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Showing posts from 2008

Necessary Angels

This is an article in National Geographic Necessary Angels . I really liked reading it, and thought I should share.

Dear hubby

Thanksgiving dinner at hubby's sister's place, and she has this idea that we go around the table with everyone talking about what they are thankful for... okay, so lets start with the kids. Her daughter: I am thankful for my family, food, books and wii... See, thats a girl thing. They really appreciate all this stuff that guys don't even notice till they like retire and have grandkids. Her son: Wii, umm... and yeah family. Kiddo's turn and she thinks it will be nice to simplify 'thankful' for him. She: So, what do you like the most? What makes you very happy? Kiddo: (without a pause) OBAMA! That ends the ritual there and then. Me thinking - I am thankful for my hubby. Because I don't have to be embarassed in situations like this. Everyone knows these are dear hubby's genes showing. I don't think she will try the ritual next year and just let them go direct to the food.

Diversification

Some product line diversification to see if I can energize my reader base. I found these on Anil Krishna's webpage. He has some good stuff there. This one is quite do-able. I mean I could do it, so probably the difficulty rating is -1 :) Anil and Kavita attend a party with 3 other couples,including Srini and Shyamala (a couple). During the party everyone shakes hands with a certain number of other people that doesn't include oneself and one's spouse. At the end of the party Anil asks each person (apart from himself) how many people they shook hands with. He finds that each person answered truthfully and each one gave a different number. Anil did shake hands with Srini. From this information find out 1: Did Kavita shake hands with Srini? 2: Did Kavita shake hands with Shyamala? And another one... There are 2 numbers X and Y (integers). 2<= X < Y <= 100 Person 1, P1, knows X * Y (product). Person 2, P2, knows X + Y (sum). P1 knows that P2 knows the sum, P2 knows that

Writings

Some passages are so well-written that you want to savour the words, together and one-by one. Below are some excerpts from Lord Jim: "There are many shades in the danger of adventures and gales, and it is only now and then that there appears on the face of facts a sinister violence of intention—that indefinable something which forces it upon the mind and the heart of a man, that this complication of accidents or these elemental furies are coming at him with a purpose of malice, with a strength beyond control, with an unbridled cruelty that means to tear out of him his hope and his fear, the pain of his fatigue and his longing for rest: which means to smash, to destroy, to annihilate all he has seen, known, loved, enjoyed, or hated; all that is priceless and necessary—the sunshine, the memories, the future; which means to sweep the whole precious world utterly away from his sight by the simple and appalling act of taking his life." "It's extraordinary how we go throug

More Food

I love food... I mean really well prepared food. I love to cook, love to feed people and love to eat at good restaurants. I am hungry. All I can think of is crispy bread loaf with a pat of european sweet butter, rich luscious strawberries, butterfly pasta in wine based white sauce with parmesan cheese, a nice porto, a dark chocolate hazelnut mousse, the paneer and potatoes in a creamy sauce of malai koftas, spicy thin poha chivda with onions and dhaniya, surali wadi with lots of tadka, malai lassi, butter sauteed mushrooms, ghee soaked puran poli, soft rasmalai... Thats living!

Food

Fasting is good. It makes you appreciate what hunger feels like. And makes you appreciate food and having it. Whenever a desi mom starts talking about her kid's food habits, weight and likes, I am gripped by a firm desire to disappear. Somehow, there is a competition in proving whose kid is the worst in his eating habits, lowest on weight charts and finicky in food likings. It makes me think of malnourished children. Of the broken and scarred children in war zones trying to sort through the war atrocities they have witnessed before even being aware of lack of food that is killing them. I was listening to a talk on NPR of a Medicins Sans Frontieres nurse who was describing her experience in Sudan - of how they help mothers who walk in with children who barely can move, how they have kids as young as four year olds stumble into their clinic - alone. I don't know what I can do beyond feel the anguish? And maybe do some monetary contributions. Maybe this is the only time I find mys

Stuff...

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Umm... lets see, ... I made a nice cake on Atul's birthday. I know I am saying this on my blog, but all the biased and coerced opinions aside, it really was a decent cake. And wine soaked too... now what more could you ask for? ;) Cake ... I have decided to support Sarah Palin. It doesnt matter a fig whom I support, so why bother my head about the policies and issues? Whoever comes there is going to squeeze us for taxes and kick us for immigration. I'd rather entertain myself for chick value and real gossip while I can. ... I finally got around to buying a world map. Took me ten years to get around to buying it in US (see my shopping skills?). Interesting observation: Iran shares a very long border with Afghanistan. I mean I knew that it shared a border, but did not know it was so long. Now that explains a lot of policitcs, doesn't it? ... Its Karwa Chauth today. Fasting is something I can handle quite well, especially if it promises some improvement in dear hubby (now who

