Gold and Beautiful

And I cry watching movies....Not necessarily the Hindi melodramatic ones but many times highly courageous or inspirational ones. I don't know why but somehow a soul stirring movie about a courageous deed or a highly inspirational speech can bring me to tears. And not to forget the highly melodramatic Hindi ones...For example when I was younger, Sunny Deol's rabble rousing speech in Damini had that kind of effect on me. Fortunately by the time Sunny paaji came up with similar things in Gadar , I had grown out of Hindi movies. But other movies like 10,000 Black Men Named George and Remembering the Titans or even Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson's court scene in A Few Good Men (I have no clue why I get emotional when I see that ???) too.... The list is long but in short any well shot/well acted scene showing the triumph of good over evil makes me cry!!!!! Funny eh ?

..... with Shilpa :-) It was not completely DIY.....I bought the pieces from a furniture store and then we assembled it at home...But hey, that's a big deal too.... esplly if you are used to having someone around to fix things for you!!! Although not a completely do it yourself project, it still required a bit of skill, labor and patience (just like looking at maps, I never know whether I am looking at it the right way !!)....But finally its done and now I have a new coffee table and two end tables that I assembled....... with Shilpa's help!!!! (Feels great..)

It's difficult for me to choose my favorite Celine Dion song....Two of her songs are my all time favs....No points for guessing that one of them is the Titanic song....It is beautiful and nobody could have sung it better than her. But today I am more in love with my other fav....This is how part of it (rather my fav part of it) goes: When you want it the most there's no easy way out When you're ready to go and your heart's left in doubt Don't give up on your faith Love comes to those who believe it And that's the way it is When you question me for a simple answer I don't know what to say, no But it's plain to see, if you stick together You're gonna find a way, yeah So don't surrender 'cause you can win In this thing called love The lyrics are great, very inspiring......And well, its sung by Celine Dion, what other reason do I need?

This weekend was for touristy sight seeing...... So off we went to Ruby falls, rock city and incline rail in Chattanooga, TN. Of course the drive was not as beautiful as it would have been in Fall, but nevertheless the destinations made the 2 1/2 hour drive worthwhile. I was under the impression that the Ruby Falls are called so because you can either find rubys down there, or there are some kind of red stones through which the waterfall flows...Alas! the Ruby Falls got their name from the wife of the first owner of the place (obviously called Ruby...duh!!!). The one hour guided tour through the caves, 260 feet under the ground was great if you had wild imagination. The limestone deposits formed draperies and different shapes. In an anti-climax of sorts the Ruby fall itself was decorated with colorful lights (red being one of them...). The waterfall was tall and I badly wanted to get under it just like we all did when we went to those caves in Karjat.... The next stop.... Rock city.......

Saw this amazing, touching documentary about the Lost Boys of Sudan Quite a few thoughts rushed through my mind. The first one was about India's independence and partition. Over the years I have had so many conversations and many many arguments about Gandhi, Congress and partition...... Many people said how Gandhi, Nehru were responsible for the riots that are still going on between Hindus and Muslims, how we shouldn't have given all that money to Pakistan and so on. When I saw this movie, that was the first thought that went through my head. When the British decided to leave India, they had no stakes in our country, were tired of the growing unrest and just wanted to get out. They gave us a date when they would be leaving and we had to solve matters before they left. Our leaders had few options. One was to let Jinnah be the prime minister and avoid partition, which Gandhi was ready for but not the Congress (thank God!!). The other option was to keep arguing, not make a decisio...

I always loved my parents and knew they were always correct (I am not saying I listened to them.....). At every important cornerstone of my life, I knew I should be listening to my mother. Whenever I did not follow her advice, I did not fail miserably but I could have done better and I always knew I should have done it her way. One thing I was good at though was sticking to the decisions I made and facing the consequences, whether good or bad...... I never took my parents for granted (thanx to the good things that they taught me), but after living on my own for many years and realizing what other things existed in the world I just think I should be putting my parents on a pedestal and worship them for everything that they have done for me. Yes I know, all parents do everything they can for their children......Or do they???? I am not so sure!!!!

Another of my favorite one from Shashi Tharoor's A-Z of India: UP: or Uttar Pradesh, is a state in north India, which accounts for 10% of our population, 20% of our industry, 40% of our pollution and 80% of our prime ministers.