Random blurbs..

Studies in US; work visa; my US Army experience

Posted by Umesh
9:57 AM, Apr. 30, 2010 .. 0 comments .. Link

Hi All,

I think this is the first time since I joined US army that I am sending this as a message. Life has been busy but now before I get my US passport and head back to Asia (to Iraq - not India) , I would like that other friends also benefit from the experience. Friend Kamal who also helped me get to the US as my Harvard sponsor, yesterday mentioned that I should write a book or something about my US Army experiences, even if I have to omit the secret stuff for security reasons. Well, I would have to omit most of what I do here, but also cannot take any pictures at all or even mention where I am and what I am going to do next. Its called "Need To Know " basis.

Recently, my unit posted on their Facebook site that we are going to Iraq (which I have known for atleast 6 months now), thus, I was able to say that I am going to Iraq - becos it was already publicly declared by the army.

Military Control

We have many many rules here, which I cannot share, just like some of the others who work cannot share their work secrets/rules. Army rules extend beyond normal work area and govern us 24*7, even when we are on leave. If one soldier makes a mistake- traffic violation for speeding or beats up his dog and is put in jail - everyone in our unit is punished extra PT on weekends. Noone can leave the job, noone can just take leave offhand. Most likely leaves aren't granted unless its a matter of life and death. When we go to Iraq we cannot just decide to visit Turkey, Greece or Egypt on a weekend for sightseeing. We have to work all 12 months - no holidays! No Sundays , No 4th of July, Christmas, New Year breaks etc. Atleast for most of us. We do get some leave time - but again its a secret - I think. We would be told at the last minute - in case some soldier leaks the info while telling friends. The enemy also accesses FaceBook, Twitter , Orkut, reads soldiers blogs etc.

Enemy is watching

If we place pictures, videos on such sites or on youtube the enemy can also see them. That limits what we can and cannot do.

So i thought that life becomes more complicated as we come closer to the day we board the plane for Iraq let me leave some pointers for those who wish to come to the US to work/study.

US work/study

Things have changed a lot as far as working in the US is concerned , esp for those who are in the IT field. Gone are the days when consultants could get people to get visas , come to the US and then look for jobs. Thats why so few are applying for H1B work visas now.

However, I didn't come by that route. I got my work visa only after I had a job in hand. For students things are still the same - though job market is still slow to pick up. Students can apply for scholarships. I know of atleast one IIM Lukhnow graduate (Syndham's College, Doon School) who got FullBright Scholarship from US Embassy in India to study at Harvard. All expenses paid. A few have gone to remote universities who look forward to international students and are ready to give full scholarship to those who apply - esp to bright ones.

Friend Santanu mentioned that the "Rule of Thumb" was to choose a University noone had heard of in a location noone had heard of before - becos there hardly any foreign students would be there - and those who apply would be welcomed with open arms - for diversity, multi-cultural feel, international experience to local students.

Those who feel confident enough should try the top univs as well - who have more money to give schol. Harvard has been thinking of making its college education (BA, BS) free to all those who get admission (becos they are all great students and also becos Harvard has so much money that the intrest alone can take care of the tuition etc)

New opportunities are opening - like those who are in the US for over 2 years on any kind of visa could join the US Army and get US citizenship - they will have to work for the army for atleast 4 years to maintain their citizenship.

A few of my US students are currently planning to join the US military - some directly joining US Military colleges, some following ROTC - where one completes a college degree and also trains to become an officer. Something like NCC , but here after 4 years one gets college degree as well as a job as military officer.

Technology

The other day friend Akshay Jain of DeltaNet CyberCafe sent me a message and I was reminded how important - I would say crucial- his cybercafe was in my coming to the US. I still remember how I was celebrated by offering free iced coffee to all guests/customers at DeltaNet (Dhuleshwar Garden) when I had got everything lined up - inlc my US visa - to got Harvard. Internet is critical for everyone - including the US Army. Some might recall that it was the US Military which invented the internet.

