Musings

Mayavin Diary

2011-04-15T08:50:00.001-07:00

Recently I started discovered the link to the online stream of Hello FM. Since their music choice suits my taste I don't have to keep switching stations. Due to the time difference I end up listening to their late evening/night shows. Most often I end up listening to Mayavin Diary.

To those who are not familiar with this show, the RJ Maya reads diary entries sent in by listeners, plays a song and then comments on the diary entry. Here is where the problem starts. 99% of the entries he reads is either a sob story or someone venting their frustration. To add fuel to the fire, the background score that is played while he reads these entries is so jarring that you feel he is reading about the end of the world. Why do I listen to this program if it's so uncomfortable to me? As I mentioned, if I just endure the slight hindrance I can listen to good songs.

This program got me wondering though. Do people turn to their diary only during times of distress or anger? Does no one make diary entries when they are happy or ecstatic? I am a sporadic journal keeper but I try to record my happiness, sorrow, anger - the whole spectrum of emotions. So then why are all the entries read by Maya always sad? Do people send only the sad portions? Or does he choose only the sad and angry entries since he feels they fit in perfectly with his jarring background music? It will probably remain one of those never-to-be-solved mysteries.

Raavan(an) - A Good Movie After All

2010-07-27T08:34:00.000-07:00

Though Raavan(an) released on June 18th, I did not watch it till sometime last week. Due to all the negative feedback I received from everyone I kept postponing my plans to see the much awaited movie. Once I finally decided to watch the movie the next question was "Which one to watch? - Raavan or Raavanan". I immediately decided on Raavanan as it had Vikram and Prithviraj - both talented actors.

The story is pretty straight forward. The wife of a police officer is kidnapped by the terrifying outlaw to exact revenge. The reasons are revealed halfway through the movie. From there on the heroine starts seeing the outlaw in a new light.

I did not enjoy the movie for a number of reasons. Mani has used direct interpretations of the Ramayan characters - Karthik's character being one of them. We get that he has been cast as "Hanuman". There's no necessity to make him jump from tree to tree or block the way just like Hanuman did. I'm just glad they didn't end up cutting Priyamani's nose literally. It is also funny that for the climax sequence the heroine is able to conveniently track Veera's brother and subsequently meet Veera when all the police force is unable to achieve that task.

Mani could have found a better replacement for AB Jr. While Vikram was able to easily essay the role of Veera, it was clear from the first scene that AB was just not cut out to play the role. One positive aspect though - I ended up appreciating the cinematography and the locations better. I would therefore suggest watching the Tamil one if you want to watch some good acting. If on the other hand you want to be enthralled by wonderful picturesque settings, go for the Hindi one.

Kaalangalil Aval Vasantham

2010-06-24T09:24:00.001-07:00

Just heard on the radio that Kannadasan found his inspiration for the song "Kalangalil Aval Vasantham" from the Bhagavat Gita. True to his name he used the words used to describe Krishna and modified it a little to pen the lyrics to this evergreen song.

HP Advertisement

2010-04-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

I came across this ad (rather the ad popped up and refused to vanish) while I was browsing the news on the Times of India website.

If you look closely at the top left corner you see this text..

It's funny that even HP seems to think that it's ads are painful and that the customer can somehow be coaxed through the ad with such "encouraging" text :) A message for you HP - I am no marketing genius but I think this is not helping your brand..

Pink Glove Dance

2010-02-09T12:22:00.000-08:00

I came across this cool video while randomly surfing through youtube. The video has been created for breast cancer awareness. The employees of St Vincent Medical Center in Oregon have danced to the tune of "Down" by Jay Sean. The song by itself is catchy but the natural dance routines of the employees is amazing.

This is one of those videos which are much better than the originals. Whenever I hear this song on the radio I recollect this dance and not the original music video put together by Jay Sean. I am sure everyone will enjoy this video and it is sure to bring a smile on everyone's face. The editors deserve a special mention too for being spot on.

Enjoy!!

Ganpati Bappa Maurya

2009-08-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi today. Thankfully it was on a weekend so we could make the kozhakattais at leisure and not rush the festivities as we had to for Krishna Janmashtami. After making the kozhakattais we did a small puja and then devoured all the kozhakattais before we could even take proper photos of it :)

Our temple was inaugurating their fundraising campaign for an expansion project. Since we knew we'll get delayed due to the puja at home we made our contribution on the previous day itself. We made our way to the temple slowly at around 4:00 pm. The temple was flooded with devotees. What really stood out in the sea of devotees was a wave of red color. Everywhere we turned we spotted atleast one Nepali. All of them had turned up in their wedding attire. Suddenly I realized that they were observing Teej (something similar to Karva Chauth). I have never seen so much red ever in my life before.

