Its Official! I can go to prison..

...at least in most of the states in the USofA. Am i getting morbid thoughts? Lets see..its Friday night, i'm sitting at home writing a blog, watching Desperate Housewives and waiting for my hubby dearest..who is out gallavanting with his friends from work at the "office" party..hmm reason to be morbid? most definately..am i? nah :)

I love these times when i'm alone with my thoughts..my personal time..something i cherish! So how did my thoughts turn towards prison? I read this article in Newsweek this morning about a prison in Maryland, that was turning its prisoners Vegan, simply because it served better vegan food than the non-vegetarian variety!

Now, I'm a vegetarian in a primarily meat (read : beef) eating country, however i'm very lucky to be living in california, a state where more & more people are turning towards vegetarianism, but i'm not living in a fool's paradise..its not that great everywhere else for us vegeterians, but still in the free world i might find something to graze on..but in prison???

When i read that article, i felt good and intrigued! So i googled "vegeterian food in US prisons" and was surprised to find a Top 10 vegeterian prisons list! Also, the article went on to say prisons served vegeterian food as a "punishment" to naughty prisoners, but more and more prisoners were liking the vegeterian food better than the meaty version, simply because it was healthier and it tasted better to boot!

To top this off, i recently saw "Sicko", the very interesting documentary by Michael Moore, and he found the healthcare in the Guantanamo Bay prison is better than that available to us general public! That settles it, if i need to go to prison..i'll survive :).

Now dont get me wrong, its not something i'm planning on doing anytime soon (or ever)..but life has a weird way of throwing curve balls at you, and if this one HAS to come my way..its a happy thought to know i'll be well fed and cared for while i fight the courtroom war..and on that happy note..Good Bye & Good Night!

Go-Karting ..a team event..

If anyone out there was wondering where I have been all this time and why no new posts..blame it on my manager at work. He has managed to keep me insanely busy for the longest time and his plans extend way beyond December. To be fair however, yesterday he arranged a team event for all of us hard working "worker bees", and it gave me something I absolutely had to blog about..so here I am!

As a "reward" for all our effort over the past few months, we would have a nice lunch followed by go-karting! For those of you going huh?? check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kart_racing.

At about 11:45am on a beautiful San Francisco fall day , we (a party of 10) set off for lunch. Lunch was at a cute crepe restaurant in Burlingame. Burlingame downtown was a pleasant surprise, it had many upscale shops and cozy restaurants with outdoor seating, which looked very inviting especially on that beautiful day. The restaurant we had chosen was called Crepevine (http://www.crepevine.com/)

Crepes are thin flour pancakes, originating from France, and have been compared to the Indian Dosa. The restaurant offered a wide variety of savory as well as dessert crepes, we each ordered a savory crepe which came with a healthy helping of house potatoes and salad which were equally Yum!! I could barely finish the whole crepe, so i skipped dessert, but we ordered 2 dessert crepes to share on the table, and the general opinion about those was good too.

We had a 2:00 o'clock reservation at the go-kart place, so at around 1:30, the party moved to Go Kart Racer in Burlingame (http://www.gokartracer.com/index.php). Now, people who have done go-karting before have a general idea what this is about, what is different about this place (from the other go-karting places I've been), is that the overall feeling you get here is probably the closest you will ever come to what the real thing is probably like!

So we all walked in and signed up, at this point one of our team-mates decided to drop from the racing, she's had a few neck/back problems and thought this might exaggerate them. That left 9 of us, 8 testosterone high men (or "boys" more like) and me! We were given our licences (yes, you get your own go-kart-racer licence!) and head sock's and asked to "suit up".

We walked into the changing rooms, and there neatly hanging on a rack are track suits of various sizes and colors! By track suit I mean a full length jumpsuit, the kind you can see on the pictures on their website or the kind you've probably seen Michael Schumacher wearing..(aha! now you see what I mean when I say close to the real thing).Once we'd changed, we gathered outside and chit-chatted while we waited for our "instructor" to be ready.There were tips given by team-mates on how to be a good go-kart racer, which I conveniently forgot as soon as i stepped into the car of course ..

Anyways, soon enough we found ourselves in a small room with a TV and VCR. They actually had an instructional tape, telling us the do's and dont's. For e.g. When you see the yellow flag "Do" slow down to one mile per hour. "Don't" bump into any other car. etc etc. The various flag's were explained to us, the yellow , the blue with a yellow line across it, the red..etc etc (and to think the only flag i was aware of was the checkered flag!!)

Once we went through the tape, we had a brief re-cap in the form of an instructor re-iterating some of the aforementioned things, and off we were sent to get our Helmets. As I slid into my helmet I had the most claustrophobic sensation ever..the helmet, the head sock, the clothes were all making us feel extremely warm! Hopefully the thrill of the race would make us forget our temporary discomfort. We trooped down an aisle and were each assigned our cars, we got in and got strapped in. At this point you also get to wear a neck brace..about comfort, this thing definitely is not..

