LEMONY SNIPPETS

Funny post :D

2010-10-26T14:29:00.001+05:30

http://devadutta.blogspot.com/2010/09/this-is-how-north-indians-see-south.html

Grad School Muse-icals by Czuee Morey

2010-10-21T18:09:00.001+05:30

And here is the comic strip... Thank U so much Czuee :)

http://gradschoolmuse-icals.thecomicseries.com/comics/5/

The 5th Year of Ph.D!

2010-08-17T11:01:00.006+05:30

Tuesday one-on-one with the research advisor:

Boss: "So Maya, tell me..."

Me: "Over the past week I've been trying to... (experimental blah blah)"

Boss: "So you mean to say that this experiment you were doing did not work."

Me "Yes, Sir."

Boss: "And the one you did last week, that was a negative result too?"

Me: "Yes, Sir."

Boss: "And nothing with the RNaseH assay?"

Me: "Yes, Sir."

Boss: "So basically, nothing is happening."

Me: "Yes, Sir."

Boss: "You don't really care about what I say, do you?"

Me: "Yes, Sir."

:O !!! Didn't even realize I had said a 'Yes' to that until the damage had been done!!! :O

Thankfully, Boss was in a good mood today and let me off without the usual dressing down... 5th year effect rubbing off on him too I guess :D

The Knots Prayer

2010-08-10T09:53:00.003+05:30

Truly beautiful!

Dear God,

Please untie the knots

that are in my mind,

my heart and my life.

Remove the have nots,

the can nots and the do nots

that I have in my mind.

Erase the will nots,

may nots,

might nots that may find

a home in my heart.

Release me from the could nots,

would nots and

should nots that obstruct my life.

And most of all,

Dear God,

I ask that you remove from my mind,

my heart and my life, all of the 'am nots'

that I have allowed to hold me back,

especially the thought

that I am not good enough.

Amen

Realization... and a promise to keep

2010-08-09T09:29:00.008+05:30

Why do I seem to relate to these quotes all of a sudden?

"Take extra care of 3 things in life:-

1. Trust

2. Promise

3. Relations

Because they don't make a sound when they break"

"Loving hundred wrong persons may not even affect your life

But hating one right person may disturb your heart for whole life"

I can be very stubborn and rigid at times, alright, most of the times. Mom keeps telling me that. But Mother's words are taken for granted. Realization struck only when a friend said that to me, and it pierced through my ego like the proverbial dagger through the heart. A lot of introspection later, I realize I need to change. My stubbornness, arrogance and rigidity have already done a lot of damage, hurt a lot of feelings. I really don't want that to happen any more. I promise to change, a promise I will keep right from this very moment.

Silhouette

2010-02-27T16:08:00.005+05:30

Miditha 2010, the IISc Institute Fest is on. On a whim, I decided to participate in the Creative Writing section. 4 topics were given on spot: "Now", "Silhouette", "FacePalm" (please tell me what that means!) and another topic that I've now forgotten. The alloted time was 2 hours. One look at the topics and I was all set to get up and go away, but the writer in me said an emphatic "NO!" Hey, I wasn't there to actually compete. I was there to see what remained of my writing skills and creative thinking. I hadn't been writing in a long long time. So I sat myself down once again and spent the first hour and half trying to figure out what topic to choose and then, on what to write on the chosen topic. What I finally submitted at the end of two hours was a hurriedly written (I just had 20 minutes left after all the 'creative thinking' I did ;)), shortened version of the full story that I present below. Maybe I should have participated in the 'Cartooning' session as well, coz the topic there was "The Long and Short of It". What I finally submitted was a short essay, what I write here is the long of it :D Let me know if you like it.

She stood silhouetted against the setting sun, the gentle sea waves playing upon her feet. They came and went, bringing on and taking away the sand with them, forming a slight hollow where she stood. What was she thinking about? What were her feelings?

I sat in silent contemplation, sipping on coconut water as I watched her. I had moved into my new seaside bungalow a week ago, and not a day had gone by without her coming to the same spot, same time, on my private beach. Today, I decided to take matters into my hands and speak to her sternly about it, after all she was trespassing on my private beach, invading my privacy.

I walked up to her. " Excuse me, Ma'am, but this happens to be a private beach. You are trespassing. Didn't you read the sign board? Please go away before I call the security."
"Oh! I didn't know that. I'm sorry", she said and started to walk away.

Something about her gait struck me as odd. Was there a slight shuffle - as if she was uncertain on which direction to take? I watched until she was a tiny speck on the horizon then went back into the house.For a long time afterward her face did not leave my mind. It had been a beautiful face, a face that radiated true inner beauty, an attractive magnetism. But her beauty was marred by some deep unknown sorrow. What was her suffering? Dead parents? A lost lover, perhaps? I fell asleep with these thoughts on my mind.

The next day, I sat on the veranda, sipping my evening glass of coconut water. I had had a hard day at work. A million dollar deal had gone awry because of my own stupidity, and I was upset with myself. I sat there, thinking angry thoughts and cursing myself. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a silhouette on the beach. The mysterious lady was there on my beach again! All my anger precipitated and she was the target. Had I not asked her to leave yesterday? This was my beach and she had no right to be on it! I got up and angrily went up to where she stood. If she could not comprehend politeness, I was going to be rude today, very rude!

"Hey you! Didn't I tell you not to come here? This is a private area. It's my beach. Get it? It's mine! Go away this instant before I set my dogs on you! Do you hear me? Go away!"

She turned towards me, tears streaming down her beautiful face. A sudden pang of guilt hit me. Maybe I had been too harsh on her. But before I could find something a little comforting to say, she had moved away and was gone. Remorse filled my heart. I had not always been like this. I had been a happy, successful businessman with a bright future and a lovely wife. Then one day, my wife had died in a car crash. I was still to come to terms with her death. Her sudden death had converted me into the hard-hearted, bitter young man that I was now. Thoughts of my personal loss bogged down my spirit further. It seemed to sink with the setting sun.

The mysterious silhouetted lady never came back after that day, and I soon forgot about her.

A couple of months of hard, back-breaking work at the office, and I was a complete nervous wreck. Lack of sleep and over work had turned me into a zombie. That is when I decided to call it quits. I took a break and immersed myself into charity work that my loving wife had so often wanted me to do. And soon my soul felt lighter and happier, and a smile often played upon my lips. As I sat sipping coconut water on the veranda overlooking my private beach. 'My beach' - ha ha! What a laugh it sounds now! Days of social work had made me realize that nothing was mine - or for that matter - our, his, her, or their. The humbled soul realizes that all is His. That was when I remembered the mysterious, lovely silhouetted lady. I felt truly ashamed of my behaviour and wanted to apologize to her. "Oh God, please give me one opportunity, just one! Please!"

An opportunity I did get. I met her again, but this time she wasn't silhouetted by the setting sun, but was under the spotlight on the dias, introducing me, the Chief Guest, at the annual convocation of the 'City School for the Blind'. She stood there - confident, beautiful and radiant as ever. She was a much loved teacher at the school and was BLIND! That explained her shuffling gait when I had ordered her away from the beach.A small chat with the school principal brought out the fact that Maria, for that was her name, had not always been blind. She had been born with sight, a happy, observant and inquisitive girl. She had wanted to become an artist and paint Mother Nature in her full glory. She had wanted to show people the beautiful colours that wove life together on earth. But that was not to be. Fate had other things in store for Maria. Once when she had gone to the beach to paint the lovely sunset, a couple of drunken youth had thrown acid into her eyes and blinded her for life. Her colourful dreams had died a sad death that day on the beach - my beach - the exact spot where she had stood in those days gone by. I deeply moved and vowed to do something to make her life better for her, to bring back the smile on her lovely face.

Five years down the line, I'm leaning back on the couch on the veranda, coconut water in my hand. I watched Maria stand silhouetted against the setting sun, the very spot where she had stood so many times before. She looks even more radiant in the golden red sun rays with her hair blowing in the cool, gentle breeze. I decide to walk up to her - but no, no shouting this time. What reason do I have to shout at my beautiful wife? After all she has all the rights to stand on the beach wherever she wants to - on our private beach.

I gently walk up to her and put my arm around her shoulders. She smiles and rests her head on my shoulder. We are enveloped by warmth and love as we stand together and watch the sunset, she with unseeing open eyes, and I with seeing eyes, recently opened. We stand there silhouetted against the golden red globe, hope and joy filling our hearts as we wait for another beautiful day to dawn.

The Power of Silence

2009-09-01T09:22:00.003+05:30

A beautiful passage I read somewhere...

Listening is not just about listening to someone else or yourself talk. Listening is also about listening to the silence that is in us, around us. All our talking is just waves upon an ocean of beautiful silence.

Have you ever heard silence? Create space and time in your life for listening to silence. Make a practice of spending some time everyday doing this. Don't listen for the sake of hearing anything, for the sake of getting some information. Just be a wave; be open to silence. It is in silence you learn the most. Only in silence can you truly understand life, poetry, nature. This silence is not a passive silence, it is a positive, listening silence. It is the silence of deep communion.

There is a big difference between communication and communion. Communication is the science of conveying information in words and action. Communion is the pure transfer of energy; it is beyond words. Communion is the gift of the Master. It does not need words. In fact, the Master can give you more with his spells of silence than with his words, if you know how to listen.

When you listen to the Master, listen as if you would listen to the birds or the wind. When you listen to the birds, do you believe or disbelieve? Do you agree or disagree? Neither! You simply allow. It is not an intellectual process. Simply listen with openness, with receptivity, and you will automatically enter into deep communion with the Master.

Silence is a beautiful way of entering meditation. In fact, silence itself is a great meditation technique. It is a great healing and rejuvenating power.

~ Swami Nithyanand

The Diamond Ring

2009-07-23T08:53:00.002+05:30

Sigh... when will I get mine?

A Healing Zephyr

2009-07-18T13:29:00.007+05:30

PhD life tends to become very boring and monotonous. For a period of 5 long years (sometimes, even more!), the daily rut consists of going to the lab in the morning and staying there till late in the night, working on a research project that no one in the 'real world' actually cares about. The only highlights in this drab existence are the rare occasions when one's experiments work and take one a teeny-weeny step closer to completion of the PhD thesis. There is hardly time for anything else and hobbies and creativity become things of the past. Any little leisure time is wasted wallowing in self-pity. Social interactions and outings are limited to lab meetings and conferences. Normal social skills become a big zero. Friends and family are forgotten in the pursuit of science. Life takes a back seat.

Some people might enjoy such a 'scientifically fulfilling' life, in fact, they thrive in it. But for the vast majority, it is a complete misfit. I fall somewhere in between. I try hard to strike a balance between 'Grad life' and the life I love. Not that I don't like doing a PhD; I'm here by choice; but I would definitely like my existence to be peppered with some more of the delicious ingredient called 'LIFE'.

Rarely do I meet people who share my view, least so in the field of science. When I do meet like minds, it's like a breath of fresh air, a healing zephyr. But these occasions are few and far between. And so, when a young little zephyr blew in and out of our lab, I made most of the moment and let my hair fly in the refreshing breeze.

The young zephyr brought in a whiff of another world, a world without a care, a world where one did what made one happy. It brought in laughter and music, fun and play, and a little bit of science as well. It was full of life and zest, filled to the very brim and overflowing. It infused me with new vigour, or should I say, brought back my old self - the self that used to laugh and sing, and write and play, and be happy and free, just like the breeze. A forgotten world jumped back to life - poetry and paintings, photography and philosophy, books and animation films, fun and laughter. And I promised myself that I would not lose sight of this wonderful world ever again.

2009-05-29T09:51:00.004+05:30

Hi Dad, Wishing You Many Many Happy Returns of the Day :)

It's been a long time since I wrote to you. Thought I should give you an update about myself, Amma and things in general. Amma and I are fine, missing you though. Amma keeps shuttling between Mumbai and Bengaluru. She gets bored in Mumbai since I'm not around, and bored in Bangalore since I'm still not around... you see, I spend the whole day (and sometimes the night too) in the lab! I feel bad, but what can I do? I need to get a PhD, right? I've promised Amma that I won't work on Sundays when she's in Bangalore and spend time with her. Sadly, I've yet to keep that promise. Amma's very understanding about the whole thing, but I do feel guilty at taking her for granted each time like this :(

About my PhD... well, it's moving on, at a snail's pace though. Thought I'd hit upon something at long last, but then things stopped working. I've been trying different experiments, different ways to prove my hypothesis, but it remains elusive. I just hope and pray that no one catches up upon the same idea before I publish my results! I'm sure thousands of other grad students are praying for the same!