I couldn't help but feel nostalgic amidst all this chaos and rush. I was recollecting my experience in Mumbai during Visarjan. Everyone was out on the streets that evening, singing, dancing, jumping in sync to the fast beats. The air around us was electrifying. Colors were sprayed in all directions; everyone was pink by the end of the evening. Ganesh idols of all shapes and sizes were transported by the indefatigable devotees. I suddenly missed the festive spirit I experienced that evening. There was a lot of crowd in the temple but the festive atmosphere was sorely lacking.

Hopefully I will get to see another visarjan someday in Mumbai. Till then we chant GANPATI BAPPA MAURYA!!!

Much Ado About Nothing

2009-08-17T12:22:00.000-07:00

I am tired of all the attention being given to SRK being questioned in Newark. What's wrong with our media and the politicians? Why is so much attention being given to this incident anyway? Shahrukh was not representing India in any way on his trip to the US. He is not an Indian diplomat nor does he have any sort of diplomatic immunity which prevents him from being questioned. He was here to merely attend a show and make money. So what prevents him from being detained or questioned? This happens to a lot of people these days.

The media and politicians alike are crying foul about a mere actor but sadly these same people remained largely silent when our esteemed former President Dr. Abdul Kalam was frisked and that too right on Indian soil. To prove the point, TImes Of India and IBN have just 3 - 4 stories about the Kalam incident while Shahrukh's story has been in the limelight for 3 dasy now and everyday a minister comes up with a statement condemning the act. Most people may say that the politicians are addressing their votebanks since Shahrukh is a Muslim but isn't Dr. Kalam a Muslim too?

Why is it that we always maintain such double standard? It just happens that we have blindly worshiped and idolized our movie stars to such an extent that even people in high ranks and offices forget what is important and what deserves a mention. I hope everyone comes to their senses soon and start focusing on the real issues on hand such as the swine flu, the failed monsoon, the fluctuating markets, ...

Silver Linings

2009-08-14T12:31:00.000-07:00

I recently started listening to NPR and also follow the articles on their website. While browsing through their site I came across a recommendation for this book. Due to previous disappointments I decided to read the book only after seeing good reviews on Amazon.

Was I glad I picked this book!! The story follows the life of Pat Peoples, a guy who is brought home from the mental institution by his mother.

Pat Peoples:

is a firm believer of silver linings.
has lost a major portion of time in which a lot of changes have taken place around him - his brother is married, Vets stadium has been torn down and been replaces by Lincoln Field.
is waiting for "apart time" to get over to be reunited with his wife.
uses the "apart time" to become a better man whom his wife will like more.
hates Kenny G and hums each time anyone mentions G.
gets an Indian therapist - Cliff Patel - who is an ardent fan of Eagles, just like Pat.
befriends Tiffany (another person who is having emotional problems and is undergoing therapy) who promises to unite him with his wife if he participates in Dance Away Depression and helps her win.

Why does he hate Kenny G? Will he get back with his wife? Will he remember the forgotten parts of his life? What is the silver lining in his life? This forms the story.

The book is almost like a parallel version of Little Miss Sunshine. If you liked that movie you will love this book. It is a little predictable and of course it has to have a silver lining as that is what the book is about. Yet it is a page turner. I finished the book in 3 nights. Usually I don't draw parallels between actors and the characters portrayed in books but as I read the book I couldn't stop myself from casting Steve Carell as Pat Peoples and Edie Falco (Tony Soprano's wife in Sopranos) as Tiffany. When the book is made into a movie I would love to see these two play these roles.

This book has brought back my appetite for books so lets start the marathon.

Second Time Around

2009-08-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I declared that I was going to read 52 books in 52 weeks. Unfortunately due to various constraints I had to abandon the quest abruptly. Yesterday I finished reading The Silver Linings Playbook and it started a spark in me to renew my vow.

So just like the Dragon says in "Balls of Fury" after her opponent returns her nonreturnable serve - "That was not the no can return serve. This the real no can return serve." I say, "That was not the real 52 Weeks 52 Books quest. This the real 52 Weeks 52 Books quest." So watch this space for more...

Tweeting

2009-08-07T11:23:00.000-07:00

There was a time when only birds tweeted. Twitter, the latest sensation has replaced all that. Anyone who is anyone has a twitter page and keeps updating it with necessary and unnecessary posts.

I entered the world of Twitter when there was a battle for a million followers between CNN and Ashton Kutcher. That was the funniest thing ever to be seen on CNN. Such a big news channel engaging in a pointless imaginary warfare with an actor who attained fame in a way which is beyond my comprehension. CNN was canvassing for the audience to become their follower. It suddenly reminded me of the stories we hear about politicians collecting crowds for their rallies by enticing people with food and some allowance. I was bemused by the fact that a lot of people kept track of the current affairs by visiting Kutcher's tweet page. I always thought people read the papers or listened to news on radio and tv to keep themselves aware of the latest world happenings.