Anyways, finally we were all set, we were asked to leave the "pit" one car at a time..I was the first one out (and that will be the last time i use the word "first" and associate it with myself :D). And zoooooom we all went, the track we were on (the Yokoma), had a couple of sharp turns, but was supposed to be relatively the easier track."Easy???" ...for the guys maybe, as each of them sped past me! I tried my very best to make up for my "sluggish" turns at the straight leg of the track, but phew this was hard!! The flag I saw most often directed to me was the blue with the yellow line (meaning "move aside loser there's a faster car behind you" :D)

Finally, after what seemed like the longest 10 minutes, the race ended (or so I thought), there was the checkered flag and off we went into the pits again. We parked, got our helmets off, every one's hair glistening with perspiration and faces glowing with the thrill and walked out to get our "score" sheets. I came 8th!! I was so ecstatic!! I wasn't last was my only thought, till someone mentioned this was only a "practice" lap.Practice?? Practice!! O God!

After a 10 minute break, it was back to the briefing room for us. Now, they said the race starts, no one will show you the blue and yellow flag, try and find your way around the slow cars and all other rules remain same, this session was 20 minutes!!. With a lot of apprehension yet not wanting to chicken out so soon, I walked out and re-donned my helmet, got back into a car, and off we went.

This is when things went soo horribly wrong.. first, the car I got just wouldn't turn. I practically put all my strength into turning the wheel and yet it just wouldn't!! so in the 1st lap, I found myself more stuck in the side tyres than ever..finally the track guys helping me each time I got stuck, told me to change my car. So I drove into the pits to get a new car. All this time, the others were well oblivious of my misery and continued speeding down the track. Soon enough I was back on the track in a new car, that was much easier to turn, but now my arms gave up on me!! I had practically zero strength remaining after 5 laps, and to make things worse, all the faster driver (which basically means everyone else on the track) kept bumping into me!!

So I figured before I really injured myself..I'll graciously bow out of the race and so I did, I drove into the pits and signed off..phew..the pain was over :). I watched as the others continued zooming past and seemed to be having a blast and after about 10 minutes or so I saw the checkered flag welcoming the winners!!

As we walked off the track, each of us had a story to tell about who bumped into whom and our own theories on what was the right way to make turns etc etc.. Everybody had soo much fun we declared the team event a true success!!

Update : Day 2 after the big team event and I barely have strength to type!! the arms are paaaaaaaaining..since the pain is so bad I can barely work..Wonder if that still makes the team even a "success" :D

Demystifying the Female Mystique

One often hears of the "impossible to figure out" woman, she comes up everywhere, in the idle banter of old men or the raucous babble of the younger male species.She is usually the point on which all men agree on, they all agree its impossible to figure her out!

I got this email the other day, which listed how a woman was contradiction personified, how when she says no she means yes and how when she agrees she really is disagreeing.Tsk Tsk..Men are soo simple (pun intended).

I wonder if these men ever think that what if women add that contradiction to themselves on-purpose. This "confusion" about women, is what gives them the mystical aura that most men find so alluring. Even the most educated woman in a highly paid job can "act" dumb at the drop of a hat!

There is no school that teaches women this art of befuddlement, yet every woman has a master's degree in the same. How you ask? Its simple, what you call befuddlement we call insaurance. Everyone knows how difficult it is to hold a Man's attention right? An averge man has the attention-span of about 1 minute, if a woman is to hold his attention longer that that she needs to pique his interest..and the easiest way? that right..confusion..

From times bygone, women were told to take care of their husbands and do what it takes to keep him "interested", since times bygone women have used contradiction as a way of adding to their mystery..Today's woman is definately going places, she's come a long way from the traditional home-maker role, and along the journey she's perfected the confundus charm. Where wit and intellect fail..Confundo!

The Enemy Within

I had an interesting conversation recently, and while I don't think I was able to convince the person I was talking to about the validity of my point-of-view, I felt it was important to put both the point of views down here for all and sundry to ponder/comment upon.

The conversation started with me making a random remark about how India (like China) needed to implement or enforce some population control measures. To this the person replied, that it wasn't possible, because the Muslim population in the country wouldn't agree. (yes.."huh?" was my reaction too)

That remark, set us off on a completely different thread of conversation. The person in question opined that the Muslim minority in India was actually "paid" (though not sure by whom) to have a larger family. He believed the intent was to eventually outnumber the "Hindu" majority in India. He further claimed, that he foresaw a future where these "Muslims" would eventually take over by force that which was not rightfully theirs (land, businesses etc) , simply because they could (they being a majority in that future). Finally, he claimed, he already saw that happening to a smaller extent, when the police themselves felt they could not react to a crime committing Muslim in the same manner as they would to any other person, for fear of a communal backlash. Further, he says, the Muslim kids are also budding truants who regularly deal in petty crimes like not paying bus fares etc. and would eventually grow up into organized crime.

