Gold and Beautiful

I was totally surprised (very pleasantly) when I found out that my colleagues were throwing me a wedding shower... I was even more surprised to see so many people at the event during the final week of the semester.. It was really nice of all of them to plan and attend this shower for me. Jam also baked a 3-tiered cake for me!!! Isn't it the most wonderful thing to do??? The top of that cake is now sitting in our freezer. Apparently we are supposed to eat that cake an year after the wedding, but I am not sure if we can wait for that long!!! Well, the food was great, the conversations about weddings in different cultures were great, I was happy to answer all the questions about Indian weddings...... Oh! and did I mention that the gifts were great too ?? :-)

We were trying to decide our wedding menu this morning and after looking at the booklet for some time we decided to give up and let our parents decide.... We had no clue what most of the things on that menu were. What the heck is "Tawa Taka Tak" and how come "Italian Rasgulla" is a Bengali sweet dish???? What happened to plain old "Mattha" (spiced buttermilk)??? Oh!!! How much I love mattha.... But apparently just because we live in the US and don't eat all the food that ppl back home eat, doesn't mean that we can have "bharli vangi"... guests expect something more... anything but Maharashtrian!!! Along with the main course that includes 3 vegetables, 2 types of rotis, 2 desert dishes you can also pay more to have Italian counters, mexican counters, chaat counters and south Indian counters.... Why would I want to have pasta, tacos and paneer makhanwala all at the same time?? What kind of menu is that?? Apparently a very hit one.... We are

I have tons of things running in my head today... I am not thinking of anything else after a long time!!! Anyways, talking about reality shows... From watching a man fishing on an island alone on CBS's Survivor to _________ on _________ (just plug in any stupid reality show on any ntework!!) reality shows have become worse and people have gone crazy!!! Seriously crazy... The crazy participants on American Idol, who know they have no chance of being on the show, but yet don't mind making a fool of themselves on national television to get on national television to the stupid balloon boy parents and the really gutsy White House party crashers, these people are not just stupid but also dangerous... I mean come on.... what will these people do next to be on TV??? The same show (Real Housewives of...) that the Salahis are trying to get into is based in quite a few cities. I saw an episode of the Real Housewives of Atlanta and was totally shocked... Without going into details, let me

I was watching Shashi Tharoor's speech at TED conference on India's soft power ( Video ). He said in India, a nation of 81% "Hindus", a "woman" of "Italian" origin and "Catholic" was chosen by majority to lead the nation. She then made way for a "Sikh" man to be sworn in as the prime minister by a "Muslim" president. As compared to a nation like US that took 200 years to elect an African-American as their President and have yet to see a female President. And really if you think about it, the smaller, poorer nations that we say are way behind developed countries like US have had female prime ministers. So how come these women in countries that are still "developing" were able to break the glass ceiling ( List of women prime ministers )??? And what is stopping women in USA?? Is it double standards?? In a nation that has almost 50% divorce rate ( divorce rates in America ), divorced candidates don't stand a

Wow.... We hosted 5 adults and 2 kids in our tiny little condo this Thanksgiving. Cooked lots of food....(I had to stuff them all so that everyone looks heavier than me at the wedding ;-)). It was an amazing weekend (with gifts and all!!!)... Did quite a few touristy things and laying around at house too.... Reminded me of the days when we were kids and had family functions... It used to be so much fun!! We even played Judgment... just like Ganesh Chaturthi @ Thane.. Can't believe we already had our family union here... Before this it was always with friends and no matter how much fun that is, it's not the same as spending time with family members... Really hoping that this will end up being an annual ritual!!! And did I mention that I still can't stop smiling when I remember Amol serving himself "dal" on my "citrus rice salad" instead of the dressing!!!!! (Sorry dude!! I had to mention it :-)) To more Maggiano dinners :-)

:-) Ever since we moved I have been trying to get most sleep and get to school as early as possible.... Meaning, I get up, get ready, pick up my bags and leave, drive @ 80 mph (I know I shouldn't be doing that), just so that I can sleep until 6 'o clock and still be at school before 8 am!!! Which means I skip my coffee and I hate the coffee at school and hate the idea of just rinsing my coffee cup without soap (that too in the washroom...eekss!!!) So anyways, I have been missing my coffee.... Finally after quite some time I got to work from home and could finally enjoy my morning coffee on a weekday!!!! Love the feeling. I think just the fact that I can't have coffee, makes me want it so much!!! That's soooo me..... Reminds me of that hallmark coffee cup which says "coffee, men and chocolates..." and when you add a hot beverage to it, it says "some things are better when they are richer"!!! I used to love that cup!!!

