Just Life (formerly Grad Life)

Straight on the road

2012-01-20T03:22:00.000-08:00

I think one of my new year resolution should be "Stop Complaining" but unfortunately that won't go well with my other resolution "Blog more".

Anyhoo, let's get back to my current complain. As it happens to anyone who has just moved to a big city, I am always lost in London. Okay, not so much now as I was in my initial days but still I do get lost quite frequently. The good thing about London is that people on the street always help you with right directions (unlike Delhi). My problem is the way I am given the direction. More often than not, they tell me to keep straight on the road I am on (I am usually not as lost as I think). The trouble with that direction, at least for me, the roads in London are never straight, unlike US. They bend and curve and turn and split in twos or threes. Initially, I used to follow the direction literally. Keep straight on the road. Result: I would get more lost than I was.

For example, at point X, I asked someone how to reach Richmond Rail station (point B). They told me to keep straight on the road. So I reached point Y and kept straight on the road (well as straight as I could). It was a dead end. What they really meant was: "Follow the road' and not, 'keep straight on the road' (Click on the image to see what I mean).

Trust me, it's very confusing for someone who has spent 7 years in US, the last of which was in great state of Texas. They have straight roads. Seriously straight. I mean just look at them:

Moreover, when they give direction in Texas, they will tell you that the road turns/bends towards left (even the slightest bends) and you have to keep on it. No such luck in London...

Revisiting Resolutions 2011

2012-01-02T16:10:00.000-08:00

We all make them at the beginning of each year, the resolution that is. I guess its a fashionable thing to do. But what's the point of making them if we don't revisit them towards the end and see how we fared. I know I am a bit late ( I started this post in beginning of December, actually) but I think I will first revisit my last year's resolution before making a new one. I might be able to catch up on my weaker areas that way and get them back in this year's resolutions. What do you say? Well, as if you have a choice. Like it or not, I am ranting about it today.

So ladies and gentlemen, here are my resolution from beginning of this year.

- Drink less soda. I don't think I fared well on this one. Although there was an entire month that I didn't drink any soda in 2011. My soda consumption is directly related to my stress level and this year has been quite stressful. So ergo, no success. I don't even see myself succeeding in this area in any recent time. Still too many changes, too many things to deal with.

- Exercise better. I am so proud to say that I actually kept this one despite all the crazy things going on in my life. I think I didn't exercise for about 1.5 month this year (September mid to October end) due to back pain, other than that I had been pretty good about it. I lost weight, gained muscles, lowered my cholesterol and have been pretty much in good shape. I am kind of proud of myself.

- Eat healthier. Again a big tick mark. I travelled a lot this year and still I did manage to eat healthy. Not all the time, of course, but more often than not I avoided unhealthy options and ate healthy. How else do you think I got my cholesterol from whooping 350 to borderline 200?

- Read more. I did. Although I am not very proud of selection of books I read (mostly young adult fiction) but I did manage to read about 22 books so far (not including the re-read of Harry Potter etc). As I said I spent most of my year travelling this year but I discovered the Kindle for PC. I am not big fan of reading books on computer or devices but this was the only way I could have read books while I was away from home. So I give a big plus to Kindle on that. A friend of mine gave me Kindle fire as farewell present so I think 2012 will be a better year for reading. Also I will be travelling about four hours each day so I will have plenty time to catch up on the reading.

- Be more social. Oh well. Again, I travelled a lot this year, met a lot of strangers and made quite a few friends. So I guess I can tick this off my list as well.

- Call home. I never imagined the way my year would turn out to be when I made that one as a resolution. This year my mom spent about 6 months on bed-rest due to various reasons. The only bright spot in her days were my daily phone calls. I have actually spoiled my parents so much that if I don't call for a week, I start getting frantic calls and emails from them. Till last year, I wouldn't call for a month and it used be perfectly normal. How life changes...

- Read scientific journals. Hmmm...I failed at this one. I don't have any excuses for this one except my travel and stress levels. I guess I should keep this one in 2012 resolution.

- Blog regularly. Oh well, I failed miserably at this one. I have to definitely pick on this one in 2012.

- Take more photos. This one is a big Yes agan. I started a self-portrait project (taking a self-portrait per day) in May and kept on it till now, apart from visiting a lot of different places and taking a lot of picture.

That's it for today. I will be back with more soon. I hope...

Complain Complain Complain

2011-12-29T04:32:00.001-08:00

That’s what I do these days. Well ok, I have always complained about one thing or the other at any given time (the reason I have this blog) but I think I have even more complains in UK than in US. As a friend put it loosely for me:

“If you are moving from India to UK, you are moving from a developing country to a developed country but if you are moving from US to UK, its like moving from a developed country to a developing country.”

Ok not entirely true, but it does come close. My biggest complains in UK: snobbery and customer service.

The entire world complain about American being rude, blah, blunt and loud but seriously, I have never been treated so badly anywhere in US. My bank in US treated me so well even when I was a student and didn’t have enough money. In UK the bank which has my salary account treats me like dirt. I am the one saying all please and Thank you’s, crossing my t’s and dotting my i’s while they send me bulleted emails about things I should send them without any hi or hello or even an acknowledgement. I am their customer and not their employee, for heaven’s sake! So much for being prim and proper in England.

Don’t even get me started with the help lines. Do you know you have to actually pay to talk to a customer service representative? And the average wait time to reach a customer service representative is same, if not longer. My BP rises every time I need to call one of those numbers. Okay, I have got a plan on my mobile according to which I am only charged for my mobile minutes when I call them and not their ridiculous charges but my BP still rises every time I call them. Its just so unfair! Its not my fault that I need to call them. In most cases its their fault or their requirement (as in activating the credit card etc.) that I need to call those numbers and then I am charged for it! Seriously? Forget about the quality of service provided. I am already seething by the time I am connected to an actual person. Its not about the amount of money I have to pay but the indignation over the system. I don’t think I will ever be okay with this system. Call me spoiled American if you like.

And then once in a while you meet the famous British snobs. I had misfortune of sitting next to one such English gentleman in the flight from Houston to London. Unfortunately, I had the middle seat in the flight. This “gentleman” deemed it proper to dump all the stuff from his seat (pillow, blanket etc.) to my seat without asking me first or saying Thank you after. Then the stewardess gave me his breakfast while he was sleeping and he didn’t even as much give a smile, forget about Thank you, for keeping it for him. And then they have the audacity to tell me that Americans are rude. Seriously? (Ironically, on my other side was an old French lady who was friendly and polite).

Going off topic a bit, Why do all the women in London wants to look 25 regardless of their age. No seriously, why? The teenagers want to look 25 and women in their 50s want to look 25. How can everyone in a city be 25? What’s so bad about being young or being old? Me thinks London is as bad as, if not worse than, LA in that respect. Well, judging by what I know about the two cities.

I have never lived in New York but I think Londoners are as bad as, if not worse than, New Yorkers when it comes to brand name obsession. I have never understood that obsession. May be its just my upbringing. I am still an Indian middle class girl who can’t accept throwing money on things you don’t need, and definitely not for sake of brand names. I have perfectly good bag that serves its purpose. I don’t want Louis Vuitton and such. I will be actually scared of owning anything like that since they are so ridiculously expensive. I will keep them in a safe place and continue using the one I have. Don’t take me wrong, I do appreciate quality and will like to have a good quality product but not necessarily an acknowledged brand name. But then, of course, I have to deal with the fashion snobbery for my choices. (Did I mention I miss US? Well, I do. Big time).

At times, I feel like I am trapped in a shallow, arrogant, rude, gossiping society. Thankfully, I do have a nice set of friends in London so I am getting along. Hopefully I will settle down soon and start accepting the life in UK. I will stop complaining so much eventually. After all, I didn’t like US during my first six months there (I didn’t have a credit history or a car back then. If you know US, you would know how difficult it is to survive in US without either). But for now, I don’t like London.

Scary..

2011-12-08T09:00:00.001-08:00

I was mailing a friend with an attachment using gmail. As usual I forgot to attach the file. And this popped up:

Gmail is scanning my messages now!! I mean its a useful feature and everything but I kind of feel exposed and vulnerable now. I know with onset of social networking sites everything the personal boundaries have shrunk. People no longer mind posting very personal messages on the wall for the world to see (I have been guilty of that on few occasions as well), but a machine scanning my personal mails is kind of scary. What if they are reading all my private messages? There is a reason I am using mail to write them and not Facebook...

London, here I come...

2011-11-22T19:11:00.000-08:00

Okay, I am making it blogosphere-official. I am moving to London. Tomorrow. After about seven months of turmoils, the ups and downs, the uncertainty about the future, living the life out of a box (well apparently that will continue for another month though this time I will have two boxes, I mean, suitcases), moving from hotel room to hotel (I kinda know how nomads feel) in cities I didn't know anyone, I am now moving to the next adventure: LONDON.

Good thing about London, I have loads of friends there. I already have invitation from three different friends to crash at their place while I look for an apartment. And of course, it is nearer to home ( I haven't gone to India for 4.5 years now. I am finally homesick).

I am still sad about leaving US. Not as sad as I was when I had to leave Stanford but still sad. I never got a chance to form a bond with Houston. But still, I do have friends around. I have a great support system in place here. I have to again start from scratch: Get to know people especially new colleagues, make friends, get used to a completely new culture (second one this year, first being the Canadian culture: I was stuck there in summer for five months due to visa issues), the new system and the big city (did I ever mention I hate big cities?), and the worst part is to do all this while getting mocked for being rude, ignorant American (which technically I am not. I still have my Indian passport: Mera Bharat Bhi Mahaan). Oh well, so much to look forward to...

P.S.: 1. Hopefully I will be able to be a bit more regular with blogging once I have settled down in London a bit (= find an apartment and get a working internet connection). So sit tight for the adventure of rude, ignorant American in London.

2. A fair warning: There are still a lot of things that can go wrong from now till the Thursday morning (the day I land in London). With the luck I have had lately, anything is possible. Last seven months have taught me one thing very well: Never say Never. Nothing has been working out as planned for seven months so I have become very reluctant to commit to anything. For example, I had cancelled all my utilities (electricity, phone, cable etc) once before about a month ago only to get them all reinstated within two days. I have cancelled everything again today. Let's hope it sticks by this time...

The Rules of Life

2011-10-09T21:56:00.001-07:00

Today as I was sorting through old things, trying to decide what to keep and what to throw, I found an old diary of mine. A diary from late 1990s when I was just stepping out of my teens. The only thing that’s written in that “locked” diary are 17 rules of life. I started reading them, thinking it would be some corny, mushy stuff I wrote, stuff that teenagers, or rather I believed in back then.

Well I was right but somehow, those rules don’t sound too bad even now. May be I still need to do some growing up. Anyway, I have decided to throw away that diary so I am copying those rules here, just for future reference.

Basic Rules of Life:

1. Get as many laughs as you can. Life is too short to be wasted and getting depressed.

2. Never take life or yourself too seriously. There are 4 billion people on this Earth and you are just one of them. So…how important are you anyway?

3. The truth is like an injection. It hurts then it makes things better. Don’t try and hide the facts from yourself. Be brave and accept your faults and facts just as they are. (I do live by this rule. I didn’t realize that’s where I got it from).

4. Be optimistic. You might have some flaws but you can always overcome them.

5. If the situation is out of control then just wait and watch until they are better again. Always remember “Time waits for none. Time changes for all.”

6. If the situation gets worse then simply move on. An end to a path does not mean the end of everything.

7. A firm mind leads toward a definite path and can take you out of any problem. It gives a clear perspective and helps you think in a mature way.

8. Be patient. Frustration arises when you ignore the time factor and want the results instantly.

9. More important than being the best is doing your best. If you had put your heart and soul in whatever you were doing then there is no reason to feel depressed or despondent. Not every one can come first. Accept that there are others who are better than you.

10. Always be ready to help others. And help everyone, even the person who are not good to you. For if you don’t then there would be no difference between you and them. (I did apply this rule for a long time in my life but eventually I rejected it. Learned this lesson very hard way)

11. Always appreciate other’s talent. It makes you a better person. Never be hesitant in giving compliments to others.

12. Never gossip. Before saying anything bad about someone, reflect on yourself: Are you any better than them? (Ah, that’s why I feel so guilty whenever I do gossip!)

13. If your expectations are not fulfilled, analyze your expectations whether they are justified or not.

14. Avoid pride. There are always people who are much more talented and more fortunate than you are.

15. The most important thing in life is “SATISFICATION”. Just be glad for what you have and for being the wonderful person you are. (Doesn’t the last part contradict the Rule 14? Hmph. Teenagers!)

16. Be ready to apologize when you have done something wrong. There are some people who are too precious to loose.

17. The true measure of success is not your bank balance or your position and status, but the type of relationship you share with people close to you, the time you spend with them and the amount of ‘happiness’ (not money or comfort) you can give them.

