Gold and Beautiful

She seriously is.... These days whenever I visit someone, everyone asks me the same question.... लाडू कधी देणार ? This morning before leaving when I touched aunty's feet she said तुमच्या मनासारखा होऊ देत. Really love her for that.....

Ever since I have arrived all that dad can think about is throwing my unwanted stuff out and making space in one of the wardrobes..... So out came all those photocopied, sorry... xeroxed notes which saved the day while in engineering school :-) Then a whole bunch of greeting cards.... I don't even remember the faces of all the names on those cards.... and mom doesn't want old huge V-Day cards lying around in the house any more :-) They take too much space... I was always crazy about big cards and Anu about stuffed animals... Wonder when her huge stuffed toys are going out of the door??? And the best things.... my books!!!!! Found "The Diary of Anne Frank".... the first English non-fiction that I owned!!!!! Then "God of Small Things"..... And finally P.G. Woddehouse's "Jill the Reckless".... Actually that is not even my book... It belongs to my only IITian friend.... I am surprised that it's still lying in my house... I used to always return

आज आजीने दृष्ट काढली. For as long as I was in India every time Anu and I dressed up and went somewhere or won some prize or on our birthday she would do this. Even if someone visited us at home and praised us she would do the same. And every time she burns the thing afterwards, she says it smells really bad because someone's bad thoughts were affecting us :-)... I always thought that it smelled bad because of the ingredients that she used, someone's नज़र or दृष्ट had nothing to do with it.... but whatever.... who else loves me enough to think so much about me???

I visited one of my cousins this weekend and caught a glimpse of "Iqbal"... First of all I don't know why people do this??? Why do you leave the TV ON when you have guests at home???? Don't you want to talk to them??? Anyways, as long as I was in India I was a huge Bollywood movie buff. Since 2001 that has changed to quite some extent... But when I saw this movie, I realized that even the crappiest of Hindi movies (don't mean Iqbal, this is a decent one) gives me an adrenaline rush... I have no clue what it is about Hindi movies, but they do bring out all the emotions in me.... I cry at the drop of a hat, laugh at the most stupid jokes and get inspired by the melodramatic, rabble-rousing monologues of Sunny paaji, Nana Patekar, Big B, or anyone else...

That was the play that I saw yesterday with my parents..... This is the best part of visiting mom n dad.... Never waste time watching a Hindi movie, but spend a lot of time chit-chatting, relaxing, watching Marathi plays, etc... And Marathi plays are really good. Every time I visited India I have seen one... सुन्दरा मना मध्ये भरली, another one that I saw last time (can't remember the name, but it was amazing with गोंधळ, लावणी, नाट्य संगीत, etc.) And this one, it was a really cool संगीत नाटक. I especially loved the really handsome peshwa types looking lead actor :-) The best part was visiting गडकरी रंगायतन.... THe place is still the same... The beautiful hand woven curtain with mirrorwork and peacocks... still exactly the same. A few mirrors shining here and there.... Those few shining mirrors in different corners used to always fascinate me as a kid, they resembled twinkling stars.... How many times have I visited that place... ever since I was a kid I have been a frequent visitor

Although the heat and the dust will drive you crazy, everybody still loves to visit home... More so if your parents are Shri and Snehal Dekhane..... Man, I can't remember why I left this life in the first place... You get up in the morning, somebody gives you a glass of chickoo milkshake, then you laze around, surfing on the Web and what not until lunch time, when you get a lovely home cooked meal and you don't even have to get up from your place if you don't wish to.... Every time you get out of the house, the rickshaw is right outside waiting for you and you don't have to think about the cost when buying something... Dad never says no :-) Fruits peeled, sliced, diced, served in a bowl with spoons and forks and everyone worried about how you are doing, and if you are tired because you had to go out in the heat (in a rickshaw) and wait in the AC waiting room at the dentist's office..... Ah!!! the simple pleasures of a Dekhane life.....

A really good old friend of mine sent me belated birthday wishes today... And some people are so smooth.... His email said: "Happy Belated Birthday! How do you expect me to remember your birthday, when you never look any older?" Talk about "ulta chor kotwal ko daante" but in a good way!!!! Thanks man.

Baba, Aai, Aaji and Sonal

I had been planning for this for quite some time now and was the main reason for this trip... I really wanted to celebrate my 30th birthday with my family.... Although, for everyone else it's one more birthday, I am getting older and still single (sigh!!!!!), this day was probably dreaded.... But never mind. I understand them and I understand why it is difficult for them to understand me. And I really appreciate that inspite of the fact that my parents have a hard time understanding me, they are still very supportive. So that's one reason to be satisfied and happy on this day... a great family. There are many other reasons that may not seem important to many people, but are to me because of my social and economic background... But let's not get into those... The point is I am extremely satisfied (and may I say proud...) of what I have in life and hence want to make this birthday special. We would have celebrated it yesterday itself if Anu n Amol were here... But they are c

I was so excited to visit home after 2 1/2 years, but the trip began with a few hurdles.... First of all the weather was bad and Atlanta airport was shut down for a while. My flight was from Newark so United transferred me to another flight on Continental.... I sat there hoping to get on a flight, then hoping I would reach Newark on time and then hoping that Jet Airways would take off on time..... Finally it all hapened and I reached Mumbai, but unfortunately my baggage did not :-( or may be :-). The good thing about not getting your baggage is that you get to shop!!!! So that's exactly what I did right after landing in Mumbai... Started shopping :-). Then the visa interview.... OMG!!! It still is worse than defending your thesis/dissertation. For a 2 min interview that included 4 qts, no docs; I spent an entire day, carrying a heavy bag full of docs and waiting in anticipation, while numbers before mine and after mine were being called!!!!! Well, but at the end of the day my visa