Last Thursday I went for indoor rock climbing and had loads of fun.... It was my first time doing it with a belayer and all. I once did it before in California with Anu and Amol.... But there was no belayer and it was all free-hand (free-fall rather!!!). It was a great experience, I managed to conquer 5 walls, 1 with some difficulty. Just when I was about to leave I thought I should give this one more shot and well... I managed to reach the top!!!!! Great feeling... I always need something difficult to keep me going.... I think I am going to be a regular with this group.... It's weird how we can surprise ourselves sometimes!!! I didn't think I would be able to conquer that wall and moreover that didn't bother me either.. I just thot I would try harder next time... Hmmm!!! Reminds me of that quote (right before this post!!!).... fits so well :-)

Another interesting quote that I read on twitter.... Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. -- Thomas Edison. So true!!!

This was the best thing I have ever done so far!!! That's what I thought when I went skydiving too... :-) Anyways, ziplining was great... Although Shreyas and I were s*** scared, we had tons of fun... Ziplining is basically gliding through tree tunnels with the aid of ropes/ziplines. These high speed zip lines were 1000 ft long and we were at a height of 200 ft... The scariest part was jumping off. Once you did that, the rest was an amazing experience and a beautiful scenery to enjoy... Although I was a bit too short and a bit too light.... A little more weight would have been fantastic :-)

Read this inspiring quote on twitter: It's not the will to win, but the will to prepare to win that makes the difference. -- Paul Bryant

I try very hard to get lunch from home, but sometimes it's not possible.... Yesterday was one of those days, when I decided to pack lunch and realized there was no rice!!! So I had to go to the campus cafe for lunch.... Why does food at every campus cafe have to suck??? I have no clue... Well, of course, the only exception being Tulane :-) If the soup at the cafe had anymore water in it it would have to be classified as water and not soup.... Also, the sandwich he gave me was a tiny little veggie one on a bagel!!!! I never imagined that I could be left hungry after what was supposed to be a full lunch..... I am sorry, but why are they serving lunch sandwiches on bagels??? Didn't we all agree that bagels were for breakfast??? when did that change??? I guess I need to stick more to home cooked food, for the sake of my health and mental peace :-) Well, and of course for the sake of my palette too :-)

The red drink that Carrie Bradshaw made popular was my favorite for quite some time. Somewhere down the line I switched my loyalties to red wine. Last nite I had cosmo after a really long time... The last time I had cosmo was 2 years back. And it was interesting. It was my 28th bday and we were at Karthik's wedding in LA. We decided to go to a sports bar first and then to watch Dhoom 2..... Long story short, I ended up having 2 cosmos just so that the waitress could get a good tip.... really stupid!!! Never had another cosmo after that :-) 2 drinks is not my thing!!!! Anyways, last nite's cosmo was good.... the movie was better!!! Certainly recommend New York I Love You!!!

Charlie's mom: You look like my fifth husband Man: How many times have you been married? Charlie's mom: Four (.... and they both smile!!!) --- Two and a Half Men

Diwali weekend was great... We got most of our house set up, went to the temple and had some good dinner with some friends. Although I do feel bad that I didn't have enough time to get the rangoli done, inspite of the fact that I bought rangoli and some colors from India when I visited last time. But I guess, that's OK... Gotta get my priorities right :-) have to find another occasion for the rangoli. btw, did I mention that I also managed to get a gift? :-)

I am kind of an order freak.... Everything in the house has to have a place and everything has to be in it's place.... Stuff has to be done as soon as it needs to be done. When I was living by myself I used to always wonder, how come people are always busy? don't have time to do anything?? I was doing a lot of stuff, working during and after work hours and on weekends, cooking, cleaning, trekking, watching movies and what not..... I was always volunteering for weekend on-campus activities... Whenever I visited Anu's place I would tease her about the dishes in her kitchen sink (and they would tease me about coming over to clean them :-)).... But as I realize now.... you can actually get busy!!! As I believed it's not bad time management :-) I have boxes lying all around the place.... One of the bedrooms is totally useless because the opened and flattened boxes are still lying there. The plastic bags separated for recycling have been lying around for a couple of weeks now