I am not sure why I wrote them down. Just remember coming out of a lot of sadness while writing those. Either way, that was me in 1990s…

Thursday Challenge: Golden

2011-09-29T18:14:00.001-07:00

Well almost. BTW, it’s a sunrise picture, and not sunset, in Calgary downtown…

This picture is posted as part of Thursday Challenge: Golden.

Weekend Wednesdays: Lake Moraine

2011-08-31T20:05:00.001-07:00

Being Green

2011-08-29T19:45:00.001-07:00

Okay I have a big time problem with this ad:

Why you ask? I am so glad you did. This advertisement implies that electricity is a “pure” source of energy because you see it comes form an electric outlet. But do they show how electricity is actually generated? Because news flash, electricty is not produced in their wall and supplied to the wall socket. Let’s see how the world energy is produced.

Well what do you know, 87% of world energy comes from, wait for it, fossil fuels (coal + oil + gas). Actually about 30% of it comes from coal which actually produces worse green house gases than the petrol you use for your car. And let me not get started with the environmental impact of nuclear energy and for that matter, even hydro-power.

The best solution, you ask? Well lets all stop using electricity or any kind of technology. Let’s go back to the caves. What, can’t do that? Then stop screaming environmental impacts and how much you love this planet.

Like it or not, the Earth is currently over populated by human species. That is enough to destroy the natural balance of this planet. And then we have our luxuries and comforts that we can’t survive without anymore, which makes a bad situation worse. So unless you can give all those luxuries up and are ready to live in a cave without electricity, technology or even so called basic necessities, there is no point saying that you love this planet and care about the “environmental impacts”, the “environmental foot-prints” etc. Those are just fancy words.It can make you feel good but they don't mean much. So stop using them. If you do want to do something then save electricity, lower the heating system a bit (if possible don't use it at all) and for God’s sake, stop reproducing like, well humans. (Can’t think of any other species in the animal kingdom that grow faster than them humans. They surpassed the bunnies long along..). Its not much and it will definitely not save the planet. It will just slow down its demise..

PS: I realize the chart above is for world energy and not electricity per se. Well the electricity statistics is a bit expensive for me at the moment (they are asking me to pay! The nerve on them..). However, the past data suggest that the statistics for the electricity generation is slightly better but still about 67-70% of world electricity is produced by fossil fuels and about 15% from Nuclear. Again not very environment friendly, is it?

Weekends Fun: The moon, the sun and everything else

2011-08-28T20:38:00.001-07:00

Well I have missed posting these for past few weekends. So what have I been doing over the weekends? Taking pictures, of course. However, I have been experimenting a bit these days. Something that you tend to do when you are all by yourself without any friends or foe in a strange city. So here are some of the results:

The first picture is a combo of two my experiments: night photography and panoramic pictures. This is the Calgary skyline in the night time:

The night I took the above picture was the night of full moon (the night of Rakshabandhan). As I crossed the Bow river to return back to my place, I saw this amazing scene. Obviously I had to take the picture. The river looked simply breathtaking!

Two weeks later, it was time for the new moon night. So I took this picture this Friday (well nearly new moon night, I am not sure I can take picture of a new moon).

Next picture is of the sun rise. I woke up at 3:30 AM on a weekend, drove 2.5 hours, stood in freezing cold to take this picture. It’s the shot taken at the moment the first ray of sun hit the top of the mountain. Trust me that moment was worth all the effort.

The next is picture from few moments later. (Blogger is messing with my colors for some reason. It was beautiful. You have to take my word for it.)

One more panorama before I leave. This one is taken on the road in Banff National Park..

That’s all for today folks! Catch you later…

Random thoughts

2011-08-11T20:56:00.001-07:00

- Is there something called photography block? I have been taking pictures but somehow they never come out the way I want them to be. I see them, delete them and go back again to take some more pictures.

- Why do almost all the comedies in US revolve around a male lead actor who is a douche bag, who, miraculously, is married to a beautiful woman who for some unknown reason tolerates him? Where is the comedy in seeing the douchebags messing up things and then boasting about it?

- Speaking of comedies, why is it considered funny seeing a man dressed in woman’s cloth? Why then, by the same logic (whatever it is), isn’t a woman dressed in man’s cloth considered funny? What’s so funny about it?

- How can anyone ever justify the looting hooligans of London? Why is media even trying to justify them? How do so called deprived youth be satisfied by stealing HD TVs and designer clothes? Is that what they are deprived of? They should all be sent to Somalia and they would know what deprivation really mean.

- Speaking of Somalia, what is with Indians and charity? Why don’t they ever donate? Seriously, few bucks out of your pocket won’t make a difference to you but it can make huge impact in someone else’s life. Please donate.

Oh well, I have been meaning to write all these as posts for past two weeks but carpal tunnel syndrome is raising its ugly head again. So I thought of simply posting these thoughts.

Wordless Wednesday: Paradise?

2011-07-27T21:17:00.001-07:00

Weekend Fun: Banff National Park

2011-07-26T18:32:00.001-07:00

The weather forecast for this Saturday was sunny with 40% chance of rain. So I decided to go to the mountains and take some pictures. The day started with some clouds but they didn’t look ominous. Actually they added a nice tone in the scenic route.

However, it did not last. It was soon raining cats and dogs.

However, it did clear up and it was a beautiful beautiful day after that. The clouds shifted and you can almost see the blue sky. The fresh tress, the road, the clouds and the mountain - everything together made it almost magical. It was so hard to leave any one spot and move on to other. It was so hard to stop clicking pictures. How many times in your life do you see such a beautiful scene unfold in front of your eyes?

It was simply gorgeous. Needless to say, I had a terrific weekend.

Wordless Wednesday: Raindrops

2011-07-20T20:28:00.001-07:00

… and the inverted reflections. (Yes, I am a science geek).

The Deathly Hallows-2

2011-07-16T11:05:00.001-07:00

Spoiler Warning

And the saga ends. The saga of Harry Potter. The story of an orphan who longed for his parents. The story of a boy who kept losing the people he loved. A boy who had the responsibility of the whole world on his shoulder. The boy who lived. The boy who willingly died for others.

The Deathly Hallows was the saddest book of the Harry Potter series. From the death of Dobby to the death of Fred Weasley and finally, to the death of Harry Potter. It was one emotional ride. The movie was every bit emotionally challenging as the book. The entire audience was sniffling yesterday when they saw the bodies of Remus and Tonks, when Snape died, when Harry went through Snape’s memories especially when Snape found Lily’s dead body, and when Harry Potter said

“There is a reason why I can hear the Horcruxes. I have known it for sometime now and I know you do too.”

Thankfully it didn’t elaborate on Harry’s journey through the forest.

The movie started with You-know-who taking the elder wand from Albus Dumbledore’s grave while Harry sat in front of Dobby’s grave with the tombstone that said:

“Here lies Dobby, A Free Elf.”

The trios breaking into Gringotts Wizarding bank and their escape on a dragon was beautifully pictured. The massacre of wizards when You-know-who heard the news was something I didn’t imagine when I was reading the book. It was one of those moments when you realize how brutal and scary You-know-who really is. It was re-emphasized by the way he murdered Snape.

The movie is brilliantly made and very well directed. I wouldn’t say that it matches up to the book, no movie can do that, but it is the best a movie could have done.

Having said that, I should also mention that I didn’t like the epilogue. The three teenager by no way look older. They look comical especially when kids clearly few years younger to them call them mom and dad. I think they could have either skipped that part entirely or could have done a better job with it.

In all, a great movie. Try to watch it in 3D. The 2D version is slightly out of focus, at least it was in the theater I watched it in.

P.S.: Pardon my grammar today. I am always confused about which tense to use when writing a report, review etc.: past or present?

Smell the Roses

2011-07-15T13:44:00.001-07:00

People in cold countries, like Canada, can’t wait for summer. They talk about beautiful weather, about taking time off to visit some beautiful place in the mountains. And yet, they refuse to admire, slow down or even look up to see a beautiful day passing them by. I took the above picture of Calgary downtown from a +15 walkway. I simply couldn’t pass this scene without taking a picture. Most of the people (not all though) who saw me taking this picture gave me a look before passing by.

To be fair, this is a narrow view of the scene, the actual scene looked something like this:

I stopped in my tracks when I entered this walkway. Beautiful, isn’t it? At least, I thought so. Am I only one who thinks this is beautiful? Why don’t other people see it? Even if I am in a hurry and such a scene present itself, I will slow down and will not take my eyes off it unless I absolutely have to. Why don’t anyone else? No really, why not?

Thursday Challenge: Vehicle

2011-07-14T18:40:00.001-07:00

This week’s Thursday Challenge is Vehicle. This is a shot from a Harley-Davidson store. Hope you like it…

Wordless Wednesday: Sunrise

2011-07-13T20:58:00.001-07:00

Location: Calgary Downtown

Date: 15th June, 2011

Being a Friend

2011-07-12T20:13:00.001-07:00

So by now you must have heard about Ghulam Nabi Azad’s big mess up. I have been following the news on various sites. One of the common comments that I have come across on such site is:

“He is a Muslim, what did you expect?”

And that’s where they loose me. Its just not the comments on the internet, some of my friends make such comments whenever there is a Muslim involved in whatever controversy. These people, for some reason, don’t make similar remarks when we discuss [baba] Ramdev, or Shiv Sena, or Narendra Modi, or Babri Masjid demolition, or Gujarat riots. To top it, their main defense for any arguments against such prejudice:

“I have Muslim friends.”

Honestly! Apparently, having Muslim friends makes it all okay. They can say anything against Muslims because they have Muslim friends.

Coincidentally, I also have Muslim friends. The reason I argue against such stereotyping is because of them. Because I know my friends are far better than that (and the reason they are my friend). Because I know they don’t stereotype me and put me in the same category as Ramdev, or Modi (thank God for that). And most importantly, because they are my friends. No one speaks that way about my friends in front of me, without me jumping in their defense. And yes, when people stereotype like that and make insulting statements about a community, they are insulting each and every member of that community, including my friends and their own friends. Don’t know about them, but I can’t stand by and let somebody insult my friend.

P.S.: 1. I am, by no means, defending Azad’s statement. I am very upset about it as well. He is a complete moron.

2. Yes, I know stereotyping is a common thing and we all do it. I guess its human nature. What I don’t like are people vehemently defending those stereotypes and start making hurting statements. They need to learn the line between doing something for fun and being hurtful.

Narcissist Me!

2011-07-05T22:01:00.001-07:00

Ramble warning (Don’t say I didn’t warn you..)

Recently I started two photography projects, 365 grateful and a-self-portrait-a day. Well, the main aim was to keep myself busy. The secondary aim was to improve my photography.

The first project, 365 grateful, lasted for about 15 days. To be honest, I was pessimistic about it since beginning. Why, you ask? Well, firstly, being the sarcastic, pessimistic person I am, I don’t think I can find something to be grateful for, for an entire year! And soon I was taking picture of chairs and shoes. No honestly…

Secondly, it’s a 365 day long project. If you have been a regular reader of this blog, you would know I have a history of not keeping such long commitments (just search Project Snapshot or Tuesday Tag on my blog). I have commitment issues, I guess. So project that has “365” in its title is certainly not going to continue for long…

The second project “a-self-portrait-a day” has been going fine for past 39 days now. Actually, it’s a slightly deviated version of more popular project “365 self portraits” but I didn’t want two projects with “365” in its title so I changed it to “a-self-portrait-a day”.

Anyway, I started the two projects some time in May. I have been posting the photographs on my FB profile since then. However, initially I didn’t make the albums visible to my friends on FB. However, after about 15 days into the project, I changed the settings. After all, what is an artist without an audience? (Isn’t that’s why we blog instead of writing diaries like good old days?)

Recently, I changed the settings of the album (album self portraits, of course) back to be visible only to me. Well, the change happened after I read this post.

Okay, to be completely honest, my first hesitation about sharing the albums publicly was due to the same reasons voiced in the post. “A 100+ photos of only me in different poses, photoshoped, tinted, altered and what-not”. But again, as I said, an artist do seek an audience, so did I. I wasn’t comfortable putting those pictures on the world wide web for every Tom, Dick, Harry to see. So I chose Facebook as my platform. At least I know people in my friend’s list and I can block the ones that I feel uncomfortable sharing those pictures with. I think that way Facebook do provide a great platform.

Anyway, at the moment I am not sure whether I should or shouldn’t share my photography project, namely, “come and see a 100+ photos of me and only me” with anyone.

On one hand, the project has been an inspiration, a motivation in my otherwise not-so-good-days. It makes me think about things other than my problems and be creative. I am not sure how long will the project last without an audience. I have learned quite a bit about photography while doing the project.