After this heated battle I decided to give Twitter a try. I created a profile, posted 3 - 4 tweets and got obscure followers whom I had no idea about. After a while I didn't know what to post. I'm still contemplating if this is because I lead such a 'boring' hectic normal life or if I'm just too restless to sit around tweeting about my whereabouts when I could just as well keep in touch with my friends through phone and mail. Should tweet back once I figure that out. Well I'm staying away from twittering for now...

I'm back

2009-07-23T07:05:00.000-07:00

It's been almost 3 months since my last update. So what happened?

Initially I didn't blog because of sudden depletion of interesting events or observations. Then I started my internship alongwith my coursework. Before I knew it I was submerged in the sea of work and studies.

As for my quest to read a book a week - that got interrupted due to two reasons - Lack of time and lack of interesting books. Due to the limited time I got to read books, my patience for a book wore out if it didn't capture my attention within the first 30 pages. Most books I picked turned out to be slow books or heavy reads. Unfortunately I had to abandon my journey through the land of books.

I am back now with a thirst for blogging and good books. Let's hope I don't go missing again.

Book 3

2009-04-26T12:39:00.000-07:00

I first heard of Jhumpa Lahiri when her book "The Namesake" was released as a movie. Though her first book "Interpreter of Maladies" was an award winning book, I had not heard much about her. I got Interpreter at a bookstore and read 2 stories and gave up. Later when I tried to read Namesake I was hooked. Namesake was written very well and I'm sure Indian living away from their homeland could relate to it.

As soon as "Unaccustomed Earth" was published I rushed and got a copy. I was not aware that it was a collection of short stories. When I flipped through the book I realized this and gave up since I am not a big fan of short stories. I feel that by the time I get to know the characters the story ends. Soon I forgot about this book. Two weeks back we went to a friend's place and I saw that she was reading this book. It piqued my interest so I decided to give it a try again.

I was surprised that I actually found the book a little interesting and soon I finished the entire book. This book splits the experiences of the characters in Namesake into different stories. Essentially the book is again about Bengali immigrants and their second generation kids. What we got as a whole in Namesake we get in parts in this book. Most of the stories are engrossing and this time she has even taken us to Rome in the third part of Hema-Kaushik trilogy. The book is a good read. Since I live in New England I am able to recognize most of the places that are mentioned in the stories. Maybe that's why I enjoyed the book a little more.

A short description of each story is given below.

The book has 6 individual stories. The last story is written in 3 parts. The title story "Unaccustomed Earth" deals with a father - daughter relationship. I don't know about most people but I get along very well with my dad. So I could really not relate to this story where the daughter is estranged from her dad and they hardly have anything in common to talk about. The story is about the daughter debating about asking her father to stay with them since he is lonely now. She finally decides to ask him to stay and his reply forms the rest of the story.

The second story "Hell - Heaven" is the narrated by the daughter of an immigrant Bengali family who is befriend by a homesick Bengali student. Her mother forms a bond with this new person and has a tough time letting him go when he decides to marry an American girl. She feels that he will ultimately end up heartbroken as the American girl will eventually dump him. Does he get dumped? Is anybody left with a broken heart? Read the story to find out.

"A Choice of Accomodations" is a story of a Bengali guy and his non Bengali wife who head to his school to attend the wedding of his old friend. They decide to make it a vacation, leaving their kids behind with his in-laws. While attending the wedding some unpredictable events happen and leave the couple pondering about their relationship.

Brother - sister sentiment is the focus of "Only Goodness". Sudha, the elder sister of Rahul, introduces him to alcohol, unaware that this will be the beginning of his ruin. He soon becomes an alcoholic and the family has a downward spiral from there. What is tough to digest is that though Sudha was a doting sister when Rahul was young, she stays aloof of his drinking problem and no one in the family tries to acknowledge the fact and take a positive action. What happens to Rahul and his family? That is the story.

"Nobody's Business" is about a Bengali girl Sang (short for Sangeeta) who lives with 2 housemates - Paul and Heather. Sang has an Egyptian boyfriend. Though things seem rosy and pretty, soon there is a lot of confusion and pain. Paul unknowingly gets to know a secret about Farouq that can change Sang's relationship with him. Will he share it with her even though he knows her life will never remain the same again?

