Life in rainland...

If you ever want to briefly experience living in Seatle, please do come to
Massachussetts
. Its been raining forever. Softly touching, mildly brushing rain...i already started singing the Little Johnny song!

He walks by me...

Last week, one of our friends, forwarded an email. Something that really touched my heart..
It read, ' The will of God will not take you, where the Grace of God will not protect you'. A very simple yet powerful statement to solidify one's faith. It did touch my heart then and it does give me strength ever since... Its really inspiring, how a few simple words can do wonders to one's faith!

Its all about getting 'Lost'

'Lost' season 5 finale was two days back and could not wait for Jan 2010...

Springing!!

Spring Framework is really awesome. I am kinda hooked up with Spring these days...Lets see how far I go in learning it!

2008 Thanksgiving!!!

I know, I know... Its been 3 months already after Thanksgiving.. I just wanted to post the pic of the lovely Smoked Turkey...my Aunt Elsy made.

Slumdog Millionaire!

Occasional bloggers like me write only when something 'really' makes them say 'Whoa!' or 'Wow!'. Well...I am one such blogger myself and 'Slumdog..' was something that left me well...speechless. Though, that doesn't belong to any of 'Whoa!' or 'Wow' category... I couldn't stop myself from writing a blog.


I always love a very good drama, not to metion the hint of humour - which is a must- , soft romantic love - optionally optional - and the big 'L' word, the Logic.
Lecture apart. What made me - the lazy blogger - to spend time to post a review on this movie? Well, I should say, everything. First, we entered a tightly packed theatre... cool!!!..and it stayed till the screen literally blacked out after 'Jai ho'.

1. It had Romance - innocent/childhood/puppy love to a grownup, caring and charming romance
2. There was the great background-score...sometimes foot tapping - sometimes heart racing - sometimes deeply understanding... Music. Hats of Rahman!
3. Need I say about the direction, the cinematography?....'Wow' - Way to go Danny!
4. Last but definite-damn-ly not the least.. the gross picturization of 'Reality'. Believe me... I could never touch my popcorn after those scenes...

A person who was leaving at the end said ' Awsome'.. I guess that summarizes it!
Yo...Danny! hope u heard the applause!.. again, Way to go.

These Days...

Lots of travelling these days. I guess its coz

A 'Calcuttic' experience!

I always get confused on what to do when I have too much to do. So, right now I have too much to blog about our trip to India, I am lil confused on where to begin. Though being with loved ones was itself so much fun, since we wanted more... my darling hubby took me to Sikkim and Darjeeling, along with a roam around in Calcutta.

I guess I had too much imagined about Calcutta, being a metro and all. (I regretted that later!...I should have had an open mind.) Seeing my awe-struck (definitely shock!) face, my hubby said, 'This is Calcutta'.

Hmm.. let me see..
Porters at the Howrah railway station cruising though ya indifferent even if you are a kid , an aged person, a handicapped person or even a pregnant lady,

Homeless men,women and children sleeping on either side of the road in the heart of the city,

River Ganges pipelined on the sides of the road - flowing in all spectra other than purity - for people to bathe,

Women wearing nothing around their necks for the fear of chain-snatchers,

Public transportation called a bus - reduced to a 50 year old box with pot-holes (literally!) on the floor,

Strikes and Bandhs in the blink of an eye,

Finally, I came in terms with reality... ' This is Calcutta'.

Maybe because I am a Chennaite and had lived in B'lore for a while, I had expected too much. Maybe only a few crore Indians are lucky enough to be in a place they dream.

Trips from Calcutta to Gangtok and Darjeeling were great too... Darjeeling was not worth mentioning... we dint even had to wear a sweater...It was hot.. :(

Gangtok was clean, simple and elegant. Still no sweater... no cool weather!..