Aani kalle naa. I visit the Math whenever possible. Amma attends the Sanskrit Sambhashan class regularly and took part in the Sanskrit program when HH was here for Yugadi. She was a superhit! Her Prahelika and Family introduction got a thunderous applause from not only the audience present but from HH himself :) I've put up the photos in my Picasa album. You can have a look there.

Hope you are doing fine up there. How do you spend your time? I'm the proud keeper of your entire Wodehouse collection. Reading them reminds me of you and the laughs we shared together, and I know that even today you share the jokes with me; that I never laugh alone. I just wish that you were here all hale and hearty, so Amma, you and I could share those wonderful times again.

That's all for now. Please pray that I finish my PhD soon and get more time to spend with Amma. There are other matters to be attended too, other than the PhD, right? You are also looking into them I hope ;)

Lotsa love.

Yours,

Tee.

BEING IN TWENTIES - SOMETHING... :)

2009-04-29T11:28:00.004+05:30

Nice e-mail fwd from PS. Thanks PS :)

It is when you stop going along with the crowd and start realizing that there are many things about yourself that you didn't know and may not like. You start feeling insecure and wonder where you will be in a year or two, but then get scared because you barely know where you are now.

You start realizing that people are selfish and that, maybe, those friends that you thought you were so close to aren't exactly the greatest people you have ever met, and the people you have lost touch with are some of the most important ones. What you don't recognize is that they are realizing that too, and aren't really cold, catty, mean or insincere, but that they are as confused as you.

You look at your job... and it is not even close to what you thought you would be doing, or maybe you are looking for a job and realizing that you are going to have to start at the bottom and that scares you.

Your opinions have gotten stronger. You see what others are doing and find yourself judging more than usual because suddenly you realize that you have certain boundaries in your life and are constantly adding things to your list of what is acceptable and what isn't. One minute, you are insecure and then the next, secure.

You laugh and cry with the greatest force of your life. You feel alone and scared and confused. Suddenly, change is the enemy and you try and cling on to the past with dear life, but soon realize that the past is drifting further and further away, and there is nothing to do but stay where you are or move forward.

You get your heart broken and wonder how someone you loved could do such damage to you. Or you lie in bed and wonder why you can't meet anyone decent enough that you want to get to know better. Or maybe you love someone but love someone else too and cannot figure out why you're doing this because you know that you aren't a bad person. You want to settle down for good because now all of a sudden that becomes top priority. Getting wasted and acting like an idiot starts to look pathetic. You begin to think a companion for life is better than a hundred in the shack and for once you would not mind standing tall for that special someone which otherwise you had never thought of until now. You go through the same emotions and questions over and over, and talk with your friends about the same topics because you cannot seem to make a decision. You worry about loans, money, the future and making a life for yourself... and while winning the race would be great, right now you'd just like to be a contender!

What you may not realize is that every one reading this relates to it. We are in our best of times and our worst of times, trying as hard as we can to figure this whole thing out. Send this to your twenty-something friends.... maybe it will help someone feel like they aren't alone in their state of confusion...

We call it the "Quarter-life Crisis"

3 Idiots… and a 4th!

2009-02-28T17:15:00.004+05:30

“What did you say? You are coming to Bangalore! That’s great news! When, where, how? When can we meet?” I couldn’t contain my joy! I’ll be coming down with my ‘play group’ people” Maggu replied back. I giggled. I was all for Maggu’s witty one-liners! “We’re staging the play version of ‘Five Point Someone’ at Rangashankara. I would like it very much if you could make it there.” “But of course, Maggu! I will be there. And I promise to bring my IISc gang along. How do I get the tickets for the show?” And Maggu being the wonderful friend he is, immediately blocked 8 tickets for us. That was how we all ended up watching an amazing theatre performance at Bangalore’s famous Rangashankara auditorium. We all had a fantastic time, start to end, and a little before the start too, I might add. Here’s the entire story…

It did not take any convincing on my part to get my IISc friends to come along. Half of us were from IIT’s as it were, and the rest were all great fans of Chetan Bhagat’s first attempt as a writer. How we all related to the story of the three friends! Didn’t we suffer similar pain and anguish at IISc too, broken hearts, fallen grades, fire-breathing professors and an occasional spark of genius now and then!

The boys decided to start early and visit Forum Mall for some bird watching J Paro and I gladly rejected their offer to tag along and left directly for Rangashankara. We had no clue as to the whereabouts of the auditorium, but a Google search located it to be somewhere in Jayanagar. So away we went on a delightful bus ride on a wonderful Sunday evening with a cool breeze blowing through our hair (and me getting all upset that I would look like a scarecrow by the end of the ride and scare poor Maggu away!)

We got down at the Jayanagar bus stop and looked around. We saw (in the order): 1. An empty ground with a huge building at its far end, 2. Two florist shops, 3. A toy shop and 4. A huge hospital on the opposite side of the road. But contrary to what we had been told, Rangashankar, we did not see. We did the most sensible thing to do under such circumstances: we asked for directions. I pretended to select a bouquet of flowers for Maggu while Paro did the talking. But the florists were of no help and so Maggu’s bouquet remained with them (Sorry friend!). We tried the toy store next. The owner spoke nothing but Kannada and we knew nothing of Kannada, so it was a vain attempt yet again. However, a young couple with a cute little kid told us we just had to walk straight down and take a right. Rangashankara would be a 20 minute walk from where we were. We thanked the couple and moved on as directed. How could we have forgotten the basic rules of Bangalore: Never to trust directions given by strangers! Bangaloreans, inspired by an extreme urge to help those in need, freely give directions, even wrong ones, if need be! Walking a good 30 minutes still didn’t get us anywhere close to our destination. We decided to trace back our steps. As we rounded the corner near the traffic signal, my eyes lit up.

“Paro, dekh! Young people wearing Evam t-shirts!” Evam alongwith the Madras Players theatre group were organizing the show. “Let’s follow them. They must be heading towards Rangashankara” And so we stalked the Evam-ites right up the street, rounded the corner, and followed them through the gates into… their Hostel Complex!

“Eh, er… excuse me. But this doesn’t look like Rangashankara?” “Oh, so that’s why you’ve been following us all this while, is it? You kept us guessing” a smart young man grinned at me. “Oh, ah…well yes. We actually lost our way, and saw you wearing Evam t-shirts and decided to follow you and…” I blurted out. “Oh, don’t worry about it”a pretty young girl smiled graciously. “Just follow the same route back, cross over at the signal and Rangashankara’s right next to the huge empty ground that you will see, 5 minutes from the Jayanagar bus stop”

“Thanks so much” I gulped, turning a beetroot red, Paro giggling away to glory at my side.

Aaaaarrrrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhh!!! I had to mess it up, didn't I? That too with so many handsome young men around! Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh!!! Paro thankfully promised that the boys won’t know anything of this business of ours, and am I glad that she’s kept the promise still! Thanks Paro :)

After our little adventure we managed to reach Rangashankara without further humiliation and joined the boys who were into their second round of their ‘eye-warming session’. Uff! Boys will be boys!

We collected our tickets and soon as the doors were thrown open, rushed into the auditorium to get hold of the best seats. We managed to bag seats in the second row quite close to the stage and waited with bated breath for a house-full show of ‘Five Point Someone’ to begin.

At 6 pm on the dot, the doors closed, the lights dimmed and the auditorium was enveloped in complete darkness. The stage lights slowly came on and focussed on the three friends Hari Kumar, Alok Gupta and Ryan Oberoi, sitting in a triangle on the Insti roof, discussing the failed Operation Pendulum and the DisCo that succeeded it. Then, Alok got up, moved slowly towards the edge, stood undecided for a while, and then jumped! Jumped down the nine stories of the Insti building!

The story then leapt into flashback and recounted how the three friends had met, their vain attempts at studying to get above their five point something GPAs, the fun they had, hot paranthas at Sasi’s, Hari and Neha’s romance, Alok’s cribbing about his family and his sister’s marriage, Ryan’s fantastic ideas, the handsome Prof. Veera (sigh! Why couldn’t IISc have profs like him!), the super strict Prof. Cherian (an even bigger sigh! All profs at IISc are SO like him!), the DisCo… and back to the present. And not once did the audience bat an eyelid. It took in all that the actors had to offer. There was no doubt then, at the end of the play, after a minute of pin-drop silence needed to come back to reality, all the artistes received a thunderous applause and a standing ovation :)

A special thank you note to Nikhila Kesavan and her team for an excellent adaptation and direction of Bhagat’s book. It did complete justice to it. Thanks also to Evam and the Madras Players group for putting up such a wonderful show and entertaining us thoroughly. Special thanks from Paro and me to all those lovely people at Evam, for correctly directing us to Rangashankara…we would’ve missed the show otherwise! And of course, thanks to dear Maggu for the advanced intimation so I could make it to the show without upsetting any experiments and the Boss, for the tickets, for answering my phone call 5 minutes before showtime, for doing justice to Hari's character, and, for being such a wonderful wonderful friend. Am proud of you Buddy! :)

That’s my account of an evening well spent. To hear about the show from the horse’s mouth, do visit Maggu’s blog... http://kedar-mavinkurve.blogspot.com/search/label/Five%20Point%20Someone

Maggu thanks for inviting me to the show. I had a truly wonderful time and wish you all the very best for your future ‘playful’ endeavours (Am I allowed to call u a ‘Playboy’ by any chance? :p)

P.S: There is a time for everything. Work done at the right time bears good results. Procrastination leads to a dead-end. One might keep a promise, but what use, if one takes months to keep it? Especially if doing the job immediately would have put a big smile on a dear friend’s face.

Maggu, I try and make amends here, but am aware that they might not be enough. I won’t give any excuse this time. I just want to say that I’m really sorry for being such an idiot and keeping you waiting so long. Hope you like whatever I’ve written. ~ MM

New Year Celebrations

2008-04-10T08:37:00.003+05:30

चैत्र शुद्ध प्रतिपदा शके १९३० First day of the Hindu New Year based on the lunar calendar. They say whatever you do on this day, you will do throughout the year. So being Mommy's good girl, I woke up early in the morning, had a bath, draped a sari, went to the temple, went to lab, worked a bit .... n then... went Ugadi shopping :D

Here's me at the end of the first day of the New Year 1930...
[Photo credit: Bhai :)]

Peg after Peg

2008-03-20T09:23:00.003+05:30

An excellent forward sent by CB.... the author couldn't have put it better....

I never take risk while drinking

When I come from office in the evening, wife is cooking
I can hear the noise of utensils in the kitchen
I stealthily enter the house
Take out the bottle from my black cupboard
Shivaji Maharaj is looking at me from the photo frame
But still no one is aware of it
Becoz I never take a risk

I take out the glass from the rack above the old sink
Quickly enjoy one peg
Wash the glass and again keep it on the rack
Of course I also keep the bottle inside my cupboard
Shivaji Maharaj is giving a smile

I peep into the kitchen
Wife is cutting potatoes
No one is aware of what I did
Becoz I never take a risk

I: Any news on Iyer's daughter's marriage
Wife: Nope, she doesn't seem to be that lucky. Still they are looking out for her

I again come out; there is a small noise of the black cupboard
But I don't make any sound while taking out the bottle
I take out the glass from the old rack above sink
Quickly enjoy one peg

Wash the bottle and keep it in the sink
Also keep the Black Glass in the cupboard
But still no one is aware of what I did
Becoz I never take a risk

I: But still I think Iyer's daughter's age is not that much
Wife: What are you saying? She is 28 yrs old... like an aged horse
I: (I forgot her age is 28) Oh Oh...