"Hema and Kaushik" - This story is written in 3 parts. The first part is a first person narrative by teenage Hema about the time when she is forced to share her house with Kaushik and his parents when they decide to come back to US after a few years in Bombay. Hema narrates her memories of the stay. The second part takes us a few years into the future and is first person narrative by Kaushik about his current life. The third part advances even further into time when both Hema and Kaushik have totally different lives and meet unexpectedly in Rome. Their experiences in Rome completes the trilogy.

On the whole a good read, though initially I felt skeptic about reading over and over about the lives of Bengali immigrants in US.

Book 1.75

2009-04-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

If you had read my previous posts you will recognize this book. After all this is the book that motivated me to start this quest to finish 52 books in 52 weeks. Try as I might to be partial to this one book, I am unable to be so.

The book is basically the result of a blog. It follows the monotonous life of a secretary who wants something exciting in her life and so sets our to master french cooking by trying out all the recipes in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" within a year. She also starts a blog detailing her trials and tribulations druing this culinary journey.

Though the book starts off on a very positive and energetic note, midway the Julie seems to lose the readers (or rather me). She tries to portray many events in a humorous manner to keep the reader entertained but personally I felt it was getting too repititious. We are constantly reminded, throughout the book, that she is the only solidly married person among all her friends. You seriously don't know whether she considers it a boon or a bane.

The imaginary world of Julia portrayed by the author is an utter waste of pages. I didn't find it remotely interesting. She could have taken a few lessons from other fiction writers to portray the imaginary world of Julia in a much better way.

Try as I might to finish this book, I had to give up 3/4th into the book. I just didn't find it funny any more. Though this book motivated me to try something new I will have to sadly give up on this book. I look forward to reading a better book by Julie.

p.s. This book is being made into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. So if any of you want to read this book, wait for a few days and watch the movie instead :)

Book 1

2009-04-19T07:57:00.000-07:00

Real Time with Bill Maher is one of our favorite shows. We watch it whenever we find it while surfing channels. A few days ago Carol Leifer was one of his guests. She was promoting her book - When You Lie About Your Age The Terrorists Win. The title was really intriguing and the discussion motivated me to search for this book and place a hold on it. I was a few pages into Oil on the Brain when the library mailed me saying the book had arrived.

Let me tell you I had no idea about Carol before I read this book. I gathered from the note on the dust jacket that she is a stand up comedian and has written a number of scripts for SNL and Seinfeld. I checked out the book and started reading the first few pages in the library. The book is definitely a page turner. It's like taking a peek into some stranger's diary and by the end of the book you feel you have become aquainted with the person.

The book starts off on a funny note. It's a random collection of events that the author has gone through. We can read the book in any order and not miss anything as each chapter covers an event and each event is not really related. Some chapters such as "40 Things I Know at 50" and "Shhh! I'm Driving" are really hilarious. A few like "Sticking with Gravity", "Five Lessons of Animal Adoption" convey a message served with humor. "Creating a Jew", "Soul to Sole" and "76 Trombones" are more serious chapters which cover some somber memories of the author.

I read the book with the image of Carol standing on a stage doing a stand up act where she narrates the book. The book is written in such a way that it is much better to read when we think of it like a stand up act. On the whole it was a good read (I did finish it within 3 days). It's more like one of the Chicken Soup series books but with much more humor. I will not buy a copy of the book but I would definitely recommend my friends to read the book once.

Videos of the Week

2009-04-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

This week has been pretty eventful in terms of videos. While browsing the net I found the following video. The video has been shot in Central Station Antwerp. Take a look before going any further.

This is one of the best videos I have seen in a long time. The dance starts slowly but gets better by the second. I've seen a lot of hindi and tamil movie songs where we see so many dancers matching their steps in sync. There are many retakes to get it right. But to do the same thing in real time is very tough. The dancers have really pulled it off here.

I have watched this video multiple times now. Each time it brings a smile to my face. It's nice to see the reactions of the bystanders. I am sure most of the commuters must have some worry or the other. While watching this all of them forgot all their problems and enjoyed every second of this performance. Many of them try to join in and participate in it. Most of the people who have commented on youtube hope something like this would happen during their commute. Me too :) It sure made my day. I'm positive everyone who watches this video will definitely enjoy it and smile along the way.

I got the next video while going through the comments of the above video. A similar stunt was pulled sometime back in Liverpool station by TMobile for an ad. Watch this video.

This video was slightly different in that the dancers tried to make almost everyone dance. I personally liked the sound of music one better than this. This was taken more in a commercial angle. The Belgium one seemed to be more about pure fun and human bonding.

The third video though has become almost a viral video in the past 2 - 3 days. It's the audition for the show Britain's Got Talent. Usually we see a lot of people with no talent coming and wasting the judges' and the viewers' time. Here we see a person who looks exactly like that kind of person. She exhibits a rather cocky attitude and people feel she is reaching for the stars when she may not even be able to reach for the ceiling. When she starts to sing, what happens??