Yesterday we celebrated the 3rd anniversary of Arun's 30th birthday!!! I love to say it that way, sounds spl :-) Anyways, we decided to keep it simple and so I made some nice chocolate cake, champagne mojitos, linguine with pesto and pine nuts, butternut squash soup and baked tomatoes stuffed with risotto..... I can't believe that food makes me so happy that I am actually blogging about it. As a child I never tried any food. I hated almost everything and ate only sandwiches, maggie, yogurt rice and dal rice. Anyways, my food was no competition for what sire got for himself.... a G-shock!!! Yes!!! really cool !!!

I finally saw the movie today... Don't ask me why, I just had to. As I was watching the first half, the wedding preparations, I was thinkng, this is not going to happen.... He is not going through with it... And then when I saw the wedding scene I was like, I knew he would do that. She is really stupid to ever think he was going to get married. So why did she spend so many years of her life on this loser???? And the answer to that I think is very simple.... It is love, hope, faith, trust.... whatever you want to call it, but basically its the heart taking over the brain... For my GGC 1000 class, the students had to make a presentation on their favorite inspirational quotes. One of my students' quote was "Stand up for something, or else you will fall for everything". She spoke about how her boyfriend mistreated her and she let him, until one day when she realized it was not worth it and stood up for herself and left him... But the way she presented it was really nice (

I heard of the attacks in Mumbai and sooo... many things crossed my mind. Apart from the well-being of my family, just the politics of all these things numbs my senses. What are these people thinking? What are they going to achieve? I mean, look at the progress that some Asian countries have achieved (India, China, Japan to name a few..) And look at what these other nations have achieved. By spreading terror what are they achieving?? Power?? If Pakistan was to get Kashmir, what will they do with it??? What have they done/achieved with the space they have and the population that they have??? What is the point of all this?? Taj is such a beautiful old building, such lovely architecture.... I am sure that not one of these terrorists can come up with something even remotely as beautiful ever... So why destroy it?  I was watching CNN's live coverage and they showed Indian commandoes in and around Taj. When they focussed a camera on one of the commandoes, I felt sad for the guy... I mean

Saw the movie again today while surfing channels... I think every educator should watch this movie... and although it does sort of make you feel more like a social worker than an educator, what is the point if you cannot help those in need?? The good ones are going to succeed anyways, whether anyone helps them or not!!! My favorite scene in the movie is the "stay on the line if.." scene... I love that.. It is very touching and very innovative and effective on part of the teacher!!! Check out the real freedom writers and their work here .

Maybe you guys already knew this one, but I didn't, at least not in it's entirety: Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery, But today is a gift, That's why they call it "Present"!!!!

Last week on the 21st of October, GGC celebrated Military Appreciation Day on campus. They urged everyone to wear yellow, distributed yellow ribbons, brought in military officers to display their helicopters and tanks, etc... I missed the best part, when they flew in those helicopters on campus. But I did get a chance later on to observe them and talk to some officers there. The smaller of the two is the OH-58 Kiowa. It is an observation helicopter, while the bigger one is UH-60 Black Hawk. It is a utility helicopter and can carry up to 12 people. It was exciting to see these things up close, I don't think I will ever get a chance to see them again, at least not this close....

So obviously Anu and I were talking (when she was here last weekend) about going home and shopping and enjoying and all those things... Thanks to mom, we always dream big and perfect!!! There is never plan B.... In this case it means, visiting India in December at the same time and spending a lot of time together shopping and @ Sarla's (I guess only Thane females know the significance of this!!!). I am sure as we will realize soon, many of these plans will fall apart... sadly :-(... But I guess we should be able to pull something off (IF our vacation overlaps)...  It is interesting.... The first time I saw Sundara Mana Madhe Bharli in Thane and I heard some of the things people said, I was thinking... "These people have no idea how much India has changed". And now I feel like one of those people. Anu and I were talking about buying this and buying that from India and how it would be so much cheaper and I always talk about how our culture is different, how the education s

So finally my li'l sis managed to visit me.... It's been such a long time... a year since we last saw each other!!! When I was a student we used to meet once every 6 months, but now it's almost impossible to do that. But anyway, her visit this weekend gave me an excuse to force myself to take a break. I almost ditched my work on Friday, came back around lunch time and then we went shopping n eating, just like we used to do in Thane. I always loved doing that, whether we bought anything or not!!! I think I finally managed to make her a sushi fan.... Saturday was all for Global mall, chaat, biryani and dosa... I know, yummy right??? The chaat was super good...so was everything else.... At night we were just lying down and talking to each other and that just reminded me so much of my mom n grandma... They would always keep talking, sitting right next to me when I was sleeping.. It used to drive me crazy.... But now I know why!!!!