I again take out potatoes out from my black cupboard
But the cupboard's place has automatically changed
I take out the bottle from the rack and quickly enjoy one peg in the sink

Shivaji Maharaj laughs loudly
I keep the rack in the potatoes & wash Shivaji Maharaj's photo & keep it in the black cupboard

Wife is keeping the sink on the stove
But still no one is aware of what I did
Becoz I never take a risk

I: (getting angry) you call Mr. Iyer a horse? If you say that again, I will cut your tongue...!
Wife: Don't just blabber something, go out and sit quietly...

I take out the bottle from the potatoes
Go in the black cupboard and enjoy a peg
Wash the sink and keep it over the rack
Wife is giving a smile

Shivaji Maharaj is still cooking
But still no one is aware of what I did
Becoz I never take a risk

I: (laughing) So Iyer is marrying a horse!!
Wife: Hey go and sprinkle some water on your face...

I again go to the kitchen, and quietly sit on the rack
Stove is also on the rack
There is a small noise of bottles from the room outside

I peep and see that wife is enjoying a peg in the sink
But none of the horses are aware of what I did
Becoz Shivaji Maharaj never takes a risk

Iyer is still cooking
And I am looking at my wife from the photo and laughing
Becoz I never take what ???

Of Bulls & Bears

2008-02-08T08:55:00.001+05:30

The wheeling and dealing of share markets the world over takes place somewhat like this :D
A nice e-mail forward from Adarsha.

Merry Christmas :)

2007-12-25T11:14:00.000+05:30

Amchis Meet Again!

2007-12-08T14:40:00.000+05:30

... but in IISc, not IIT-B!

In keeping with the tradition of finding Amchi people wherever I go, I was glad to find at least 2 other Amchis on campus besides myself - CheBa (0) n NiNa (1) :) Then of course, there had to be an Amchi Me-Eat, held at, where else, but Kodial's (कोडीयाळ) at Malleswaram 8th cross. A small place serving mouth-watering Amchi delicacies - starting with the various लॉण्चॅ, वड्यॉ, खोट्टे, पानपॉळॅ , दीव्कड्गी सुक्कॅ, दाळी तॉय- शीत, and much much more, all washed down with yummy सोल कड़ी. The sweet taste of the शेवई-रस्सू still lingers in the mouth.... yummmmm!!!! :) A few pics...

Part of the Menu...

The Inviting Spread...

The Mouth-watering platter!!!!

Et enfin, Us!

Had lots of fun... n waiting for more! Thanks NiNa for the wonderful treat :)

Birthday Wishlist

2007-12-01T08:46:00.000+05:30

" Deck the hall with boughs of holly,
fa la la la la la la la la
It's the season to be jolly
fa la la la la la la la la " :D

I simply looooooooooooove the Christmas season :) It brings a big smile on my face. My mood is always on the upswing throughout the season. It's such a happy n jolly time, especially since my birthday falls during this period ;)

God must love me SO much for He's gifted me with the most wonderful set of parents. I write this blogpost to tell people of a promise I made to my parents a few years ago so they can help me keep that promise.

I won't go into the details of what exactly made me take this decision, but I promised Mom n Dad on my 20th birthday that I will not accept any gifts on my birthday then onwards. (For all the curious cats, it all started with a long discussion on the 'give-n-take' in life :P). I have kept my word and most of my relatives and friends know about this and just send me their love and blessings on D- day. I write this blog coz most people in Bangalore don't know about this decision of mine. And since my birthday is fast approaching (yes! I will NOT give up a single opportunity to remind u about my birthday ;)) I want to inform people well in advance not to waste money on gifts, cards, chocolates, flowers or any other thing for that matter. It's an absolute No-No!

Also, today I have taken a decision to not accept gifts on any of the other 364 days as well. So, no gifts for me at all, irrespective of the day or occasion or even 'just-like-that'. Hope all my dear friends understand and even if they don't, they at least help me in keeping the promise I made to myself. Dosti ke khatir itna to kar hi sakte hain aap sab! So, from now on, quoting an oft seen line in Indian wedding cards which also applies in my case, "Gifts in blessings and good wishes only" :)

And for those who still want to gift me something, be sure you buy something that you've always, oh-so-wanted to buy for yourself, coz I'll gift it right back to you, n that's another promise I'll keep :D

Cheerios! Have a jolly time n help me keep my promise, please :)

Adventures of The MaMu - 4: Electra Unleashed

2007-11-18T12:08:00.000+05:30

After a very long delay in buying a matching silver helmet to go with her silver Electra, MaMu couldn't resist 'unleashing Electra onto the unsuspecting populace of Bengaluru' as Gurumaiyya puts it :D

So on Saturday, the 17th of November 2007, MaMu rode out through the Circle Maramma gates of IISc onto the mean and crowded streets of Malleswaram. With NiNa riding pillion (and praying fervently to Maramma Devi for a safe ride), Electra sailed smoothly over the pot-holed streets and safely dropped NiNa at MES college. From there, Electra was directed towards MaMu's cousin's house at 8th cross, cousin picked up, and given a long and enjoyable (and scary, according to cuz... hmmmpf, kuch bhi! :x) drive through the by-lanes of Malleswaram. After dinner, MaMu took Electra out onto the streets again to check the night traffic, and came back victorious, in one piece to an extremely worried mother. MaMu's smile said it all :)

Overall, a day well spent. Not only did MaMu gain confidence of riding Electra in the traffic, but must also be given due credit for reminding the aam junta of the Hanuman Chalisa they must have learnt as children. Those who haven't are sure to learn it now. With MaMu and Electra on the loose, protection from The Almighty is mandatory! :P

Adventures of the MaMu -3: Electraaaaa !!!!

2007-10-20T17:47:00.000+05:30

She's sleek, she's chic, she's silver... she's my very own Electric Scooty - EcoKosmic 1

I call her ELECTRA, par pyaar se Bijli ya Minchoo (Kannada for Bijli) bhi bulaati hoon :P

Electra runs on electric batteries and has to be charged like a cell phone. One complete charge lasts upto 60kms and consumes one unit of electricity, amounting to just about INR 5. And the max speed she can reach is 60kms/hr as she cruises noiselessly on the roads. That means zero noise n air pollution! I have an absolutely fantastic eco-friendly vehicle :)

Today is Navami, the ninth day of Navratri and I performed the Ayudh Pooja of my scooty. A few pics...

Ayudh Pooja A coconut was broken, and a karpoor aarti was done... it felt good :)

Crushing the lemons I thought I couldn't manage this, but Chetus placed the lemons strategically under both the tyres n I crushed both at one go... YAY! :D

We want a ride !!! Everyone wants to ride pillion at the same time!

Treat do, Electra lo :P Arre meri Electra ko inse bachao!

ROTFL :D

2007-10-09T17:14:00.000+05:30

Ulti hilarious forward :D

WHY MEN ARE NOT ALLOWED TO WRITE ADVICE COLUMNS

Dear Walter:

I hope you can help me here. The other day I set off for work leaving my husband in the house watching the TV as usual. I hadn't gone more than a few hundred yards down the road when my engine conked out and the car shuddered to a halt. I walked back home to get my husband's help. When I got home I couldn't believe my eyes. He was parading in front of the wardrobe mirror dressed in my underwear and high-heel shoes, and he was wearing my make up.
I am 32, my husband is 34 and we have been married for twelve years. When I confronted him, he tried to make out that he had dressed in my lingerie because he couldn't find his own underwear. But when I asked him about the make up, he broke down and admitted that he'd been wearing my clothes for six months. I told him to stop or I would leave him.
He was let go from his job six months ago and he says he has been feeling increasingly depressed and worthless. I love him very much, but ever since I gave him the ultimatum he has become increasingly distant. I don't feel I can get through to him anymore.
Can you please help?
Sincerely,
Mrs. Sheila Usk
______________________________

__________

Dear Sheila:

A car stalling after being driven a short distance can be caused by a variety of faults with the engine. Start by checking that there is no debris in the fuel line. If it is clear, check the jubilee clips holding the vacuum pipes onto the inlet manifold. If none of these approaches solves the problem, it could be that the fuel pump itself is faulty, causing low delivery pressure to the carburetor float chamber.
I hope this helps.

Walter

Adventures of the MaMu - 2: Kick Start

2007-09-02T11:22:00.000+05:30

After MaMu's 1st tryst with Namma Bengaluru's traffic, she had decided that she would never ever step out into the traffic on any kind of 2-wheeler again. But it's an unwritten rule in MaMu's book of life that whatever she says she won't ever do in her life again, she has to do the very same thing almost immediately. Accordingly, that fateful night till date, she has had to commute to and fro on her maroon Lady Bird.

Cycling on the steep slopes of the Bangalore roads is no mean feat. One has to wade through innumerable potholes that lie eveywhere on every single road and by-lane. Finding that thin strip of asphalt that authorities claim to be the road, especially on a day it rains cats and dogs, is, well, simply put, impossible. Also, the physical exersion of a cycle ride on such a road is unthinkable - hit the breaks everytime a pothole or speed breaker makes itself visible; or a huge BMTC bus decides it needs the entire stretch of road to make a turn, or when an extremely excited 2-wheeler driver thinks its his right to take a left when his 2-wheeler indicates it was a right he was originally planning to take; or when equally excited mongrels and stray cats run amok on the road - MaMu's hands ache more than her feet! That's why she finds it quite a task to cycle 4 kms daily. Never-the-less, she persists in her efforts.

And therefore, it was with no little joy that MaMu accepted her dearest friend Bastet's offer to teach her to ride the Scooty (I still fail to understand what made Bastet volunteer her very dear Scooty ES to be the sacrificial goat). One fine afternoon, Bastet took MaMu to a lonely stretch of road on the IISc campus for her 1st scooty lesson. (Personally I think, that was for the sole purpose of hiding her identity as MaMu's scooty teacher than any damage MaMu was liable to cause the IISc life(?) and property :P) Well anyway, there they were. Bastet showed MaMu how to turn the ignition key to the 'on', 'off' n 'lock' modes and how to use the self-starter switch. MaMu, sincere student that she is, turned the key as told, held down the choke, pressed both the breaks and then pressed hard on the self-starter. Voila! The self-starter switch took a huge leap and fell out of it's socket! The rest of Lesson#1 was spent in trying to figure out which way to put it back in, and having failed, on taking a nice little joy ride to a Malleswaram scooter repair shop, and having failed there too, to the TVS Scooty garage where it was put forth to them in very lucid terms that the entire scooty 'head' would have to be dismantled and dissected to put that teeny-weeny switch back in again! And all this while, Bastet had had to kick start her dear injured scooty at every signal, with a series of kicks and a whole lot of irate vehicles honking behind her :(

Even after enduring so much, Bastet has promised to resume MaMu's scooty classes from the day after! Way to go! Oh what dedication! What commitment! What sheer guts! And not to forget, what a wonderful 'kick start' to MaMu's scooty classes! :D

Love ya Bastet! :)

In continuum

2007-08-24T07:58:00.000+05:30

This pic (an IITian's brainchild, I'm sure :)) I stole from someone's Orkut album. It goes well with what I had written earlier. I liked the way one of Bollywood's most popular dialogues has been modified to bring out the sorry plight of students today.

And here's an e-mail forward that portrays the true situation that prevails in India...

First, the Old Version...

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

And now, the Modern Version...

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house.

Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other grasshoppers demanding that grasshoppers be located to warmer climates during winter.

Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the grasshopper.

The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance) .

Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for "Bharat Bandh" in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry. CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among ants and grasshoppers.

Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.

Arjun Singh makes Special Reservation for Grass Hopper in educational Insititutions & in Govt Services.

The ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it "a triumph of justice".

Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice'.

CPM calls it the 'revolutionary resurgence of the downtrodden'.

Koffi Annan invites the grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

MANY YEARS LATER...

The ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi billion dollar company in Silicon Valley.

In India, hundreds of grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation...

Once again, I say that I've nothing against the people from the so-called 'non-creamy' strata of society, it's the way in which they want to be 'uplifted' that makes me pity them. Rather than seek political favours, I strongly feel they should make efforts to come up as achievers by working hard and seeking help from the right kind of people and organisations. Why only them, we all must learn to be independent and self sufficient and must give back to the soil that has made us what we are toaday. The government only makes plans, the media only creates a hype around any story it can lay it's hands on; finally, it's left to the individual to 'uplift' himself. Each one of us must make realistic plans and see that they are properly implemented and achieved within a set period of time. Only then can our nation truly progress and all people can live happily without any 'reservations'.

Mummyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

2007-08-20T17:42:00.001+05:30

Wishing The Bestest Amma in the Universe a Very Very Happy Birthday

Love U Ma :)
Tugalichi, Mi

Love's In The Air

2007-08-17T08:25:00.000+05:30

What a wonderful thing LOVE is - pure, unselfish, unconditional. The only thing in the world which floods our feelings with endless happiness, brings a sweet smile and a warm glow on our face. The one thing in which we can drown and lose ourselves entirely and yet be completely content. Be it a mother's love for her child or a friend's love for a friend, it never fails to bring out a warm feeling of belongingness, protectiveness and positivity with it. I think I've fallen for 'love' completely! I've fallen in love with the beautiful life the good Lord has bestowed upon me - I can see the wonderful creatures He has made, hear their chirping, walk through a flower-filled tree-lined avenue, talk to others about the joys I've experienced and of course am very lucky to have the best Mom in the whole wide world and some really close friends who have and will always be there for me. God must love me SO much! I cannot thank Him enough!

Dear God, bless us all and make us the instruments to spread Your divine love in this world. Let everyone's story have a happy ending and may we all live happily ever after.

It's Rocking! Yaara Kabhi Ishq to Karo! :)

Traffic Signal

2007-08-03T09:19:00.001+05:30

This blogpost is dedicated to MaMu's first misadventure on the roads of Bengaluru, and to a friend's recently-sold Hero Honda Passion, a bike on whose pillion only beautiful (mind you, 'beautiful' and not 'pretty' :P) girls were allowed to sit.

Innovation at its best! Here's how people the world over mislead the traffic cops...

How men wish for such a custom-made seatbelt for their wives/ girl friends/ mothers/ sisters/ aunts... basically, for the entire womankind that does all the back-seat driving ;)

But my advice to all drivers, be it of two-, three-, four- or more wheelers, PLEASE DRIVE CAREFULLY, 'cause there is someone waiting for you to reach home safely; and such is the case for those on the roads without vehicles too. Please pay heed to the Pyaar Ka Signal as well. Not everyone is as lucky as Lord Ganesha.

And for those who drive rashly, do not obey traffic rules and for those who drink and drive, this is precisely the fate that awaits you...

Truly for such people, "Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear", especially the one in the picture above.

(The last two images won a special mention under the 'Road Safety' category at the UNICEF Best Advertisements awards)

Adventures of The MaMu - 1: Joy Ride

2007-07-20T14:20:00.006+05:30

Our MaMu is one amazing character - she is nothing short of *The World's Greatest MaMu*. Her antics make extremely entertaining conversation topics that hold listeners enthralled. I think it's the way she makes ordinary things seem so extraordinary. If something can be achieved in one short n simple step, MaMu will happily go ahead and do it in a 1001 steps, each more complicated than the previous one. But, but, but, but, but... one good thing about MaMu is that she never regrets whatever she does. Even if she makes a mistake, she takes it as a learning experience and moves ahead. She has only her Mom to thank for that wonderful bit of teaching. But again, that's also the reason why she does not repeat a mistake and makes new ones every time ;) Let me tell you about her latest adventure...

Now apna MaMu is doing her Phd in this hallowed institution called the Indian Institute of Science at Bengaluru and stays at her Aunt's place nearby. It was past 9pm one night and MaMu could not induce any autowallah to drop her home. Rather than taking a bus, which was the obvious alternative, MaMu decided to cycle back home. So out came the maroon BSA Lady Bird onto the mean streets of Bengaluru. The IISc subway was navigated safely; that too without getting off the bicycle while climbing up the steep slope. It was proof to the fact that IISc Aerobics had strengthened her leg muscles considerably. She crossed over from SID into the heavily crowded Marramma circle and somehow managed to get onto Margosa Road. Dodging the BMTC buses and the multitude of two wheelers carrying people home, MaMu came upto the 15th cross without any event. But at 15th cross the adventure, rather, the misadventure began.

Street lights are non-existent in Bengaluru or if present, either do not work, or the dim diffused light that issues forth from the ones that work, is completely blocked by the dense tree cover at the sides of the road. On the whole, be it day or night, roads in Bengaluru are always on the darker side. It so happens that at 15th cross there is a huge speed breaker whose presence is felt only when one climbs on top of it. In the dark night with vehicular lights glaring into her eyes, MaMu noticed the speed breaker only when she went flying over it at full speed and banged right into an auto that was coming in the wrong direction! Good God! What a BANG it was! Thankfully MaMu had the sense to swerve away right in time and went skidding down the road with her bicycle. No one was hurt except poor MaMu. But even before she could pick herself up from the road, she was greeted with a string of the choicest abuses in chaste Kannada from the autowallah. What on earth! He was on the wrong side of the road, not her! Mamu should have been the one shouting at him! Stupid fellow! At that very moment MaMu resolved to learn Kannada at the earliest. When in Bengaluru, do as the Bengulurians do - curse in pure, unadulterated Kannada!

Shaking and shivering from head-to-toe, MaMu picked up her bicycle, made sure there were no broken bones and began cycling homeward slowly. There were no further casualties till she reached home, but what an effort it was to drag her poor battered body and soul home! By the time she finished dinner, both her feet had swollen to look like soccer balls and her spine was crying out in deep anguish. Poor MaMu took a painfully long time to fall asleep :( (and the pun here is very much intended!)

Another resolve that MaMu made that fateful night was to never again ride a vehicle on her own through the Bengaluru traffic. But that promise had to be broken almost immediately. What about the bicycle she had brought from the institute? That had to go back. And so, the next morning found MaMu riding her bicycle through Yeshwanthpur circle instead of Maramma circle, which contrary to her belief was even more crowded with office goers and school goers than the Maramma circle had ever been. She finally let out a deep sigh of relief as she entered the campus and made her way to the department. She was happy to be alive!

That ends the first adventure of The MaMu in Namma Bengaluru. For more interesting (?!) anecdotes keep reading this blog :)

Much Ado about Nothing...

2007-07-07T08:23:00.000+05:30

Here's what Sid Baab has to say about, well... Nothing!

http://naamkakyakaroge.blogspot.com/2007/03/on-nothing.html

In IIT-B lingo... this one's a GOD POST!!! Hail Sid Baab! ^:)^

Laugh Away Ur Blues :)

2007-07-01T07:24:00.000+05:30

Today's July the 1st, 'World laughter day', n they coudn't have chosen a better day for it, cause today's GAURAV'S BIRTHDAY :))
HAPPY BUDDAY GAURU... ashichi saglyaanka haasayta raab :D
Lotsa love from Minnie Mouse ;)

Here are a few one liners and jokes to brighten up ur day...

* Cigarette : A pinch of tobacco rolled in paper with fire at one end & a fool at the other

* Opportunist : A person who starts taking bath if he accidentally falls into a river

* Clumsy? Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away ;)

* Experiments must be reproducible; they should all fail in the same way :D

* How 2 catch a lion?

Ø Newton Method: Let, the lion catch you. For every action there is equal and opposite reaction. Implies you caught lion.
Ø Einstein Method: Run in the direction opposite to that of the lion. Due to higher relative velocity, the lion will also run faster and will get tired soon. Now you can trap it easily.
Ø Software Engineer Method: Catch a cat and claim that your testing has proven that its a Lion. If anyone comes back with issues tell that you will upgrade it to Lion.
Ø Rajnikanth Method: Keep warning the lion that u may come and attack anytime.The lion will live in fear and die soon in fear itself.
Ø Karan Johar Method: Send a lioness into the forest. Our lion and lioness fall in love with each other. Send another lioness in to the forest, followed by another lion. First lion loves the first lioness and the second lion loves the 2nd lioness. But 2nd lioness loves both lions. Now send another lioness (third) into the forest. You don't understand right...ok....read it after 15 yrs, then also u wont!
Ø Govinda method: Continuously dance before the lion for 5 or 6 days.
Ø Maneka Gandhi method: Save the lion from a danger and feed him with some vegetables continuously.
Ø George Bush method: Link the lion with Osama Bin Laden and shoot him!!!
Ø Ravi Shastri method: Ask the lion to bowl at u. U bat for 200 balls and score 1 run .

* Whatz a PJ ?
Obviously "a poor joke"
Whatz a (P + i J)?
A "complex poor joke"
Why don't people laugh on a "complex poor joke" ?
Bcoz the joke part of it is imaginary :o

This one's for all ze wemen...
One day, three men were hiking and unexpectedly came upon a large raging, violent river. They needed to get to the other side, but had no idea of how to do so.
The first man prayed to God, saying, "Please God, give me the strength to cross this river." Poof!" God gave him big arms and strong legs, and he was able to swim across the river in about two hours, after almost drowning a couple of times.
Seeing this, the second man prayed to God, saying, "Please God, give me the strength and the tools to cross this river." Poof!" God gave him a rowboat and he was able to row across the river in about an hour, after almost capsizing the boat a couple of times.
The third man had seen how this worked out for the other two, so he also prayed to God saying, "Please God, give me the strength and the tools and the intelligence to cross this river." And Poof! God turned him into a woman. SHE looked at the map, hiked upstream a couple of hundred yards, then walked across the bridge :P :D

Remember, Laughter is THE BEST medicine. Keep smiling and laugh away ur blues... Have fun! :D

Cheeni Kum

2007-06-30T18:35:00.000+05:30

Although we didn't make the sugarless 'Hyderabadi Zefrani Pulav', Sam made tangy Pasta and I made hot Sweet Corn Vegetable soup in the water heater in my room n teamed it up with the yummy Rose Flowers Sam had made on her trip home. A boring saturday evening all spiced up :)

Orkut Zindabad!

2007-06-26T05:43:00.000+05:30

I joined Orkut.com sometime during my MSc days at IIT-B. At first I was against it. I used to delete all the joining requests I received in my inbox. But then curiosity got the better of me. I could no longer resist that sky blue homepage, with lots of display pics and messages in it. It seemed to be fun! I don't remember whose Orkut joining request I finally accepted (the controversy still rages on ;)), but there I was on Orkut, n have been 'Orkutting' ever since. Not a day goes by without me logging onto Orkut at least a dozen times in a single day. At IIT-B, I used to be signed in perpetually! Am an 'Orkuholic' of the highest quality ;)

Although people talk about Orkut's being a public forum and the disadvantages attached with that, I personally have only gained from it. I made new friends (several!) and caught up with the old, long-lost ones. I have in my friends' list, my 'langotiya yaars', from my HAL days at Ozar (Mig); fellow St. Columbians from Mumbai; the Anandashram gang; the JC Ruparelites; the vibrant n best lot from St. Xavier's :) , Mumbai; the entire Bioschool and almost entire H-10, and of course The Amchis :) from IIT-B; and of late am adding the new friends I'm making at IISc, Bangalore. I also have a whole lot of geneolgy in the list - my cousins, nieces, nephews, uncles, aunts... you name it, they are all there on Orkut!

Here's a very short list of the coolest people I've met n known only 'cause of Orkut...

This list is by no means complete or exhaustive; it will be updated every once in a while :)

In order of 'making fraandships' :P ...

Ajay Savkoor

Kedar Mavinkurve

Bhag

My Twin Bro Chirag Murdeshwar :P

Anup Gokarn

Vijay Tavanandi

Sangy

Hem Dholakia

Tintin Maam ;)

La NiNa

n the latest... "All Men are Idiots, I married their King" :D

Thanks Orkut for letting me connect, re-connect, re-re-connect n have so much fun :)

The Big Difference

2007-06-18T21:18:00.000+05:30

This one's from the T-shirt Quotes that appear everyday in the Bangalore Times...

The difference between Data and Value Added Information...
Data: 362436
Value Added Information: 36-24-36

Makes matters crystal clear, doesn't it? he he he :D

Keeping Cool

2007-06-14T20:19:00.000+05:30

All the 'mach mach' in the comments section of my previous post reminds me of my favourite poem and helps me preserve my cool... it always has been a big help that way...

http://lemonysnippets.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_archive.html

'A' for ...

2007-06-11T06:50:00.000+05:30

... and if you answered 'Apple', you won't be too far off the mark, functionally speaking. Don't get it? Well, read on ...