Well I have been unable to find an embeddable video for now. So use the following link to take a look at the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk

After watching this video I was left wondering why she didn't get a chance till now to perform and become a big star. I guess opportunities are a little difficult to come by. The best thing about this performance is that even Simon Cowell, who is full of harsh criticisms, was overwhelmed by Susan's singing. Every audience member must have felt so foolish for having discounted Susan for a petty performer who was there to waste their precious time. In just one minute the audience was transformed into a priveleged set of people who got to listen live to Susan. I hope she wins this season.

I'm off to start hunting for more interesting videos.

52 Weeks 52 Books

2009-04-13T15:02:00.000-07:00

Off late I have been spending a lot of time doing nothing in particular. Of course the Masters coursework keeps me busy but the free time in hand has been misused a lot. I was just wondering about this when I picked up a book titled "Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously" in the library. Right from the cover it oozed of chick flick material and generally I stay away from such books. Since I was bored with reading the same type of thrillers and classics I decided to give this book a try. Plus Amazon had a good review of the book too.

Anyway I picked up the book and started reading it in the library. The book is basically about a lady who is in a dead end secretarial job decides to reclaim her life. She does this by trying to cook all the 524 recipes presented in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking within a year.

This got me thinking. Well I already cook so there's no point in me trying something similar to her idea. Therefore I decided to do something different. I plan to read atleast 1 book per week and then share my views about the book on this blog. The books will not necessarily be just fiction. I hope to read about a wide variety of topics and build my general knowledge too in this journey.

The first step in this journey is "Oil on the Brain" by Lisa Margonelli. See you at the other end of the cover.

Movie Time

2009-03-12T12:26:00.000-07:00

We recently switched our cable connection to a different provider. As an added bonus we got 3 months of movie package. When the movies come in HD and that too with no ads all this translates to more movie time :) We watched a lot of movies non stop since everything looks good in high definition. We watched a wide variety of movies ranging from Harry Potter to Pirates of the Caribbean, Cars to Bourne Ultimatum.

Two movies which I had not heard much about but which were really good have been shared here.

The movie revolves around the life of a professor, a widower, who tries to compensate for his loss by trying to learn the piano since his wife was a classical piano player. Despite his sincere efforts to learn the art he is unsuccessful. Similarly he is grumpy in all his activities. His life takes a sudden turn when he goes from Connecticut to New York to present a paper. He finds two people living in his apartment. Soon the grumpiness fades from his life and he appreciates life and becomes attached to the two people in an unexpected way.

Along the way he gets drumming lessons from one of them and surprisingly he is good at it. Things take a tragic turn when one of them gets arrested. The professor tries all that is possible to get his new friend out. Is he successful or not?? That is the story. Richard Jenkins was nominated this year for Best Actor for this role.

This movie is a total opposite of the above movie. Where Visitor was a soft real to life portrayal, SEU is a total non stop action movie which goes beyond all reality. The story line is pretty simple. A stranger rescues a new born baby from being killed and then self appoints himself to guard the baby from the repeated attacks on it's life. He tries to find out why the bad guys are out to kill the baby so desperately.

The movie boasts chases and fight sequences of all possible varieties. They are firing at each other while running, driving and even jumping out of airplanes with parachutes. They are firing right from the first scene till the last scene when Clive Owen puts even Rajini and Vijayakanth to shame by shooting bullets with his bare hands (no gun). This is a must watch for those who enjoy nonsensical action movies.

Two movies which are from opposite ends of the spectrum but both are good watches. Try them when you have nothing else to do.

New Year....

2008-12-30T13:36:00.000-08:00

It's that time of the year again when we get all misty eyed about the year that is almost over. Most of us try to cling to the year which is almost over and yet look hopefully towards the beginning of a new year. We try to recollect all the good memories of the year by gone and try to forget all the not so great moments.

So let me also join the bandwagon and try to recollect some unforgettable moments of 2008.

My first new year in USA. We ushered in 2008 by going out for dinner and celebrating the new year's eve with our friends.
My bro started his engineering course.
My dad was finally able to return home after his tenure in Mumbai. (This saved us a lot of tension during the Mumbai attacks.)
My mom started working as a counselor. She had always wanted to do something apart from the normal routine and she finally took the plunge.
Lot of trips - My husband & I spent some wonderful time visiting various places including Vegas, Grand Canyon, NJ, NY, PA, Niagra and of course my first camping trip in Cape Cod.
Best friend's wedding... Only, I couldn't make it :(
A new addition to our family. My cousin gave birth to a beautiful girl.