Using technology to get ahead is a key - ofcourse many would waste their time in video chats and computer games. Ofcourse, those who are skilled in video games and joy stick can fly unmanned planes etc - so useful to US Army - even Indian army is taking it up against the naxalites.

Fitness

Well, keeping physically fit has its advantages too - one can join the military. I wonder how many of us are as fit or fitter than we were while in high school.

Umesh Sharma

To Be or Not To Be

Posted by inxanadu
11:11 PM, Thursday, March 25, 2010 .. 2 comments .. 0 trackbacks .. Link

I grew up in an era when choices one had as a career option was limited. You were either a well qualified Doctor or an Engineer. That was it! Yes, there were a few other options too – a teacher or maybe join the administrative services.
And to cut a long story short none of these options interested me which seemed were hanging down like a pendulum ticking severely more than ever as I gradually ascended from primary to middle & finally high school.
My parents unlike rest of them (to be read as my overtly pushy aunts & uncles) never did pressurize me to death. I don’t know the reason behind this. But I remember Maa telling me off & on that as long as I turn out to be a sensible, mature and a loving person “all is well”. She herself being a teacher (for which I was a tad angry on numerous occasion, because I felt I was surrounded with this species called “Miss” both in school and home as well); she never allowed me to parrot read or like in school we were asked to “learn by heart”. Except for the poetry, rest she explained everything to me like a story. Even the ocean currents – a lesson in Geography I used to dread; she made it so easy for me that it seemed I too flowed with the mighty currents, at times warm and at times utterly cold clock-wise and anti-clock-wise in both the hemispheres.
And because as a kid I’d always see her being a “Miss” I decided I too shall become a fine teacher one day. So on holidays I’d make all my dolls sit in the classroom (read the lounge area we had just next to the kitchen), make best use of the wall as my black board and there I was – the teacher. This fascination lasted me for quite some time until I stumbled upon a lady (I don’t remember her name); she was not a regular visitor to our place, but I recognized the other woman with whom she came. She was my granny’s friend. This “first time I met” lady had a bag full of candies and two big bottles of aerated drinks – one cola and one orange for me and boy I was bemused and thrilled all at once! I realized that she was an “air hostess”. And the next thing I wanted to be was an air hostess! My teacher-giri bit ended prematurely! Maa would smile whenever she saw me playing “Air Hostess” but granny would get slightly alarmed. She would keep reminding me that only people who couldn’t excel in studies would opt for doing things like these! I would get scared as a ten year old. I didn’t understand why she said so. But her statement would ring like an alarm every time I’d sit with her to revise my Assamese lessons on the dining table while she’d be either cooking the regular meal or baking one thing or the other.
So there went my air hostess bit too. I was sad but could I do anything? Nothing came up and I thought like the rest of my cousins I too shall end up being a Doctor or an Engineer. But the path to these two profession required Science and Math which were my least favourite. Thus I felt being trapped. I was throttled and I could do nothing about it.
As a teenager I wanted to become a musician. Dad taking a cue called a music teacher too. But No! Hindustani Classical music was not something I was zeroing onto. I wanted to be a Jon Bon Jovi! Couldn’t he possibly understand that? One day gathering all the courage I did manage to speak him about this utter confusing state of affairs. He listened patiently and said, “Even Jon Bon Jovi did learn his basics the way you are doing now”. Now who could give me first hand info if my idol too had a sicko & disgusting music teacher like the one I had! Nevertheless my musical journey continued for about three long and appalling years. One day I finally said I had enough of music and bid adieu to my music teacher. Dad was angry and I took all what he had to say with a pinch of salt.
By the time I had cleared my tenth board exams most of my cousins were busy preparing for various entrance/competitive exams. I visualized them as docs & engineers building bridges and somewhere deep inside me I still wasn’t prepared for all this.
So the next best thing I did was take up Commerce stream and decided to wait and watch. During those five glorious years of bunking & partying one thing that I got interested was the world of advertising. As a management student advertising & marketing was one of the key papers and I loved it. So this is my call. I thought to myself.
But wait, during the same time cable TV first hit the Indian television and I was bestowed my Danny McGill’s charms & charisma and I felt I was deviating from my advertising world. I wanted to become a VJ!
Before I graduated with a B.Com degree I had lost my parents and for my granny it was all to “Greek” when I told her that I had cleared my MAT (Management Aptitude Tests) side by side with my B.Com and would like to do a course in advertising. She said she had no idea what I was saying. I continued further by saying I need to go to New Delhi to clear a few GDs (group discussions) and interviews in a few institutes.
A few interviews and G.Ds later I knew I’d be in DSC (Delhi School of Coomunication) for the next two years studying advertising. I was just a matter of few months away. And as planned I found myself in the New Delhi railway station one hot June afternoon.