Sadly,this religion biased opinion is the flavor of the day, even in 21st Century India, even among the "learned" few, thanks to our religion tinged politics. The self proclaimed "defenders" of Hinduism and Islam, the saffron brigade and the mullahs, poisoning the minds of the people and widening the chasm into which I'm afraid we all will fall one day.


My opinion regarding the above statements is a) they are not based on any facts and therefore are moot b) they are, if propagated to the younger generations, the seeds of discontent that will result in fruits of contrition

Let us take on this argument one point at a time, firstly I agree its difficult to enforce a population control law in India, however, it is not because a particular sect does not want to or is paid to reproduce or whatever, it is because, simply put, India is a democracy (unlike China), and hence any enforcement of law is violating the most basic right of the people of the country. Also, the various religions (not just the one), are traditionally opposed to birth control, they believe kids are a gift from god, and hence any form of enforcement would lead to hurting the religious sentiments of too many.

What the government can do however, imho, is to provide incentives to people with lesser kids (free higher education for the kids etc), this will (hopefully) goad the people into thinking positively with regards to population control.


Islam is the second largest (if not already the largest) religious sect in the world. That Muslims will one day outnumber the Hindus or any other religious sect in India is a given. It is therefore all the more important to quash any communal feelings right now, at its root, before it grows into something which no one can manage.The answer is not to quash the current minority or alienate them but to learn to live together harmoniously

Kids playing truant is not necessarily an indication of future criminal activities, it usually is just kids being kids. At some point of time or another, we have all tried to "get away" by not paying the bus or train fare, just to experience the adrenaline rush we felt when doing something naughty. While we always knew it was wrong, as kids we needed to explore possibilities to grow and that's all it usually was. And its not a particular caste or kind of kid doing this, its kids in general.



I have been fortunate to have friends belonging to different castes (people I studied with in school, hung-out with in college or worked with in a professional environment), and speaking for them, I would say they are not the least bit criminal, they act or behave in pretty much the same way as I do and their goals in life are pretty similar to mine.

I believe, education not religion is the basis of future life, I'm not an Atheist, but I believe all religions in the world have the same basic message, that of peace not war. I believe people around the world need a lesson in co-existence. I believe the real war is with the Enemy Within, the foe that goads man against man, the small/big part within us that believes that our religion (whatever it may be), is "the best", or the "one true religion", that is the part of our soul that we must overcome. Once we win over the Enemy within, maybe we will find no enemies without?

P.S. - I came across a great blog, that basically mirrors my thoughts on religion. Here is the link to that. http://righttowrite.blogspot.com/2007/07/i-believe-in-keeping-it-personal.html

Its Elementary My Dear Watson !

One of Mr. Sherlock Holmes adventures starts with an idyllic Dr. Watson challenging Holmes to guess the occupation of 5 random people that come down the street. Of course..Holmes being Holmes, does so with what seems like relative ease but with what truly is a highly polished sense of observation.



Yesterday, as I was browsing through the local grocery store, I decided to play a little detective myself. They say, you are what you eat, so what better place to "know" people than in a grocery store eh! What I found, while quickly checking out their grocery carts (p.s. - i wasnt trying to pry into anyones business, just trying to observe..so stop rolling your eyes!) and their overall demenor, is that its actually quite easy to somewhat conclude on the person's lifestyle.


First up, a white caucasian woman in her late twenties or early thirties wearing track pants and a cart full of fruits, health bars, nuts and milk. Category : Health-nut. Then up walks her boyfriend (why not husband you ask? no wedding ring / engagement ring AHA!) carrying 2 Jamba Juices. Update Category : Made for each other Health-nuts.


Then up, a dark couple of indian decent (it takes one to know one), checking out the price of each item before buying, their cart has one sole carton of milk, they seem to be arguing about something, the woman is dressed in a traditional indian attire (salwaar kameez) with the traditional indian sindoor in her hair, the man is dressed in jeans with a tucked in cotton full-sleeved shirt, with a pager on his belt and a cell phone in his hand. Category : newly married couple (the sindoor clearly indicates marriage in India, however the fact that she was still using it..most young women stop using it soon after landing in the USofA and their ackwardness with each other made me think newly married), homemaker wife and software engineer husband, probably working in one of the big software companies in the area.



This I admit was mostly based on the general demograpics of the area that I was in, rather than any specific observation, this is the most commonly found couple "species" (if you may), in that particualr area. So my guess, was simply based on wider demograpical data.


Up next, in the junk food isle, two young women, one white caucasian and one tall african-american each on their own cell phones (yet sharing a cart so seemed to shop together), the cart consisted of various ready to eat items, chips (of the plain salted and spicy jalapeno kinds), salsa's (both mild and hot varities), soda's (diet soda only), water, juices (again of various kinds), 2 cartons of milk (one whole milk and one 2% kind), whole wheat and white bread. Category : young freshman year room-mates. Based on the variety in their cart, they have obviously different tastes, yet one cart, indicating living together under one-roof. Going to school mainly because of the preppy "hip" look of their clothes and their bling bling cell-phones, and ever present giggles.