Of course we had our share of tense moments and a few disappointments but hey this is a time of celebration and hope. So let's hope that the coming year brings all of us a lot of joy and prosperity. All of us need a little boost in this bad economy. So three cheers for the new year :)

And don't forget to make all those resolutions you always wanted to make and do try to stick to atleast 4 - 5 of them :)

Happy New Year everyone!!!!

Nenjukkul peithidumaa mazhai...

2008-12-30T13:24:00.000-08:00

What a beautiful song. I have been humming this song for almost a week now. When I heard the songs of Varanam Aayiram none of the songs impressed me initially. After hearing all the songs 3 - 4 times I fell in love with this song. It has such beautiful lyrics and the guitar strummings are amazing. Of course the voice of Hariharan adds to the magic of the song. Everything about this song is amazing.

I tried watching the movie but didn't like it so much. What was really ironical was that the characters spent most of their screen time talking in English but when it came to songs they were all pure Tamil. I couldn't figure out how the characters could sing in pure tamil when they could not speak 5 sentences together in tamil :)

Thamarai is the best lyricist around right now. Kudos to the entire team for giving us such a refreshing song. Hope we get many more songs like this.

Back from a hiatus

2008-09-26T14:46:00.000-07:00

My blog has suffered from my new tight schedule. I will come to that later. Since my last post was about license let me finish the license story. It never seems to end.

Usually when we pass the road test our license gets mailed to us within a week. Somehow my license didn't make it even after 3 weeks had passed. Now this got us concerned since my temporary permit was about to expire. So I had to call the RMV to find out what was happening.

Have any of you tried calling the RMV? It's one dreadful process. If you are lucky you will get to hear a human voice after about half an hour. Till then you keep hearing how important your call is to them. The way I see it is if our call is so important why don't they put a few more people to answer our calls? Anyway with no great enthusiasm I called up and was told that my address was not recorded fully. I gave my address and waited eagerly for my license.

One fine evening the much awaited letter was received from RMV. I opened it eagerly only to be shocked to see that they had mailed me someone else's license :( The best part was that they had included a letter stating that they were sorry about the delay and that my address had been updated in their system. While that letter was comforting, I had another call to make to RMV.

The next day again I called them to let them know I had got the wrong license and they assured me that my license was on its way. As a good samaritan I promised to mail the wrong license back to them. After all one more person must be equally worried about their missing license. Fortunately 2 days later someone turned up at the doorstep with my license. It had gone to his house by mistake and I had got his. Phew... At last I had my precious license. Does this call for a celebration or what???

Licensed to ..... DRIVE!!!!

2008-08-25T11:12:00.000-07:00

Back home in India getting a license is one of the easiest things possible. You just register in a driving school and learn a little driving and then go for your road test with an assurance that you will get the license. The driving school will ensure that you get the license unless you really flop the test. Of course we can be a little adventurous and try to get the license on our own. Here in US getting a license is anything but easy.

I had heard a lot of stories about how tough it was to get a license. I always took it with a pinch of salt. After all how tough could it be to drive the car? But once I landed here and ventured out to the RMV I started believing the legend. My adventures with the RMV spans over 4 chapters. So here goes.

Chapter 1

First step is the written test to get the permit. Before I could go for this written test I was asked to study or atleast read the driver's manual. Now this was something new to me. The book had so many pages and there were so many numbers. Phew... How was I ever going to read through the book and memorize all the fines and penalties mentioned there? I had a tough time trying to cram the wordlist for GRE. Now this?? Anyway with some perseverance I finished the book, obviously I didn't memorize any of the numbers. I just hoped none of it would appear in the test. We headed to the RMV and after standing in the long queues we got to know that we needed one more document. So much for all the learning. We headed back and decided to give it a shot some other day.

Chapter 2

This time we were more prepared. We took all possible documents we had and headed out to get the permit. Luckily they accepted the documents and allowed me to write the test. The hiccup was that I had forgotten whatever I had read hurriedly a few weeks ago. I just hoped that the test would be easy. Last time I was at the RMV I saw a few people who had failed the written test. With butterflies in my stomach I headed for the exam hall. The test seems to be a blur now. All I remember is I had to get atleast 15 or 20 questions right out of the 25 questions. With bated breath I answered each question as it appeared on the monitor. I finished it successfully in 10 minutes. When I stepped out my husband thought I had flunked it since I came out so fast. Fortunately I got my permit that day.

Chapter 3

I started preparing myself for the road test. Driving was not a problem for me. I had to focus more on parking, especially parallel parking. Once I booked my road test we headed out and practiced the parking for 3 - 4 days. Everyone we knew had some words of wisdom to share. "Turn your head and look behind you before you change lanes." "Look at the mirrors every few seconds and make sure the official notices you look at the mirrors." "Drive slowly and carefully." "Don't drive below the speed limit.". My head was filled with all the advise and in all this time I forgot to look through the manual. Little did I know this small error on my part was going to cost me. We headed out to the RMV again on a Friday afternoon for the road test.