Since the beginning of 2007, the first letter of the English alphabet has changed from being 'A' for 'Apple' to being 'A' for 'AEROBICS' to me. It was Sam who dragged a very unwilling me to the aerobics classes at IISc in mid-January one day, and I haven't stopped since. I'm enjoying every moment of it and have only Sam to thank for it :)

For the first 4 months, it was only 'Dance Aerobics', the more enjoyable form of aerobics. We danced to songs from the latest Bollywood pot boilers as well as to English Pop n Hip Hop, with equal aplomb. To add the regional flavour, we had Kannada, Telugu and Tamil songs, and of course, the evergreen Punjabi Bhangra. For a hint of sepia with a modern touch, we even had the remixed versions of old Hindi songs. And boy, did we dance like mad! I was even happier 'cause I suddenly discovered that although no Aishwarya Rai or Bipasha Basu with the matka-jhatkas, I could still do a decent job inspite of my two left feet :)

It was a grand day for us all when the IISc Aerobics Club celebrated its centenary. We had a '100 Days' celebration (although the club was much older than that) by inviting none other than Radio City RJ Vasanthi Hariprakash as our guest of honour. Vasanthi is a fitness freak and has hosted several fitness-related talk shows on the radio. She seemed quite impressed with our Aerobics hall, complete with wooden flooring and huge Saint Gobain mirrors on the walls, nothing less than a professional studio! (She was also pretty much impressed with the T-shirts we had designed specially for the occasion). Due credit must go to our aerobics convenors then, Shantha Parthan and Celia Fernandes, for running around and getting things done.

Happy Times: IISc Aerobics Committee before the Great Divide

And so, all was hunky-dory or so it seemed...until ... the instructor asked for a salary hike... With us, IISc students tiding over each month with our meagerly stipend, that was simply unaffordable and unfeasible. There was a great divide among the committee members over this issue, and shortly after the 100 days celebration, which acted as an ill omen, classes ground to a halt. But not for long...

With the untiring efforts of the present co-convenor Sudarshan Iyengar, ably supported in his efforts by present convenor Sameera P, and other equally responsible committee members Shriprakash B and Adarsha Rao, classes began in less than 15 days after they stopped. The chief aim of this group was, and still is, to provide IIScians with an aerobics facility that is second to none; which is on par with those that are professionally run. Sudarshan invested a lot of his time (and money!) calling up and meeting qualified aerobics instructors in Bangalore. The aerobics committee arranged for 'Demo sessions', wherein all past and present members of the aerobics club were invited to attend a class by prospective instructors, question them on various aspects of aerobics and then give the committee their feedback as to which instructor was better. The new instructor was to be the one whose workout session was liked by most students, was found to be scientifically sound and of course, one who agreed to the salary that we could afford to pay without us feeling the pinch on our pockets. It was a decision that all aerobics enthusiasts at IISc would take collectively, and was not to be the diktat of a chosen few, to be followed by all others unquestioningly. But one thing was clear - We would settle for nothing but THE BEST. And by the grace of God and of course the unceasing efforts of the Aerobics Committee, we have found one such instructor.

At first sight, Dr. Swamy does not look one bit like an aerobics instructor - no flashy clothes, no swaggering walk, no prominent body piercings, no 'airs', nothing at all. He has this totally unassuming personality, with a firmly set but forever smiling face and looks every bit of what he really is - a Martial Arts expert, a 6th degree Black belt, in not one, but three different schools of karate, ji jitsu n I-forget-what! He even fights with Samurai swords n daggers! Whoha! or should it be Hie Ya!

Besides that, Dr. Swamy is a certified aerobics trainer and is the proprietor of 'Authentic Xpressions', the most popular and expensive gymnasium and fitness centre in Bangalore. To boot, he is a qualified medical practioner who specializes in sports medicine. He has trained several famous sportspersons in and around Bangalore, and takes an active interest in designing ergonomically right sports equipment. It's almost too good to be true to have him teach us at the IISc Aerobics Club! We posed him the question that was upmost in our mind, "Why did you choose to teach us at IISc, when you could have earned oodles of money in those 2 hours training people outside?" Guess what he had to say... "I'm an academician by passion. It feels good to train you bright young minds and help you develop not only physically, but also mentally." Quite flattering, coming from the general Secretary of the Basaveswara Educational Trust, whose dream it is to open a school where education would not only include bookish knowledge, but lay equal emphasis on music and sports as well.

So, a weekly schedule of the workout, under the able eye of Dr.Swamy, runs as follows: Mondays: Dance aerobics & Ab workout Tuesdays: Circuit & weight training (Dumbells) Wednesdays: Cardio Kick-boxing Thursdays: Circuit & weight training (Dumbells) Fridays: Step aerobics All this is of course peppered with a generous dose of Pilates, Stretches, Power Yoga and not to forget Endurance Training - the Push-Ups! (these are my favourites btw - I aim to get them right, all 150 different types ;)).

They say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll let this poster designed by Sameera do all the talking...

But the best part (what I personally like about these workout sessions) is the amazing way in which our new instructor handles the classes. He is ever-smiling and makes us smile too, by cracking PJs that no one understands, but everyone laughs at none-the-less :) His high energy levels throughout class inspire one and all to keep going right till the end, till 'the globe is held' and the class is formally done for the day. It's nice to feel the 'pleasure' in our muscles as they 'work', (I've stopped calling it 'pain', again on Doc's orders :) Besides, its not really 'pain', never felt any pain yet, its just the stretch in the muscles). Gives one a real high, and a great sense of satisfaction too.

Besides all the exercising, Dr.Swamy plans to give regular talks on 'Eating Right' and 'Exercise for Researchers', which the aerobics committee plans to keep open for all IISc students and faculty, not just members of the aerobics club. Plans are on to have seminars on 'Striking a balance between body and mind'... as Dr. Swamy is prone to say, and we all agree wholeheartedly, "It's all in the mind" :)

No wonder then, with such an excellent fitness programme, registrations in the past month crossed 75! It had never been more than 55 previously. This month, the number has been fixed at 25 students per batch so that all members can have a comfortable and spacious workout area in the hall. But with requests for registrations still flooding in, not only from within campus, but also without (NCBS, JNC), the Committee might have to start at least 2 more batches, in addition to the existing 2!

With the money earned, the Committee now plans to buy and provide all members with good quality dumbells, exercise mats, medicine balls ans steps. Plans are on to have a rubber padding under the wooden floor to give that extra cushioning effect for a high intensity workout like aerobics. With the tireless efforts of the IISc Aerobics Committee, all these will soon see the light of day... the dumbells already have! :)

So, that's the story of Aerobics @ IISc till date. I wish the IISc Aerobics Committee all the very best for all their future endeavours. U Guys Absolutely Rock !!! :)))

And coming back to where I began... I say 'A' for 'Apple' and 'A' for 'Aerobics' functionally imply the same thing 'cause - both keep the Doctor away! Dr. Swamy is an exception though, and we sure hope he isn't going away anywhere in a hurry :)

Happy Exercising! Enjoy the Workouts! :)

A Bitter Pill

2007-06-08T13:36:00.000+05:30

For a change, I will write something 'bitter' in my blog... after all, it's titled 'Lemony Snippets: the sweet, sour and bitter tastes of life'.

This story has the same beginning as many others... it all started with Temptation. I gave in to it and that was it! I took a bite off that juicy red apple dangling invitingly in front of me, all against my better judgement, and see what it has done to me today. In my case though, it would not really have been the apple, but a glassful of Mosambi juice that started all the trouble.

The Choudeshwari Juice Centre near the Yellow Bridge caters to the health-concious IISc minds that gather there to have thier fill of a variety of healthy fresh fruit juices that the shop has to offer. It's a ritual the sporstmen in campus follow religiously - after a good day's play on the cricket/ hockey/ football fields and the volleyball, basketball,tennis and badminton courts, the Sachins, Dhanraj Pillays, Bhutias and Bhupatis of IISc end their day at the juice centre. Men covered in mud from top to bottom, with rivers of sweat pouring down their face, order '1 sapota, solid', '1 mosambi', '1 watermelon' or whatever it is that pleases their taste buds. Never have I seen such bonding between men of the earth like the one that takes place at the juice centre in the evenings, they might be arch rivals on the field, but at the juice centre they are all one big group of close buddies having a great time together. The juice centre is also where the lovebirds and family people alike, flock to share a cool drink and some equally juicy gossip. All in all, the Juice Centre is the happening place in IISc in the evenings... And this is precisely the place where my troubles began.

One fine evening after aerobics class, I was tempted to have a fresh fruit juice at the centre. (btw, Aerobics @ IISc simply rocks!!! A separate blogpost on that later :)) SPB has fruit juice everyday after aerobics. I generally watch him gulp down a refreshing glassful and wonder if I should give my fragile digestive system a shock by doing the same. Then one day I could bear it no longer... as SPB ordered for his 'Sapota, solid' I went right ahead and asked for '1 glass Mosambi juice'; and THAT was where I made the mistake. I ordered the wrong stuff. I should have said '1 glass Mosambi juice SOLID'. And no, 'solid' doesnt mean you get a frozen concoction, it simply means that you want no water added to your juice and want it squeezed right out of the fruit with no sugar added to your drink either; you want it as natural as it comes. Sometimes I really wonder how a pro like SPB could have overlooked the fatal error in my placing of the order... probably because he has been living on 'solid' juices for 5 whole years now ;) and could never imagine that an amateur like me would get things muddled up the way I did. Anyway, my mistake was left uncorrected and that's that. I emptied my cuppa of watery juice and then it was the juice's turn to empty me out completely. The loose motions and stomach cramps I had that night will remain fresh in my memory, as fresh as the fresh fruit juice that gave them to me!

Absence from the lab and a visit to the Health Centre were inevitable the next day. Doc there gave me Voveron (a pain killer, of all things!) and said it was the water in the juice that had done the damage. I agreed with Doc and also told him tall tales about my fragile GIT, but no amount of persuasion would make Doc give me an antibiotic to kill whatever it was that was creating havoc in my stomach. So, armed with a dozen strips of Voveron, I marched back to my room and lay on bed for the next two days. Credit must go to NiNa for religiously pestering me into telling him how many times I ran between the wickets on those two fateful days.

Was that the end of my troubles? Of course not!

A sudden change in the Bangalore weather from the hot and dry to the damp and wet brought me crashing down with sinusitis, allergic rhinitis, bronchitis and possibly the rest of the respiratory '-itis' family too. Add to it the zealous cleaning (dusting, sweeping and mopping) of my room, which was necessitated by cirumstances beyond my control, and my extreme allergy to dust, I was as good as gone for the next few days. Another trip to the health centre saw me come back with a barrel full of Voverons (oh, they are much-loved in the hc!). Three days, and the swollen throat was still the same and the intermittent fever that I kept having did nothing to subside; and I still had an year's supply of Voveron with me!

That decided me. I packed my bag and away I went to my Aunt's. Showed myself to a good doc, was relieved when he prescribed a dozen antibiotics, but NOT a single Voveron; and right now am lying on bed typing my blog, with a slight glow of victory on my face. I beat the Voveron! V for Victory! V for Voveron! V for Victory over Voveron! Yay to that! :)

And so dear friends, that ends my bitter story. What was so bitter you ask? Try popping a dozen pills twice daily and see what it does to your system... loss of apetite (not at all recommended when you have a chance to savour delicious home cooked food instead of hostel food), extreme drowsiness, inability to eat, sleep, drink, read and write are just a few of the side effects. It's a miracle I haven't fallen asleep typing this post! And what to say of the bitter after-taste the pills leave in your mouth... yuck!!!

But what to do? That's the bitter truth you see...

P.S.: If anyone anywhere in the world is in need of Voveron, you know whom to contact, right? And for the Smart Alecs, the answer's NOT the IISc health centre, but Me, Moi, Maya... get it?

I Ran Too!