On the other hand, I am inclined to agree with Priyanka here. Why put 100+ photos of myself in different poses for people to see?

Either way, its me caring about other people’s opinion which is unusual for me. Well it happens. The bigger question here is: Am I really a narcissist?

Social Networking

2011-07-04T21:22:00.001-07:00

Oh no, I am not writing about 100 ways the Facebook annoys me or the things that are wrong about Facebook and all those things. Neither am I going to write about how Google plus is going to change the status of Facebook nor am I comparing different social networking sites here. My post is about why these sites have started to scare me. Oh ok, not really scare but I now have a new reverence for them.

Let me start with a completely different aspect of social networking sites, namely research. Yep, you got it right. How many times have you seen a news about Facebook that starts something like

“Research in Blah Blah university suggest that Facebook/twitter/MySpace/insert-any-other-social-networking-site affects ….”

Do you realize how much research has been fueled by these social networking sites ? Just search for number of books written on the social networking sites in recent years. I found a list of about 400 research papers and books including master and PhD theses on the topic.

Social networking sites are a hot topic (or at least, they get more coverage in media) of research in anthropology, psychology, communication, market research, language, political science (with recent middle-east uprisings, it will be a hot topic in political science research in coming days), and of course, IT.

I know, a lot of us make fun of these social networking sites, some refuse to be on it while others use it reluctantly, but let’s face it. They are here to stay. They are changing our world with each passing day and none of us know how. They are becoming more powerful with every flash mob or political rally getting organized through them. Everything around us is changing to accommodate them, from our web browsers to our cell phones to the advertisements. Hell, I follow my chiropractor, my apartment complex and even my (ex-) office building in Stanford (yep, even buildings have profiles on Facebook).

Few years back we joined these sites for fun. But now they are turning into serious business. If the trend continues, in few days, it will be impossible to live/function without a Facebook profile. And that my friend, scares me. How about you?

P.S.: Its just my opinion. I don’t have any substantial data to prove that there is more research done on social networking site. May be some day, when I don’t have anything else to do, I will compile that data…

10 Day Challenge: One Picture

2011-07-03T19:36:00.001-07:00

…of me, that is. Well here it is.

This is a self portrait. I was going for the expression of “messing up” in the picture. I think it looks more like sneezing. Well, what can I say, I am a lousy model.

Well that brings us to the end of this challenge. Hope you enjoyed it!

Previous posts on 10 Day Challenge: Two Songs, Three Films, Four Books, Five Foods, Six Places, Seven Wants, Eight Fears, Nine Loves, Ten Secrets.

10 Day Challenge: Two Songs

2011-07-02T15:40:00.001-07:00

Are you kidding me? TWO songs? At least let me talk about two albums or two music directors or two singers or something. No, just two songs then.

Okay then, I am simply going to post the two songs stuck in my head right now. Sorry, I can’t do more than that. I hope you like them:

1. Sathiya Ye Tune Kya Kiya – Love

Ever since I wrote yesterday’s post, this song has been stuck in my mind. I don’t know why. I was simply thinking about the 90s music when this song popped into my mind and has been stuck there ever since.

Sathiya Ye Tune Kya Kiya

Rendered beautifully by S.P. Balasubramanyam and Chithra, this song was one of my favorite back in 90s. Although I didn’t know Chithra back then, she became one of my favorite singer very soon.

It had an added bonus of having Salman and Revathy in it. Both them were my favorites back then. Actually, Revathy is still my favorite, although I can’t stand Salman any more.

2. Tumhe Ho Na Ho – Gharonda

Tumhe Ho Na Ho

This is one of my all time favorite song. Did you know this song was sung by Runa Laila? An amazing singer who didn’t get enough credit.

The movie is Gharonda, one of those low budget, great movies made in 70s. Just watch the song to see how realistic and low budget they were. No artificial airs, no extras dancing in the background, nothing that a common couple wouldn’t do.

So all in all, it’s a great song with great lyrics, great music, and simple picturization.

That’s all for today.

All the images are linked to their source.

Previous posts on 10 Day Challenge: Three Films, Four Books, Five Foods, Six Places, Seven Wants, Eight Fears, Nine Loves, Ten Secrets.

10 Day Challenge: Three Films

2011-07-01T11:42:00.001-07:00

I recently did a post on movies. Its so hard to shake it off while writing this post. So as inspiration from that post I will write about three movies representing the three decades of my life. Fair enough?

1. Disco Dancer: the First Decade

I grew up in 80s. The decade started with Amitabh’s era turned into a Mithun Chakraborty’s era with some Sridevi and Anil Kapoor thrown in. The movie that most vividly represents this era for me would be Disco Dancer. I don’t like that movie (the reason for its absence from this post) but it does represent that decade.

On a side note, I think the 80s were the worst era in the Bollywood music history, unless, of course, you compare it to the current times.

2. Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge: the Second Decade

The 90s saw the rise of the three Khans and romantic movies. It was also an era of Madhuri Dixit, Juhi Chawla and Kajol. The actresses were a strong figure in the movies in this era. Even though they were still jobless or were doing some non-descriptive jobs, they were still had a powerful presence on the screen instead of just being the girlfriend of the male lead. The story revolved around them.

If I have to pick one movie from this era it would be Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. I consider it as the most romantic movie of this era.

In the music scene, this was the one of the best era for the Bollywood music. It was not the Golden era but it did come in a close second. The success of the movie depended on the success of music album in this era.

3. Om Shanti Om: the Third Decade

The 2K decade was the decade I lost touch with the Bollywood. If I have to write about this period, I would put it as the decade of the cheap comedies. Not that this decade didn’t have any good movies(Dil Chata Hai, Black, Taare Zameen Par, Hum Tum) but the majority of the movies were in the genre of cheap comedies. This era also saw the new phenomenon in Bollywood: Remakes. I can write and write about how wrong that is and how much I loathe it but I will be digressing from the point of the post.

As I said, I have lost touch with Bollywood in these past few years. The only movie I can think of, which represents this era, is Om Shanti Om, although I found this movie to be better and more bearable than the most of other remakes and cheap comedies of this era (whatever I have watched). I think the presence of Kiran Kher made all the difference in this movie.

In the music world, this was the era of item numbers. The success of the movie depended on the success of the item number in the movie. The item numbers became so popular that by the end of the era, the famous established actresses made guest appearance to do an item number. I think that’s what most of the actresses were reduced to in this era. Item numbers. Again I am describing the trend and not the exceptions.

These are simply my opinion of the three eras and my choice of movies to represent each. I hope you like it. That’s all from me now.

All the images are linked to their source.

Previous posts on 10 Day Challenge: Four Books, Five Foods, Six Places, Seven Wants, Eight Fears, Nine Loves, Ten Secrets.

10 Day Challenge: Four Books

2011-06-30T19:48:00.001-07:00

Today’s challenge involve picking four books. Well, I am not entirely a book worm who has to read every written word ever but I do enjoy books. So today I am listing the four more influential books of my life. Well, at least they signify a change in my reading pattern…

1. Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators:

My reading life began with these books. Well, unless you count the kid’s magazine Nandan and Archies. I found them in the Children’s library which I joined to get access to Archies. I picked them as experiment and fell in love. I tried reading Famous Five, Nancy Drew and Secret Seven but kept going back to the Three Investigators. I guess it had something to do with the fact that I had a big crush on Pete Crenshaw back then.

For the longest time I thought that Alfred Hitchcock actually wrote this series. I still can’t figure out why do they have to put Alfred Hitchcock’s name there.

The picture above is the business card of the Three Investigators.

2. Pride and Prejudice

This book was my introduction to classics. I got the abridged version of Pride and Prejudice as my 16th birthday present from one of my neighbor didi who used to be an avid reader. It took me a while to start on this one. The language, the theme was so medieval that it demanded a lot of patience from the 16 year old me. The first two chapters were a torture for me but once I got past them, the story became so interesting and may be I got used to the language, I got hooked.

This book opened a whole new genre of books for me. To date, classics are my favorite genre in books.

3. Harry Potter

I resisted these books for a while since I considered them to be kid’s books. Come on, a book about magic and wizards. Honestly, I had never read books on magic before this so I didn’t even know what I was missing. My then room-mate insisted that I read these books so I started with the borrowed copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The rest is history.

Apart from the Harry Potter being the amazing books, they reintroduced me to the young adult fiction. After Harry Potter I proceeded to read His Dark Materials, the Chronicles of Narnia, even Twilight series, Percy Jackson series, the Kane chronicles and the 39 clues.

4. My Sister’s Keeper

This book was my introduction to Jodi Picoult. Before this book, I had read a few so called social-issue-novels but was never impressed by any. Somehow none were engrossing enough. Jodi Picoult’s books are a different class in its genre. She knows how to engross her readers, churn their inside, and make them think.

That’s all for now.

All the images are linked to their source.

Previous posts on 10 Day Challenge: Five Foods, Six Places, Seven Wants, Eight Fears, Nine Loves, Ten Secrets.

10 Day Challenge: Five Foods

2011-06-29T19:59:00.001-07:00

1. Maggi

Truth be told, the first time I ate Maggi (I was about 6 or 7), I hated it. But I made my mom buy them for the cool games they promised in exchange of 5 wrappers. Then I ate the fried Maggi at a friend’s place and the life-time love affair started.

2. Peanuts

I have always loved peanuts and anything related to it. I will eat peanuts till I am sick and may be even after that. Someone needs to physically stop me from eating peanuts.

3. Bhindi (Okra)

I can eat bhindi day after day, week after week, month after month without getting bored. Though I like my bhindi slightly burned. Actually I like a lot of things on slightly burned side.

4. Chicken

I have attempted to become a vegetarian multiple times in my life but I love chicken too much to be one. Not that I eat chicken every day, just once a month or so, but I can’t give it up. I have stopped trying now..

5. Rasmalai

Well a food post has to have a dessert item too, isn’t it? I have a sweet tooth but my favorite dessert of all time is Rasmalai.

That’s all for now. All the images are linked to their source.

Previous posts on 10 Day Challenge: Six Places, Seven Wants, Eight Fears, Nine Loves, Ten Secrets.

10 Day Challenge: Six Places

2011-06-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

Six places..hmmm. There are so many lists I can make for this one; Six places I want to visit, six countries I have visited, my six favorite places to take pictures etc. But let me make it personal. I am talking about my six places that I where I have lived or have had some personal connection to:

1. Roorkee

IIT Roorkee’s administrative building known as Main building

Well I wasn’t born here, neither it qualifies for my native place. Our family moved here just after my birth (I was 4 months old) as my Dad got job in University of Roorkee (now IIT Roorkee) as a lecturer. So even though its neither my birth place or my native place, its my home-town – the place I grew up in. In fact, I grew up in the University of Roorkee campus.

I didn’t it know then, but I was privileged that way. Life on a university campus is very peaceful, very different from normal life. We had access to all the university facilities as Olympic size swimming pool, indoor Badminton courts, tennis courts, campus library. The fees, if any, were nominal. Life was great!

Also, for uninitiated, Roorkee is a small town in foothills of Himalayas. Its now falls in the state of Uttarakhand.

2. Chennai

Chennai’s Marina beach

The first time I left my home-town, I ended up in deep south, all by myself. Honestly, I was scared and excited. Well I was young enough then to take it as an adventure. The only word of Tamil I knew was ille.
Those were great two and a half years. I learned a lot about south Indian, in particular Tamil culture, made some great life-long friends and gained a bit of weight.

3. Barmer/Jodhpur

Jodhpur’s Mehrangarh Fort and the blue city

I never lived in either of these cities. However, I worked on Barmer basin for 2.5 years. Part of my work took me to the field in Barmer. Since Barmer didn’t have an airport, we always flew to Jodhpur followed by a four hour drive to Barmer. However, depending on flight times, I usually got a half day break in Jodhpur. I visited Jodhpur’s Mehrangarh Fort on most of those breaks mainly due to some companion who had never seen the fort.

We had our main field work in Barmer, which meant I have travelled through most of the district, talked to local villagers, visited their home, visited schools, as well as climbed the sand dunes in 35-40 C temperature. Oh, the memories

4. Edinburgh

The Edinburgh Castle

Again, I never lived in Edinburgh but I have visited it few times. The company I was working for during my stay in Chennai was based in Edinburgh. So before I visited Edinburgh for the first time, I had heard a lot of stories and praise about the city. But the city didn’t disappoint me. It’s a beautiful city. I wish I could live there at some point.

5. Stanford

Palm drive and the Stanford quad

From Chennai, I moved to Stanford for my PhD. It was love at first sight. Although I must say, I hated US (not Stanford) the first six months of my arrival. They have this circular logic of credit history. You can’t have one if you have never owned a credit card, rented a house, buy a mobile. But you can’t have/buy any of these things unless you have a credit history. Go figure.