I read someone's status on Facebook and was wondering if our sense of privacy (or at least of those facebooking and tweeting) has changed? It was really personal.. I don't even want to repeat it here!!! Or is it just me??? Is it just a generation thing? I mean my status usually says what I am cooking or which movie I am watching, etc... If my parents read that, would they feel the same way? I was having lunch with a group of friends a few weeks back and one of them said that people who update their status are looking for attention... "how much attention do you need?" was her exact question. Although, never before had I thought about tweeting or facebooking as demanding attention, maybe that's what it is.... Is this generation vying for attention? I don't know. Or the other point of view could be that we just have these venues that we are now used to, it seems to be a part of our life and there is nothing weird about posting weird stuff on your profile :-)

Someone at Tulane introduced me to Beach Body and Tony Horton.... Now don't focus on the name and conclude its one of those cheesy exercise videos targeted to fool people. Tony Horton is really good.... I started with his P90X series and realized it was impossible for me to follow him... I was tired after the 10 minute warm up... the entire workout session was at least 45 mins :-) Then I switched to his Plyo... It was much better.... P90X was like a PhD program, while Plyo was a Master's program :-) Anyways, I went to the gym today and found that all the cardio machines were taken. So I went to the yoga room to do some ab exercises. Within 2 mins, 2 guys walked in and popped a DVD in the TV/DVD player unit. I saw P90X and I exclaimed!!!! Tony Horton!!! The guys asked me if I wanted to join them.... And I said why not.... It was a 10 minute ab workout (that I had avoided when I used to do Tony Horton workouts) and I remembered why I gave up on P90X in the first place... I still

I am putting all the blame on Facebook and twitter... Earlier i would blog every time I thought of something. these days I just shorten it and post on twitter or Facebook. Plus we have also been busy packing, moving and unpacking stuff... I know!!! It feels like we have been doing this forever and it's still incomplete. I think I will never be satisfied... But maybe this is what I need to do... Work with what I already have and take some nice pictures and post them on my blog.... Add to that walking in the neighborhood and taking some more pics to post. I am sure Shreyas is going to love it!!!! Yes!!! I now have a "To Do" (just in case you didn't know... I am the list lady :-))

So... our move did not go as planned.. But what the heck!!! We still moved in our new home and are living there, enjoying every minute of it!!! Whenever I told people that we were buying a condo, everyone seemed to have just one question.. why a condo? why not a house?? esplly in India... Not sure what the attraction towards bungalows is!!! Never got it... Ever since I was a child, skyscrapers (high-rises, for Americans :-)) always fascinated me and I always wanted to live in one. That is probably the reason why I love our Thane home so much more than our Dombivli home, even though I lived there for only an year. It's an interesting coincidence that the topic for my TOEFL essay was Apartments vs. Homes..... not kidding!!! Anyways, right now we are loving the weekend walks at Piedmont Park, enjoying the view of Atlanta's skyline as we have our morning breakfast and coffee and evening chai and snacks in our balcony (and at all other times from every room!!!). Can't wait to ge

If you want to save time you should take a flight to go from Kingston to Montego Bay. But if you want to experience the country, a bus ride from Kingston to MB also works great!! The ride constantly reminded me of home (in India)..... Shreyas said he had never been to a country that is poor and not his home... neither had I. So this was a different experience. Moreover since the climate is so similar, the vegetation is also the same. I was exhilarated at the site of sitafal in a small stall on the road that was similar to the ghats between Mumbai and Pune. And of course the Gulmohar tree!!! Gosh!! It's been ages since I had seen one... MB was pretty much a touristy place with beaches, restaurants (that served average food for above avg price) and quite some stuff to do. We avoided the beaches and water sports (you can do them in Florida here!!!) and went for bamboo rafting on a river instead. Extremely serene and relaxing. Obviously had to do some shopping. I had to buy my fridge m