Finally at the checkout line, a white caucasian woman in early thirties, black skirt suit, checking out 5 bottles of wine, various cheeses, bread and frozen pasta. Category : working woman obviously, no kids (early thirties is still a little young in this country esp with working women to have kids), married (duly noted the wedding band while she was giving her credit card) and having a party tonite (5 bottles of wine)! From the looks of her clothes and perfect makeup she could be a HR manager in some company or a Lawyer by profession. The Dark color of her suit, tends to make me think it is the latter rather than the former..


Here surprising, I lucked out, the cashier at the checkout was quiet chatty, and while looking at the woman's ID commented on how her birthday was just yesterday and asked if she did anything special. The woman responded by saying, the people at her "firm" (law firm??) threw her a small party and then her "husband" took her out for a nice dinner and that tonight they were having a few friends over for an extended celebration for "her big 30" !. Without knowing it, she validated all my points of observation as true!!!!


As to the rest of the above observations..your guess is as good as mine :). While I may not be bang on, I think i'd have come close to the truth at least...man..i have waaay too much time on my hands!!





picture courtesy : http://www.sherlockian.net/

The ER Experience

Its been a while since I wrote anything here, and it was the daily mundane activities keeping me away from my favourite activity..Now I'm back..well..sort of..I sat up to write this from my hospital bed..intrigued? read on..

One Fine Day my husband and I were happily at the airport, waiting to board a flight from Los Angeles, CA to Dallas, TX. It had been a while since we'd gone away together and spending quality time with each other was on the top of our minds, that coupled with helping out my brother, who was to undergo a torn ACL operation in Dallas and meeting up with my mom who was visiting from India. All-in-all we'd planned on relaxing for 4 days and enjoying time with the family and each other..

Day 1 Dallas was all it had promised to be, we got up early to get my brother to the hospital, then we relaxed at the hospital (which was more like a resort from the looks of it) for the 3 odd hours it took for him to be done, and eventually we drove my grumpy, groggy and so-in-pain I'll snap your head off brother home. We put him on his bed and relaxed around him..joking, laughing, trying to put him in a happy place and maintain normalcy. That night we had a mixture of home cooked meal a la mom and some outside junk for our spoilt palates, topping it off with ice-cream and cake..needless to say I overate.

How it all began at around 3:00AM I woke up with an acute pain in my stomach and an urgent need to urinate, while try as I may I could not urinate properly, I threw up almost all my food in the process. I braved the situation for an hour, without waking up a tired soul! But after continuously throwing up, unable to urinate and feeling the pain in my sides only grow, I decided I needed to shake people up. And so I did, mom, brother, husband, sister-in-law-2-be, all up now and trying to put me at ease. Seeing the pain I was in, it was finally decided to wheel me into the nearest Emergency Room (ER).

ER1 was at Baylor Medical (Baylor I'm sure of, not the whole name though) in Irwing TX, we reached there at around 4:30 AM, by then the pain was blinding, my husband and sister-in-law (Pallavi..makes for easier future reference) accompanied me to the ER together with my brother's extremely helpful friend Deep. We got registered and were told the doctor was on his way...

The smirking nurse is whom I remember most clearly at this ER.The worst possible thing you can do in front of a patient in excruciating pain is laugh right? And one would think a nurse would understand that simple fact..but noooo..the nurse who checked us in, took sadistic pleasure in laughing at my calamity it seems, she had a constant smirk on her face as she asked me questions I could barely answer, she sat in front of me grinning like a Cheshire cat while she asked my hapless husband to fill out form after form and the final straw was when she asked me "do you talk?" in the most patronizing way possible and asked me my name!! I remember it taking all my effort not to reach out and slap her, while I told her my name and also categorically mentioned "Its NOT funny". I think someone in the room realized she wasn't helping, because thankfully I did not see her again..

The late doctor , while all this was going on, the doctor was still not in sight! and it was almost 2 hours since I'd checked into the ER!! Given, I was not in a life or death situation, but a 2 hour response time to an ER patient is more than I can fathom. He finally walked in around 6:30ish (and obviously I'm a little hazy with the time's here), looking all spic'n'span, so he'd obviously taken the time to dress up well before walking into ER, unlike the always on the move barely having time doctors we see on ER(the show). One look at me and hearing my symptoms, he immediately said it sounded like kidney stones (Gotta give him points for quick diagnosis). At this point, I completely zoned out. I don't remember anything clearly, except a vague picture of a white room, with dressed in white coats nurses, trying to get me to lift up my arms, and I having a vague thought they were angles and I needed to comply. My husband now tells me that would be the CAT scan room, as Dr. Late ordered one for me, then eventually he referred me to a urologist, whose 2:00PM appointment we got, and were sent home.