Anyway, I spent six years in Stanford. It remains my favorite place in the whole wide world. Its my place. The place I go to touch bases and recuperate after any major trauma. Last time I visited India, I couldn’t wait to go back to Stanford. To be home. I was pretty sad when I had to leave Stanford.

6. Houston

Houston downtown

Last year I moved from Stanford to Houston for my job. I have been here for about 8 months now. I am still working on building memories here. So nothiing much to elaborate here…

That’s all for now. See you tomorrow.

All the images are linked to their source.

Previous posts on 10 Day Challenge: Seven Wants, Eight Fears, Nine Loves, Ten Secrets.

10 Day Challenge: Seven Wants

2011-06-27T22:00:00.001-07:00

Oh, this is an easy one. I want everything! See so simple. No? Okay let me try again. I want world peace and eradication of poverty and sickness from the world (an excerpt from my Nobel prize speech. What? I am more likely to win the Nobel prize than win a beauty pageant!) Okay fine, I will write down seven things. Here it goes;

1. Hassleblad H4D-60

For uninitiated, it’s a medium format camera with 60MP sensor. I can’t even start to describe all the features of this beautiful camera. The only two cons of this camera: 1) it weighs about 1.8 kg and 2) it costs about $40,000.

2. Server and accessories

I would like to build a server from scratch one day. I don’t really need it but I do want it. Oh yes, I do. It will be nice to have one for post-processing my photographs faster as well as storing them in the server. Oh yes, while I am at it, I would like the Eizo FlexScan T2351W monitor and a Canon Pro9000 Mark II printer.

3. House

I want to buy a house with about 5-6 bedrooms, a game room, a dinning-room, a breakfast area, a living room, an entertainment room, a sun room, a big kitchen along with a basement that I can convert to a gym and a nice backyard. Also enough money to decorate my house exactly the way I want it, without cutting corners. Hey, you are the one who asked what I want!

4. Vacations

Oh there is a whole list for this section: all the places that I would love to visit in my life time. A cross country drive in US and Canada, drive across/train trip Europe, to visit Egyptian pyramids and river Nile, Peruvian country side to Falkland islands and it goes on and on.

5. A New Wardrobe

Oh, how I would love a new, stylish wardrobe. An outfit for all occasion, whether its casual or formal, evening or business. Instead of me standing in my closet (oh yes, I have a walk-in closet in my apartment) with multiple clothes and yet nothing right for the occasion.

6. Health

This one is pretty important to me. I don’t like being sick. I don’t like having back pains. Anything that stops me from exercising or going out, I don’t like. I like to be mobile at all time. So being healthy is really important to me.

7. Happiness

Yet again, the obvious. Like every one else, I do want to be happy.

That’s all for today, All the images are linked to their source.

Previous posts on 10 Day Challenge: Eight Fears, Nine Loves, Ten Secrets.

10 Day Challenge: Eight Fears

2011-06-26T21:53:00.001-07:00

Hmm..I think this is going to turn into things I don’t like instead of actual fear. I am not really afraid of many things in life. I am uncomfortable of quite a few things, so that’s what I am going to enumerate today

1. Claustrophobia

The fear of enclosed space. I am not sure but I think I might have always had it but I didn’t know it. However, the half an hour that I spent in an MRI machine brought it out. I had never like the elevators but now I try avoiding them completely. As a result, now I know that I can climb up to 8 floors of a building but that’s pretty much my limit.

2. Breaking-neck-phobia

As I mentioned earlier, I have a big phobia of breaking neck for as long as I remember. I don’t know what was the source of this phobia but as a result I have never been able to do somersaults or a headstand. If you think you never need to do one as an adult, then I recommend never to join a martial art club. We had to learn to roll which was one of toughest thing I had to learn during Kenpo Karate. I almost cried a few times.

3. Financial dependence

I am completely and totally scared of becoming financially dependent on any one. As a kid I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grow up except that I will be working and be financially independent. That was a big deal for me then and as it is now. Not that I think being a house-wife or stay-home mom is bad, its simply I can not do it. May be I have some trust issues…

4. Flying Insects

I wouldn’t say I have a fear of insects but I don’t like insects that can fly, especially if they fly straight to my face. Even if it’s a butterfly or a lady bug. I don’t like insects flying towards my face. Period.

5. Horrifying showsNo I am not talking about horror movies and shows. I am talking about shows like Criminal Minds, Law and Order SVU etc. It also includes most of ID (Investigation Discovery) channel shows. The reason these shows scare me is that they are usually based on some real life criminal case. It can actually happen to me or someone I know. That scares me a big deal.

6. PredatorsI have a decent amount of respect for all types of predators. Whether they are big cats, or prey birds, I admire them and keep a safe distance from them. They are after all capable of tearing me apart, if they please.

7. SpeedI don’t like fast speeds. I am kind of scared of driving too fast. You will always find me in the right most lane driving either at speed limit or below it. If I will ever get a speeding ticket, it will be for driving too slow.

8. Losing

Yes, like all humans, I am also scared of losing people I love. Again, it’s a given, isn’t it?

That’s all for now. See you tomorrow.

Previous posts on 10 Day Challenge: Nine Loves, Ten Secrets.

10 Day Challenge: Nine Loves

2011-06-25T23:51:00.001-07:00

Okay, the second day of 10 day challenge and it doesn’t get easier. So here goes the list of my nine loves:

1. Photography
Well number one is no brainer. If you know me, you know I love photography. It has been a passion for a long time, even before I had a camera. As a teenager I used to quote photography as my hobby with added subtext: “I don’t have a camera yet.”

2. Exercising
No honestly. I go into depression if I can’t exercise. It can take any form though, swimming, biking, playing badminton, practicing martial arts or simply working out in a cardio class. I love the sweat after exercising and that feeling of being completely physically exhausted along with all the aches and pains of a physical activity. Its so exhilarating.

3. Studying
Again, I am not kidding. And I am not talking about reading books/novels (which, incidentally, I also like) but actual course books. Call me a geek or a nerd or whatever, I have always always loved studying. I have known to forget to eat or even to sleep (no seriously, that has happened to me) while studying.

4. Musicals
I am a big sucker for musicals, both in movies and on theater. From The Sound of Music to Chicago, I love them all. From Fiddler on the Roof to Rent, I adore them all.

5. Peanut Butter
Actually scratch that. I love peanuts. Period. The warm nice peanuts (with shells), with chutney or lemon-salt-chilli combo on a cold winter day. I love peanuts and anything associated.

The peanut butter (crunchy) means same to me what chocolate means to most of the people around the globe. I simply can’t resist it. The peanut butter is the reason I love Snickers and Cold Stone creamery Mud Pie (thanks Rachna for introducing me to the second one!). I can even tolerate chocolate if it has peanut butter in it.

6. Stanford
The beautiful beautiful campus of Stanford and plethora of activities it offers, for me Stanford is and will always remain the best, the most beautiful place to live in the entire world. It was the first place I ever felt home after leaving home. I spent six years of my life, and I must add few of the most challenging years of my life, in that place. It holds a special place in my heart.

7. Geophysics
I love being a Geophysicist. I love my subject. It’s a fascinating world. Did you know Geophysics consists of multiple disciplines like volcanology (study of volcanoes), meteorology and climatology, seismology (study of earthquakes), oceanography (study of oceans), hydrology, glaciology (study of glaciers), Geomagnetism (study of magnetic field of the Earth), Planetary sciences (study of physical characteristics of other planets)? It’s a diversified field with a lot of different applications. It’s a humbling experience to attend the American Geophysical Union conference, the largest Geophysical conference in the world, and meet people working in completely different fields.

I guess it’s the same for all the fields but some how I find it very fascinating to see so many varied application of a single subject.

8. Napping
I love to sleep. I can sleep for days, only waking up to eat and drink and then go back to bed again. That would have been my summer holiday routine, had it not for my mom. She wanted the beds made up and rooms tidied up every day for some reason.

9. Family and Friends
Well last, but by no means, least, I, of course, love my family and friends. It’s a given, isn’t it? Still, to make the list complete, I am mentioning it…

That’s all for today folks. All the images are linked to their source, unless, of course, they are taken by me. Hope you liked the list!

The Ten Day YOU Challenge - Ten secrets

2011-06-24T22:25:00.000-07:00

Borrowed straight from Aathira’s blog, I am taking up the 10 Day you Challenge. This challenge seems pretty challenging. Let’s see how will I fare. So here goes the ten secrets:

1. I am very stubborn. Surprisingly though no one pegs me for being stubborn unless, of course, they get to know me. Apparently, being introvert and being stubborn don’t go together.

2. I absolutely hate being pranked. Call me a bad sport or whatever, but I don’t get the fun of making fool of someone who trusts you. You see, most of the prank wouldn’t work if your “victim” does not trust you. So basically by pranking them you are telling them not to trust you. People actually enjoy doing that?

3. My most common nightmare involves being late for something, usually an exam or interview. In real life it means that if I am running late in real life, its like a nightmare coming to life. Needless to say, I don’t like getting late. Usually, I have to make efforts to be late.

4. I love to sing. However, it doesn’t mean that I am a good singer. It also doesn’t mean that I can sing in front of other people. When it comes to singing, I have a big case of stage fright. Even though I can now manage my fear of public speaking (actually I rather enjoy giving presentations now), yet I absolutely can not sing in front of other people.

5. I have a mental block against all the commerce subjects i.e., economics, finance, marketing, etc. (the only exception is statistics). I absolutely can not understand or retain anything related to any of those subjects.

6. I like to eat ice-cubes. It can get very embarrassing in a restaurant but I simply can’t resist it.

7. I can’t grow my nails. Ever. No matter how cool it is or how much fashionable, I simply can’t tolerate long
fingernails. If I can’t find a nail-cutter soon enough, then I will bite them (as in nail-biting).

8. I am scared of breaking my neck. Apparently, there is no name for my phobia. The closest I could find was giraffeophobia: the fear of sticking your neck out. But I am not scared of sticking the neck, I am scared of putting wait on my neck, like when you do a somersault.

9. I have been known to sleep talk and very rarely, sleep walk (only once). It usually happens when I am very stressed. But I do not snore.

10. I am secretly very proud of myself for finishing my PhD. No really. It was a rough journey and I almost quit it on several occasions. Thanks to my friends, I did make it through.

Phew…glad that’s done. Any other taker for the challenge?

Wordless Wednesday: Sunset on Summer Solstice

2011-06-22T19:05:00.001-07:00

The sunset on the longest day of the year was at 9:53 PM. It’s weird to take the photo of sunset, come back and go to sleep directly.

Travel Diary: Spring in Ottawa

2011-06-21T16:48:00.001-07:00

As I said in one of my previous post, Ottawa in Spring is beautiful. Like all the big cities of the world, Ottawa is also situated on the shore of a river, the river Ottawa. The river actually forms the state line between two Canadian states Ontario and Quebec. So in the photo below you can actually see the two states and the bridge that connects them. The boat or as we photographer like to call it, the foreground of the photo, is in Ontario while the red building, or the background, is the state of Quebec. Neat, eh?

Anyway, topic of the post is Spring in Ottawa. This spring in Ottawa was slightly different as there is currently a water ban in place in parts of Ottawa. As a result of this ban, this part of Ottawa had “weeds” everywhere.

But this unwanted weed made Ottawa even more beautiful. Don’t believe me? Here is my proof:

Sometimes, bad things aren’t bad after all, eh?

Spring also means ~~beautiful days~~ awesome days. The blue skies, the white clouds, and perfect temperatures.

Add a bicycle to it, and we have a perfect day:

That’s all for my travel diary today! Hope you liked it..

P.S.: I started writing this post a while ago. I finally finished it off. Hope you like it.

My Life in Films Meme

2011-06-20T21:22:00.001-07:00

Well, I am breaking the dry spell of the blog using, what else, a meme. So if you want to know some more useless facts about me, dive in:

Films That Remind Me of Childhood

Do aur Do Paanch: My earliest memory of a TV is of the Sunday evening movies. One of the first movies that I remember on the TV is Do aur Do Paanch. The movie was my first introduction to the superstar Amitabh Bachchan. I don’t think I understood the movie or even watched it completely (I was about 3 or 4) but I remember everyone around me laughing a lot which mesmerized me. As I grew older that impression of Amitabh and the movie remained with me. I have watched that movie quite a few times ever since and still think its hilarious.

Mr. Natwarlal: Yeah, I know another Amitabh Bachchan’s movie. What can I say, I grew up in 1980s. This movie was my first introduction to Rekha. I vividly remember the song Pardesia. I think I used to be very happy whenever they played that song on the radio (yes, we had a radio at our place when I was young that we used to listen to). I think seeing Rekha on the screen before I understood the social discrimination against dark skin in India was a very positive thing for me. I guess clanged on to that one every time someone pointed out to my skin color.