This year seems to be good for me (that phase is going to end soon though, have been maintaining a low profile at work)... Luckily for us, Shreyas got a teeny weeny project at Jamaica and we got to enjoy a weekend here... It is almost as if the need arose only so that we could visit :-) Anyways, the experience at immigration was similar to Mumbai... the heat, the long lines... the only difference being that the # of passengers at Mumbai is huge as compared to this place. This just seemed inefficient to me. The cabbie was real nice giving me a quick tour of the place and pointing out places of interest... We decided to try some authentic cuisine and more than the food what stayed with us was the cocktail!!! All drinks on the menu had rum and these were really strong drinks!!! I have never tasted so much rum in a drink before. As a matter of fact all the fruity cocktails that I have had so far are so mild, that I would have probably not even been able to identify rum :-) :-) Anyways, off

This was my in-flight movie and the first Aamir Khan movie that I had not seen (and was not keen on watching). I was actually in India when the movie released 6 months back, but somehow didn't feel like watching it. Now that I have seen it I am totally disappointed. It's an exact, frame-to-frame copy of the original Ghajini. Aamir Khan as the handsome, sophisticated business tycoon was great, but Aamir Khan as the angry protagonist was a total disappointment. I never thought I would say this, but Surya was much better (I remember a friend saying "You are actually watching a movie where the hero's name is "Surya" ?"). I saw the original almost 3 years back during Katrina, so I don't exactly remember if the admiration for Surya was because of his performance in Ghajini or was it a leftover adulation from "Kaaka Kaaka" (This one's really worth watching... I swear!!)... Either ways the Hindi version was nowhere close to the original even th

So I saw this movie with my cousins back home and recommend it to every Marathi speaking Maharashtrian.... It does have a protagonist who preaches more than I prefer, but the message is something I really believe in. I love the part where Shivaji Raje says: Don't blame outsiders for your bad situation. You are responsible for your stunted growth.... This reminds me of an incident at Louisiana Tech. One of my acquaintances (who was from north) once complained that all our Indian Association functions had tons of Telugu performances and none in Hindi. That was his reason for boycotting the functions, after all it was Indian Association not Telugu Association. I asked him why hadn't he ever participated in any of the events, choreographed or directed a performance or performed himself? That way we could have Hindi performances. If the non-Telugu speaking population was not going to participate, how can they blame others for doing what they like to do? I did make my point successfu

Year: 1996 Location: Kirti Group Tuitions, Dombivli (E) Scene: I was in the 12th grade and was going to Pabrekar Sir for PCMB tuitions. One day after class he was talking to all the girls in my class, a real small number and said something like: Don't let guys distract you... चांगला शिका, मुलांची लाइन लागेल :-) Nothing extraordinary.... Being pushed for good grades and education was nothing new to me..... It was present everywhere, except at home (lucky me..... everybody should have my parents!!!!). I ddin't need him to tell me about guys! Year: 2009 Location: Somewhere in Andheri Scene: My cousin and I were talking and she mentioned a sister-in-law who was past the average age of marriage (among Maharashtrians), worked in IT, drew a very good salary, did not have a boyfriend and was trying for an arranged marriage. Following are the "responses" she got: Guy: I don't want a girl who earns more than I do. Guy's mom: We don't want a girl from IT. They have

I went to a saree shop yesterday, a fancy saree store in a mostly gujju neighborhood, I would guess owned by a gujju.... The moment we went in and sat down and spoke in Marathi, the guy understood almost everything about our needs.... Like he was a mindreader :-) He showed us sarees in a wide range (cost-based), but not a single saree was out of our budget. 4 women were sitting right next to us and he was showing them sarees that cost 4 times more than what I was checking out.. Needeless to say they were all speaking in Gujarati :-) The guy knew I was going to buy only 1 saree, he still made me shortlist around 15 (we were tired, but he did not want to give up.... It's usually the other way around... You have to keep asking for more designs and styles!!!). He draped more than 10 sarees on me and then finally when I could not select one from the final 2 shortlisted, he called another salesman and they both literally draped the sarees around them so I could get a better idea. It was