I have been running in and out of classes and meetings all week long. If I am not in a class or a meeting, I am in my office talking to students or on the phone. Last week was so crazy that on Friday I wore brown shoes because I was planning on wearing brown pants and only after getting to school I realized that I wore dark grey pants!!!! hahahaha... I know.... One of my older students was trying to convince me that my gold top was earth tone and so were my shoes, so I was fine :-) For the first time I am behind on grading (Oh... I hate that!!!!)... But I am happy, we are making progress in class.... I made my freshmen students do a search on hard disks (how to buy one online....) And they were all happy that now they won't go to Best Buy and spend double the money for anything !!!!!! Yeah... Some of those kids are really sweet... And finally the Asian Awareness Week planning is coming along great.. Hopefully we'll have a great week... If only we could screen a Desi movie for f

This is one movie that I have never been able to see... Sean Penn is so great in this movie, that the first time I tried to watch this movie, I couldn't stop crying and changed channels after 15 mins... The movie is about Sean Penn who is mentally challenged and has a young daughter. He is mentally only 7/8 years old and now his daughter is at the same age. So the family court is trying to get the daughter away from him as she needs someone to take care of her. And Michelle Pfieffer is a lawyer helping him out. And Sean Penn has done such an amazing job, I don't think I will ever be able to watch this movie completely. Since my first attempt, I have tried to watch this movie twice and within seconds always end up bawling as if the world is ending.... 

It's been a very long time since I last logged on to this web site.... but that's besides the point. It's a little too late to start reading "The World is Flat" (now that "Hot, Flat and Crowded" is out there), but I believe in "better late than never", so finally I joined a reading circle and started reading the book. While reading the book I realized that Tom actually made a documentary for BBC called "The Other Side of Outsourcing" and while making this film he met with Nandan Neelkani from Infosys who gave him the title of his next book/the phrase. The book is good and so is the film... I was so excited while watching the film that I decided to share it with my GGC1000 students. This is a 1 credit hour course that no one wants to take (and every student needs!!!) and no one wants to teach, it's supposed to prepare the students for college (can you imagine this luxury in India?).  So I was all excited to share this movie with my

Some people have asked me if I experienced a cultural shock when I came here for the first time... Actually I never did... until I saw "Keeping Up with the Kardashians".... If you have never heard of this show or of Kim Kardashian, kudos to you... You are not missing anything... If you have heard of this show or of this gal then you probably know what I am talking about. So a quick review.... Kim Kardashian is one of those Paris Hilton types, famous for nothing, has a big rear end and had a sex tape scandal.... so basically, run of the mill, nothing special. She (or rather her family) has a reality show on E. Last Spring I happened to watch a marathon of her show (I know... kill me!!!) and that was the first time I came close to experiencing a cultural shock... And no not because of how they spoke at home (nothing but "f" words) or what they wore (barely anything), etc... but basically I learned that this girl was a model, her mom is her manager and gets 10% commis

Remember the famous (or one of the famous) dialog from Sholay? ".... beta so ja nahin to gabbar aa jayega" ??? The so called popular threat.... Do you know the modern day threat that moms use to keep their kids under control??? I read it somewhere online, can't remember.... "If you don't listen to me, I will create a MySpace page and invite your friends". Now wouldn't that scare any kid??? :-)

Shashi Tharoor is amazing. I love reading his columns and his books are on my "To Read" list, which btw is extremely long!!! Anyways, I read his TOI column comparing India and China and loved this observation that he made: Every Indian has been allowed to feel he or she has as much of a stake in the country, and as much of a chance to run it, as anyone else: after all, our last elections were won by an Italian woman of Roman Catholic heritage who made way for a Sikh to be sworn in as PM by a Muslim president, in a nation 81% Hindu .

Found this old video when I was organizing my Mac..... It's from 2005 when I went to Florida for 4 days with Anu n Amol.... man!!! it's been a long time since then... looking forward to some more adventure, perhaps this year!!!

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I decided to join this group on Facebook .... when I went through the list I was amazed... There are more than 100 entries and I could relate to so many of them. You can check the complete list on Facebook. I am listing a few here that I loved the most, although that decision was very hard to make (as I am sure you will realize if you are a Bombayite..) Train timings (9.27, 10.49 etc) are really important events of life. You spend more time each month traveling than you spend at home. You have the following sets of friend: school friends, college friends, neighborhood friends, office friends and yes, train friends, a species unique only in Bombay. (THIS IS MY MOST FAVORITE!!!!) The first thing that you read in the Times of India is the "Bombay Times" supplement. Your idea of personal space is no one actually standing on your toes. You love wading through knee deep mucky water in the monsoons, and actually call it ''romantic'. When you spent 6 hours of your day in

.... that my hair is getting back to normal again.... It's even tickling my face when I fall asleep at night :-) Finally!!!! When I donated 10" last year, it looked so small that I was scared my hair wouldn't grow back.........

4 times in 3 semesters have I heard this... Scenes 1, 2 and 3 (more or less similar... once each semester so far) The class is over. I am sitting in the classroom with a couple of students who need extra help. A security guard walks in: SG: I need to lock this classroom. Are you all taking a test or something? I: Well, we had a class earlier here. I am just helping these students finish their work SG: Where is the instructor? I: I am the instructor SG: Oh... you are the instructor. I thought you were a student. You are fine. I will lock the door from outside, so you will be fine. Scene 4 (more recent... yesterday) I walk to the cafe and order a sandwich. The lady who is making my sandwich is really nice. Lady: So are you ready to take your finals? I: I actually teach here Lady: Oh you are an instructor? I thought you were a student I (in my mind): Here we go again.... Lady: So are you ready to give your finals? I: Yes I am Lady: So what do you teach? I: IT Lady: Oh!! So