Qurbani: Talking about songs and radio, one of the first song I remember from my childhood is “Aap jaisa koi meri Zindagi”. Actually its one of the first song I memorized and used to sing as a kid (about 3 year old). My parents and acquaintance used to think it to be so cute. Honestly!

Masoom: I was about 6 or 7 years old when Masoom was released and with it came the song “Lakdi ki kathi”. I watched the movie because of that song. I didn’t understand it a bit except that my mom cried and my dad tear up. I decided to stay away from any Naseeruddin Shah’s movie after that (that didn’t work out though, thankfully).

Childhood Films Where Removal was Necessary

Oh well, I grew up in India in 1980s. I actually watched almost all the movies, except the late night movies. That has more to do my inability to be up so late then anything. But there were a few movies that scared/affected me.

Sholay: The scene when they cut off Thakur’s (Sanjeev Kumar) arms haunted me in nights for a long long time. It was a shock for me. And then Jai (Amitabh Bachchan) dies in the end leaving Radha (Jaya Bhaduri) all alone again. It was a sad, scary movie.

Deewar: Yes, yet again an Amitabh Bachchan’s movie. I watched this movie for the first time as a kid. I couldn’t watch the ending of the movie. The thought that Amitabh will die in the end was unbearable for me. I have watched this movie 5 times ever since but have never been able to watch its ending so far.

Films that Defined My Teens

My teens were the time when the three Khans (Aamir, Salman, and Shahrukh) started their successful journey in Bollywood.

Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak: My journey to my teen years started with this movie. I was about 12 when this was released. My best friend at the time, Srilipta, was a great fan of Aamir Khan. She was the one who actually introduced to him and the movie. It was about a year later that I got a chance of watching the movie. (Did I mention that I grew up in a small town which meant we get to watch a movie about 4-6 months after it was released). Unfortunately, the movie didn’t have the same effect on me as my other friends. I didn’t like Aamir Khan much. Actually I didn’t like him during most of my teen years. Do you remember the movies he did during his early years? The first movie of his that I actually liked was in movie Baazi that came towards the later years of my teens.

Maine Pyar Kiya: Believe it or not, I was a fan of Salman in my teens. He used to be a good looking guy back then. Maine Pyar Kiya was the first movie of him that I saw and liked him. I was never a die-hard fan of him though. I just preferred him over the other two Khans.

Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge: This is my all time favorite movie even though I have never liked Shahrukh Khan as an actor. This is the only movie I can tolerate him in. Actually I liked him in this movie. The movie was released during my late teens. I have watched this movie so many times that I have lost count.

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro: There is one more movie that reminds me of my teen years, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro. I watched this movie at a friend’s place on VCR (we didn’t have a VCR player at our place). I don’t remember laughing so much in my life. Over the years, it remains the funniest movie I have ever watched. The Mahabharat scene is one of my favorite scene. I laugh every time I watch that scene.

Films Seen Multiple Times at Theatres

That would be Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. As I said, I have lost count the number of times I have seen this movie. I can’t even tell you how many times I watched this one in theater but its more than two.

First Date Film

I never had a date that involved a movie. I have watched musical on a date (and my date actually slept during one such musical but that’s another story) but never a movie so I don’t have a first date film. (BTW, if you are looking for a nice musical for a date, try the Sound of Music).

Nightmares from Films

That will be Sholay. I think that was first movie that exposed me with so much blood. Gabbar Singh did strike fear in me.

Films that are Guilty Pleasures

That will be Disney movies. Actually, scratch that, I think its all the kid’s movies. That includes Shrek, The Princess’s Diaries, Ice Age, Monster Inc., Princess and the Frog etc. etc. etc., you get my gist.

Last Film I Saw at the Theatre

The last movie I saw in the theater was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, the day after it was released. This was the first movie I saw in Houston. Actually, it’s the only movie I have seen in Houston. Now you also know the next movie I will be watching in theater.

That’s all from me tonight. Hope you liked it!

P.S.: All the images are linked to their source.

Ignored

2011-06-15T19:21:00.001-07:00

My blog’s Indirank went from 80 to 68. I didn’t realize I have ignored my blog so much in recent past.

Well, this was supposed to by tweet today when the twitter site started giving me trouble. But I digress. My point being being I have ignored this space for a bit. Not sure if any one is checking this space anymore or not.

So what have I been up to, you ask. Well, I can rant on this one for days. So let me give you a nutshell version: Nothing in my life is working as it should. I miss the things I used to take for granted. And before you feeling bad about me: its not bad bad, its just unexpected. I know things can be a lot worse.

No, I am not going to give you details of my miseries at the moment. May be some other day.

For today, I will give you a photo of sunrise in the morning and a promise to be more regular with my blog. Until next time…

The biggest difference

2011-05-29T07:52:00.000-07:00

IHM, this one is for you.

Top: “A son is born”; Bottom: “A daughter is born”

Source: The New Yorker

The storm over Baby Storm

2011-05-28T10:11:00.001-07:00

If you have not already heard about Baby storm, a couple in Toronto, Canada has decided to keep their child’s gender a secret from the world so that he or she doesn’t have to fit a stereotype while growing up. Apparently, the society doesn’t like this. They think this will harm the child.

Why did they decide to do that? Well, they have two sons before baby Storm and they let them dress the way they want, instead of stereotypical boy outfits. Apparently, society don’t like that either. So they decided to raise baby Storm as a genderless baby so he or she can choose to wear whatever he or she wants and don’t face discrimination like his or her older siblings. (I heard the story over the radio in Canada and can’t find the link).

This has become an international controversy. The major complain I have heard (it has been worded in many different way) so far is how this child will be ostracized by the society (you think?)/ how difficult it will be for the child to function in the society without a gender!

What do you think?

On a side note, have you heard about Androgynous life style? Also did you know the pink and blue color assignment to girls and boys was a commercial endeavor and has only become popular in 20th century. A 1918 trade journal, The Infant’s Department, said:

"There has been a great diversity of opinion on the subject, but the generally accepted rule is pink for the boy and blue for the girl. The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for a boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl."

The babies before 1900 wore white dresses. No blue or pink. No gender coding at birth. Somehow I like the concept. If our society become a bit less obsessed with stereotypes, life will be so much easier for all of us. Men won’t be expected to be macho and hide their feeling, women won’t have to prove themselves at every turn of their career and still get discriminated.

Again, what do you think?

Travel Diary: Canadian Tulip Festival

2011-05-27T12:53:00.001-07:00

The year was 1943. The Netherlands was occupied by the Germans. The Royal family was in exile. While the rest of the family stayed in London, Princess Juliana was in Ottawa, Canada. She was about to give birth to her third child, Princess Margriet in Ottawa Civic Hospital. The Governor General of Canada passed a special law granting the room of Princess Juliana in the hospital as extra-territorial so that the infant was born as exclusively Dutch instead of having two nationalities. This allows Princess Margriet to be in the line of succession. The Canadian government flew the Dutch tricolor flag on parliament's Peace Tower while its carillon rang out with Dutch music at the news of Princess Margriet's birth.

As an expression for her gratitude to Canada when Princess Juliana returned to the Netherlands in 1945, she sent 100,000 Tulip buds to Ottawa. In the year’s following her donation, Ottawa became famous for its Tulips. In 1953, the Ottawa board of trade and photographer Malak Karsh organized the first “Canadian Tulip Festival”. It became an annual event to be held in Ottawa every May.

This year I get to attend the Canadian Tulip festival. So I can tell you first handedly, the Tulips of Ottawa are beautiful. Actually, Ottawa in Spring is beautiful. That is, if its not raining. The blue sky, white clouds and beautiful flowers makes the scenes perfect. But that’s a post for another day.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words so here are few thousand words for you to explain the beauty of Canadian Tulips:

Hope you like them!

Wet: The Indian way

2011-05-26T18:05:00.001-07:00

That’s my father playing Holi with my nephew or basically emptying the bucket full of colored water at him. These were my early days of photographing (2004 to be precise) with my simple Kodak camera. Well it is a Kodak moment.

This is the post for this week’s Thursday Challenge, Wet.

Thursday Challenge: Happy and Steel

2011-05-18T21:07:00.001-07:00

She didn’t touch the cake till her parents came. Isn’t she a delight? This is my entry for this week’s Thursday Challenge, Happy.

And since this week’s Thursday Challenge has two topics, here is my second entry on Steel (couldn’t make any connection between the two topics, hence the separate entries):

This is Atomium, the steel structure representing a unit atom of iron (get the irony?). Its located in Brussels and is one of the most popular spot in Belgium. Personally, I preferred the view from inside:

I also think the view inside the Atomium was more impressive (Luckily, I wasn’t claustrophobic back then):

Only thing that matters

2011-05-10T12:39:00.001-07:00

So one of the facebook friend posted this video:

It’s a TED talk by one Ric Elias who was in the US airways flight 1549 that landed in Hudson river when flock of Canadian Geese struck it. Actually, it should be other way round, when the flight struck the flock of Geese. Don’t we human always make it sound like it’s the animal/birds fault even though we are the one invading their home? Do we really expect the geese to stop flying because we want to travel by air? Anyway, I digress.

So the video is about his experience during that flight and things that he learned during that day (transcript here). His message being: “Are you being the best parent you can?” . His only goal in life being: “to be a good dad.”

Okay, it might make sense to all the parents out there and may be it’s a great message too but aren’t there people in this world who can’t, and quite a few times by choice, won’t be a parent. This video seems to send a message that people who don’t or won’t have kids are somehow don’t have anything to look forward to. To them death will be a welcome change. Okay, I am exaggerating but still think about it. No kids => no one to watch grow up => no reason to live. Doesn’t it have an implication that everyone should be a parent or their lives are useless? Is our goal in life is to breed? Do we really need more children in this world, especially given the population of world outgrowing almost all the resources we have on this planet?

Bullying

2011-04-17T10:42:00.001-07:00

IHM again managed to touch a nerve with this post. The post is about this image she received via forward email:

“Enough is Enough ! I’ve had enough of this! Now, just shut your damn mouth!”

Statutory warning : DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS AT HOME.

A sexist joke. And as usual, it shows how a privileged section of society (namely men) makes jokes like these and think its funny. If someone from the unprivileged section object to it (namely women), they tell us that we shouldn't take "jokes" too seriously? Not read too much into it. It doesn't matter to them as the joke is not at them. Its on us. And for some reason, its always the unprivileged that are butt of such jokes.

For example, this picture. Let's reverse this and say its a female sparrow shutting the male sparrow. Do you think the joke would be on the husband or the bossy wife? Honestly, when have you seen a joke like this that has a man’s stereotype as its punch line?

Its very easy to laugh at things like these when you are in a privileged roles and undermine the unprivileged even further. Make jokes on them because, I guess, they deserve it perhaps? And if they object, silence them by saying that its just a joke. They need to relax and take it in good spirit. Well then why don't they make jokes about themselves and relax and take it in good spirit? Really? Instead of joking about women for whatever stereotype they were taught, let's joke about men stereotypes? MCPs? Has anyone heard a joke regarding that? Yeah right, they are not funny.

I work in male dominated field. I studied in male dominated field (only girl in my class). I have heard all this so often that it makes me cringe. I have heard it all: “how these jokes prepare me for real world” to “how I shouldn't take life so seriously”. The bottom line being, they all laughed at me from their privileged position and I wasn't even allowed to defend myself. All because its just a joke! They were laughing at me, and I was supposed to relax and take it easy? This behavior is what they call BULLYING.

Every time someone tells you a sexist joke and tell you to take it in the spirit of joke, that's what they are doing: Bullying you. Telling you that you that you can't defend yourself and have to endure their nonsensical comments about how women are or supposed to be, is bullying. Whether or not they realize it (and trust me, most of them do realize and relish this. They love watching us squirm and react, and telling us off for being too sensitive. Very innocently, I might add), they are bullying us.

Jokes are best form of bullying, I guess. You can easily silence the victim and not get blamed. It doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt the victims. It does. Each and every time. We just don’t what to do about it. How to react to a nasty sense of humor? Any ideas?

P.S.: 1. No, I am not saying all men are bullies. Just some of them.

2. Thanks all for your concern. My hand is getting better but hasn’t healed completely.

Carpanal Tunnel Syndrome

2011-04-10T00:18:00.001-07:00

Yep it got to me. No, I am not working too hard. I am just using a lot of computer, especially mouse. Both at work and home. But now you know why I haven’t been posting. Yes, I am taking care of my hand and hoping to return to posting regularly soon.