I was so sure I’d be working in an ad. agency in the creative department that it seemed too good to be true.

Yes! I did! I did manage to work for an agency but it was nothing the way I had imagined. Instead of doing some fun filled copy writing, here I was typing tender notices in Adobe PageMaker! I waited. I said to myself, “the best is yet to come”. But it didn’t happen or maybe I was impatient or maybe I was lured to a fatter pay packet and thus I bid adieu to my whatever-little-I-got-to-do advertising world.

I started working as a product trainer for one of the world’s most reputed and oldest brand. And shamelessly I never did miss my advertising days, not even once. I traveled extensively; met a whole lot of people and got to see places which otherwise I’d never write in my “must visit” travel itinerary.

Now I am a very much “stay at home” wife & mom. As I look back I don’t repent nor do I have regrets. I got a chance to dabble about brand building and doing my teacher-giri bit again as a trainer. Plus my job meant I was on a vacation forever!

But only if we had alternative career options during the growing up years. I guess kids today are much more luckier to have such a wide range of opportunities.

When I look at my doc & engineer cousins I feel they live such a rigid life. Doc are forever studying even now… & the engineers… well they too are doing fine (I just guess as I am not in touch with them)…

And for me I know I’ve done my parents proud. I as a parent would be the way my parents have been to be. Would love to see Nior as a mature, well groomed, compassionate and a good human being more than anything.

Half Nelson- Not just another teen movie - www.youthcomm.org

Posted by inxanadu
11:56 AM, Monday, March 1, 2010 .. 0 comments .. 0 trackbacks .. Link