I am sick to my stomach... caught a student cheating on test today... It just made me so furious.... After all the time that I spent on that class... aaarrrrgggghhh!!!! When I confronted him he owned it and said he had never done it before and this was his only chance to college and I felt really bad for reporting him to the Dean and giving him a 0 on the test, because of which I know he will fail this course and it will affect his academic standing... And I feel so terrible... It feels like I am the bad person ruining this student's life.... But I need to have a broader view... There are two students in my class who have some type of disability and they are trying very hard to do well in this class (not just pass...). There are students in my class who work full time and study, some of them even have kids... If all these students can try to do their best in this class, there is no excuse why anyone else should try and cheat... no matter how panicked you are about taking a test and

When I was a kid I decided I was going to have a Christian wedding..... Obviously because I loved the white dress.... I always thought that wearing that dress would make anyone feel like a real princess/fairy/angel....So anyways, eventually I grew out of that fantasy..... until I saw Wayfarer's chapel. This glass chapel is on a small hill in southern California and overlooks Pacific ocean. It's the most beautiful place I have ever seen. When I visited this chapel I badly wanted to ask at the information if they would perform Hindu weddings :-) :-) (somebody forgot that finding the right guy was the first step :-))...... neways, if you ever visit Los Angeles... don't forget to drive a little out of your way to visit this beautiful chapel. More information here .

Like I had decided quite some time back, I rented Saawariya DVD to enjoy the movie on my widescreen HiDef TV (seriously, it's much better than the Indian theater that I went to last time). First of all I hated Salman Khan. He looks like he froze when shooting one of his older movies.... the same expression (or lack of any...) plastered on his face ALL THE TIME. I of course LUVED Ranbir Kapoor, liked Sonam Kapoor, much better than Deepika Padukone (that brouhaha about her was just hype I think...or maybe a good strategy by SRK!!!)... When the movie ended I thought, this can't be it.... all this for nothing???? I was disappointed... I guess I was expecting a miraculous change of heart and Sakina falling head over heels in love blah blah blah... I was expecting the usual Bollywood drama and romance, but SLB style.... meticulously made, beautiful to the last detail.... which it was sans the usual happily ever after ending... I mean we have seen tragedies (Vasu Sapna and Raj Rashmi

.... for quite some time now, actually... Anyways, yesterday's "So You Think You Can Dance" episode had Indian origin choreographers choreograph to Om Shanti Om's Dhoom Tana song... great performance by Katee and Joshua. Catch the video here and also listen to Mia's comments... It seems she loves the hundreds of dancers in the background dancing in perfect sync...

I was attending this faculty panel discussion specifically for early career faculty and one of the faculty members on that panel said how it usually takes long time to get appreciated for what you do for your students. He was trying to say that most teenagers don't realize that we are trying to help them until much later and many times he receives emails thanking him from students years after they graduate... At the end of that discussion he added "Sometimes that appreciation never comes..." And in my experience also it is very true... Whenever I had discussions with my colleagues about my classes, there were some who always told me that I was too strict and although it was good, that could affect my course evaluations... Since we are in a teaching college, obviously evaluations are most important and such comments from more experienced colleagues did worry me a bit... But I could never compromise on my principles and what I thought was correct.... Eventually when at the

Your Blogging Type Is Thoughtful and Considerate You're a well liked, though underrated, blogger. You have a heart of gold, and are likely to blog for a cause. You're a peaceful blogger - no drama for you! A good listener and friend, you tend to leave thoughtful comments for others. What's Your Blogging Personality?

Took this picture at "The Village" in Gatlinburg...... Great philosophy... that I completely believe in!!!!

.... remixes!!!!! Seriously, why mend something that's not broken???? The one remix that I really hated was "neele neele ambar par" by Ruby Bhatia's husband (don't even remember his name...). I mean.. come on... how dare you sing a Kishore Kumar song???? Well, so as usual out of curiosity I wiki ed the origin of remixes and found out that Jamaicans are guilty of starting the trend... There are only 2 remixes that I like: Bali Brahambhatt's Gabbar remix, mainly because it is a combination of many songs (a very good combination at that) and he made brilliant use of Gabbar's laughter!!! Bheegi Bheegi Raaton mein by Leslie Lewis, mainly because I love Leslie Lewis :-)

Today's comic strip by Phdcomics brought tears to my eyes... dunno why.... just did. check it out here .

I was reading the Marathi translation of Atharvasheersha and found an explanation of why the mouse is Lord Ganesha's vehicle.... It's interesting. (I am trying my best to translate it in English here !!! ). This book says that time, kaal is like a mouse, it nibbles away at us without our knowledge and keeps running. But in front of Lord Ganesha kaal is tiny and Lord Ganesha rides kaal and controls/commands it. Basically Lord Ganesha is really riding kaal . Of course, this is just one of the explanations.... After googling this query I found a few other explanations: This is a story of how Lord Kroncha became a mouse because of a muni's anger and then as they usually do, the muni tried to make it easier for him and made him Ganesha's vehicle. This website says that since rats always gnaw through everything, it is a symbol of the Lord's power to destruct obstacles. This website says that the mouse represents our ego, pride and desire. So the Lord is it's ma

Take a close look at this picture. This building is in the "historic" city of San Antonio in Texas. In this country, you cannot make even a small change to a place that is declared historic. Take this building for example. There used to be an elementary school here. When the school closed though, they could not remove the name of the school from this building (of course, since it's historic!!!!)... That's why they struck the name out..... Interesting, isn't it???