Don’t prank the Nerds

2011-04-05T18:08:00.001-07:00

Remember Google’s April fool’s day joke? Well here is how the researchers at USC responded to it:

P.S.: I know I am behind in responding back to comments. Life have been a bit crazy lately. I will get to them really soon. Promise…

Weekend Fun: Brazos Bend State Park

2011-04-03T20:30:00.001-07:00

Remember last weekend when I went to Brazos Bend Park and it turned out to be a disaster. Well, I tried it out again this weekend and it turns out to be tiring and scary but a great weekend. Why tiring and scary you ask? Well it’s a huge park (remember everything is big in Texas) which explains the tiring part and the park is home to alligators as well as poisonous snakes which explains to the scary part. Thankfully I didn’t see many poisonous snakes but did see few alligators. Here are few pics:

Did you notice how the reflection of trees are unbroken by the movement of alligator? Perfect predators.

Can you imagine how hard it would be to distinguish between the log and the alligator? Every log of wood I saw in water, I thought it was an alligator. Jumpy? Yes. But better safe than sorry.

Let’s move on to the “wonderful” part of the weekend, shall we?

I loved the crown of these flowers. They are small wildflowers growing in and around the park. They were pretty difficult to capture with the lenses I have but I didn’t give up.

I think this one is my favorite from all the photos I shot this weekend. It almost looks like a magical land, doesn’t it? The white bird is the Great Egret. She is extremely camera shy. Its peeping from behind its sanctuary here.

This is White Ibis. I think it his face resembles a red face monkey. What do you think?

And lastly, the lazy turtle snoozing on the rock on a lazy spring afternoon. He made me feel extra tired.

That’s all for today, folks.

P.S.: BTW, Congratulations on India’s victory.

Gmail Motion

2011-04-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

I forgot today is April Fool's day. I think you know where I am going with this. I got pranked. By Google. My mistake: I didn't read the description of this supposedly new "beta" version. If I had, I wouldn't have fallen for it. It says:

The mouse and keyboard were invented before the Internet even existed. Since then, countless technological advancements have allowed for much more efficient human computer interaction. Why then do we continue to use outdated technology? Introducing Gmail Motion -- now you can control Gmail with your body.

Really? I mean its far-fetched even for Google. And me being the busy body I have been lately, instead of reading through the description clicked this button:

(Click to Enlarge)

And no, I didn't even read the pointers below the button. I think I deserve to be pranked. And I did:

(Click to enlarge)

How did your April Fools day go? Anyone else got pranked? Or is it just me?

Weekend Fun: A Nightmaric Day

2011-03-27T20:15:00.001-07:00

That was yesterday, Saturday. I utilized the entire Sunday to recover from that. What happened, you ask? Here is what happened:

I woke up Saturday morning with slight tinge of pain in my lower back. My cardio class on Friday had few side effects. But I had already made an appointment in the bank where I need to get few things done. So I had a bit of running around to do. Unfortunately, the branch of the bank I was supposed to go is about 30-35 min drive from my place, without traffic. And since this was a nightmaric day, I started late from my house and ran into traffic. I was 20 min late for my appointment (Being late for things is my most common nightmare). And that wasn’t the worst part of it. I had conveniently forgotten the documents I was supposed to have with me on my dinning table. Obviously, the appointment was over in 5 min. Can’t do anything without the information and the form, can we? And since bank would have closed by the time I would have returned with everything from home, there was no point of rushing home.

I should have simply turned back and went home at that point, anyway. However, I had plans of going to Brazos Bend State Park. I have been meaning to go there for past 4-5 months now. Since I was going to the bank which was half way to the park, so I decided to go to the park after the bank. I had the address in my GPS and everything. I had my camera and I had charged the battery. So in about 30-40 minutes more I was there, paying my entrance fee. I drove inside and parked my car near the Elm lake. Took out my camera and clicked. There was an error message on my LCD display: “No memory card.”

Last week I took out my card to test another camera (remember last week’s weekend fun?) and never put it back. So there I was, in a beautiful beautiful place, with perfect weather condition (cloudy) and no memory card. I sat there marveling my luck and getting over the shock. How can so many of my nightmares can come true on a single day? That’s when I felt it: a sharp burning bite in my left side. Initially I thought I was just imagining, but the feeling persisted and kept moving around. I found the nearest bathroom and found a fire ant inside my jeans. And my left leg: red and swollen.

That’s when I decided to go home and sleep in my bed and not get out till this phase passes. That’s what I have been doing entire Sunday.

How about you? How was your weekend? I bet it was better than mine.

On Marriage and Such

2011-03-24T20:29:00.001-07:00

I have been following the recent thread in blogosphere that originated at Women’s web and was taken up by quite a few bloggers including IHM, Hiphop Grandmom and others. I haven’t had time to write anything on the topic so far. But I am not postponing it any longer. So on risk of being late to office tomorrow morning, here are my two cents.

“Marriage”, as defined by Oxford dictionary, “is the formal union of a man and a woman, typically as recognized by law, by which they become husband and wife”. Why am I defining marriage for you, you ask? Because I want to emphasis on two phrases in this definition: formal union ( = social approval) and recognized by law ( = legal rights).

You see, marriage is, first and foremost, a legal, for lack of a better word, “contract”. Its second advantage is the associated social approval. Apart from that, marriage has no meaning. Okay before you jump your guns and start shooting, hear me out.

Marriage, by definition, doesn’t ensure happiness, or a committed, monogamous or meaningful relationship. True, a lot of people in a happy, committed, meaningful relationship do decide to get married. However, if they are already in a happy, committed and meaningful relationship, marriage, as such, doesn’t matter. Married or not, they will be happy with each other. If they are not in such a relationship, marriage will not give them any of the above mentioned things in that relationship. The purpose of marriage is, simply, to give couples a social approval and, of course, legal rights. Marriage does not, and can not, ensure a happy relationship.

Now going back to the original question: Are marriages sold to Indian women in glossy cover? Is marriage an over-rated institution?

I think any society that promotes marriage as a way to be in a happy relationship, is trying to pull a big one on its gullible members. In our society, its usually the women who get the short end of the stick in this scam. The Indian women are lead to believe that they can’t be really happy unless they are married or have had kids. Rather, the people around them won’t let them be happy unless they have achieved these goals. It seems, Indian women can only be happy when the society around them tells them they are happy. If they dare to be happy and content otherwise, they are tagged as being selfish. Women, by Indian society’s standard, can not and should not be happy and content by herself. So for Indian women it’s not the question of marriage being sold in glossy cover but a question of choosing between two evils: being married and be unhappy with society’s approval or be single and happy but as a society’s vamp. (Disclaimer: Not all marriages are unhappy). Guess what most women choose? (I can’t be included in this statistics as I chose to leave the country instead of choosing between these two options).

As far as the question of “marriage being an over-rated institution” is concerned: In my opinion, the legal rights associated with the marriage are very important. Ask LGBTs in a committed relationship and you will hear about horrors about what not having such a right can mean. They are not allowed to be next to their partner on their death bed. They are not allowed to attend their partners funeral. They are thrown out of the house after their partner’s death: the house that they build together and lived together in for decades.

So yes, marriage is important but we need to treat marriage as marriage: a legal contract. The moment we start using marriage as means for finding happiness: I think we are doomed to have more unhappy marriages in our society.

What do you think?

P.S.: I define a marriage unhappy or unsuccessful if either partner is unhappy. After all, a relationship can’t be happy or successful if one of the person involved is unhappy.

Thursday Challenge: Green

2011-03-24T18:46:00.001-07:00

So this week’s Thursday challenge is “Green”. the moment I heard the topic, the images that popped up in my mind were from Golden Gate Park Japanese Tea Garden. I think that is the most greenest place I have ever been to. Honestly. Its just too green. Here are some images to prove my point. (BTW, these are never-before-seen images from my folder that has been eating dust for past two years. Hope you like them):

Okay, almost never-before-seen. I think I have published this one couple of times before.

Fascinating Aida

2011-03-22T20:17:00.001-07:00

I think I have become a fan in an evening. This is one of few serious ones (And heart wrenching. Seriously) that I have found so far. Am going deeper in the archive now. Wish me luck!

(The group is called Fascinating Aida)

Weekend Fun

2011-03-20T12:44:00.001-07:00

After a long long long time, I went out with my camera this weekend. Actually, my first pictures in the year 2011. It was hot but it was fun. Its always nice to sit next to a pond/lake and watch the birds.

Trolls

2011-03-15T19:45:00.001-07:00

I am not sure if you have heard about TamTamPamela yet? In nutshell, she is a self-proclaimed “troll”. What it means is that she intentionally made some videos like the one below as a “sarcastic” (I never thought I will put that word in sarcastic quotes) comment on the religious fanatics.

This last video of hers caused a lot of back lash including threats of death and rape. Her phone number and address were disclosed at some forums which made these threats very real. She deleted her account and went into hiding. She confessed her intentions in this video (people have refused to believe her):

Okay, I don’t get the idea of making troll videos to enrage people. But that doesn’t infuriate me. What do infuriate me is the threats of rape made against her. See, that’s a very specific kind of threat. A threat that can only be made against a woman by a man. The threat that’s used to establish supremacy of man over woman. Even if she was a religious fanatic and the person making the threat was an atheist (she is an atheist troll: she makes video focused on atheism), I don’t get how the idea of rape is relevant here, except for the fact that she is a woman. Had a guy done this, would they have made the same threat? Why is that the moment a woman does anything to annoy a bunch of people, one of the first threat that comes out is of rape? Is it considered a tool of “disciplining” women by such commentators? Why else would they insinuate such a thing? And if that’s what they mean, do they really have a right to be infuriated by a religious fanatic’s video? If you ask me, they themselves are living in dark ages.

Speaking of which, her second video has a comment stating:

“Women are too stupid to be successful trolls. Get the f**k off the computer and do the dishes or something.”

Again, what is the relevance of her being a female? Had this been a guy, would this have been successful? And honestly what do they mean by “successful troll”? If it means infuriating a lot of people intentionally: I think she is one of the most successful troll I have known.

P.S.: 1. I don’t approve of such satire humor, especially in the face of tragic events as massive as Japan’s recent tragedies, but I will take it over real religious fanatics claiming the same anytime.

2. Poe’s law is being discussed extensively in this case. Poe’s law states that: it's difficult to distinguish between parodies of religious fundamentalism and genuine proponents of religious fundamentalism, since they both seem equally insane.

OMG, I have gone native!

2011-03-11T12:57:00.001-08:00

I have started doing this all the time:

(Image linked to its source)

They tell me about a party, a get-together etc., my first question usually is “How long (not how far) is that place?”

P.S.: I know its wrong grammatically but hey, everyone else around here understand me perfectly. And that’s the purpose of any language, isn’t it?

Defensive Driving

2011-03-10T19:46:00.001-08:00

So I spent 6 hours yesterday attending a class on Defensive Driving. It consisted of about 5 hour video of accidents, deaths, injuries; cars toppling, screeching; parents sharing their pain, crying their eyes out.

What did I learn, you ask?

I walked to work today. I am not sure if I will be able to get behind the wheel anytime soon.

And I am not having kids. Ever. Never Ever. Never.

I think my friend is right in suggesting that I am one of those nutcases who take life way too seriously and should never be in a class like defensive driving.

Thursday Challenge: MANY

2011-03-10T04:33:00.000-08:00

The Thursday challenge of this week is “Many” as in candies, crowd, paperclips, coins, collections: you get the drift.

So here is my entry for this week’s challenge:

This was taken in San Francisco China Town on the occasion of Chinese flower fair/New year celebration in January 2008. It was an amazing experience. I like to call this picture “The river of people”.

Thursday Challenge: Movement

2011-02-24T18:59:00.001-08:00

Thursday Challenge. “MOVEMENT” (Shaking, Falling, Bouncing, Jumping, Curling, Sagging,…)

Okay, two weeks in a row. And again, I have problem selecting just one or even two shots, but this time I stayed focus on one subject: Arctic Tern. The first few pictures are tern hunting for food. Just FYI, these are taken at different times though on the same day. I just made a series out of them:

A close-up of one of them:

Another view of the hunting:

Lastly, this is the series of shots of two terns fighting for the same spot and finally the winner landing on the spot:

That’s it for the movement series. Hope you like them..

Conservative and Liberal

2011-02-21T19:56:00.001-08:00

The other day I met some one, who by his own admission is a conservative. For some reason I always imagine the conservatives to be either old (usually white: yes that’s me being racist), or a religious fanatic. So a young guy, who doesn’t seem like a religious fanatic, claiming to be a conservative came as a shock to me. And this got me to thinking. Is being a conservative really that bad?