Back Home I remember vaguely being almost carried back home and put to bed while we waited for it to be 2:00PM. My brother had his next day doctors appointment at 1:00PM as well, so we had to again call for the services of the ever-present Deep to drive my brother and Pallavi for their appointment, while my mom and husband accompanied me to mine.

Dr. Blue Eyes, is how I'll refer to my urologist, he's a nice guy, who told me to drink lots of water and try to pass the stone out naturally to avoid surgery. He told my husband to call him though if my fever went above 100 degrees. He asked for a urine sample (yet again something I was able to provide surprisingly for the 4th time in 10 hours!). O well! from there, we went on home, where I continued feeling sick.

Home Again I don't remember anything about this time home, I simply remember being in pain and feeling groggy. The pain made me senseless to everything around me, I can only imagine what my poor mother, husband and Pallavi were going through, having 2 patients at their hands when they were only prepared for one. At some point my temperature was taken, it was above 100 degrees consistently, the doctor was called and I was ordered back to the ER asap.

ER2 was at Medical Center of Lewisville, we got there, registered quickly and without any patronizing nurses to put in their place, I was strapped to a bed while the nurse informed my husband and Pallavi, who had again accompanied me to the ER, that they were preparing for surgery.This came as a shock, since we weren't informed there would be a surgery and my husband scrambled to understand what was going on and why.

All a haze again , again, most unfortunately or fortunately depending on your point of view, I don't remember much of what happened. I believe I was pretty much out of it even before I was given the anesthesia. I remember vague disjointed things, like the nurse giving me some nice tasty lip balm to wet my lips to make me look good, the anesthesiologist coming in and telling me his wife had been through this surgery 15 odd times, and it would be a breeze, someone lifting me up to move me around and claiming I'm so tiny, my husband saying I'll be fine..

The Recovery Room is the next thing I remember, I woke up feeling c.o.l.d. in a semi-dark large room with what looked like a lot of tables, other equipment and me! For a moment I panicked thinking everyone had forgotten about me, then this nice nurse came up and reassured me, she said I "did well", the operation went fine and I was in recovery. I even asked her if my husband had gone home .. again to be assured he was waiting for me in my room. After giving me some time to adjust to my surroundings and fully aware, she said it was time to move again..

Room 425 was my final destination (at least for the next 3 days), after all that moving around. I saw Pallavi and my husband, looking relieved and waiting for me. I was still a little groggy, but the doctor had told them he got the darn stone out. It was 2:30 AM, everyone was exhausted, I was put to bed, the ordeal seemed finally over.

The Aftermath , what luck, that this had to happen on a weekend! The next day being Saturday, my brother's friends were all free from work and went home to give him company, this freed my mother up to come visit me at the hospital. I was feeling OK I said, there was a little pain in the side, I was constantly being given IV Fluids and morphine for the pain. The doctor came and saw me bright and early, he explained that I had a bad infection, so he had inserted a stent in the tubes to keep them open to overcome the infection (whatever that meant), my face and eyes were swollen and it was good to have mom around to comfort me. The doctor had put no restrictions on diet, so I got a nice Menu from the hospital for breakfast/lunch/dinner, whoever said hospital food was bad should try the cream of broccoli at MCofL, it was the best I'd ever had. My husband went home to freshen up while mom was visiting, and the rest of the day I remember them all fielding calls from friends and well wishers. There was a machine which took my blood pressure automatically every 15 minutes, and the nurses came in every 2 hours to take my temperature. I slept most of the time and the day passed without complications, other than my fever which kept bothering the nurses, since at one point I touched a 103!

And So on and So Forth that's how it was in the hospital for 2 whole days, I don't care to remember the number to needles stuck to me and I feel sick at the thought of the 4a.m blood donations. All in all it was an extremely difficult experience to say the least, but it highlighted the known but often forgotten fact : Family and Good Friends are the most important Assets in Life.

I know I don't have to..but I'd like to Thanks these people from the bottom of my heart :

Dharmen : My Husband, without whom the first three days would've been impossible to bear, for bravely sleeping on the chair in the hospital for 3 days without complaints, for running around getting things in order while at the same time making it feel he's never left my side. I Love You Honey..I can never say that enough

My Mom : For packing for the US within a day for my brother's operation, then coming here and finding not 1 but 2 sick kids in her hand, yet not getting a nervous breakdown and managing it all with love and care that only a mother can afford

Pallavi : My sister-in-law, even before she officially joins the family, she's done more for us that we could have imagined, for being loving , sweet and ever present, I'm proud of my brother choice.

And Last but not Least Deep : My brother's friend, who came running at 4:00AM calls to goto the ER with the same fresh smiling face he has on all day, who helped with driving people to and fro the hospital , giving me and my mother company while my husband stepped out and also helping my brother with everything he needed done, from plugging him to his exercise machine to supporting him on the way to the restroom. He did more than one could expect from a relative. Friends like these are truly hard to find!