2007-05-05T11:34:00.000+05:30

I am so glad! Just yesterday Didi called me up and gave me the good news that my article got published in Kanara Saraswat, the monthly magazine of the Chitrapur Saraswat community. Ours is a small community, only about 35,000 people worldwide. We are Saraswats, followers of the Goddess Saraswati, who migrated down south to Karnataka from the banks of the river Saraswati in Sindh. Though such a small community in terms of size, the world knows us because of our rich cultural heritage and also stalwarts like Shyam Benegal (film maker), Gurudutt (film actor), Prakash Padukone (badminton champion), Pandit Dinkar Kaikini and Pandit SCR Bhat (Hindustani classical vocalists) and more recently Nandan Nilekani (of Infosys fame) and Ishaa Koppikar and Amrita Rao (film actors), and there are so many more!

We are very fortunate to have a Guruparampara that dates back 300 years! Throughout our history, we've had to face a lot of difficulties, but by the grace of Lord Bhavanishankar and our Gurus, we have always come out unscatched from all our troubles.Our present Guru, the 11th in the line, is H.H. Swami Sadyojat Shankarashram.

The year 2007 - 2008 is the Tercentenary Year of the Shri Chitrapur Math, Srivalli. As part of the tercentenary celebrations a variety of events have been planned in this year, starting with the StanChart Mumbai Marathon 2007 held on the 23rd of January. I wanted to be a part of it too, but could not. But I did run... here's the whole story, as published in Kanara Saraswat... :)

"I first heard about the run at Shri Chitrapur Math, Bangalore. A powerpoint presentation enlisting the events planned for the Tercentenary celebrations was being shown there. The flag off for the year long celebrations was to be the Dream Run at Mumbai Marathon 2007. Being an Amchi Mumbai girl (pun intended!), I was excited about the run and was about to register my name for it when I realized that my plan had a glaring loop hole – the marathon was to be held in Amchi Mumbai and I was in Namma Bengaluru. After taking a month off, I was in no position to beg my boss for even a day’s leave so I could participate. Sorely disappointed, I took to ‘encouraging’ (read ‘forcing’) my friends to participate instead. I prayed fervently for a miracle to happen so I could be in Mumbai on the 21^st of January 2007 and run the Dream Run. I wanted to run for the Math too!

As always, the Almighty Lord patiently heard my plea and made sure that I did not miss the chance to run. Personally, I feel He has one line perpetually tuned into my cribbing frequency, and believe me, that line is always busy! So it happened that God decided to grant me my wish in the form of the 4.5 km ‘Sadbhavana Daud’ held annually on the 26^th of January at IISc, Bangalore. And on Republic Day this year, at 5 in the morning I found myself at the starting line of the first long distance race of my life.

I have never really been much of a sports person. All my sports related activities have been limited to running the ‘Lemon-n-spoon’ in school (and losing!) and cheering Sachin, Dravid, Paes and Hesh from the living room sofa. So it was with considerable excitement, a wee bit of nervousness and zero running practice that I stood at the start line grinning at the 30 odd participants who had gathered there. Everyone seemed to be stretching themselves right-and-left and doing warm up exercises. I tried to emulate some of them and promptly gave up as a shearing pain shot through my muscles – I surely did not want to tire myself with warm-ups before the run! At long last, the chief guest arrived, not in a spotless white A/C car, red lights blinking, but replete in a track suit, jogging all the way from his house! Everyone cheered as he came up to the starting line and the general level of enthusiasm went up tremendously. And then, the flag off – off we went!

In the span of the first five minutes all the other participants ran by me and were mere disappearing dots on the horizon. The last one to go by was an aged retired professor whom I had often seen walking in the IISc campus. He gave a broad smile, bucked me up by saying “You can do it, my girl!” and disappeared with the rest of the crowd. Since then, all the way up to the finish line at 4.5 km, I jogged all by myself, with only the rising sun and the twitter of the birds to keep me company… not that I am complaining!

I covered the first kilometer and a half in 15 minutes and reached the IISc swimming pool. An organizer was supposed to be waiting there with a yellow ribbon – proof that a participant had passed that way and not taken a short-cut. However, when I reached the place, there was no one in sight. I took a turn around the pool thinking the person might be on the other side. No one there too. I waited for 5 whole minutes. Still no one. All thoughts of ‘Sadbhavana’ drained from my mind – I endanger my life running through the dense jungle near the CEDT department in complete darkness and reach the swimming pool, and there is no one there to give me the yellow ribbon I rightfully deserve! With mounting anger I ran ahead, and the anger did me good because I completed the next kilometer in under 10 minutes! Thankfully, organizer 2 was at his designated spot with the last piece of green ribbon in hand. He was aiming pebbles in a small puddle of water. As he saw me approach, he gave me a sheepish grin and said “I never thought you would make it till here!” Hmmmfp! I snatched the ribbon from his hand, gave him a pep talk on what organizers should and should not do and continued ahead full steam.

Organizer 2 must have warned organizer 3 of the approaching tornado, because when I reached the 3.5 km mark, organizer 3 had collected two other persons with him and all three of them were cheering me with big wide smiles on their faces. I took the red ribbon from them and marched ahead. My feet were falling apart by now and the last kilometer seemed an unattainable goal. As I rounded the last bend, I saw the participants, organizers and the chief guest sitting under trees and enjoying a light snack of hot samosas and fruit juice. That brought back new life into me – I was ravenously hungry! I increased my speed to a loud round of applause and cheering from the above audience. I felt as if I was winning the Olympic gold! But all this hulla bulla woke up a sleeping mongrel from its early morning reverie and out it came for me. Woof! Woof! Woof! I managed to cross the finish line in record time, just a few seconds ahead of the angry mongrel; and also pole-vaulted myself to safety of the high fence of the Physics department. It was a 'photo-finish', literally – self balancing precariously on the narrow fence wall with dog yapping, jumping up and down trying to reach my ankles! This scene did wonders to increase the feeling of ‘Sadbhavana’ among all those who were watching, everyone was laughing and grinning at each other and poor me.

I was awarded the 2^nd prize among girls for completing the race. (Kindly ignore the fact that only two girls ran and the one who stood first took 20 minutes to run the 4.5 km while I took 45!) I also received a special mention for being the person responsible for spreading ‘Sadbhavana’. All in all I had a whole lot of fun that day. Besides, I got to run for the Math too, in my own little way. But nothing can sum up my experience better than what Amma told me, “Congratulations dear on winning the race. Remember, it has a meaning to it – all this running in the Marathon. It tells us that the journey of life is not an easy one. It is long and fraught with difficulties. But we must persist in our efforts and continue running till the end. In this fast paced life, the Saraswat youth need to realize the importance of running towards their goal, at the same time enjoying the beauty that lies in their path. They have to make the community and the Math proud of them, by not only participating in the race but also completing it right till the end. Its upto you, the Amchi youth to spread goodwill and Sadbhavana and make the world sit up take notice of our small but immensely talented community. All the best dear, to you and to all Amchi youth. You have and will always make us proud.”

We will, Mom, we all will :)

Aam Chor

2007-05-02T16:08:00.000+05:30

MMMMMMMMMMMMMM.................the Mango season's back! :)))))))))))))

Reminds me of the cool and refreshing raw mango 'Panha' and Mango Milkshakes to relieve the hot summer thirst and of course hogging on lots and lots of ripe mangoes :) It's also the time when Grannys set to work making mouth- and eye-watering mango pickles that last for years and years.

As a kid, I remember climbing up and down many a mango tree, swinging from the branches and helping Mom pluck raw mangoes. I had even made myself a small tree house up my favourite mango tree and used to spend the entire day with my dolls there... oh, how I wish I could do all that again!

The longing was so great that when Sam suggested a Mango Heist, I was game for it in no time at all! Here's pictorial proof of the robbery that was carried out on the 1st of May 2007 at the Bharani Hostel terrace and the adjoining mango tree...

The Temptation that made us plan the Great Mango Heist

"Nahi! Mein upar nahi chadungi! Mujhe unchai se darr lagta hai!" ... Sam is scared of heights, but the prize at the end was too Yummy to resist... she finally did manage to climb up the hostel terrace

Give me an opportunity to climb anything and I will! 'Maya Monkey', that's what Dad used to call me :) I climbed up the water tank right at the edge of the terrace and tried to grab at the tempting delicacies hanging from the tree. How Sam and I wished we had a long stick to do our bidding!

Success! I was literally hanging from the two mangoes I had managed to grab in my hand! Sam was screaming all the while :P

Show Off time ;) Sam climbed up the water tank and held up our loot high above for the whole world to see

And the world did see! Chetna was the 'chasmadeed gawah', the eye-witness to the whole robbery. Damn! We'd have to share the loot now :( But as long as it meant sharing it with the sweet n smiling Chetna, we really didn't mind :)

And the loot was decorated into a plate alongwith the black salt, chaat masala and salt Sam stole from her lab :)

V for Victory! Sam is all smiles as we prepare to partake of our 'Choori kaa Maal'

yummmmmmmmmm..... Khatta hai, par achha hai :)

Partners in Crime! The two thieves and the eye witness share the yummy loot :)

Truly, what a memorable day!

Ze Englis Languag

2007-04-29T17:44:00.000+05:30

Since I'm quite busy concentrating on my research work [;)], I really can't find enough time to pen my thoughts. So here are two more forwards I received, all about la langue anglais...n don't I agree with them! I'm sure you will too... ENJOYYYYYYYYY !!! N if any of you know the authors of these two wonderful texts, please please do let me know... THEY ABSOLUTELY ROCK & must be given due credit for this excellent bit of writing :)

------------ The English Language-----------------

There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple or pine in pineapple.

And while no one knows what is in a hotdog, you can be pretty sure it isn't canine.

English muffins were not invented in England nor French fries in France.

Sweetmeats are candies, while sweet breads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

We take English for granted.

But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly,

boxing rings are square, and guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write, but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce, and hammers don't ham?

If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth?

One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, two meese? Is cheese the plural of choose?

One mouse, 2 mice. One louse,2 lice. One house, 2 hice?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?

If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Why do people recite at a play, and play at a recital?

Ship by truck or car and send cargo by ship?

Have noses that run and feet that smell?

Park on driveways and drive on parkways?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

How can the weather be hot as heck one day and cold as heck another?

When a house burns up, it burns down.

You fill in a form by filling it out and an alarm clock goes off by going on.

You get in and out of a car, yet you get on and off a bus.

When the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it?

English is a silly language ... it doesn't know if it is coming or going !!!

------------- Ze Englis Languag -----------------

The European Union commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt ENGLISH as the preferred language for European communications, rather than GERMAN, which was the other possibility. As part of the negotiations, the British government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short).

In the first year, "s" will be used instead of the soft "c". Sertainly, sivil servants will resieve this news with joy. Also, the hard "c" will be replaced with "k". Not only will, this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced by "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20 per sent shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to possible. Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful, and they would go.

By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" by "z" and "w" by "v".

During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou", and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand echozer.

Ze drem vil finali kum tru !!!!

Happy Anniversary !!! :)

2007-04-23T21:49:00.000+05:30

Hey Amchi Gang, guess what? Today's our first anniversary :) Surprised that I didnt mention anything about it earlier? That's cause I wanted to write this blog post n surprise U all :) Well, here's the entire story, from the horse's, rather the mare's mouth ...

It all started way back in July 2005 when I started the Amchis group on Orkut. It was an attempt to get to know other Chitrapur Saraswat youth on Orkut.com. And if I could search for Amchis on the world wide web, would I spare any efforts to find them on campus at IIT-B !!!

Chetana Baliga (aka Bastet aka CB) was my cutie pie department junior. Kunal Kundaje (KaKe aka KK) I met through the Orkut Amchi group. Rather, it was KK who found that I was a student at IIT-B just like him and also introduced me to H4 ka Hero Ashish Balsawer (aka AB). AB got Siddharth Tallur (aka ST aka Sid aka Shrek) to join the gang. And just btw, Sid is the youngest member of the group, hence lovingly called Sid Baab :) Alongwith me, that is Maya Murdeshwar (aka Maya Pachi aka MM), the five of us formed the AMCHI GANG @ IIT-B :) :) :)

The Amchi GangSTARS: (l-r) ST, KK, AB, MM n CB

Oh boy! And did we have fun! We had our very first Amchi meet on the 23rd of April 2006, in Room No. 202, H10, my hostel room that is. And in true Amchi style, it was a total foodie thing, an Amchi Me-Eat :) There were delicious Phenoris and Besan Undes provided especially for the occasion by Sid's Amma (bless her!); there were slices of a yummy, juicy apple; there were chocolates courtsey Chocoboy KK; and not to forget the one and only, yummilicious (???) hybrid of kaallya phovu and normal phovu, the unique Maya Pachi's Putchi Phovu (Clap! Clap! Clap!). And to wash this all down, we had icy cool Kokum Sherbat... mmmmmmmmmm.... But of course, there was lots n lots of chitter-chatter in Konkani... what a treat, both to the tummy and to the ears!