One of my pet peeves.... So the story goes like this..... I met someone fresh off the boat for the first time and this person makes this comment: "Doing XYZ job in India is much harder than here... My boss is giving me such a hard time....." This is how it translated in my mind: "My job is hard" === "I am incompetent" (I mean, come on.... everybody's job is hard.... They are not going to ask you textbook definitions at work!!!) "My boss is giving me a hard time" === "Check your social skills...." That was sarcastic me!!!! But really what I wanted to say (and of course I did not say...) I know your job is hard and I empathize with you (seriously, we work in the same field... so I know...), but how does your job being hard translate into my job being easy???? (You don't know me, you haven't done that job here, so how are you deciding?? hearsay???) Most important: Why this competition of my blah blah blah being harder than you

Three things (tell 'ems) to remember when organizing your speech: Tell 'em what you will tell 'em (Intro) Tell 'em (Body) Tell 'em what you told 'em (Conclusion) I suck at table topics (where you are called upon and you are sooooo not prepared!!!).... groan :-(

I just thought of these things... I have no clue why.... First: I am the only female in my Info Systems class... All of my students are guys.... I have been in classes where I was the only gal, but then I was a student... that's different.... wonder what my evaluations will say at the end ???? Second: The first thing I do after coming to school is to check my email, orkut, facebook, etc.... in a particular order..... Guess what?? My work email is the last on that list!!!! Does that apply to everyone?

I started reading this book to understand how one man could bring together a nation like he did, to do the most horrific thing possible. I am halfway through the book and more confused !!!! Just being me, I guess.... But seriously the more I read about what a loser he was (drifter, homeless, disorganized, never made a decision, could never implement anything....) I just find it more surprising that he was able to lead all these people, based only on his oratory...... Seriously, he had no vision and no ability to implement anything.... Of course, the social, political and economic circumstances at that time played a major role, but I still don't have a clear picture of how this is possible....... I can understand why millions of Indians followed Gandhiji (it was hard to follow him......practicing non-violence is not so easy, I am sure you all agree !!!). Apart from the circumstances, he was really a great leader. Moreover he practiced what he preached.... Or maybe I just understand

Two summers back when I was hanging out with Mon, she used to ask me "what do you want to do when you start earning more". At that time I hadn't really thought of anything and anyways I am not really a money person.... So I never thought what I wanted to do once I got a full time job... But now that I have a job that I wanted and that I love I did make a list of few ways in which I want to spend my summer vacation. I have decided that this is the only summer I am going to work... After this summers are only for vacation :-) So anyways, here's the list in order of importance for each summer: Rent a condo in a high rise in Buckhead, Atlanta and enjoy city life (hate to live further away from school when working !!!) South and Central America tour Europe tour Rent a lovely beach house in Savannah, GA Visit India to eat lots of haapoos mango I have no idea how many of these things will I actually do, but hey, this is a start and a nice 5 year plan at that!!!!

... to work until the day I die lest I become an old, bitter nag!!!

.... there was a volume control knob on my throat that Arun could control !!!

Look at this picture carefully. I clicked it at "Bombay Sweets" in Houston. Forget the pooris that are in focus and look beyond, at the menu chart...... The center bottom says: Best in Texas Good in Houston Can anyone please explain???? I wanted to roll on the floor and laugh......

I read this book long time back when I was probably in the 3rd grade.... Sometime back Ashwin asked me how I liked this book and I was thinking... From what I remember I think it is a little cheesy... But I remember thinking that it was great of the author Julius Verne to write about submarines at that time.... Since I was not sure if submarines existed at that time or not, I decided to google it (how else do you do research these days ???)... So anyways, first I found out that the book was first published in 1870. Next I found out that first true submarines were built by US in 1890.... So, it's pretty amazing that Julius Verne should be writing about submarines in 1870.... But, the idea of submarines did exist before 1870. The idea was first conceptualized by Leonardo Da Vinci in 1578 as sketches. The first one was developed by a Dutch engineer in 1620.... and used oars. So the idea was around, just not materialized as in the book. Read more on submarines here .

Living in New Orleans for a few years, I got used to live music..... When visiting San Antonio I had an opportunity to listen to some Inca ( civilization centered in Peru ) music.... really cool, Arun even bought a CD (that I am planning on transferring to my iPod!!!!!)

Other than the famous Riverwalk in San Antonio, there are other places in the city that are equally beautiful. One of them is this church in San Jose Mission that was initially mean to be a sacristy.

This is a picture of rangoli in Meenaxi temple courtyard in Houston, TX... Out of curiosity I wiki ed the term Rangoli and found the meaning. Of course everybody knows that the sandhivichhed is rang + aavalli. The meanings are: rang = color (duh!!!), aavalli (colored creepers or rows of color) .....

Cool picture of State capitol dome in Austin, TX... Last weekend with Suma aunty, uncle and Ramya was just great!!!!

I am sure many of us have seen the Sex and the City movie trailer...... Carrie Bradshaw preparing for her Big Apple wedding with Big. First of all I think the whole movie is a contradiction to the series... I always thought that Sex and the City was all about these 4 independent, "liberated" women, I thought it was all about relationships and their complexity.... Why would Carrie Bradshaw want to marry a guy, who first refused to marry her and then married a much younger woman???? That does not make her lib at all... rather she is more of a doormat than anyone else.... Also watching that trailer reminded me of a movie that I saw sometime back, "Becoming Jane"... and this thought crossed my mind: From Jane Austen to Carrie Bradshaw, marriage seems to be the Holy Grail for women.... (Not that I have anything against marriage..... just the pressure!!!!)