Back from the trips, it dawned on me, why Calcutta is special when I visited the 'Mother House' the next day.It is special because the Angel of care and kindness chose Calcutta. It was a dream come true for me when I set my foot on the very same places where Mother Theresa did. I don't think I could ever describe how I felt. Meeting Mother Nirmala was overwhelming too. She resembled a lot like Mother Theresa, in her kindness in her stature and in her pure serving heart.

Finally When I was leaving Calcutta on a train back to Chennai, Calcutta didn't seem so ugly after all.

Am back...! Am 26 pounds lighter!

One fine evening last week, I was back home after nearly 3 months of vacation in India. Wonder how time flies when you are with loved ones. They say you add a few pounds when you are happy...well, I shed a few. Am 26 pounds lighter now! (ha..that feels so good to say it...say it again! say it again!).. feeling younger, healthier and even more happier.

Gone is the constant pressure to lose weight...constant criticism of self. I do criticize myself now, but in a good way though.

A Kolkatic Experience!!!

A Private Shopping Mela in Chennai!

Ever since we started our India trip plans, all I could think was, what should I buy from India..
Should I or Should I not buy sarees?... Should I stuff my luggage with salwars or skirts?

Its crazy time in Chennai... the 'sale' season called 'Aadi'. Everytime I perk up myself for a 'lil' shopping in T-nagar, I also dread the thought of the crowd that moves you from South Usman Rd to North Usman rd with little or no effort from your side....
Did somebody invite me to Ranganathan st?... Naa.. fuggedaboudit!

I had a good shopping season this time. I kinda love all the stuff I bought.
One nice and different experience was shopping at sowkarpet. Very nice embroidery fancy sarees at a very good affordable price.

Though I am happy about my shopping spree where I got everything that I really think have my name on them, there is one person who dreads with headache everytime I go for shopping... Well.. husbands are supposed to be like that! Else whats the fun in shopping?

My first Indie Flick!

Last week, we did a spontaneous deed of raiding a movie theater.

Hillary, the boat has sailed, babe!

Last few months must have been a heck of a journey for Hill and Ob.
Hah...imagine the constant travelling, across a country thats too big to have three timezones!
The moment Barack reached the specified number of delegates, the media went frenzy on why she didn't concede. I wanted to shout..'Come on guys!, give a break'.

From the time she started her campaign, it had been a real tough road ahead for her. Now that there's a considerable immunity against racism, Barack had nothing to worry about as opposed to what was expected. Hillary thought it would be a knock-out match, but it turned out the other way.

Being a Woman, Being an Ex President's wife, the facts that should've helped her win,apart from the fact that she's a successful lawyer and a senator brought her to the ground.Especially when someone displayed the 'Iron My Shirt' banner when she was giving a speech, for which she replied, "Ah, the remnants of sexism - alive and well," .Makes one to think... can't really weigh racism against sexism.

Anyway if Hillary is out of the picture, I can't imagine any other woman so strong and having a good media/political presence. Looks like US has to wait a few more years for a woman president.

The media must feel like a weight off their shoulders as they just kept Barack back on the ground for the final battle against McCain. 'Barack is realtively new to Politics.' 'Barack is Black, how can he survive the rednecks?'

Any decision that a voter makes depends on the media I would say. Its so powerful to raise or topple a government over. Anyway lets see what happens!

Last Evening's Xtravaganza!

Last evening, seemed like a same old boring thursday evening, but my husband came home with a tougne for seafood.

A Cute little Person!

A Few days back one of our friends had a baby boy. He was so cute and even looked like a cute little person who was ready to walk given a chance.

Freakin' Out Lethargically!!!

Atlast...after more than a year!!! I just struck me that I do own a blog.

Let me just cut all self apologies apart..and get to the point. I should let myself go and

put an end this stupid lethargy... Hope I blog more often...

O...Give Thanks to the Lord!