Half Nelson
Not Just Another Teen Movie
By Daniela Castillo
When I heard about Half Nelson, a new movie about a white teacher in Brooklyn who befriends one of his black students, I thought of Dangerous Minds and The Principal-other movies about troubled white educators who reform minority rebels in poor neighborhoods. Those movies showed wonderful white adults saving the poor black and Latino kids, assuming, of course, that they needed to be saved.
Crisscrossing Lives
Half Nelson isn't so simple. Unlike those other movies, it doesn't give a black and white, right or wrong picture about morals, class or race. It's an honest story about a teacher and student whose lives crisscross through an unlikely event.
Half Nelson features a junior high school history teacher, Dan Dunne, played by Ryan Gosling, who plays the role with conviction and honesty. Everything in his performance is brilliantly simple-he plays an easygoing teacher and passionate dreamer who genuinely wants to teach his mostly black students something worth knowing.
But his personality outside the classroom is completely different. With his students he's assertive and strong, but back home, he's weak and pathetic.
Teacher Has a Secret
The twist is that he's part of something that plagues many inner city kids-Mr. Dunne smokes crack.
One day, 13-year-old Drey (played by Shareeka Epps) finds him barely conscious in the girls' bathroom, holding a crack pipe. Instead of panicking, Drey becomes intrigued by the vulnerability of her teacher and begins to seek him out to learn more about his problem.
Drey knows the drug game first hand. Her brother is in jail for dealing drugs and the man he worked for, the charming dealer Frank, helps Drey and her mom financially. Frank (played by Anthony Mackie) is also Mr. Dunne's dealer.
Meanwhile, Mr. Dunne's downward spiral with drugs continues. Hoping to clean up his act, he tries to pick up his grubby apartment and even does a brief 10-minute workout in a feeble attempt to repair his health.
But his hypocrisy confronts him when he goes back to class every day, talking about history while nursing his drug and booze hangover from the night before.
And in that classroom is Drey, reminding him why he teaches in the first place.
Shareeka Epps holds up in her performance playing a 13-year-old tough girl. I saw her first in the short film Gowanus, Brooklyn, on which this movie was based. Three years later, her more adult voice and growth only strengthen the character's key attributes-her maturity and coolness.
Not Just Blowing Bubbles
As she befriends Mr. Dunne, we see that Drey's not always in calm Blow Pop eating mode. Sometimes when she's with her teacher, she breaks out into corny jokes and a shy smile, showing that kid side-which makes her performance even more impressive.
Mr. Dunne awkwardly but honestly opens himself up to Drey, giving her rides home and showing her the civil rights books at his apartment. And he finds the chance to redeem himself when he finds out that Frank has his eye on Drey to replace her brother. Mr. Dunne makes several attempts to confront Frank, but addiction gets the best of him and his plan goes awry.
Teens Will Relate
Although Half Nelson is nothing like the typical teen movie-where the football player falls in love with the nerd-turned-prom queen-I think teens will relate to it. I went to a junior high school like the school in the movie, and the scenes in the classroom-with kids shouting out silly answers-were so on point.
Half Nelson is one of those rare films that explores the idea of redemption without seeming heroic or righteous. And the film's flawed characters and heavy themes actually make the movie feel inspirational and optimistic to me.
Half Nelson was directed by Ryan Fleck, who also co-wrote Gowanus, Brooklyn, with Anna Boden. It's rated R for drug use and tough language

A little bit of this & a little bit of that.

Posted by inxanadu
11:53 AM, Monday, March 1, 2010 .. 0 comments .. 0 trackbacks .. Link

It’s been a while that I wrote something.
Maybe I’ve been in simple words “just lazy” to write.
Maybe I was getting too busy being a mom and a housewife.
Whatever the reasons be; today I just felt like doing the thing which feels so relaxing. And just as I sat down on my couch with the earphones plugged to my ears setting my all time favourite music on the playlist, distraction started pouring in left right and centre!
First it was my daughter who wanted to get cozy. You might think this is so cute but if truth be told her main intention was to play havoc with the laptop! After sending her off to her dad, I sat down again trying to go back to that same frame of mind as I longed. And the phone started buzzing! After speaking for about five odd minutes with my aunt I just lost track of what I was supposed to do. So I walked straight to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator expecting to find something special to nibble when I know well that its all the leftovers that are there! So I just popped a small piece of chocolate which is my daughter’s possession! Thank God she doesn’t know to count!
Chocolate sure is a mood lifter. I decided to go back to my writing mood. But I guess nothing was in my stride today evening. The door bell rang and it was a friend, who got married very recently and just back in town after a ten day honeymooning in Bangkok. And no matter how much I wanted to say a quick hello and come back to my laptop and start typing I could not. It would look rather discourteous not because he had a bag full of goodies for us but because he is like “family”! So there went some more precious moment and I could feel I was losing my grip, I had such a wonderful spin to yarn but now that seemed slowly fading. I excused myself and left them the guys with their scotches and crabs & shark meat crunchies and the men talk.
As I sat down for the nth time, I heard Mougli (one of our pet dog) barking unstoppably and I knew there was someone else on the door!
Ok! Now it was more than I could handle. There was this other friend of ours who came along with his cousin. By the time they arrived I had almost completed a few lines of what I was writing and I didn’t want to mess this nor miss the opportunity of finishing whatever mindless things that I was typing. So whether I was being impolite or rude I don’t know. My hellos to them was at the door only and I asked them to head straight to the kitchen where all the action was happening and I said I’d join them in a bit, “just need to complete something really important that I am writing at the moment!”
So this is where my writing ends today evening. Will get back with a fresh frame of mind and ample “my time” and so some really serious writing some other time!
Ciao!

the 100th Blog!

