Gold and Beautiful

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