God Bless You All!

Take Time to Smell the Roses ..(In Memorandum)

Whenever I heard or read that statement, I said to myself well sure, roses, I do take the time, I know what they smell like don't I?

The recent tragic loss of a friend however put things into perspective. Amol Chauhan, a friend from high-school, died tragically in a plane crash..he was 28! Given, we were never close friends and had lost touch over time, but the bonds you create in school cannot easily be washed away with time, all 300 of us (yes 300 students in our graduating class of '95) shared 10-13 years of our lives together, we learnt the same things, dreamt the same dreams, shared the same aspirations.

At 28, I figure, Amol, like each of us had plans for his future and was busy working on realizing them, he like each of us, had unfulfilled dreams and unspoken ideas designed to take him and his career places. I can only hope, that unlike me at least, he never got so busy in working towards his goals that he forgot why he set those goals in the first place.

In retrospect, I find that my approach towards life needs tweaking. Here I was so engrossed in the rat-race , in the game of survival of the fittest I was so busy striving to be the fittest of them all, that I never really did take the time to smell the proverbial roses.

I'm not promoting any life-altering changes here, I believe at this point in time and at this age, it is important for us to concentrate on our careers, to achieve all that we set out to achieve and to set ourselves high goals. However, I'm suggesting that one of those goals should now also be to live life to its fullest every single day, and that includes letting our loved ones know we love them and to do the things that we've been putting off to tomorrow today!

For my part, I hugged my surprised husband a little tighter today, I called home and spoke to my parents for hours and hours and finally..on my way home, I stopped by the local flower shop and walked in, taking in the enchanting fragrances that overwhelmed me, I stopped at a bouquet of Roses and took a deep breath..and oh my god! they smelled lovely.

In Memory of Amol - Son, Husband and Friend. May his Soul Rest in Peace

The Fat and Thin of it!

According to Darwin's Theory : it took millions and millions of years of evolution for us to get where we are today. I wonder how much longer will it take for the average Indian mind to advance (sociologically mind you not intellectually).

The average Indian mindset is still bogged down by seemingly inconsequential issues like who's thinking what of me and what will people say if I do or don't do this and that. Married women are still rated in terms of how well/how much they cook or how much they can clean and not how well they may be doing in their careers.Men are still considered to be breadwinners even when their wives might be earning as much or more.

And the funniest observation yet, if a man does not put on weight and gain a pot belly after marriage, it is generally considered the wife's fault for not "taking care" of her husband, while if a woman puts on weight after marriage she's let herself go!

Unbelievable? yet true! Indians obsess about being fat rather than being thin..like they say..it happens only in India! Well, I think its high time we stopped thinking of people in terms of how they look and if we do have to think in those terms let think Fit not Fat !

For my part, my husbands actually lost some fat since we've been married, he's pretty fit if I may say so myself and as for the "what will people say!" syndrome, those people be damned, we're 28 , fit and loving it!

My Sudden Liking for Cricket Explained

My last Blog surprised my brother a little bit, apparently a long cricket blog and from a girl at that, is quiet uncommon (at least among the people we know) and that got me to thinking... Why do I suddenly love Cricket enough to write about it?

I was never a cricket fan per se, yes, I used to follow the game when I was in India and yes I have seen a "live" one day match at Wankhede and totally enjoyed it, but the game I really remember watching with interest back then is Tennis. I was up and up on the rankings, the players and even had favourite tennis players who I was extremely passionate about..not so much with cricket though..

Best I can see, things changed when I came to the USofA. The further you go from your country, the more dearly you cling to the things you most associate with it. And this I find not just applies to sports but to everything.

So it was here that I found my mother tongue..yes, in India, I used to talk, think and even dream in English, my mother tongue (Gujarati) was my second language, and I admittedly was not very good at it. Now, while I still think and dream in English, I find myself talking more and more in Gujarati whenever i find a fellow Gujarati friend here and that as actually helped improve my command over that language as well!

It is here in the US that I understand the value of Mia Familia, where in India I respected my parents I also rebelled and threw tantrums to get my way, now I just listen to what they have to say and find it easier to admit what I always knew..that they are right about everything!

Festivals, which seemed to be just another social fling in India, here are sorely missed and hence celebrated as much / as closely as possible.I find I yearn to wear the Indian salwar kameez and eat Indian food here, more than I ever did while I was in India and could do these things more often.

And finally, move over Tennis, Cricket..the game loved by my 1 billion brothers and sisters is here to stay. It reminds me of Sunday afternoons spent in front of the TV set with the whole family, while mom's made hot nashta in the kitchen, it reminds me of the huge crowds that gather outside the local Electronics store showing the cricket matches on their TV Sets, it reminds me of the collective whoops and sighs that seem to rise out of the country with every boundary or wicket. Cricket therefore, has ceased to be just a game..but has become a symbol, a symbol of a country where I spent the Best Years of My Life so far..and so..I love cricket.