Posted by inxanadu
7:08 PM, Monday, December 28, 2009 .. 0 comments .. 0 trackbacks .. Link

This is something I found in FB and it was so interesting decided to put it here as well:

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
No…

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU Cried?
yesterday when Nior got her dose of vaccine, I cried too!

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
I used to, but now I type more that write!

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
I usually stick to veggies for lunch.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?
Nior is my lifeine… & so is Nirav, at times he is more babyish!

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
of course yes!

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
….yep…. & with those who deserve that type of lingo!

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
yep and everything else I was born with

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
aaah! YES!
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Nothing as such…. But oats is ok.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
yeah

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM
chocolate chip

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
shoes… & women with sandals … how well groomed the feet are.

15. RED OR PINK?
Can I say orange?

16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
I tend to trust people too soon.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST ?
My family

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST?
As long as it sounds interesting why not?

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Black corduroy & blue bedroom slippers

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
Give me some sunshine from 3 Idiots

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
Green

23. FAVORITE SMELL?
Nior’s is a mix of Johnson’s Baby powder... Lactogen… her sweat…

Otherwise its Miracle by Lancome or Pleasures by Estee Lauder

24.THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
Boon

25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
No one sent me this, was surfing here & there when I came across this.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Swimming & Diving, Golf, Tennis & Soccer.

27. HAIR COLOR?
Dark Brown

28. EYE COLOR?
Dark brown

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
No, I enter them on my phone -hehe

30. FAVORITE FOOD?
Mixed grill sizzlers!

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy endings… in reel & real life.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
3 Idiots

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Dark blue

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Both… but summers are good for swimming & winters are good for great outdoor adventures.

35. HUGS OR KISSES?
Hugs & Kisses… & lots of it!

36. FAVORITE DESSERT?
chocolate soufflé.

37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
all.

38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
dunno!

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
Barrack Obama’s Dreams from my Father.

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
it’s a lappy…

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
Chris Angel’s Mind Freak!

42. FAVORITE SOUND(S)?
walking on a wooden floor.

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Beatles… Rolling Stones… Bread… Metallica…. Def Leppard… Scorpions…

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Been always at home no matter where I am!

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I guess so…

46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Guwahati.

47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?
Everyone’s

48. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER?
…. Haahaaaa!.... met him thru my then supposedly bf!

49. IS THE CUP HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY?
Half Full …

50. IF YOU COULD SIT DOWN TO DINNER WITH FIVE PEOPLE WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE?

Nirav, Nior as of now…

%$#&!

Posted by inxanadu
6:26 PM, Sunday, December 27, 2009 .. 0 comments .. 0 trackbacks .. Link

Just when I thought I would write something in no time ^%$#^*(())_)(*(*&*&^%^%^%$##$@#!@@$$^%&^^%*&^(*&)(*)*)_(_)(+_)_)(
well... I was at peace... alone to do my own damn thing... and my thoughts were coming down as words... just when people (read family) came back home after shopping.... the TV being switched on in a high volume.... kid crying for her chocolate fell.... ^&()_*(*&*&^^%$%$@#$%#E%
& there goes my evening!

Farming At Farmville

Posted by Hazel Angel
10:05 PM, November 9, 2009 .. 2 comments .. Link

“Please let me check on my crops or they will wither today” – pleaded Soniya. She had come to our office on her way back to Kolkata from a holiday with her husband in Shillong. “ What crops” I asked and there for the first time I learnt the ABCD of this virtual farming at Farmville an application in the popular social networking website Facebook. Since then I too got hooked to this virtual farming like many others. No sooner than I started farming, I realized that most of friends are already doing this since long. I was amazed at their levels of achievements; 29,30,31. Wow, even 2 of my bosses were also on the bandwagon of virtual farmers and not to mention way up in the ladder too.