Has a song ever been stuck in your mind for days??? Its been a long time since I have had a chance to relax and think about music, but it used to happen to me frequently. Anyways, I was flying to Vegas and listening to दिल के अरमां आसुओं में बह गए । As I was listening to the song I remembered that I saw Nikaah when I was a kid. I did not understand the movie, it was too long and serious for me, I was totally bored. I hated Raj Babbar, he was never a typical, good-looking, dancing, fighting hero. I didn't like Salma Aagah nor her nasal singing. I would have never thought that so many years later I would actually have 2 songs from that movie on my iPod!!!! Anyways, the pilot announced that we were beginning our descent into the Las Vegas area and we had to switch all electronic devices off. Just as I turned off my iPod the few lines that I was listening to stuck in my mind. Its been 4 days and I can't get it off my mind. So I ahd to get them off somewhere. Obviously I can&

That's a Marathi movie (now it's called Sanai Choughade) produced by Shreyas Talpade's wife that I have been wanting to watch for the past one year. And I saw it today finally..... What do I think???? hmmm.... mixed reviews. Novel concept, handled well... but not really a great movie. Lot of melodrama (I guess you can't escape that in our movies). Unnecessary songs shot in the style of hindi movie songs (I guess to make it appear more modern??? It was weird listening to Sunidhi Chauhan sing "kaande pohe" in her high picth item number style...). Hated the acting. Inspite of all of this, it left a mark, felt like it made a connection, delivered the message, albeit a bit too loud, but that's OK, I guess. The movie raised quite a few interesting questions. The best part was that the protagonist did not have long monologues defending and raising those issues (remember Shahrukh in Swades??? preaching the same point again and again in 3 min long monologues, in di

M.J's death, its coverage and his funeral have sparked quite a few reactions. I recently saw a friend's comment on Facebook. I am not quoting her here, but it said that he was a pervert and did not deserve the attention he was getting, especially when so many soldiers are dying for our country. Well, everyone has an opinion... I just thought it was odd to call him a pervert when the law had found him innocent of all the charges. I did not follow his case and don't know what really happened, but I do know that he was an icon, especially in the 80's and 90's. I do not remember a single school gathering or fancy dress competition where an 8 year old was not dressed up as MJ and did not try to Moonwalk.... According to me he was a public figure, a singer and a performer, who was great at what he did and well... deserves the attention. Whether he was guilty or not is debatable (I am sure many people believe that he was guilty), but let's just show some faith in our j

... REALLY exciting right now. It couldn't get any better. I will get into all the details at some other time. For now just: "Thank God" and "Touch wood" :-)

Last weekend brought three educators together, Jam, Christine and I.... Obviously we all had to talk about our students.... I always feel that students don't want to read these days. They want me to tell them what is important for the exam and that's it. Not that I was a great student myself, but I loved to read and I loved some subjects. The others I knew I had to work hard if I had to scrape through. So one way or the other I worked hard. Most of my colleagues happen to think that students today can't read for too long and their attention span is too short, maybe 20 minutes. I strongly believe that today's generation is a twitter generation. More than 140 characters to convey something and you have lost them... completely!!!! With all the tweeting and texting that they do, they have no value for any kind of details.... Get to the point and get through it quickly!!!! Every time I have these conversations with my colleagues I kind of feel lost. I am always somewhere in

Last weekend we invited Jam and Christine to our place for some nice Marathi dinner. I made भरली वांगी and he made कोशिंबीर, fruit salad and पोहे..... The only thing missing was भाकरी!!! We managed with चपाती... The dinner was great and so was the wine that they brought. Made me realize how much I miss mom's cooking. I am so making a list of all the stuff I want to eat when I go home this time, starting with आलुची भाजी and कटाची आमटी!!!!

Times tweeted this article: Dying Art of Sari ... That's really sad. Especially the last comment made by a political science student really hurt. Apparently in India a woman in western formals is considered more empowered!!!! Seriously?? How so?? I don't understand, but I can actually. I am more of an Indian now than when I was there :-) And I remember my friends, the way we dressed, we spoke, the movies we saw, the places that we used to hang out at..... None of these things screamed traditional Indian. Why blame others?

Read this somewhere: "Life is unfair"... hmmm.. really?? Life is cruel.... sometimes, not always... but it is!!