What is being a conservative mean? No I am not talking about the issues and conservative versus liberal stand on them, but the dictionary meaning. The Oxford Dictionary says, it means:

“…holding to traditional attitudes and values and cautious about change or innovation, typically in relation to politics or religion…”

while being a liberal means:

“…open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values…”

The way I see it, they are two side of a coin, yin and yang, the two pillars needed to have a balanced society to develop and grow. How you ask?

Well, imagine a society which is perfectly liberal. Every new idea, new opinion is embraced and hence the society changes to adapt it every month, every week or may be every hour. What happens then? Chaos, right? Also, do you really think that every new idea, every new opinion is worth trying out? Communism was a new idea once upon a time and societies did change to adapt that idea. You know the result.

So we do need a fair share of conservatives to keep the society grounded to challenge the new ideas and how practical they are.

Now, imagine a society that’s completely conservative. No new idea will ever be entertained. The wheel inventor would be prosecuted (sounds familiar?). We would still be living in caves or may be even in jungles.

So bottom line is that we need conservative as well as liberal ideas in the society to make it function properly.

All this is good and great, however, my initial question was: Is being a conservative really that bad? Let me add to it: Is being a liberal bad?

Well, I think so (at least now). In my opinion a person, like a society, should be well balanced. A person who is either too liberal or too conservative, is in danger of being either a hippie (as in full blown dum-maro-dum style) or a religious fanatic, respectively. I am not sure I prefer either of them.

What do you think? Do you agree? Disagree?

Saturday Shot: Family

2011-02-19T10:07:00.000-08:00

Title: Brothers

Location: CA

Date: 2010

Tag: Years past

2011-02-18T17:03:00.001-08:00

I stole this tag from Sunshine. And like any tag, its going to reveal more personal stuff about my life. Let’s see how much I will be able to put out here.

30 years ago (1981)

1. The first train ride that I remember. My reaction was: Everything is running backwards, including the Earth and the tree. And I think I said something along the lines: “Mummy Dharti ghoom rahi hain.” in a very excited tone.

2. My first memory of my cousins, one of them was about a month old, the other was two years old. My aunt asked me for a name for the baby. I named her Sony, the name of my first best friend in school.

3. I remember roses, a lot of them and a variety of them, in our garden. My mom is an avid gardener but except for that time of my early childhood, I have rarely seen her planting any flower-plants.

4. I remember seeing a dead snake that my dad killed. I am not sure how to describe that feeling. I was scared, excited, thrilled and somewhat sad.

20 years ago (1991)

1. I moved from class VIII to class IX. A big change, at least for that age. All of sudden everyone around me was talking about boards and career choices. One thing I remember hearing more often that year was how next few years are going to decide the rest of my life.

2. I didn’t like my class IX class-teacher. Her first question to me was: what’s your last name? I answered, “Nothing.”. She remarked, “So you are Richa Nothing.” The entire class laughed. She insisted on calling me ‘Richa Nothing’ for the entire year, which meant the entire class called me the same. Some of them still do. I absolutely hated it.

3. We went to Delhi on a class tour. I saw Red Fort, Qutub Minar, India Gate, and Appu Ghar for the first time. It was a great trip.

10 years ago (2001)

1. I graduated from my Master. I had a job in Infosys before graduation but then 2001 recession hit. I was put on the bench for indefinite time. It was a hard time. All my classmates were joining their jobs, starting new life and I was stuck at the home.

2. I approached almost all the companies visiting the campus that year to talk them about job. I was told right on the face that they are not interested in hiring a woman. Forget the qualifications, knowledge or ability.

3. I cleared my NET and was offered scholarship (JRF) to pursue PhD in my home university. So by end of 2001, I was all ready to pursue my PhD. However, later (2002 beginning) I got a job offer from one of the company (only one who accepted to interview me) and decided to take that.

4. Spent a night in the hospital attending a friend who had an epileptic attack and was unconscious for the most part. It was a scary experience.

5 years ago (2006)

1. I had already left my first job and joined PhD in Stanford. I cleared my Quals in this year. I did my first internship that summer.

2. Got out of a relationship. Got my heart broken. Badly. Got into depression. Lost 20 lbs in 2 weeks. Almost quit my PhD.

3. I went to New Orleans that year. This was year after Katrina hit. We went through the worst affected areas of New Orleans. On the doors of the houses, a number was written in red ink/chalk. When asked, I was told that’s the number of dead bodies they found inside the house. I still have those images etched in my mind.

4. Bought my first ever car and started to learn driving.

5. My first room-mate in US graduated and left. So I changed room-mate. The new room-mate was the biggest jerk that I have had as a room-mate.

3 years ago (2008)

1. I had already bought my first D-SLR the year before. So it was a year of photography. It was a great year.

2. I had been going to Kenpo Karate for a year at this point. This was the year when I started getting a bit better at it. I got my blue belt and I learned how not to get hung up on mistakes. It’s an accomplishment, a mental discipline I am rather proud of.

3. I started this blog in 2007, but 2008 was the year I wrote the most post in a year: 248 posts in 366 days. I haven’t been able to match that number ever since.

4. I travelled quite a bit. Euro-trip in March. Spent the summer in Southern California (second internship) which meant weekly trips to some where nice. Went to Disneyland five times that summer. Visited Las Vegas for the first time that November. Went to Grand Canyon. Finally, spent the Christmas in Scotland.

5. I got two paying photography gigs: Doing a photography board for Geophysics Department and then taking pictures at Stanford Graduate Student Council’s Thanksgiving dinner.

6. I had a very productive year research-wise. For the first time, my advisor was impressed by my work.

2 years ago (2009)

1. The great recession hit which left me without a job yet again (do you see a pattern here?). I was ready to graduate that year but there was no point graduating without a job, was there? So frantic search for job began. By the end of year, I did find one.

2. I got a severe back ache as well as a nerve pinch in my left leg, for the first time in my life. I was in physical therapy for 4 months. Nerve pinch was the worst. I couldn’t walk at all.

1 year ago (2010)

1. I wrote my thesis and defended, hence finishing my PhD. I gained weight during this time period. This is the first time I have gained so much weight since “great depression” of 2006.

2. I moved from California to Texas.

3. I started my new job.

4. I went around California with friends before joining my job. That was fun.

5. Bought new furniture, new TV and DVD player.

6. I wrote the least number of posts in a year in 2010: 135 posts in 365 days.

So far this year (2011)

1. I have been exercising fairly regularly and eating healthy. For past 2 weeks, I have been steadily loosing 2 lbs per week. At this rate, I will be at my pre-thesis weight in about 2 months.

2. I have been posting fairly regularly this year. I don’t think I will be able break the 2008 record but I can at least beat last year’s record.

3. I have made some new friends in the new place and I have been arranging lunches/coffee with them. I am getting better at this social networking (offline, online I have 333 friends on FB) thingy.

4. Bought my first new car: a 2010 Toyota Corolla. Miles: 08 mile on first day.

Yesterday

1. I was very sore because of my aerobics class the day before.

2. Worked whole day. I had a pretty productive day, in fact.

3. Watched cable after a long time. Ever since I bought my new TV which gives me direct access to Netflix, I have been watching more Netflix than cable.

4. No exercise.

Today

1. I got a hair cut.

2. I ran a lot of errands since morning. In Houston, it means a whole lot of driving. I think I drove about 60-70 miles today, if not more.

3. I tried out my car ac for the first time. Yes, the temperature in Houston has risen again.

Tomorrow I will

1. Sleep late.

2. Eat out. I haven’t done that in a about 3 weeks now.

In the next year I will

1. Go to India. I haven’t been to India for 3.5 years now. Its long over due.

2. Travel a bit more than I have been. Take more pictures.

3. Have some saving.

That’s all folks. Take the tag if you like it…

Thursday Challenge: Trees

2011-02-17T18:46:00.001-08:00

Every week I check out the Thursday challenge and think about posting something but simply never found time to go through my photographs to do so. Today, I finally made it. The topic was so tempting that I couldn't resist. The only problem is that I have so many pictures on the topic that I can't pick one, so here are selected few on the topic:

This first one, that I like to call Reflection, was taken in Yosemite park on a boxing day.I like the way melting snow giving way to the stream and of course the tilted tree looks like its eager to see its own reflection.

The next picture is from the Japanese Tea garden in San Francisco Golden Gate Park. If you even plan to go to the SFO, do plan to spend some time here. Its very peaceful place to be. I like to call this picture: Green.

The next one is a complete change in scenery. This is right at the gate of Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. This is Joshua tree forest in the Arizona desert. Yes its a forest. Its simply spectacular view. I call this one: Survival.

How can I forget Christmas Tree among all the trees. This is the shot from San Francisco (I think its Pier 39), just before the Christmas. I like the way it has a reindeer, Christmas tree and the moon all in the same shot. Can't get more christmasy than that, can it? This one is call: Festive.

And now moving internationally. This is from the St. James park in London. I am not a big fan of London but St. James park is my absolute favorite there. I call this picture: Reaching out.

And lastly, my beloved Stanford. This one is from a running/walking trail in Stanford Campus. Doesn't this look awfully familiar? Well do you remember the default Windows XP desktop? Doesn't this look like that one? Did you know the Windows XP desktop shot was taken in Napa Valley (near San Francisco) so its not a surprise that I found a similar landscape while shooting in Stanford, is it? I call this: Breathtaking.

That’s all for today. Hope you like them..

I can rhyme

2011-02-17T11:51:00.000-08:00

Impedance is Red
Reflectivity is blue
If you want to find oil
Use seismic as a clue.

Okay I am a geek but a rhyming geek! I will happily take that.

In Pain

2011-02-16T20:50:00.001-08:00

As I wrote yesterday, I tried out a new aerobic class at the gym. It was a great class, that is, if you don’t get embarrassed by being out of sync with rest of the class. However, it was an intense class and all the muscles, including my neck muscles (don’t ask me why and how), have been hurting since morning. I was so tired yesterday that I ~~passed out~~ slept at 8 last night and woke up at 7 this morning. And then I had to be in a class the whole day today.

For future reference, if you want to try out a physical activity, don’t do it before a day-long class. Its physically painful to sit the whole day long if every muscle in your body is hurting. And it is very difficult to concentrate when you are in pain. Just saying…

P.S.: As you could have guessed, I ditched the second activity of the day. For once, I am glad I did.

To go or not to go...

2011-02-15T08:35:00.000-08:00

The age old question. oh well , at least its almost as old as my age. Being an introvert, every time I see something I want to do, meetings I want to attend I go through this anxiety phase just before the event, whether or not I should go. Usually I am happier if I do end up attending but I have bailed out of few of them as well.

Why am I writing this. Well today, I am planning to try out two new things. First one starts in 57 minutes and I am at desk getting anxious by the minute. Its a Total Body conditioning (aerobics plus strength) class in the office gym at 11:15. I have been planning on attending one since beginning of new year (New year resolution) but have been a bit busy with meetings and courses etc. Today, I don't have anything so I can attend the class but.... I am not sure how hard it will be or whether I would be able to keep up. Not that I am in a bad physical shape at the moment but still getting embarrassed in front of your colleagues/ co-workers/managers is a whole new territory.

The second thing that I will be attending today is a bike workshop in the evening. I want to get my bike back in shape so that I can ride it to office and take it out on weekends, now that weather is getting better. But I again will be in a new territory and am not sure how well I can handle to anxiety phases in a day. So wish me luck. I will let you know how it went (and whether or not, it went) tomorrow.

P.S.: Yes, you read it right. We have a (actually two) fully functional gym at office. We have about 25-30 classes per week in the aerobic studio including cardio, yoga, Tai-chi, kick boxing etc. We also have cycling studio as well as full set of gym equipments including weights, treadmill-s (as in multiples: as in more than 5), cycle-s, elliptor-s, stair masters and a nice work out area (apart from the aerobic and cycling studio) in each gym. We have 4-5 personal trainers to help us out (as in identify the weak areas and design an exercise regime to focus on them) plus the instructors for all the different classes. The cherry on the top is that all this is free! The only thing they ask is that you should be in one of the gym at least once in two months. Do you envy me now?

India

2011-02-14T19:36:00.001-08:00

Recently, a lot of people around me have been talking about green cards, citizenship etc. I guess I am now at that stage of life when one thinks about that kind of stuff. However, I am not sure that I want to give up my Indian citizenship. I guess I am getting nostalgic, patriotic or may be, plain crazy. True that I have to deal with a lot of paper works, a lot of scrutiny for holding the Indian passport, yet that passport with all its three lion and slogan of “Satyameva Jayte (Truth alone triumphs)” is part of my identity. It feels weird to even think about giving that up.

There are a lot of things wrong with India but there are few things that do make me proud to be Indian. I have been making this mental list for past month or so:

1. Our national motto “Satyameva Jayate”, unlike America’s “God Bless America”, is far more representative of me as a person. The latter will never represent me. I am an agnostic-atheist. If I don’t believe in God, then how can the phrase “God bless America” will ever be representative of me? “Satyameva Jayate”, on the other hand, is above such insinuation. Despite it being a Sanskrit phrase, it doesn’t allude to any “God” but simply state the fact that Truth alone triumphs.