Its as simple as that..

C'mon India..Dikha Do!

Cricket is a second religion to most people in India, that said, when the Indian cricketers fail to meet the high standards set by the general public on their performance, there is bound to be discontent.

India's match against Bangladesh in the 2007 World Cup is only a case in point. A higly paid, highly trained, "seasoned" cricketing team like India, lost..and lost badly to a fairly new and inexperienced side, and to add fuel to the fire, it happened during a World Cup....opening up the (previously unimagined) possibility of a shameful first round exit for the Indian side.

To this, the Indians reacted by raising their voices on the streets, burning a few posters and storming an under construction house of one of the cricketers and causing some damage.But is this reaction getting the point accross?

Dont get me wrong now, I'm all for reactions.. any kind of reactions from my fellow Indians, because Indians by nature are a quiet lot, they barely seem to react to "issues" anymore, for the most part, the common Indian has given up hope it seems. So after the recent bomb blasts that rocked the very epicenter of Mumbai's routine..the Railways..the world marvelled at the strength of the mumbaiites as life went "back to normal the very next day", while the rest of us wondered at the lack of passion shown by the general public. A thing like the blasts..in any other country..would've incensed the public, they would've asked the government for answers, for revenge, for better infrastructure..while in India..we acted as though not much had changed.

So the show of passion by the general population in this Indian defeat, pleasantly surprised me. However, once that is done..a more sensible (in my opinion) response should be for the Indians to wonder, why do we pay our cricketers the high salaries that we do? why not pay them based solely on performance? why do we allow cricketers to become actors..when clearly that seems to be distracting them from the one task which is theirs to do..play cricket..why dont we ..the Indians..decide to proactively NOT use any product our so called cricketers support in their advertisments..which will prompt the advertisors not to go to them..hence leaving our cricketers with little choice but to practise in their "spare" time..

Why dont we more voiceferously voice our opinions when a player who is clearly not performing well, is chosen to be on the team solely because the captain wants him? Team India needs to realize..that they are just that..Team INDIA..the represent us, our hopes, our sporting dreams.. and that is not something to be taken lightly..a player needs to perform to be on the team..a captain needs to lead to be the captain..and our selectors need to select based on performance..not on the captains whims.

We treat our players like demi-gods..in exchange we demand they perform. No one can expect them to win all matches..but we expect them to play like the world class players we think they are..we expect them to excel in all parts of the game..we definately dont expect them to reply on the wins or losses of a third team to decide their fate!

This opinion of-course is not solely based on this one game that Team India lost..its based on their past performances..its based on the fact that our players lack the killer instict..its based on the fact that some of our players are growing too big for their breeches..

Team India needs to perform..for itself and for its 1 billion supporters..or we need to find ourselves some new demi-gods.

Maui no ka oi.

Aloha! I just came back from the land of beautiful sunsets and even more beautiful sunrises, and the experience leaves a lot to talk about..so here goes.

While flying in, the hawaiian islands seem to rise out like an oasis in the middle of the sea, the first sight that greets you as u land in Maui is the warm sunshine, the amazing surf, and everything oh! so green..in January too !

First, we rented a Jeep convertible (perfect for 2, and I might add it seemed to be the car of choice of a lot of couples on the island). The drive from the Kahului Airport to Lahaina (where we were staying) was breathtaking, a neverending stretch of sea and sand on one side and green mountains and fog on the other side. We stopped a number of times on the way just to drink in the view.

We reached our hotel, the Royal Lahaina, soon enough and got checked in. Our room was one with a view.. the gardens below and the sea and sand directly ahead and cold champagne as a welcome drink!

After settling in we went down to check out the activities, we were registered for the Royal Lahaina Luau that evening, and since we had a couple of hours before we needed to get ready for that, we decided a quick dip in the ocean was called for. The water was perfect, or at least to us..after the cold LA water it seemed perfect !

The Royal Lahaina Luau is supposed to be one of the best on the island..we were given shell Lei's as we stood at the enterance, the evening started with an explanation of what a Luau means, the traditional removing the pig from the underground clay pit ceremony, and some Hula lessons (Hula btw is a very very difficult dance unless your hips can jiggle like jello). By then the sun was setting and we enjoyed our very first Maui sunset..By now, the Mai-tai's were flowing freely.. the food was ready..and while we started to enjoy dinner..the show started! the various different forms of the Hula, followed by a stunning fire show brought the evening to a beautiful end.

The next morning we left for the town of Hana, for all first time goers, I higly recommend the Road to Hana CD (also available in a cassette format), we got it from the expedia activity center right below our hotel. You pop the CD in as you start, and it tells you of all the points to see along the way, it also tells you when its time to stop and restart the CD (there are no road signs on the road to Hana, so the CD uses mile markers which is extremely handy), also leave early..since its a full day trip (unless you plan to spend the night in Hana).