New Orleans is one of the original cities in USA. The beautiful St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square, French architecture in French quarter, a few centuries old historic houses in Garden District (yes, yes I know... few centuries old is not historic... but it is in this country!!!) and of course Mississippi.......... You can enjoy Madras coffee and Beignet at cafe DuMond (not kidding... try their Cafe Au Lait) or any kind of live music at one of the tons of lively bars or cafes, maybe enjoy a few drinks in the balcony of Pat O' Brian's, shop for souvenirs at French market, enjoy some hookah and belly dancing at Hookah cafe............... The list goes on and on and on..... This city is really not like any other in this country... You have to be here to enjoy it...........

Walking in New Orleans downtown is always fun.... At French quarter last weekend I saw this sign at a sketch artist's booth... Found it really amusing!!!

As Mon put it correctly, I feel like I am visiting my mayka. Last year at this time I was getting ready for my graduation, waiting for my family to arrive. It's also been almost an year since I left New Orleans. The place feels exactly the same..... welcoming and loving!!!! Tulane looks absolutely beautiful and I am debating whether I should go to Stanley Thomas or not. I am not sure if I can handle it.. I have a long list of things to do: Shop at French market Eat at Lebanon's Meet Ms. Toni, both Ms. Jeannettes, Don and Wanda Spend some time with Mon and lots of time with Arun n Shilpa and uncle and aunty Run at Audubon Park Three weeks are just gonna fly, I am sure.......

The Toyota plant in America is the only Toyota plant in the entire world that has an assembly line , which does not support multi-tasking.... "Why" you ask? Because they could not train American workers to multi-task!!!!

Last night I saw the 53rd Filmfare Awards online and I have to say Ranbir Kapoor was HOT!!!! So, this morning I went on youtube looking for some Saawariyaa songs and saw this "Jab Se Tere Naina" video...... OMG!!!! There are a number of things about this video that I liked: First of all it's a Sanjay Leela Bhansali film, so of course the sets, the cinematography, etc. were all beautiful. Second the music was beautiful. Third the song was sung by Shaan (ahhhhhhh!!) and fourth Ranbir Kapoor in a towel was amazing........... No kidding!!!! The whole use of towel as a prop in the choreography reminded me of Kajol in "mere khwabo mein jo aaye" from DDLJ...... And I thought we have definitely come a long way..... For all these years our movie scripts required/demanded women to wear towels and now we have guys doing it..... So no feminist can now complain that women are being portrayed as "piece of meat" or as "sexual objects". India (or at least I

So, I was talking to Anu yesterday and we both agreed that we didn't understand the whole point of giving tax breaks to citizens to encourage spending and thereby boost economy, when the consumer/citizen does not have any money in the first place (that's why you are giving them tax break....) So how can swiping your credit card boost the economy if you don't have a plan for paying for it????? Luckily I sort of got the answer today.... It doesn't exactly answer my question, but it says something...... I attended this talk by the Dean of Science and Technology from Temple U in Pennsylvania and this guy was amazing. He presented a cool theory of how we are all headed for doomsday...... Probably its common knowledge for you, but I did not know this........ So US imports a lot of stuff from China, right? We all buy "Made in China" stuff all the time.... So all the money that China gets from this, they bring it back to the US govt and sell it for some "white pa

I tried to watch this atrocious movie last night, only because it was made by Priyadarshan... and what a disaster it was!!!! could not sit through it at all... so gave up. It seemed like a rehash of the classic Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron... OMG remember that movie??? It is so hilarious........ I need to watch it again......I love that movie.... Our directors need to look back at the older movies for inspiration (the real inspiration not stealing ideas!!!).... Remember all those Amol Palekar, Deepti Naval, Farukh Sheikh, Utpal Datt era of comedies..... Just thinking about it makes me laugh :-) I need to rent all those movies this summer and recharge my batteries for Fall!!!!

Doesn't it make you angry when people assume things about you ??? It used to make me really mad.... And I could never understand why they said the things that they did.... For instance I was traveling in the train with my mom and we bumped into one of my father's colleagues in the ladies compartment. I had just passed my 10th grade and was enjoying college life..... This lady spoke to my mom for a bit and then asked me where I had managed to get admission for 11th? When I said "Kelkar college", she immediately asked me "Commerce?". And I said "No, Science." After that I did not say a word to her.... But come on, just because I was wearing pink tights, that does not disqualify me from being a science major at Kelkar college..... So what if I was not the typical soda glass type (there I become judgmental now..... but that's what I was led to believe!!!) ?? Another instance was a little more recent... Two years back I was in India attending my sis

So, I never really dug into the old boxes to look for the cassettes and the walkman.... Instead I just decided to listen to the songs that I was able to download. I think I have most of them.... As I was enjoying the music I realized that most of my favorite songs are my favs not only because of the music, but mainly because of the lyrics..... All those poems at the beginning of each song in Gaarva are just wonderful....Also another thing I realized was what a hopeless romantic I was..... Or was I???? Why should I call myself hopeless??? Rather I think I am hopeful..... Who coined this term "hopeless romantic"???? I think most romantic people actually make life easier/more beautiful by concentrating on the positive and believing that everything is "Oh so wonderful"!!!! So let's change the term..... I am not a hopeless romantic, rather I am a hopeful romantic