I am sitting in my hybrid workshop and people are talking about mid-life crises. SS says "Men have..." and NN says "Affairs"..... Eventually everyone agreed that men have mid-life crises and that buying a fancy car is an innocuous way of dealing with mid life crisis rather than having an affair and of course we all agreed that women are too busy balancing too many things in life and don't have time for mid life crises. What an interesting session!! That's what I need in the classroom... A lighter side!!

Got this information from Shreyas.... rather his boss... Anyways, it's interesting information. The word “posh” stands for “ P ort O ut, S tarboard H ome”. On the way to India (way back when people traveled to and from England on a ship), the hot afternoon sun is on the right – or starboard – side of the ship as you sail down the west coast of Africa. On the way back, it’s on the port side, and a traveler desiring to avoid that hot sun wanted to be on the shady side of the vessel. So the rooms on these sides of the ship would be more expensive than other rooms (travelling in these directions) and hence called "posh" rooms.

Last night was bowling night with Indian Friends Meetup group... Although I am not great at the game (I suck at most sports/games), I went to have some fun... I have kind of given up on some things, sports being one of them... I have made peace with the fact that I am not great at playing any kind of games and that allows me to enjoy every thing. I actually did not suck last night. Although I did not manage a single strike (I did manage a 1 and 9) I was consistently doing 8 or 9... So I was content.. Still bummed about missing rock climbing though!!!!

So last weekend (Sat) we were supposed to meet a friend for dinner. Fortunately or unfortunately (I haven't made that decision yet!!) he had to drop off his aunt at the airport and canceled at the last minute. So we ended up going to this amazing adventure golfing place (I agree it's mini golf, but don't look at me.. that's what they call themselves!!).. It was a fun evening, with me trying my best to putt and not push the ball into the holes.... Also managed to lose a ball in water (folks behind us in line were really nice and gave us their extra ball)... But darn it!!! I forgot to take pics :-( Anyways, the only reason I can't decide if this was fortunate or unfortunate is because we met our friend for lunch the next day and hogged so much that had to miss our meetup group's indoor rock climbing :-( Golfing was fun though and if we ever catch up with our rock climbing, I will be sure to not forget my camera!!!

Some very motivated faculty members at GGC organized a summer tech camp for middle school students.. I would have loved to help if I was not teaching this summer. But since I am, I decided to0 do a couple of really small activities to feel like I contributed to something good. These ladies did a LOT of work.. I mean really LOT... Tons of co-ordination. This week is girls camp and next week is boys camp. Yesterday I did some really nice activities for children to understand binary numbers and today we are doing error detection and correction. I got the idea for these activities from a Broadening Participation in Computing workshop that i attended last semester. A web site called CS unplugged has a collection of such fun activities and magic tricks to introduce fundamental CS concepts to kids. Really good activities with all the support available. I just hope I can do this well today!!!!

I was thinking about my previous post regarding truth or dare and realized that: Choosing truth is a dare in itself !

.... What would you pick???

A friend recently forwarded me a message "25 Reasons I Owe My Mom". I am not a big fan of forwards and many times delete such msgs without reading. But I read this one and it was funny. I will not go through the 24 reasons here, but do want to mention the last point in that email, because it is just perfect. Loved it. 25. And my favorite: My mother taught me about JUSTICE. 'One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you.'

Sometimes we lose sight of who really cares about us, sometimes we cannot distinguish between the keepers and the kickers (losers, really).... Why am I thinking about this??? I just found out that family back home is discussing how to preserve mangoes for me so that I can enjoy them when I get there in July....... Well, lucky me!! Can't wait to go home!!

Long time back I published my short wishlist for summer vacations... Re-posting it here: 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 Never really thought I was going to actually get any of these.. u know.. that's what a wishlist is... didn't really expect anything to happen!.... but starting with # 5 this summer.... I have a strong feeling this list is going to be accomplished and more items may get added.... :-) Keeping my fingers crossed!!!