Hmm...After a long time. I should blog more often. I bookmark the things I wanna blog in my mind and sooner or later the bookmarks are archived and I do even forget that I own a blog. Being at home gives me a lotta things to occupy myself and when sometimes I keep on wondering what to do next, I end up doing ultimately nothing!! :)

Last few months were full of travels and trips. Last weekend was Thanksgiving and I got to experience my first Thanksgiving day experience in US.We had an authentic american thanksgiving day with Turkey dinner. (Hmm...Tasted good!).

The day next to thanksgiving is what people here call a 'Black Friday'. The term sounded like its some spooky day , but actually its a shopping day! All the stores in US advertise discount sales and blimey... you will get a laptop for 99$!

The sale time was from 5AM to 8AM in the morning. We went to 'Circuit City' an electronic store to find a long,long 'Q' of people waiting from the previous night! Wierd.
It reminded me of Ranganathan Street in Chennai during the 'Aadi Thallubadi' sale season in the month of August.

Anyway, Thanksgiving is over and people are getting ready for the big-day which is just less-than a month away. It would be my first christmas away from home... and I couldn't wait to experience it.

Lost and Found!

Being at home for some period of time leaves one wondering what to do at home.It's happening to me too.When in school and college, I wanted to improve my skills in arts-n-crafts.When I got in to a job which occupied me full-n-full...Ahh...forget the crafts...I need some sleep!.

Now that am taking a break(!) and at home fulltime, its time to search for the lost.My husband had to make some time to take me to the Craft store, where I was pleasantly surprised at the number of choices one has, to revive the crafty mind.

This is one thing under sky, I would always love to do. Forget Java now... I am a fulltime cooking,cleaning,washing and ofcourse a crafting person now...atleast untill I go to work again!. It really feels very good to find the-lost-soul-soothing things one always likes in life.

Infy 25

Being the family of an Infoscion, gave me this opportunity of attending Infosys 25 years celebration party. It was organised in a Desi restaurant at Philadelphia for Infoscions and family from Pennsylvania and Delaware. It was a typical corporate party with a presentation movie on the company.Needless to say there was singing and dancing.

Though am not the loyal employee of Infosys the great, I felt a little proud for this one of the Greatest Indian companies.I have seen some people dying to get in to infosys. Though am not a big fan of the company,I have a good opinion on what the company does. I watch with pride on how the company was started by a small group of friends. No doubt, Infosys is making India proud.

'A Big Fat Stupid White Man!' ( t'is not a racial comment boss!! Just the name of a book!)

Watching movies has become one of my favorite hobby. Hmm…Timepass would be the right word! Last week in the video section of the library I found the movie ‘Fahrenheit 9/11’. It was a documentary movie by Michael Moore. When my husband found me checking out the video, he said…’Hmm good...Worth watching!’

I always liked documentaries and I would say I loved this one. When I was watching this movie, all I was thinking was the freedom of press and media. They form governments; they overthrow the same in no time, playing a major role in deciding a country’s future. Media’s reach is deep. Reaches one’s mind so deep that it makes one to write a blog on it!

This documentary – Fahrenheit 9/11 - is about the why Uncle Sam declared war on Iraq - which is neither the hidden nuclear weapons nor the once-upon-a-time-mighty Saddam. It’s all about how a country crowning itself the king of the world could do anything to any other country without a reason. It’s about their President Bush. It’s about his life as a President’s son. It’s about their family friend Osama. To me, more than the content of movie, the freedom of media was astonishing and interesting.

Michael Moore’s Oscar-winning documentary was ‘Bowling Columbine’. Based on the Columbine high school incident where two school students massacred the fellow school mates and teachers. Yes…It’s about the Gun-Culture in USA. Really…worth watching!

Michael Moore puts his thoughts on www.michaelmoore.com. But his foes put him in www.mooreexposed.com. They slam him, curse him and give every possible reason for people to hate him. To them he is ‘A Big Fat Stupid White Man’.

Apart from all these criticisms, fact/non-fact arguments, I liked both his documentaries.
Just because, they were interesting.