In God's hands

Hundreds of devouts throng to temples across India for every festival big or small. They believe in and bow before the supreme power of God. So, shouldn't their God preferentially protect them for being so devout? Why should anyone raise a cry against the mere mortal temple administrators for not providing for safe conduit or emergency exits? After all the expenditure on silk wear and gold jewelry for the idols and after accounting for the expense of bathing them in milk and honey, it is simply unreasonable to expect that the authorities should also have to spend on building planning with safe exits and emergency plans. Why unnecessarily burden the police force by asking them to streamline the expected crowds when there is God to take care fo everyone? I mean com'on. This is not the first time a stampede has happened, is it? Why raise a hue and cry about it? It's God's will and any actions of us mere mortals to prevent by excercising some common sense care would have ce

Quintessential American

Tired of stories in which a trash truck or an alligator plays the protagonist, I decided to introduce the kid to some good old mythology. So, we pick "Krishna & Sudama". I figure he can identify with friendship and so this will make sense. Okay, here we go... Me: Krishna & Sudama were two kids in a school. They were the best of friends, did everything together, played, eat, slept together Kid: Haan and woh school mein itni badi blue train bhi share karte the (because thats the biggest thing you could do for anyone, share your train) Me: Haan... more blah blah... Then they grew up and left school Kid: Kyonki woh uncle ban gaye and office jane lage? Me: Kindof. But Krishna became a big king and blah blah. But Sudama was poor. He didnt have much money to buy any groceries. And his babies would cry when they would get hungry as there was no groceries done. Kid: Kyon, use office mein paise nahi dete the? Me: Well, dete the, par bahut kaam paise dete the Kid: Phir woh dusre

Krishna

In India I re-read Mrityunjay just to see if I liked it. I had read it when I was in school and and thought it was a decent read. But this time I found it overbearing. Though there was Krishna again. There is something supremely mersmerizing about that one character. In Mahabharat, he comes across as a person whom everyone gives a lot of importance. Though no one talks about why? As a warrior, he did overpower and destroy Kans. But then many kings of Mahabharat age could claim to more valour. Also, Krishna had to suffer the indignity of moving to Dwarka to save his people from Jarasandh and then had to use Bhim to kill Jarasandh. And there was Shishupal he killed. But that description is very hazy and doesnot attest to his valour. He comes across as a very able diplomat and astute politician though. Many of his actions throughout Mahabharat, and many of his words during the final war are very carefully calculated to induce some precise feeling and actions in others. Throughout he pushe

Tendonitis

So many folks have told me recently that they are suffering from repetitive stress injury (RSI). And like a big mama of tendonitis, I have found myself dispensing advice. So I found this blog entry I had written ages back and thought I'd share it. Tendonitis is a repetitive stress disorder which is basically an inflammation of tendons. Fingers have tendons (muscle strands) which are not very strong. Human body was not designed to do a lot of work with fingers. These tendons collect together and run through the wrist, through the carpal tunnel, up through the entire arm. A nerve runs through the carpal tunnel to the hand. Due to overwork, the tendons get inflamed. Small digression into morphology tells us that tendon and inflammation leads to the name tendonitis. In the least, it causes severe pain. In extreme, it can atrophy your muscles, press against the nerve causing carpal tunnel syndrome, cause disablility. ( trust me, I went through this ). The best cure to this very pa

Few links I liked

I know I have to complete my previous blog, but I have been busy with Strides For Cure. And now, I have hurt my thumb. Anyways, a couple of links I liked. 12 Rules To Live Like A Zen Monk Obama's speech How to prepare for becoming a parent

On education

Okay. So, in this blog, I am trying out something new. I want your opinion about the topic before I start babbling. So the question I have been thinking about is: "Should education be competitive?" Please think about your learning experiences, and those of others. Do you think that what we study is influenced by the requirement to test for it? Is that conducive to learning? Is that limited by the caliber of our testers? Could an environment be designed for learning for learning's sake? Would it create more confident and self driven people... these are just my questions. Yours could be different! Please let your thoughts flow... I would like to hear your ideas. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Both of the comments I received argued that competitive education is needed to land a good job. The premise being that companies like to hire people who have good education. I think we all agree that little of what we learn is actually

Dr. Dude

Congratulations!!! I am happy to see that title. Didn't know your name could sound that impressive.

Female thought leader

I was at Radia Perlman 's talk. This is an excerpt: I got an email recently from a recruiter for a high tech company saying that they were very interested in me as a "female thought leader". I didn’t reply, because I wasn’t interested in the job, but I fantasized replying: Thank you for your interest. Although my credentials as a thought leader are impeccable, I must warn you that I am not that qualified as a female. I can’t walk in heels, I have no clothing sense, and I am not particularly decorative. What aspects of being female are important to this job?