It's been really long since I blogged...... Not that nothing's happening. A lot is happening actually, one of the reasons why I haven't had time to reflect and type. Spring semester ended, I thought I was going to take a nice 3 week break, but exciting things keep happening at work (a great advtg of working at a start-up school!!!). So basically, I didn't even realize when summer began (thank God for Anu n Amol... we owe a nice long weekend to them!!) and this semester is just flying... 3 more weeks and I will be done with the summer semester... Condo search has been great... Saw a beautiful 1913 historical bldg in downtown, but I think living in downtown Atlanta might be a bit of a stretch... no matter how high. Hopefully, during the rest of the summer I should be able to get some internships for us and be able to prepare for another new course for Fall and present two papers at my Las Vegas conference.... And if I did not mention India trip in Summer.... add that to t

सपने देखो .... ज़रूर देखो मगर उनके पूरे होने की शर्त मत रखो Remember?? Farida Jalal's advice to Kajol in the evergreen DDLJ ??? I disagree.... I think, dreams come true.... Sometimes they just take a detour :-)

Religion is always an interesting conversation topic.... I have had some amazing conversations with many people, especially with a few in Ruston.... A friend at LA Tech once told me that the reason Christianity and Islam try to convert people is that at the time these religions came up, other religions were already in existence and they were competing with the other small, new religions for their followers.... This topic again came up when Shreyas and I were watching news, gay rights and same sex marriages and he voiced a similar theory.... Christianity or rather the Church does not support same sex marriage because they want the numbers!!!! Never thought about that.... But I can be convinced.

So, this morning I am on campus outside the bookstore and as you can see from this picture there's not a single car in sight nor a single soul.... except for two geese (well, there's only one in this pic.. I scared the other one off)!!!! This can only happen at GGC :-) Classes ended yesterday and the students have 2 reading days to prepare for finals.... I hope they are really studying :-)

Bill Clinton's lead strategist James Carville was at Tulane's commencement ceremony last year.... That's another thing about Tulane... great connections. We had Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr. for 2006 commencement, Brian Williams for 2007 and James Carville for 2008. Not to forget that Bill Clinton and Al Gore have been guest speakers in the past. Apparently James Carville has now moved to New Orleans and as I found out from the almuni yearbook, he is now a professor of practice in the Political Science department. His course is “The 2008 Presidential Election”... I think that's an interesting course... I would have certainly taken the course if I was there :-) I think he is great!!! Unfortunately, EECS at Tulane never managed to bring in their celebrity alum, David Filo :-(

Why do we realize what we have lost only after we lose it?

... if you knew you would not fail?

.... at the semester that went makes me cringe!!! Just 2 more weeks to go, I can't wait for this semester to end... I have done such a sorry job this semester, I can't believe I have been so careless. I have just been going from day to day, not looking ahead at all. Really want to get done with this and be better prepared for Summer and Fall... mostly Fall, Summer I think will be fine. I hope at least the iMovies turn out to be good :-)

... of course by Gulzaar.... A dear friend sent it to me... Enjoy! konewali seat pe ab do aur hi koi baithe hai chand (few) mahino se ab vo bhi ladte rehete hai clerks hai dono, lagta hai ab shaadi karne wale hai!! -- Gulzar

Read this wonderful article in TOI today.... Exactly my thought... Commenting on this article would be totally unnecessary!!!

Everything seems to be so perfect, nothing out of place, as good as one can expect, but apparently it still is not working.... I wonder why?

I was listening to a keynote speech at a conference this morning and I could not believe this.... There were numerous people around me typing away to their heart's content and it was absolutely hard to concentrate and listen to this guy speak with all these keyboards clicking away... I was mortified. I mean come on!!!! What do we tell our students every day in class ??? You are paying to hear this guy speak and then when he actually starts speaking you think of something more important to type on your laptop??? And trust me they were not taking notes. He was telling a story that still hadn't concluded..... Well, I guess we are all the same then!!! But if that's the case then how do you stand in front of a class and tell others not to do the same???