The road to Hana is one with over 600 turns and there are many parts where the road only allows one car to pass @ a time, the drive starts with the Twin Falls , accessible after a short trek, when we reached the first fall, we were the only ones there! so it felt like being in a movie, where the honeymoon couple has their own private waterfall surrounded by raw nature..it was so very romantic..it was perfect (for lack of a better word) .

Furthur along the way, enjoy breathtaking views, breathe in the fresh smell of wild flowers as you drive past rain forests, stop to look at water crashing against lava rocks, enjoy black sand beaches and explore caves..if that isnt enough..once you drive a little past Hana..you reach the final "point" of the day..the 7 sacred pools, these are basically 7 waterfalls, each with their own "pool", feeding into one another.

The Pools are part of the Haleakala National park and there's a small fee involved for visiting the park, however the entry is valid for 3 days, so if you plan on visiting the Haleakala Volcanic craters as well, keep the entry ticket and you can reuse it when you go to see the craters!

The first of these 7 pools is about 2 miles inland and is supposed to be the tallest fall, unfortunately we reached the spot a little late for making the 2 mile trek, so we took the shorter treks, which take you to the pools near the shoreline, and as the pictures depict it was lovely!. However, do try to make it in time for the 4 mile trip (2 miles each way), its supposed to be the best trail on the island, replete with Bamboo trees!

The next day was our snorkelling trip! it was our first time ever..so that in itself had us excited, but nothing could have prepared us for how truly amazing an experience it was. There are many snorkelling tour operators out there, we took the one organized by Pacific Whale Foundation, the guides were amazingly knowledgeable and extremely friendly, they had a crash course in snorkelling for us first timers, and they even had a guided underwater tour, where they pointed out all the fishes and corals of interest to the group. Besides the great guides an added advantage is all the money goes towards saving Whales!

Now, for the snorkelling itself..what can I say..its like swimming inside an aquarium tank..but better! the fishes come right upto your face...the corals are a thing of beauty. We first went to Molokini, a small horse shoe shaped island, and enjoyed the snorkelling there, at Molokini we found many different varieties of Fish, and also the currents were not too strong, so it was a great way to start the trip. After Molokini, we went towards Lanai, a bigger island, on the way there, we spotted Dolphins!, these lovely creatures playfully swam along the boat, they love the waves the boats create according to our guides..and they jumped and swam and gave us a lovely show. We also had the pleasure of seeing humpback whales! These whales known as "gentle giants" due to their non hurtful nature, migrate to hawaii in january to give birth to young ones, and you can also see them from the beach in clear weather!

Snorkelling in lanai was a great experience too, bigger corals , you could almost touch them without going too deep, and you really felt like you were right in the middle of the ocean there! After all this swimming we were extremely hungry..and the tour also included a BBQ!!..so while we snorkelled, the guides got to BBQing the perfect burgers for us! did i already say how great it was? well..it was awesome!!!!!

On coming back to the hotel, we relaxed a little, since the morning had us tired, and then dressed up for a night in Lahaina Town. Its a lovely town, and offers many places for a romantic sea side dinner. The shops are great too for a little shopping spree.

The next day, was our last day in beautiful Maui..we checked out from the hotel in the morning, and drove up to the Haleakala Crater. The drive again is beautiful, extremely different from the Drive to Hana, but as you climb the mountain, you seem to rise above the clouds..and eventually the clouds form a blanket below you and you feel like you're in heaven!

Mount Haleakala is a volcano which last erupted sometime in the 17th Century. Its home to a wide variety of endangered plants and the craters themselves offer some of the most stunning sunrise views. Again, unfortunately we missed the sunrise, but what is recommended is go up to see the sunrise, and then bike down the mountain, there are many tour operators who offer to take you up the mountain in a van to enjoy the sunrise, and then bike down!

After spending some time to take in the dead beauty of the craters we drove down towards the airport. It was time to say good-bye Maui sadly..we brought back a whole lot of memories and promised each other we'd be back..soooon! Till then ppl..as they say in Hawaii .."Hang Loose"!

Today on CNN..

My parents always said a good start sets the tone for the rest of your day, now if that were really true, I'd be having a really bad year!

They say bad news make good news stories, I wonder why though. Have you ever wanted to wake up to the face of a man who open fired in a school full of innocent kids or to the graphic images of a war torn country? I know I havent.

Yet, day after day these stories make our front pages and morning news. Granted they're news worthy and should be reported, but do they have to be the burnt toast that goes with my morning coffee? People build towers ..yet I only read about bombs that bring them down..people climb mountains..yet I only read about people who die climbing down..

Maybe its wishful thinking to ask for a permanent change, so how about this..once a week, the Times , CNN , the LA Times and all you providers of our morning manna, decide to change your reporting formats..good news first..good stories later..go on..make my Sunday!