Gold and Beautiful

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