(What a big morale boost it was for me!)

But that made me wonder , why everyone is so engrossed with this virtual farming. So much so that my friends send me messages asking for a Tree, A cow or a sheep – these are free gifts one can gift to his neighbour farmers. What is so special about this Farmville that it got everyone hooked? Okay, I have decided to put my reasons first. May be in amongst them I could find the answer for others as well :

I always had this tiny miny wish of owning a farm with a farmhouse since my Mills and Boon days ( read high school days).
This game of virtual farming gives me the much needed respite from the symbols like % , words like Target and not to mention those HUGE numbers on excel sheets.
This game gives me the pleasure of fulfilling my wish of growing all sorts of exotic flowers , fruits and vegetables. I mean sitting in Guwahati, I can grow paddy full of Red Tulips, Blue Berries, Raspberries etc. I can even have a corner full of cherry blossoms in my own farm!
I can own Villas, dairies, have rest tents and picnic benches as many as I wish.
I can have as many animals as I like; cows, horses, goats, pigs. And the best part is that I don’t even have to get my hands dirty even for once. Even after having so many animals, my farm remains spotlessly clean. Not to mention my crops are safe too from the hens and ducks I keep.
My neighbours so kindly help me in my farm by fertilizing my crops, shooing away the foxes and crows and they give gifts also. I also return all the favours generously!
Above all, in real farms no matter how hard you try, you cannot grow strawberries in 4 hours, Pumpkins in 8 hours and Raspberries in 2 hours flat!

Wow, so many reasons. But to be really honest I feel it is the urge in my mind to be closer to nature which makes me go back to Farmville again and again. That wish of leaving all the excel sheets behind and be one with nature makes me log in everyday after work. But I am also aware that this is completely virtual. Real farming doesnot happen at the click of a mouse.

Caught in web of responsibilities and commitments, I login to the World Wide Web looking for some “ My Time” in my farm. Yeah, that’s the word - “ My Time” . Aren’t we all looking for that elusive “ My Time” somehow , somewhere?

Random thoughts

Posted by Hazel Angel
9:42 PM, June 3, 2009 .. 0 comments .. Link

Sometimes I have this strange craving for things/food/cinema .well the list is long. The other day I had this urge for piping hot round balloonish puris and potato sabji. What we call in Assamese “ fula lusi and aloo bhaji.” Now that’s onething I am sure we all Assamese people love. Those health conscious and diabetics may deny, but deep down there; they also relish that. That’s what I firmly believe. It also made me think of those good old days when if you go to someone’s place, they will treat you with “fula lusi and aloo bhaji”; sometimes cherry on top with an omelet too. Even I remember when we were in school in early nineties whenever someone came to our place or we would go to their place the menu was most of the time same. Be it summer, winter or any other season. And if a new bride or new groom came, then the menu will have some additions of sweets, pudding and cakes etc.

One classic example is our Taoi, my dad’s best friend . Sarma taoi and amoi ( uncle and aunty) are a very unique couple. Unique in the sense they can welcome a perfect stranger as he was a long lost member of the family! Many a times I had heard dad advised Sarma taoi not to do that. Both amoi and ma used to laugh at that. My dad was also no better. Even though he advised Sarma taoi, he would also do the same. May be that’s what clicked between them and the relationship of a tenant and a landlord turned into lifelong friendship. Anyway, what I remember of amoi is that she cooking same aloo bhaji and making the maida dough for puri even on the hottest of summer days. Sarma taoi’s students would come home for some advise from him, and both would make sure that no one leaves without a staple dose of amoi’s famous bhaji and lusi! I am yet to know of any other university professor’s wife who would do the same. It’s sad but some those students didn’t even bother coming back after they passed out from the university. No I am not saying they should come especially to thank amoi and taoi for anything, am sure they also donot expect that. But when one is in town, in the next door on some work, spare 2 minutes and say “hello”. That’s not too much, is it?