After filling the form we were asked to wait for an instructor. A grumpy looking man came out and asked me to get into the car. As soon as I stepped in he asked me to show the hand signs. I stared at him with pitiful eyes and tried to show whatever signs I could recollect from India. Who uses handsigns here? He had me stumped right there. He said the signs were wrong and that was the end of it. We were sent packing home :(

Chapter 4

I fumed for some time over this failed attempt. Nevertheless I booked another test the very next week. Since this centre was full I booked in Worcester. That place could be a nightmare for new drivers. The roads are bad and most of them rise very steeply. With bated breath I went to give this test. All I remember is following every instruction to the tee and driving extra carefully and successfully getting my licence. Hurrah!!!! Now I'm licensed to ... drive!!!

Bittersweet Victory

2008-08-12T09:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I woke up to the wonderful news that one Indian dream had come true. The elusive gold medal for an individual event had at last been won by Abhinav Bindra. It couldn't have come at a better time. While India is shining in a lot of areas sports has been one area where we lack luster. This win is a very good thing.

The victory though is a bittersweet event. Sweet for the reasons given above and bitter because it took so many years for such a huge country to win a single gold medal. Bindra will be hailed as a hero for a few weeks. After that he will fade away just like the other Indian Olympians like Rathore & Malleshwari.

Once the initial celebrations are over with and the numerous felicitation ceremonies are finished with he will endorse 2-3 products and then as usual be put on the backstage so that we can go back to glorifying our cricket players. We never learn that there are other much challenging games in this world apart from cricket. Even if someone has the determination to pursue a different sport, they are ridiculed and sidelined.

Why is it that though our national game is supposedly hockey we don't even know who is in the hockey team? What happened to our soccer team? The only soccer player many of us may know is Baichung Bhutia. What about after him? Why is it that we are unable to develop any swimmers when Chinese, Koreans & Japanese, who have a similar physique, are able to garner so many medals in swimming?

I hope the Indian Olympic committee does some serious thinking and proactively encourages young talents and starts preparing better teams for future Olympics. Or if they feel that cricket is the only game that deserves all attention then let's just scratch the Olympic committee and refrain from sending any athletes for future Olmpic games.

Now I part with some photos from the medal ceremony of Abhinav Bindra, courtesy my friend who had the good fortune to witness this event live in Beijing.

A proud moment when the Indian flag flies high...

Aadi Perukku

2008-08-04T05:34:00.000-07:00

My husband & I were savouring our first cup of coffee on Saturday when my mother called from India. She reminded me that it was Aadi perukku (or padinettam perukku - falls on the 18th day of the Tamil month Aadi). Since it is not like diwali or pongal it never occured to me that the festival was on that day.

All the plans changed and soon I made the traditional kalanda sadam which is special for the occasion. The menu turned out to be semiya payasam, cabbage kootu, coconut rice, tamarind rice and appalam. Once all the cooking was done we offered some prayers to the Lord and then had our meal.

We went to the temple in the evening. My God!! The temple was so crowded. One one side Ayappan abishekam was taking place. On the other end prayers were being offered to Andal. We reached the temple on time to see all the artis. After that we took part in the Ayyappan poojai.

After the Ayyappan poojai they had full course of prasadam. We had sakkarai pongal, tamarind rice, lemon rice, aviyal and curd rice. The food had that divine taste one associates with temple food. Something is really extraordinary about the food temples serve. It has a special taste. Once we had our share of the prasadam we swapped places with the volunteers and started serving. There was a biiiiig line of devotees. When we thought the crowd had dwindled a fresh set of people appeared out of nowhere. It was just amazing about how many people turned up that day.

By the time we got back it was almost 9 p.m. It turned out to be a day well spent.

First Camping Expedition

2008-07-21T05:56:00.000-07:00

Friday evenings are usually the time when we sit down and think about what to do during the weekend. For the last few weeks we had tried religiously to get a camp site to no avail. We are slowly approaching the end of summer and soon will have to cocoon ourselves due to biting cold. We were discussing about this when a friend of ours called to share the good news that the elusive camp site had somehow been obtained. We were to start early the next morning for Cape Cod for camping. Yippee!! Camping at last.

We started preparing a checklist so that we did not miss anything. The most important things being sunscreen lotion and some food. The next morning we would have almost missed the trip if my mom had not called early on to convey some news :) If not for her we would have relived the scenes from Home Alone except for the fact that there's just 2 of us here instead of the 20 odd members they show in that movie.