Out of nowhere today I was reminded of Gaarva (remember Milind Ingle's melodious Marathi songs???).....For those of you who don't know Milind Ingle, he is the one who sang the famous Chui Mui Si Tum ... So I tried to find the songs online. I found some of his songs online, but not all of them were from the same album, which kind of disappointed me a little.... When I was in engineering school, I used to spend more than an hour to get to my school and another hour to get back. The best way to spend time in the train was to listen to music and I had my favorites..... The Akai walkman was a life saver those days..... Although the choice of songs kept changing every month, there were a couple of albums, I remember carrying in my bag all the time (along with some apples and Bourbon biscuits!!!!!). So anyways, these all time favs were Thakshak, Sapnay, Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi (I was crazy about Shaan, actually still am!!!), Maachis and Gaarva....... I still have these audio cassettes

A professor at Syracuse U walked out of the class, when a student in the front row started texting during the class....Of course a big issue, articles were written, comments were made, so on and so forth. Basically the professor (a highly respectable, tenured faculty) thought it was disrespectful and was clearly stated in class policies as not allowed. One of the students who commented on this said that he pays $30k to go to school and he has a right to decide whether to pay attention or not and blah blah blah.... I would have been mortified as a student to even think in that direction. While a lot can be said about whether what the professor did was right or wrong, there is no doubt that what the student did was wrong. What I found more shocking was the other student's audacity.... Well, yes you are paying a lot of money to go to school, but you are forgetting that the so called product/service that you are buying is "learning", which you are buying because you don't

Looks like these are some great weeks for me. After the lovely poem that I posted here sometime back, got another one (rather a song).... Moreover this one is the official song of Louisiana, as it was written by Louisiana State Governor and country singer Jimmy Davis. It's called You are my sunshine. Here are a few lines: You Are My Sunshine My only sunshine. You make me happy When skies are grey. You'll never know, dear, How much I love you. Please don't take my sunshine away Lovely, isn't it???

I hope you all participated in the Earth Hour. Atlanta was a participant and I decided to play my part. So turned the power in my apt off from 8-9 pm and enjoyed some music on my iPod... For those of you who don't know what earth hour is, this is an event that Sydney started last year. In 2007 Sydney decided to cut power off (coal being the biggest environment destroyer) for an hour thereby reducing some 10% of its energy consumption..... In 2008 this became a global movement with many cities participating in the event, Atlanta being one of them (Check out the pic!!!). Individuals, businesses and cities can sign up and pledge support. Of course, there are many other small things that we can do every day to save our planet, like unplugging all our electrical devices when not in use......Go to Earth Hour to sign up and spread the word....... Green Is Universal!!!

Sometime soon after Spring semester began, some of my students from Fall section started coming to my office with doubts in Digital Media that they were taking this semester (with another proff)..... One of the girls who came to me had trouble using Audacity. Now I had never used Audacity and I told her so, then we both sat together and I was playing with the software and trying to see if I could find something. Eventually we found out that Audacity did not support whatever she was trying to do..... After she left I was thinking, none of my 20 students in that class ever came to me with a doubt, when they were in my class, but here they are now.... Not that I didn't want to help them, but I was just wondering what is it that makes us hesitant to speak to our professors. When I was a TA at Tulane my students would sometimes request review sessions... I remember doing review session on a Saturday during the last semester of my stay at Tulane (when I really did not want to teach.... a

.... for me!!!! I have been debating whether or not to upload this picture for a long time now... Finally I decided.... Well, after all, this is my blog, my picture and a kavita for me.... and such a lovely one at that..... Of course makes me feel good, more than that makes me feel lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people who love me. My younger cousin brother sent this to me a little while ago. Thanks dearie!!!!!

I am attending this ACM SIGCSE conference (comp sci ed..)... NSF had a session on the different categories under which you can apply for grants and during that discussion, one of the panelists said that a certain percentage of money that the US govt receives from H1 B processing fees is diverted towards funding the STEM program, which is NSF's initiative on encouraging students to major in science and engineering...... Pretty cool, isn't it????? So, you are already contributing to shape the future of this country....... On the same lines, Tulane University Hospital does research on cancer which is funded (indirectly) by tobacco companies.... And Georgia directs all its lottery money into providing scholarships for higher ed students....Just a note, higher ed in this country includes a Bachelor's degree (I was surprised to find that out....)

Why cannot I have things that I really want? Or do I want them because I cannot have them?

Saw this cutesie movie over the weekend about 6 friends forming a Jane Austen book club, each reading one book.... YES!!! A chick flick, completely girlie....but very cute, very sweet movie.... While watching the movie I decided I was going to buy all 6 books and read them. I have read only 2 (Pride and Prejudice and Emma) and yes I have seen Sense and Sensibility/Kandukondein Kandokondein, but movies don't count and I do not own any JA books.... That reminds me, I still haven't finished reading the book Hitler . I think it's going to take ages to finish that book. And every time I decide to read the book, I am reminded of all the papers I need to read for my next project..... But have to do something about that book.....My wishlist on Shelfari is getting longer, while the list of books that I have read is at a standstill!!!!! I think if I had an entire lifetime to read books and do nothing else, I would still die leaving behind a long To Read List.