Maya Pachi's Putchi Phovu

The yummilicious food n drink

We kept meeting on and off after that, at the Boat house besides Powai lake, and at innumerable restaurants demanding and ensuring treats from each other. There were also the nightly chat sessions on the IIT-B LAN and then the very recent spate of e-mails in which the Amchi Girls tried their level best to get the Male Sloths out of their hibernation - aestivation cycle... n succeeded only with young Sid Sloth. The older sloths simply refused to be roused from their hibernation! ;)

Today, we have all drifted apart. AB is working for Maersk Oil in Qatar, KK's got a fat pay packet from I-forget-whom :) CB's done with her Masters in Biotech, Sid's leaving for Cornell for his internship, and I'm in Bangalore doing my PhD. But we all are very much in touch and keep recalling the wonderful moments we spent in each others' company. To put it in Sid's words...

Endsems draw near, leaving me with little time As my fellow amchis pass out, I made this little rhyme To my best friends ever, a small tribute Try as I might, I won't be able to forget The times we spent together No matter where we all go now A promise let's all make Never to forget one another Our amchi group shall forever last.

Amen to that, Sid Baab... so shall it be :)

And finally, my dear Amchi GangSTARS, remember...

Love Ya All ... Keep Smiling, Always :) ~ Maya Pachi

Put down the Glass !

2007-04-21T15:34:00.000+05:30

One of those e-mail forwards that really needs to be treasured and of course, followed... Thanks Tanvir for passing it along :)

Once A professor began his class by holding up a glass with some water in it. He held it up for all to see; asked the students, "How much do you think this glass weighs?

'50gms!' ?....'100gms!' .....'125gms' ......the students answered.

'I really don't know unless I weigh it,' said the professor, 'but, my question is: What would happen if I held it up like this for a few minutes?' 'Nothing' the students said.

'OK, what would happen if I held it up like this for an hour?' the professor asked. Your arm would begin to ache' said one of the students.

'You're right, now what would happen if I held it for a day?' Your arm could go numb, you might have severe muscle stress & paralysis; have to go to hospital for sure! ventured another student; all the students laughed.

'Very good. But during all this, did the weight of the glass change?' asked the professor. 'No', replied the students. 'Then what caused the arm ache, the muscle stress? Instead what should I do?' The students were puzzled. 'Put the glass down!' said one of the students.

'Exactly!' said the professor, 'Life's problems are something like this. Hold it for a few minutes in your head, they seem OK. Think of them for a long time, they begin to ache. Hold it even longer, they begin to paralyze you. You will not be able to do anything.'

It's important to think of the challenges (problems) in your life, but EVEN MORE IMPORTANT to 'put them down' at the end of every day before you go to sleep. That way, you are not stressed, you wake up every day fresh, strong, can handle any issue, any challenge that comes your way!

Remember friends - PUT THE GLASS DOWN TODAY!

That's life !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Friends, Listen Up...

2007-03-16T01:24:00.000+05:30

Holi Hai !

2007-03-08T21:20:00.000+05:30

I remember the first time I played with colours as a kid... I was only 4 years old and decided to accompany my neighbour (who was 12, btw :)) and play with the other kids in Ozar T/S. Since I did not have a 'Pichkari', Mom improvised the 'Jalebi- maker' into a cute little Pichkari and filled it with water for me. The moment I stepped out of my house, Megha didi smothered my face in black paint, and I stepped back into the house crying... Pehli Holi par mera muh kaala hua :D

Things have changed a lot since then. I discovered I'm allergic to the commercially available colours and kept to playing with water at home with Mom. Even after shifting to Mumbai, I would just stand in my balcony and look longingly at fellow colony-ites playing and shouting downstairs. But I sure had fun showering bucketfuls of water down on them :)

When in IIT-B, I simply ran home on Rang Panchami day!

And in IISc, well, what should I say! I had specifically told everyone that I would not be playing colours and to call me only for the snacks later on. But who listens to a Fresher? I was cornered outside my hostel by labmates and department friends. The result:

I had to wash myself for an hour and a half to take off all those colours! But thankfully, no allergic rash this time :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Festival of Colours. May God grant all of us the beautiful colours of life, love, happiness, health, wealth and all other colours that we want to paint our lives with. I end with a beautiful sms that I received

"Pyar ke rang se bharo pichkari, Sneh ke rang se rang do duniya saari, Ye rang na jaane koi boli, aapko mubarak ho apno ki ye Holi"

Spot the Difference

2007-02-07T11:42:00.000+05:30

I bought a Canon S3is Powershot semi-SLR digital camera with my first hard-earned(?!) salary as a Ph.D student :) It was a birthday gift to myself. I have fallen completely in love with it and keep experimenting. I thought I'd taken an original shot when I clicked my reflection in the mirror...

But it so happens that Koko had already done the same a couple of years ago...

Can U spot the difference? ;)

If...

2006-10-19T10:05:00.000+05:30

My all time favourite poem...

~ Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

are losing theirs and blaming it on you

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you

but make allowance for their doubting too

If you can wait and not be tired of waiting

Or being lied about, dont deal in lies

Or being hated, don't give way to hating

And yet don't look too good or talk too wise

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

and treat those two imposters just the same

If you can bear to hear the truth you have spoken

twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools

Or watch the things you've given your life to, broken

and stop to build them up with worn-out tools

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss

And lose and start again at your begginings

and never breathe a word about your loss

If you can force your heart, nerve and sinew

to serve your turn long after they are gone

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

except the will that says "Hold On!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch

If neither foes nor friends can hurt you

If all men count with you, but none too much

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

with sixty seconds worth of distance run

Yours is the earth and everything that's in it

And which is more, you'll be a MAN my son!

Take this Quiz

2006-08-24T20:20:00.001+05:30

This is one of the very many forwarded mails that keep spamming my internet Inbox. To the people who are reading this the 2nd, 3rd, 4th ... nth time, enjoy it once more! The questions are as follows:

1) How long was the 100 yr war?

A) 116 B) 99 C) 100 D) 150

2) In which country are the Panama hats made?

A) BRASIL B) CHILE C) PANAMA D) EQUADOR

3) In which month do the Russians celebrate the October Revolution?

A) JANUARY B) SEPTEMBER C) OCTOBER D) NOVEMBER

4) Which of these was King George VI first name?

A) EDER B) ALBERT C) GEORGE D) MANOEL

5) The Canary islands, in the Pacific Ocean, has its name based on which animal:

A) CANARY BIRD B) KANGAROO C) PUPPY D) RAT

If u think you are indeed clever and laughed at these seemingly stupid questions, then please check the answers below:

1) The 100 year war lasted 116 years from 1337-1453

2) The Panama hat is made in Equador

3) The October revolution is celebrated in November

4) King George's first name was Albert. In 1936 he changed his name

5) Puppy. The Latin name is INSULARIA CANARIA which means islands of the puppies

Hope you enjoyed taking this little test :)

The Dream of Freedom & the Freedom to Dream

2006-08-15T14:10:00.000+05:30

Today is the 15th of August 2006. It's been 60 years since India won her independence from the British rule. We now have the freedom of thought, speech and action - no one can challenge us, none to rule over us. Sadly, we take this freedom for granted. We do not realize the significance of BEING FREE to THINK, to SPEAK and to DO as we please; maybe because we were 'born free' so to say. We do not know what it is like to be under continuous suppression, to be unable to speak our mind and to be flogged like slaves throughout. We only know how to enjoy, how to please ourselves, hardly thinking whether our actions are causing others trouble. We must realize that being free not only means that each individual has his or her own set of rights, but also that these are limited by the rights of the community as a whole. We must be responsible for our words and actions, causing no one any hurt. We must not indulge in activities that inconvnience others, just because we have the right to those activities. It's only if we think for ourselves AND the world around us - that includes not only the people, but also our environment and Mother Nature - that India can make real progress.

Our forefathers dreamt of free a India and made their dream a reality. They dreamt of freedom and gave us the freedom to dream. Let us together dream of a free India once again - India free from poverty, corruption, casteism and terrorism. Let us dream of a free India - an educated, self-sufficient and happy India where everyone is entitled to dream and to turn their dreams into a reality. Let us contribute to this cause in our own little way and help make India what our forefathers wanted her to be.

Here are two of my favourite poems on Freedom. Think over what they have to say and join me in making India a better place for you, me and everyone else.

From "GITANJALI" by Rabindranath Tagore

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms toward perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is lead forward by Thee into ever-widening thought and action;
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

"Freedom " by Safdar Hashmi

What does 'Independence' mean
to him and her and you and me?
What does it mean to all of us?
What does it mean to be free?

Freedom is to do what you wish,
to hunt the birds, to kill the fish.
To break, to burn, to fight, to hit
take a hammer and smash a dish.

No! That is NOT being free! That is horrible and sillee!
Then what is it, if not all this?

To be free is not to fight,
not to scratch, not to bite.
But to learn to read, to learn to write,
to draw and paint, and dance and play.
To be good friends,
All be good friends
all night, all day.

To be a friend to every tree,
of every bird and flower bee.
To look at the bright and blue sky
as the clouds go floating by.
To watch the birds sing and fly
To know the insects crawling by.

Never to scratch, and never to bite,
To stop those kids who quarrel and fight.
Never to push, and never to shove.
To laugh, to smile, to help to love.

And so dear friends,
Freedom means to love and share
To be helpful and to care.
Not to be afraid and not to fear,
To love the people everywhere.

This is what Nash does...

2006-07-15T16:25:00.000+05:30

Nash, a.k.a Nachiket Vartak, my classmate of 5 years now (how I simply love using this line ;)) is as brilliant and intelligent a guy as can be, but sometimes he manages to surpass even himself in brilliance! Here's what he did in one of the Wednesday seminar sessions at IIT-B in the first year of MSc. Thanks Nash for brightening up those seminars :)

More gems from the Vartak brain in future posts.

My Kind of Math

2006-06-26T13:05:00.000+05:30

I am fascinated by Mathematics.

I always have been ever since my kindergarten days when I was first introduced to it. I remember sitting with my freshly sharpened Camel HB pencil, a much-used completely blackened piece of eraser and my square-lined Maths notebook drawing elaborate addition, subtraction, multiplication and division symbols. Invariably the ‘plus’ sign would turn up skewed and become indistinguishable from the multiplication ‘cross’ symbol. I would then make liberal use of the blackened eraser creating a big black patch on my notebook, and try again, further skewing the ‘plus’ sign in the ‘cross’ direction. The final results of these single-minded efforts would be something like this: 2 x 3 = 5, with an even larger and bolder ‘cross’ in red ink at the side :) Over the 22 years of my life I have mastered the art of writing the ‘plus’ sign the right way and skewing the multiplication ‘cross’ with a very high degree of accuracy and precision. Computers have made life much simpler for me – multiplications are represented by ‘*’ – a combination of my ‘+’ and ‘x’. No ‘signs’ of confusion anywhere now!