At around 8:30 a.m. we headed out. Our destination - Nickerson State Park in Brewster. Due to time constraints we decided to meet our friends near the camp site. When we hit the roads it appeared as though entire MA was headed our way. Fortunately we didnt have too much traffic jams. Once we reached Cape Cod our GPS got a little confused. We made 2 trips up and down the Sagamore bridge before it got it's whereabouts correct. To give the GPS some time to figure out we stopped at the all famous Dunkin Donuts, after all America runs on Dunkin so maybe our GPS would start running fine too ;)

We got to our camp site successfully by 1 p.m. As soon as we got to our camp site we set up the tent and simultaneously got the camp fire going. Luckily for us the place was so hot that we didn't have to try too hard to get the fire going. After about half an hour we had set up the tent and started with lunch.

Soon after lunch we headed for the beach.The water was nice and cool. Perfect for the sunny day. After lazing around the beach we went for a long walk and followed it up with some kayaking. Low tide had started and though we headed far from the shore the water was very shallow. Once we were satisfied that we had soaked enough sun we headed back to our camp. After a quick snack we headed towards a lake. Watched sunset there and then had dinner and ended the day with a few rounds of cards.

The next day began early for us. It was so bright that we couldn't sleep late :) This time we had a tough time starting the fire as all the wood was moist with dew. Took us one hour to prepare tea. Finally we had some breakfast and headed back to the lake taking a hiking path. After a relaxed day there we headed out to grab some lunch. By now we were out of energy to start a fire and cook. As we are vegetarians the only option we had there was Subway. We followed it up with a huge ice cream cone. After lunch we drove back home tired from all the activities but feeling great about the fun time.

Our home for 2 days

The Campers

Down a hiking trail

Few random shots

Tale of TOEFL & GRE

2008-06-30T15:27:00.000-07:00

The must dos for any graduate school aspirant - writing TOEFL and GRE. While TOEFL was a piece of cake GRE appeared to be a tough nut to crack.

My preparation for TOEFL was similar to those of most test takers - NOTHING. To appear as a sincere aspirant I bought a study book for TOEFL and after leafing through it for 10 minutes I decided I was not going to learn anything so I slept through most of my study time. On the day of the exam I arrived promptly at the centre at the stipulated time in the evening. All of us waited eagerly for the start of the exam. Due to some server problem our exam got delayed just like most of the flights. To add to this I was the second last person to report. And they have this system of starting the exam in a first come first serve basis. So I had to sit idle till the other 11 people were comfortably seated in their chairs.

At last I was allowed to start my exam. I couldn't wait to finish my exam and return home. After all my wedding was just a week away and we had a lot of things to do. I guess this sounds as wierd - writing TOEFL a week before one's wedding. Well it's all courtesy of the college I studied in. Anyway that's another story to be told later. I managed to sit still in my seat long enough to complete all the sections. Best part was not getting to know the score as soon as the test is over. I for one was not extremely eager for the scores. But when the scores eventually did come I was surprised to have surpassed my expectations with flying colours.

Coming to GRE, now this turned out to be a totally different cup of tea. The wordlists loomed like huge mountains. Try as I might I was unable to learn the words and their meanings. Even though I am a voracious reader this type of learning was totally out of my legion. I tried all possible methods known to me to learn the words. All of them gave me the same result - successfully finish one word list and be horrified at not being to able to recollect the words the very next day. This went on for some time. Finally I decided to move to the other sections. They proved to be easier. Quantitative appeared to be my strength. I could never judge my position regarding the essays simply because I could never get myself to write one essay (till the day before the exam). As for antonyms and analogies they depended solely on the wordlist so the less said the better.

Everyday I looked at the Barrons with a frown. This appeared to be a monster that just could not be conquered. After long deliberation I just decided to try my luck with GRE. After all time was running out for admissions. So with a million butterflies in my stomach I scheduled the test and with even more butterflies I ended up an hour early in the test center. Fortunately this time I got to start my test early itself instead of waiting for the stipulated time. The essay sections seemed to be ok.

Next came the dreaded verbal section. Once the 30 minutes were over I was able to breathe a lot easier. Next quants. What I had considered to be my stronghold turned out to be a bit of a challenge that day. Too many geometry based questions stumped me. Finally with bated breath I awaited the next section. To my horror the next section turned out to be verbal as well. So I ended up with two Verbals. Anyway I cruised through this round of Verbal. After completing all the sections I awaited the tentative scores pretty nervously. I was in no mood to write it again. Hey what a surprise. I cleared the test with more marks than I expected. Yippee.. This calls for a celebration. So we headed to the nearest hotel for a delayed lunch :)