history of Scotland. One of the paintings inside the museum. It has very natural expression of the kids - depicting a season of no-food and time of distress. Pillars on Cavern Hill Ediburgh Castle - #1 attraction of Edinburgh. Built during 13-14th century, this castle has a long history - It was destroyed many times by the British and was reconstructed by them. Scotts and the British fought against each other. At one point, Queen of England, in a controversial decision, gave power of Britian to Prince of Scotland - James IV, who was son...

Fall 2005 Snapshots Whitinsville, MA New England - Fall 2005 Mirror Lake! New England - Fall 2005

I switched to Beta version of new blog which is now handled by google. It has few drawbacks. I am not able to comment on other bloggers who aren't beta users. I am not able to switch back to the previous version of blog :(. With things getting set for a UK vacation, I am busy working on my presentation and also plan my meetings with the delegates at this year's CPA 2006 conference. Having heard so much about Scotland, I plan to have a real kewl time there before I land in London to see if that London bridge is falling down! Fall has finally come here in Boston. School has started and I see people all around. It will be a nice time to visit New England now to enjoy the most attractive Fall Colors. Any visitors???? Welcome! But, before Oct 15 ;) I will be off the blog for a few days. Will be back after a two-week break!

With a milky day, it was fun to watch street dancing in downtown, Boston. Milky day because - something has struck some reaction/allergy in my mouth making me impossible to eat. Only think going in was milk till a few minutes ago when I took a step to eat Mediterranean Pita. Oral anesthestic is keeping my mouth numb during work. Coming to street dancing - Macy's store had organized a street show to promote their store in one of the streets in Boston. That street has a Macy's store too right there. There was a huge crowd when I was walking to grab Pita for lunch. As I approached the stage errected on the street, something interesting was happening. A host and hostess calling people from the crowd to go on stage and dance freestyle to win 100, 200 or 300 dollar worth prize. Rule was this. They have to keep dancing to some music which is stopped by the DJ at random. Then, people dancing HAVE to stop dancing and stand still like a statue at that position when the music is stopped. ...

When it comes to mind, it’s always an illusion to me. There are few things I am thriving for more information. Things like telepathy, mind reading and ancient Indian science always feels like magic. Be it incarnation, rebirth, etc, I don’t want to stop thinking about them till I get answers to my questions. There are certain questions in me which are still not answered by science. May be one day, I will be able to get it myself. Even simple superstitions make be blindfolded. I don’t know why people believe in them. But, it just passes on from generation to generation without any force. There is a superstition that if our left eye blinks involuntarily, someone is remembering us. Or, if we start belching, someone is cursing us somewhere. Are all these superstitions true? Is it just empherical that people just started to notice that in their lives and believed them in the long run? There are number of these superstitions which people around the world strictly follow. Coming to telepa...

This is my tribute to all my teachers on the ocassion of "Teacher's Day". Let me start naming them in Chronological Order: They are named in that typical 'miss'/'teacher'/etc as suffix. Without that, their names look imcomplete. Lily miss (Chickmagalur) Manjula miss, Saroja miss (Vidhyaniketan, Tumkur) Shakunthala teacher, Vijayalakshmi teacher, Shirolkar teacher, Ramakrishna sir, Sinthea D'Zouza teacher, Radhika teacher (Rotary Primary School, Hubli) Padma teacher, Savithri teacher, Salgar master, Kanekal master (Rotary High School, Hubli) Padmaja sister, Prema sister, Narayan master (Kumaran's High School, Bangalore) GSS, CSS, KVG, KSRP, DMR (National College Jayanagar, Bangalore) Deepa Shenoy, VKM, Kashinath, VJ, BP Harish (UVCE, Bangalore) Dr.Shaw, Dr.Stiles, Dr.Wheeler (Utah State University, Logan, UT) Prof. Y V Venkatesh - IISc, Bangalore Music teachers - Vid. Chandrashekar Gupta (Shimoga) Vid. Hemalatha Sampath (Hubli) Vid. MA Narasimhachar...

Traveling in train, I am seeing trees zooming past me. With nothing to read, I just am thinking of writing something real quick. It is a challenge to myself to jump from one idea to another to create a flow. The topic I choose is “leaf”. Yes. Leaf. The idea is this – "what all do I recollect the instant “leaf” comes into my mind?". It is just a game I am playing for myself –Time limit = 20 minutes, I need to scribble something. Leaf – First thing coming to my mind about a leaf is its distinct color. Leaf is one of the first things taught to us as green in color. Jumping from there, banana leaf L . I miss the banana leaf food – food eaten on banana leaf. Why don’t people in the West get a taste of it? It is such an old method of ‘disposable’ plates ;). My drawing exam – Junior Drawing exam had banyan leaf to be drawn with typical grains and marks as seen on all the five leaves. I just know that we were all given that 5-leaf stem and asked to draw that in 3 hour...

Laloo is giving a lecture at IIM-Ahmedabad on September 18th. His success story of making Indian Railways the second largest PSU profit org. after ONGC made IIM professors think about his managements skills and ideas. Railways earned 15,000 crores (150 billion) as profits in 2005-06. Read his dialogue below: " My mother always told me not to handle a buffalo by its tail, but always catch it by its horns. And I have used that lesson in everything in my life, including the Railways." wah wah wah. His mantra: "If you do not milk the cow fully, it falls sick". wah wah wah I somehow like the way Laloo is - He is kewl. He can make Bihar - Japan ;).

After a brief discussion with a family here about kids and television, I just feel that it has taken away the creative thought in kids. Adding to television, computers and games have destroyed the whole concept of constructive congnition. This continues throughout their lives, both childhood and adult phase. I have seen the current generation naming "watching TV" as one of their hobbies!!! The concept of television is different in the West. It is a way to make the kids sit silent by watching 24 x 7 cartoons. There are several channels which show a range of cartoon which makes parents give their kids the remote (by blocking other channels) and instructing them to keep watching it for the next couple of hours. In India, concept of television for kids is(was) slightly different. Since there are many other family programs compared to cartoons, it becomes a more family entertainment than just locking kids in a room and make them watch TV. Add the cricket effect to that please. 8 h...

With kids Ganesha Chaturthi celebrations at Dr.J’s house was a treat and will go down as one of the most memorable days in my life. With ‘aarti’ to Ganesh in typical Mumbai style being the start of the evening, ended with dinner which included homemade kulfi! Not to mention music playing a big part of the evening. P, exponent of Saxophone Aarti included ‘jayadev jayadev jaymangal murthe’ and ‘om jay jagadish hare’ which were given everyone in a printed form. ‘prasad’ was served and soon started a small music session. The kids sang a couple of songs, followed by a ‘raaga’-song piece by P on the Saxophone. He had J accompanying him on the Tabla. P played raag-‘kaafi’. It was a great treat to watch him play and J accompany him. P and J are trained in Hindustani classical music. After their piece, they let me take charge for the rest of the evening. P and J Microphones were set and I was all set to start. I was invited to mainly sing bhajans and songs for the kids. When I was abo...