Ok, I have deviated from lusi – bhaji to something else. This practice of preparing lusi-bhaji when guests come is gone now, like many good things of the past. Blame it on no. 1 time, no. 2. the sky soaring prices of essential commodities which make any middle class family cut costs to manage a month’s expenses. I admit in my house also this practice is lost. Now only very rare occasions this once regular menu for any guest is prepared. But then why do I feel that along with this simple practice we are losing the compassion, the sincerity and the love we shared once. I would not dare saying that love, sharing, caring is confined to a plate of 3 puris and some amount of aloo sabji. But all practicalities apart, the simple gesture meant so much. In these days of hi-tech communication devices, we are slowly losing contacts. I tell my colleague in the next cubicle, send me a mail for this, for that. I send text messages to my best buddies wishing them on their special days. I call too. But sometimes the hectic day also doesn’t allow that or is it we who donot find time to call? Staying in touch is now being on one’s friend list in Orkut or Facebook.

Another one of my excuses!

Posted by Hazel Angel
8:54 PM, May 13, 2009 .. 1 comments .. Link

The morning was so good today. As usual I got up at 5.30, switched off the light in the verandah, unlocked the gate the usual chores, except sending Kalu our dog out. The morning was so good I thought let Kalu also enjoy the cozy morning for some more time. Like always I came back to my bed to sleep for another hour or so. And that happenned. Suddenly the sky turned dark, the pleasant wind turned into a gushing storm like wind and it started pouring. Wow..what else can one ask for to enjoy the morning sleep in such a cosy weather. So much for my resolution of getting up early and going for morning walks. It seems even the nature doesnot want me to lose those extra flabs, let alone god/godess of sleep.

I myself am surprised at my ability to find excuses for not trying hard enough to lose weight..! I always realise that I need to work hard; just cannot seem to materiale it.

SIGH!!

Twenty Five Random things about me

Posted by inxanadu
12:39 PM, Tuesday, May 12, 2009 .. 4 comments .. 0 trackbacks .. Link

I live life King Size… at least I try, but there are times when I get miserable; when things don’t go the way I wished…
I think the saying “if there’s light, there is darkness too; if there’s good there’s evil and if there’s God then there’s Satan too”… hold true!
If life had been a vacation I’d love to be in Fiji!
I listen to advices but might not necessarily implement each and every one… I’d rather filter it and take those which satisfy my own rationale!
Life sure has been a roller coaster ride for me, but I’ve been through it without giving up and looking back now I think I’ve enjoyed that roller coaster ride.
There are some people I wish I never met and then there are those I wished I had met them earlier then I did!
Never thought motherhood would change the meaning of my life until I became one!
If God grants me a second life I’d love to be the way I am now… aah! Maybe could do with a less extra pounds on my waistline!
That I am lucky to have Nirav & he is equally lucky to have me is mutually exclusive!
If I was a musician I’d surely be a bass guitarist … or a drummer!
If I had taken the game of tennis seriously when my dad insisted I wish I had listened to him… now it’s no point mulling over it!
Sketching is not my forte. I am hopeless!
One thing I’ve realized is if you look before you leap, you may never have to leap at all.
Waking up early in the morning is not as terrible as I always thought.
Life might not always give me a second chance, so why not grab those opportunities coming my way?
A simple equation always seems “too much math” for me!
Multi Tasking is a way of life.
Cooking is actually not rocket science at all!
I wish I was a bit more diplomatic when it comes to handling relationships.
For me its either black or white. There ain’t room for grey areas.
If it hadn’t been for my parents I’d never been here writing this in the first place… lots of love to them always.
Meditation is a great stress buster.
It’s a small world and Face Book testifies that!
If I could punch someone on the face I’d definitely knock a few people down!
I am not an anti social but somehow the very idea of visiting relatives and gossiping over hot cuppa teas & samosas isn’t my idea of spending quality time!

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