So Omarosa got fired last night and although I hated her (those were some real cheap shots that she took at Piers Morgan....), I liked her last quote (I know... I am a sucker for good quotes.. :-))...Dunno where she got it, but it's worth mentioning here!!!! No man is your friend No man is your foe But EVERY man is your TEACHER!!!!!!

I read this in TOI.... DINKs (Double Income No Kids couples) get tax cuts for not burdening our govt.... Another point to think, more and more educated/smart couples are opting for 0/1 kid. I have a friend who works with me and he has tons of books on how to live a complete life without having children.......A guy with a terminal degree, really smart, doesn't want to have children. And at the other end of the spectrum people having 4-5 kids.....reminds me of one of the movies that I saw, don't remember the name, but the point was the same. People who should be having kids and passing on their genes are opting to not have any, while the world is over crowded with the kinds of Bush, J. Simpson, B. Spears, etc.......In the movie, people are spraying their fields with Gatorade and wondering why all the crops are dying?? Hopefully we won't see that day.

When I was in the 7th grade I decided this...... If I could afford to raise a child and wanted to have one, I was going to adopt one. I know!!!! My mom recently freaked out when I told her this........ But think about it...... Look at the population of our nation.... Look at the number of kids around you begging on the streets and selling sundry items, working in chai ki tapri!!!! There are so many kids on this earth (not only in India), who could definitely use some help from us.... And NO!!! donating money to charity is not enough, when it comes to kids. To some extent money is necessary and I look at that as something is better than nothing..... But love, affection, care, family support...all these are essential in the life of a child (or rather anyone....). So you cannot just donate money and feel good about it. Of course you can't adopt all kids, so you donate some money/time and feel like you contributed, but if you can afford to raise one child, then go ahead pick one, who i

I logged in to my Shelfari account.......(Backtrack!!!!) shelfari.com is an online book club.... You can invite your friends, put your books on your shelf, discuss them, recommend them, join specific book clubs or other discussion forums..... So, neways, I logged into my Shelfari account and was browsing and I noticed, most people had like 10 friends, 20 friends in their account. Compare this to orkut.com where I have 78 friends (and I am not good at networking), most people I know have more than 100 friends (some have 200 friends).....I felt disappointed..... It is easy to find someone to do nothing with you (just hang out ) but hard to find someone to share your books, opinions about books :-( The art of reading (Yes!! It needs to be called an art now, considering the number of people who do not read!!!) is dying.... And that's sad... Web has made so many things possible, but most of us decide to take advantage of only a part of it (the wrong part of it!!!)....

There is one advtg of renting movies over watching movies in theaters. When I really like a movie a lot, I try and watch the making of that movie or the Director's comments/interview..... And I love these things. When people who made the movie discuss what they thought about when shooting that movie, it is really amazing, especially for someone like me who has limited creativity/imagination..... I recently saw this movie The Lives of Others , which was based on the lives of artistes in GDR.....It was a nice movie, but more interesting was finding out the behind the scene details of the movie that the director was talking about. How the movie was divided into two color segments and every location they chose had to fit into those color segments, even the costumes complemented those colors. I mean when I was watching that movie it all seemed to blend together so well, it seemed so natural, like that's how it should have been, no big deal. They made it seem so simple and effortle

I wrote a post on the song Dil Ne Tumko Chun Liya Hai, sung by Shaan from the movie Jhankaar Beats sometime back.... recently on orkut my sister added the video of the same song, so I scrapped her and said that was my fav song and I also had a post about it on my blog and blah blah blah.... She replies back saying "That's my fav too !!!!!!". OK so she is one of the two important people in my life who do not read my blog and I used to complain about it. I used to think how close we were when we were together and we are close even now but maybe not as much. Then this whole incident of this song was like an awakening...We are still the same, still as close as ever!!! Maybe we don't talk to each other every day, but once / twice a week is not bad.... She might not read my blog, but she already knows everything about me... When we were younger, we used to go through all these different phases together.... We had same likes and dislikes, we trusted each other's choices

That was one of the headlines on TOI web site today....I mean, come on doesn't Raj Thackeray have anything better to do??? I am a Maharashtrian and I hate this petty attitude that people show against North Indians and South Indians in Mumbai....How can you not agree that the prosperity, the life, the opportunities of this city comes from all the people who work here, who work very hard here and are not necessarily Maharashtrian? If all the non-Maharashtrians were driven out of Mumbai and Senaites and Thacks were put in charge of Mumbai's progress, I am sure we would not achieve anything.....They would probably then find someone else to blame for all our economic problems..... The best part is right under this column in TOI was another column that said US should learn from India about diversity, that US has had all white male Presidents in so many years, while India's Prime Ministers represent our nation's diversity and culture....I agree that India is diverse, our probl

....... learning!!!

I always try to have fun wherever I go. I never miss India when I am here and I never miss US when I am back back home..... But every once in a while I think of all the things I used to do (that's where this blog comes in picture)..... Last night I had this dream that I was sitting with all of my school friends somewhere that looked like Dombivli railway station's huge bridge and I was having fun..... Some of the faces that I saw in that dream were not even my close friends.... But seriously school days were the best of my life. For 3 years (8th, 9th and 10th) I was in an all girls class. Now you can imagine the cat fighting and back biting that might have occurred. Even then I had a very good connection with almost everyone in that class room. We used to have so much fun together, never study, always play games (or fill scrap books when we were in 10th), always ahead in ALL extra curricular activities (no wonder all my teachers were surprised when I scored really well in my 10