I had an enjoyable time with all the Maths in school. As I approached the dreaded SSC exams, I realized that Maths was the only subject that I really loved – where else could one score 10 marks for writing 5 short sentences! Absolutely no need for 2 page stories! Boy, wasn’t that great! No aching hands after a Maths exam… never mind the aching head from trying to figure out what those 5 short sentences should have been. Why, oh why could not things be as simple as this:

Even though I opted for Biology in junior college (JC), I did take the Maths component offered alongwith it. That meant another two years of Calculus, Conics and Probability. I immensely enjoyed my JC Maths classes ‘cause I could let my imagination run wild. ‘Calculus’ had all these weird mysterious symbols that one used liberally in every single line one wrote – more of a class on Egyptian hieroglyphs than anything else! The different geometrical shapes in the ‘Conics’ section were food for thought, literally. Imagine this – an inverted cone. Add an oval on it and top it all off with a small rotund circle. Now add the colours – brown cone, pink and cream oval and red circle – Voila! strawberry ice cream cone topped with a bright red juicy cherry! Delicious! No wonder then that given all the different ‘permutations and combinations’ of things to do after Maths class, the ‘probability’ of finding me at the ice cream shop always ‘tended to 1’! But thanks to my excellent Maths teachers in JC, I have learnt quite a bit of advanced level Maths and thankfully won’t be doing silly things like this –

... I just might do sillier things ;)

Today, even after completing my post-graduation in Biotechnology, I need to play with numbers, not that I am complaining or anything. Genetics has Maths, Biochemistry has Maths, and Biostatistics like the name implies has just Maths, Maths and still more Maths. As if this wasn’t enough, every single experiment I perform has to be validated by a whole bunch of statistical tests. That means poor me has to burn the midnight oil, my Casio fx-100W scientific calculator by my side, my steady partner in all activities involving the slightest hint of Mathematics in them. By breakfast time, I am ready with an extremely messy set of graphs with error bars strewn all across and from which interpretations of no kind whatsoever can ever be made. (In my case, I’m quite sure the ‘error bars’ themselves have a whole lot of errors in them). But inspite of all this I still like Maths.

In conclusion, I reiterate what I said earlier – I am in complete awe of Mathematics, in fact I think I have fallen in love with the Mother of All Sciences. Solving a basic Maths problem every now and then keeps my brain from becoming rusty. It makes me sharp and alert. Besides, it teaches me lessons in life as well. I approach a problem with trepidation, decide there is no way around it but through it, make up my mind to solve it, think over and analyze it, and finally come up with the solution, not necessarily the right one everytime. If mistaken, I retrace my steps and find where exactly I went wrong and how I could correct the mistake. The wave of joy that surges through me on correctly solving even the simplest of the simple Maths problems is inexplicable, unimaginable. It’s the same with life’s little problems, isn’t it?

I never will understand why exactly I like Maths so much. I think Calvin ‘sums it all up’ real well…

And finally, for all those who understand Maths, well, here’s the eternally insoluble problem…

Sure Looks Good !

2006-06-15T14:49:00.000+05:30

B.Sc. : St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai
M.Sc. : Indian Institute of Technology – Bombay, Mumbai
Ph.D. : Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

I can’t believe that’s what my CV looks like since the 9th of June 2006!

WOW and YAY! :)

Happy Birthday Dear Dad

2006-05-29T11:24:00.000+05:30

Dearest Pappa,

It's your 64th Birthday today.

Being in Bangalore, I visited Shri Chitrapur Math on the 15th cross in the morning and have offered a Rudrabhishekh and Bilvarchana Seva to Lord Shankara on your behalf. Today is a Monday luckily and I will be able to attend the Shiva Poojan in the evening as well.

Back in Grant Road, Amma has made Aamras- Puri. There also are other Amchi delicacies that you loved so much. Everything is the same, just that this time although the table is full, your chair is empty. The head of the family is no longer with us.

Since you left us in september last year, our train of life is running empty, the journey seems incomplete without our dearest co-passenger beside us. Everything I do seems to have a void in it. I miss your sparkling laughter at my foolish antics, your getting annoyed at my stubbornness, your joy at even the smallest and most insignificant of my achievements, but most of all I miss your genial but practicable advice that guided me along the right way, always. I am missing you so very much dear Dad, missing you a lot.

Throughout your life you have been the ever-helpful and very much respected Dr. Sharad Murdeshwar, always ready to help the rich and poor alike. You modestly brushed aside peoples' efforts to label you a great doctor. I realized how much people loved and revered you only in 1995 when you were hospitalized for the first time - you were visited not only by friends, relatives and colleagues, but also a multitude of people whom Amma and I had never heard of, seen or met before. They had all been your patients at one time or the other, all been given a second chance to live because of you. I was really amazed at how you had reached across the diverse strata of society to bring joy into their lives: there were farmers who had come all the way from Ozar in their tractors and there were business tycoons who came in their Mercedes; there were your childhood friends from all over India and also now famous doctors whom you had taught when they were students. It was amazing how the differences between them melted away as they came to see their beloved 'Doctor Saaheb', 'Dr. Murdeshwar' and 'Respected Sir'.

And maybe because you did such a splendid job here that God called you away so soon. He did not want such a wonderful person to suffer anymore. Amma and I will always feel vacant and sad at having lost you, but we are glad that you have to no more endure the pain and suffering you endured for the past ten years. We know you are much happier up there than you would be down here.

Dear Pappa, you have always been a steady source of inspiration for me. Didn't you tell me that the only infection worth spreading in this world is a SMILE :) Well, I have been doing my best to spread this infection. But when you passed away, it was very difficult for me to keep a smiling face so the world would still see a warm glow. Yet, I tried my best and still am, and like I promised you, always will keep smiling. You do too - cause if you stop, I won't be able to face the world.

There's another promise I made to you that I am working towards - I am going to be the next 'Dr. Murdeshwar'. I have completed my Masters in Biotechnology from IIT-Bombay and would have loved you and Amma to come together for my convocation ceremony. Anyway, I am now looking for a good Ph.D. position in either Biochemistry (like you wanted me to) or Neurobiology (like I want to). With your and Amma's blessings, I am sure that some day in the near future I will be 'Prof. Dr. Maya Sharad Murdeshwar', a doctor like you and a wonderful teacher like Amma. Hope that day dawns soon.

Happy Birthday once again dear Pappa, and don't forget to Keep Smiling :)

Loads and loads of love from Amma and me.

NO RESERVATIONS PLEASE

2006-04-26T19:33:00.000+05:30

This was forwarded to me by my friend Rithvik. I am sure this letter would appeal to cricket crazy India and at the same time put forward the 'No Reservations' stand very strongly indeed. Kudos to the author of this wonderful letter! Read, enjoy and spread the word..."NO RESERVATIONS PLEASE"

"ET has opened a debate on "Is Premji right to go against job quotas in Wipro?"

As expected most of the posts agree with him... here is someone who put his pt in a v diff way.. :)) --------------------------------------------------------

I think we should have job reservations in all the fields. I completely support the PM and all the politicians for promoting this. Let's start the reservation with our cricket team.

We should have 10 percent reservation for muslims. 30 percent for OBC,SC/ST like that. Cricket rules should be modified accordingly. The boundary circle should be reduced for an SC/ST player. The four hit by an OBC player should beconsidered as a six and a six hit by a OBC player should be counted as 8 runs. An OBC player scoring 60 runs should be declared as a century. We should influence ICC and make rules so that the pace bowlers like Shoaib Akhtarshould not bowl fast balls to our OBC player. Bowlers should bowl maximum speed of 80 kilometer per hour to an OBC player. Any delivery above this speed should be made illegal.

Also we should have reservation in Olympics. In the 100 meters race, an OBC player should be given a gold medal if he runs 80 meters.

There can be reservation in Government jobs also. Let's recruit SC/ST and OBC pilots for aircrafts which are carrying the ministers and politicians (that can really help the country..)

Ensure that only SC/ST and OBC doctors do the operations for the ministers and other politicians. (Another way of saving the country..)

Let's be creative and think of ways and means to guide INDIA forward... Let's show the world that INDIA is a GREAT country. Let's be proud of being anINDIAN.. May the good breed of politicans like ARJUN SINGH long live... "

PS: I have nothing against SC/ST/OBC and the lot, but I am totally against reservations in any field. I completely agree with Sarath's views in this respect.

This is ME alright !!!

2006-04-19T18:44:00.000+05:30

One of my fav pics from Devilhead - Pravs World ... describes me in the entirety ... everyone will agree I'm sure :))

Friends Find Their Way

2006-04-11T10:17:00.000+05:30

So very true ...

"Friendship knows no season... knows no time... It has the sole intention of bringing two people together to a moment called ... Forever"

Here's to all my treasured friends:

"Years will come and years will go, but with each one I'll always know...

That whichever way the road may bend, *You All* will always be my awesome friends"

Ani kalle mhonche? Friends are simply The Best !

Life's Like That!

2006-04-11T00:04:00.000+05:30

What with final M.Sc submissions underway, I am on the 'Hot Seat'! Failed experiments, research guide's rants, report submissions, seminars and presentations, and how can I forget - the end semester exams just around the corner - from the frying pan into the fire! This picture sums up my present emotions very well indeed ...

But one thing sure brought back the smile on my face - comments on my first blog post are longer than the post itself :)

A moment of grief - the next - instant happiness... Life's Like That!

Thank U dear friends for cheering me up n egging me on ... Love ya all !

For The Want Of A Name ...

2006-03-28T09:58:00.000+05:30

Hello World! :)

Its feels great to finally have a blog of my own, rather, to finally start posting on it! Have been on Blogger.com since September 2005 and this is my first post yet! Why, you ask? Well, here’s why… All for the want of a name!

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other word would smell as sweet." --William Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

For starters, I came up with ‘Illusions’, the most popular meaning of my name. Although I liked it [my MSN ID used to be ‘The Power of Illusion’ :)] friends disagreed. It seemed to them as if I were hallucinating…Whatever!

Next came ‘Maya’s blog’ …How very original! Ditch without second thoughts!

A great deal of exercising the grey cells later I managed to churn up a few more extremely disappointing names - ‘Travails of a Mad Scientist’, ‘The Absent –minded Professor’, ‘The Blundering Biologist’…. only one word…. Dayaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! For the non-Hindi, non-IIT-B readers (readers, if at all!) ‘Dayaa’ means ‘Mercy’ … kind of like ‘Spare me! Anything but THIS!’

By this time, which was considerably long, taking into account the fact that it took me at least a week to come up with each new name; I was feeling all empty-headed and completely blank. So a dear friend Maverick came up with the name ‘Thoughts from an Empty Skull’… er… well that might be true you know, but I like to indulge in an elevated sense of superiority – smart, brainy, intelligent girl – you get the picture? So there! Another good name dropped!

‘Utopian Dreams’ was also suggested around the same time. Nice name, but…nah... didn't feel right.

Nash suggested ‘Mayalogy’. ‘Mayalogy… M-A-Y-A-ology’… imagine Shaan singing that… *sigh* I like it !!! But hey! I don’t want my blog to be mistaken for a research database on the Mayan civilization, do I? Sorry Nash :(

Nash also happened to suggest ‘About Maya and Men’… MERCY, Nash! What’s there to write about anyway? ;)

After several such unsuccessful attempts at thinking up the Perfect Blog Name and pestering friends to the point where they started showing me the cold shoulder, I sat back and did some real deep thinking - a major feat in itself - and finally came up with ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’. (By now, you must have realized how very creative a mind I have, brimming with ‘original’ ideas) Nonetheless, I liked the name. It gave a wonderful philosophical touch … me the pilgrim undertaking the long journey we call life… Very nice… And so the name stuck… until a month or so later, with not a single post on the blog, Blogger.com decided to discontinue my pilgrimage :(

So began the second phase in the search for the Perfect Blog Name…

For a long time after that, nothing other than ‘Writer’s Block’ came to my mind…

And then… on a not-so-fine day, after another series of failed experiments, shouting from the research guide and a miserable search for the Perfect Blog Name, a very depressed me came back to the hostel room, switched on the computer, logged onto the movie server and watched 'Lemony Snicket's – A Series of Unfortunate Events’. Not the stereotypical Jim Carrey movie, but I enjoyed it anyway. A must watch for all depressed and distressed souls.

A sudden inspiration while watching this movie lead to the discovery of the Perfect Blog Name … ‘Lemony Snippets – the sweet, sour and bitter tastes of life’ Purrrrrrrrfect! Wonderful! Excellent! Just what the doc advised! Like I mentioned before, I am a person brimming with original ideas ;)

So now, I have my Very Own Blog with the Perfect Blog Name and I plan to bug anyone and everyone who reads it with loads of useless nonsense, worthless advice, bad formatting, miniscule font size, gaudy colours, extra long sentences with punctuation marks in all the wrong places (I'm really good at that!) and of course, not to forget the very generous dose of smileys sprinkled here and there and everywhere ...

Happy Reading! :))