I recently made a list of 25 things about me and posted them on Facebook.... Yes, I have come a long way from when I could not even write a 4 line profile description of myself to these 25 lines :-) Anyways, the first item on my list was "I miss wearing beautiful salwar kameez and attending family functions". Christine left a comment on that saying I should start wearing my dresses frequently here... She is probably right, but what I was really trying to say was that I miss the entire experience of wearing traditional clothes AND attending family functions.... I mean yes, I could wear some kurtis to work... that won't be so bad, or I could wear salwars for Indian functions at the temple or the Indian Associations' celebrations... but that's not really what I enjoy... It is absolutely no fun to dress up in traditional attire and try to mix with desis whom you don't really know and usually have nothing else in common with (not even the age group many times...) T

I am stealing this title from a friend... I am sure he won't mind... It is quite appropriate for what I want to write. In the 11th grade my English professor at Kelkar, Mr. Ayappan was talking about persuasive communication and he started a debate in the class. I still remember my birthday buddy vehemently defending his position on the topic. I finally raised my hand, stood up and made one small comment. Mr. Ayappan smiled at me (he always did, he had a wonderful smile!!!) and said "This is called persuasive communication". It was my usual idealist comment. He thought it was persuasive.... I thought I was convincing too... I mean I strongly believed in every word I said... always do!!! How can that not convince anyone?? neways, today I am at a complete loss of words trying to convince others... How do you convince others that you really believe in what you say and you mean what you say??? If I ever see Mr. Ayappan again I should tell him... "I am not really that pers

So one of my best friends is taking a big step in his life!!! Tying the knot!!! hmm... exciting...No matter how much we fight (like Tom and Jerry...) and how much we complain, I can never forget that he has been an important part of my life and has a very big hand in my (little) success so far.... It is hard to imagine that our relationship will no longer be the same, but I guess that is fine!!! I think he very much deserves what he is getting and I want to wish him the best for his future... Congratulations!!!

I have quite a few of my parent's qualities, both good and bad... The one that I thought was bad was my mom's temper... She gets really upset when things don't go her way and I was like that too.... Eventually I realized that this was not working for me (thanks to Gandhiji and Bhagwad Gita).... So I trained myself to look at things objectively and see what my mistake was, instead of blaming others. I got really good at forgiving (but certainly not at forgetting!!!) and apparently became the "queen of letting it go" (someone said this to me once!!!).... But, now I think I have done this a bit too much.... to an extent where some people think that just because I don't confront/blame/create a scene means I don't know what is happening.... And so I am thinking if I should step back a little bit????? Maybe at least let them know that "I know what you are doing"??? Or is that stooping down to their level?? I don't know......

I got up this morning with a severe cold and by the time I reached school, I thought I was falling sick. I dragged myself to class and was so unsure of whether I will even be able to speak.... And my class is so kool... I love these kids... What my vacation was supposed to do for me in a month's time, teaching a class did it for me in an hour.... recharged!!!! That is exactly how I am feeling right now..

It is so simple to say what's on your mind. I am not saying it is easy. There is no good time to give someone bad news. But, the good time was yesterday !!! And I understand that it is equally painful for the person who has to say it.... But please just say it and move on. It is much easier to deal with harsh reality than with dishonesty. I wonder why people have to lie? Life would be so much more uncomplicated if you could take people for their face value and trust them.

On my last day in India, Anu and I did exactly what we used to do many years back when we were both still in India... Shopped at all the small roadside shops and then ended the evening by eating pav bhaaji and drinking orange juice at a small restaurant... This used to be kinda our routine for almost every weekend in those days :-) There's nothing really special about it, but it's still special. Will always be!!!

Every quote that I have posted on this blog and more are coming to my mind these days..... Not that I can't do without them... (heck, I can live through anything!!!!) But somehow everywhere these days I run into these motivational quotes and others too... Recently I visited my cousin and he gave me this really amazing book. It's called "Wisdom for the New Millennium" and it's written by "His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar". My immediate reaction on seeing the His Holiness thing was "wow!!! Am I going to read this??" And of course, I started reading it.... Wonderful book and incidentally exactly what I needed.... I soon realized that His Holiness is the founder of Art of Living . And the book deals with everything from how to handle stress to dealing with relationships. Apparently everyone knows what exactly I need :-) Although I do have tons of questions for His Holiness on Chapter 3!!!

I was travelling by train yesterday and there were a bunch of college going kids, rather girls in the train.... Looking at them I thought of myself as a kid. And I don't know why but I realised that today I am exactly the woman that I always wanted to be ever since I was a kid. Don't know why that thought crossed my mind then, but it did.... I always knew what exactly I wanted and feels great to realize that I didn't lose sight of what I wanted.