2. We don’t teach our children religious scriptures as a fact of science. Evolution is a scientific fact, not creationism. If someone in India ever proposed to introduce intelligent design in science curriculum, he or she would be laughed at. That school will never make any money (that’s what the school are these days: business units). It’s an unthinkable thing in India. Science and religion just don’t mix.

3. Science and religion don’t mix (I know I said that earlier). This is a very important differentiation in our society. We don’t challenge science based on religious scripture. We, as a society, are and have always been very accepting of sciences, which is very unusual for a society. I never realized this fact when I was in India.

4. Our educational system is one of the best. Okay, the public school system is not as good but still the curriculum we follow, is far better than any other system I have seen so far. I am not talking about the competitions, entrance exams etc. but the regular school education. Western education system makes kid smart: they can talk publicly, they are smart, and all that, but they lack substance. The basics, the fundamentals that are laid in our school system is way stronger than what they teach here.

5. The interest rates in India are much better than anything they are giving here. I know its matter of time and once the recession is over, the interest rates will go up in US as well but it still tempts me to keep my Indian citizenship.

To end the post:

P.S.: 1. May be I am just a bit homesick. Haven’t been to India for 3.5 years. Guess its high time I pay a visit. That will cure my craziness about not giving up Indian citizenship…

2. The song is there simply because I love Arvind Swamy and this post kind of reminded me of this song..

My Complains

2011-02-13T19:52:00.001-08:00

This post has been in making for a long time. But somehow, the format never seemed right. I started this post as a note of things I think are bad parenting techniques but somehow couldn’t make myself criticize others unless I have been in their shoes. All of us can say what’s good or bad from a vantage point but being in that position might be very different. Like this video (which BTW is a disclaimer for this post):

However, having said that, I still have a list of complains for my “parent-friends”:

1. I don’t care what you let your kids do to your phones, cameras, iPods, etc, but please don’t expect me to give my cell phone, camera, iPod etc to your kids because they are crying for it. Don’t give me that accusatory look when I refuse to give my stuff to them. They are your kids, not mine. I am not letting them spoil my expensive gadgets for their amusement.

2. I don’t care how your kids behave with you but I don’t like when your kids hit me with their toys (metallic cars or whatever other toy they have). It hurts. And all this because I refuse to let them have my gadgets? And if you won’t stop them then I will. When I made friends with you, I didn’t sign up for getting hit by your kids. Also, in my world kids are not allowed to hit adults.

3. You might be ready to treat your kids as friends but don’t expect me to treat them as my friends. I view them as spoiled brats they are. And I don’t like spoiled brats. I don’t find them cute or adorable. Its not cute when your kids tell me to get out. I take it as insult and unless they apologize, I am not visiting you again.

4. Being friends with you doesn’t automatically means that I have to take care of your kids too. If you insist on bringing your kid along on a trip, which was supposed to be, say a photographic trip, then I will not run around your kids instead of taking pictures. They are not my responsibility. Why am I supposed to assume their responsibility? If I wanted that responsibility, I would have had my own kids. And no, I am not giving my expensive camera to them to calm them down. What if they throw it down in their rage? Will you replace it?

5. You can keep your house as dirty or as clean as you want but if you are visiting my place, please control your kids. I don’t want to loose my security deposit just because your kids don’t know the meaning of cleanliness. Do you still wonder why haven’t I invited you to my place ever since your kid was born?

Don’t take me wrong. I love kids. I just can’t stand spoiled brats. I don’t understand the recent trend of letting kids do whatever they want. May be someone can explain it to me?

Redefining Rape

2011-02-01T21:20:00.001-08:00

Rape is only really rape if it involves force.

So if someone is drugged and raped, its not a rape. In case of incest, it will be considered rape only when the victim is younger than 18 years. If a 13 year old girl with limited sex education is raped by a pedophile, its not a rape.

No, you got it wrong, I am not talking about a new Taliban regime or a middle-eastern country. This is a new bill being discussed in US! And that’s not all. All this is done in the name of, wait for it, religion. But for once, the religion in question is not Islam but Christianity. How you ask?

In US, there is a big debate between pro-choice and pro-life. The center issue being right of women for abortion. Pro-choicers say that it’s a woman’s body and hence, her choice while pro-lifers say that we must protect the sanctity of life (to hell with woman’s right or whether she is capable of raising a child).

Okay, I agree that not all pro-lifers are necessarily religious fanatics but all the religious fanatics are pro-lifers and hence, my point about pro-life being more a religious thing. Coming from India, I always found this debate ridiculous. With female feticide on rampage in the home country, I never thought I will ever be for an abortion. But listening to all these religious fanatics go on and on about the sanctity of life (never mind the current world population explosion), I am turning into a pro-choicer. But I digress.

So one of those extreme right house representative (they are in majority now) in US has come up with this new bill, in order to impose the pro-life. It’s called “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion”.

At the moment the insurance companies can reimburse for the abortion only if the woman was raped or if she is in physical danger due to delivery or pregnancy. However, the pro-lifers are now pushing for this new bill in which they can only pay if the woman was “forcibly” raped.

Basically, she should be able to prove that she was raped and it was the violent kind. If not, then may be she consented to being raped, right? According to Wikipedia:

In criminal law, rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse against another person without that person's consent.

One of the conservatives is quoted by Time magazine saying:

"And while we're at it, you know what really burns me up? All of those women getting abortions paid for by Medicaid and saying they were raped. I bet they weren't even really raped."

Rape is one of the most under-reported crime, even in US. And this moron wants the one who do report it, should be put on the stand and prove that they were “forcibly” raped. And all this just because they think woman’s body is only an instrument used to bear babies and she should not have choice in it?

P.S.: 1. Its been a long time since I have been outraged so much. Well, seems like conservatives have the majority again.

2. A sample of pro-life religious fanatics.

Crazy..

2011-01-31T09:03:00.000-08:00

..thats what I have come to call the weather in Houston, TX. If you don't believe me, then have a look at this week's forecast:

(Credit: A snapshot from the weather channel website)

The lowest temperature is going to drop from 17 C to -6 C in 24 hours! Crazy, I tell you.

Its not that I can't take the cold, or heat for that matter, I just can't seem to adjust to these temperature fluctuations. By the time I get accustomed to the cold, I will be again sweating. By the time I adjust to that, I will be again shivering. Simply crazy. I can take extreme weather conditions but this fluctuation from one extreme to the other is driving me completely nuts.

P.S.: This is just one example. The temperatures have been fluctuating like crazy the entire winter.

Character

2011-01-27T12:24:00.000-08:00

So I just got an email from NaBloPoMo. They have an interesting theme for February. To quote them:

Greetings, bloggers! The theme for February blogging is CHARACTER. It's a flexible theme, allowing you to blog about all sorts of things:

1. The people in your life who stand out in regard to their outstanding (or lack of) character -- the use of pseudonyms might be prudent here;

2. Experiences in your life that have helped you build moral character, and the work you might still need to do;

3. It's a chance to try writing in character -- try on different personas and voices for fun, or to address things you might not normally talk about;

4. Character is another word for a letter or symbol, if you feel like it's finally time to indulge in some font nerdery.

I think its an interesting theme. Don't worry I am not going to do a NaBloPoMo again, especially with the way quality of my posts deteriorated last time I attempted it (December, 2010). But I can work with theme. I can produce a post or two on the subject matter. How about you? Think its an interesting topic? Want to attempt something?

Revised view

2011-01-26T06:48:00.000-08:00

I have often said that a good photographer can take good picture with simplest of the cameras. Photography is an art while camera is a tool. It helps to have good tools but again an artist can make a piece of art with limited tools as well. A great example is this project by Mindy in which she uses her iPhone to take the pictures.

I just want to add the vice-versa. With D-SLR becoming affordable and people becoming aware of their existence, they are buying them left, right and center. They take pictures with those D-SLR and upload them on, where else, FB. After going through numerous such albums, I think its time for me to state the obvious vice-versa: Having a good camera doesn't automatically make you a good photographer. Again Photography is an art. Unless you have an eye for the art, you can't take good photographs. Expensive cameras can't teach you the art of photography and composition.

P.S.: Pardon my outburst. I certainly don't mean to discourage budding photographers. I just went through another album where people have tried using the D-SLR to take pictures without thinking about lighting, composition, positioning etc. It was a torture to go through it. Out of the 73 photographs in the album, there was only one that I could honestly say was a bearable photograph. I think it was sheer luck instead of any thinking on the part of the photographer. It just got to my nerves eventually.

Scary

2011-01-23T21:07:00.000-08:00

Spoiler Alert

I just finished Män som hatar kvinno (Men Who Hate Women), or as we know it, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. It’s a thriller with the violence against women as its central theme. I think its Swedish title, aka, Men Who Hate Women is more appropriate than the English one.

The main story, or rather the story that occupies the majority of pages in the book is about a murder/disappearance investigation of a 16 year old girl, Harriet Vanger, who disappeared without a trace in 1966 under mysterious circumstances. Her great uncle, Hernik Vagner, a leading industrialist of his time, is certain that she was murdered by one of the family member. He hires a journalist, actually a financial journalist (don’t ask the logic behind that one), Mikael Blomkvist to investigate the case after 37 years. Mikael unravels a well hidden family secret involving serial killers during his investigation and is finally able to figure out what happened to Harriet on that fateful day.

Yet another central character of the novel is Lisbeth Salander, who is a genius private investigator. The book alternate between Mikael’s and Lisbeth’s perspective of the events around them.

The book is certainly a page turner and is worth reading. However, I found the book to be a bit disturbing. The details of the violence against some of central female characters were particularly revolting, which I guess, was the writer’s intention. It was a bit unnerving to read through some parts of the book and I had to put it down for a while before I could read again.

I think the reason it affected me so is that I can’t put it pigeonhole it as “work of fiction”, or something that never happens in real life and move on. I know for certain that each and every incident described in the book can be and has been happening in the real world. That’s what, I think, is the scariest part of the book.

I think I need to take a break before I start the second book in the series, The Girl Who Played with Fire. I am scared enough for next few weeks..

The Corrupt World

2011-01-20T07:44:00.000-08:00

Don't ask me how (I think I was looking up something on economy), but I landed up on this map of corruption perception index. I was amazed to see how few countries are actually non-corrupt in this world. I really never realized how widespread the corruption really is. It was an eye opener for me. No wonder people keep crying end of the world.

How about you? Did you know that we lived in such a corrupt world?

Map of Corruption Perception Index. Red are corrupt while blues are non-corrupt countries. Click to enlarge. (Source: Wikipedia)

Ophiuchus

2011-01-18T05:09:00.000-08:00

Did you hear about the 13th Zodiac sign? Ophiuchus. So apparently if you were born between November 29th and December 17th, you are no longer a Sagittarius but an Ophiuchus! Guess who just became an Ophiuchus? Yep, you got it. From this morning yours truly is no longer a Sagittarius but an Ophiuchus. I knew I was different but so different that they had to create a 13th zodiac sign to explain! Who knew?

Ophiuchus

(Image from : http://www.squidoo.com/ophiuchus)

Any other Ophiuchus out there? May be we can get together and plan world domination or something?

P.S.: Does any one know the characteristics of an Ophiuchus so that I can start behaving like one?

Saturday Shot: San Francisco

2011-01-15T18:44:00.000-08:00

Title: Foggy Morning

Location: San Francisco, CA

Date: 2010

I don’t agree

2011-01-15T11:06:00.001-08:00

…with most of the things said here (its an HT article about how NRI behave when they visit India). At least, I don’t behave in that way. And I am sure quite a few of you don’t either. Let’s go through the list, shall we?

1. They come with bags of foodstuff for themselves: Why in the world would we carry foodstuff to India for ourselves? Honestly? I want to eat at home and eat proper Indian food for once. I do carry chocolates for friends and families but that’s about it.

2. They want to eat. ALL the time: Whenever I visit India, I make all kind of excuses to not visit and eat at all the neighborhood aunties. I usually leave with a lot unsatisfied and angry aunties in my wake. Yes, there are few things that my mom make that I like to eat but gosh, I never eat all of it or all the time. Also don’t you think it contradicts the with first point?

3. They complain about the prices of EVERYTHING: Okay, I haven’t been to India recently, but don’t Indians living India also complaining about the same thing? We are undergoing inflation big time at the moment. But even then, I can never complain about prices in India after the prices I pay in US.

4. They’ve got weird accents: To start with, I always had a weird accent. It might have gotten weirder over the years but then as far as I know Indians in India have an accent too. And if everyone has got an accent why are they complaining?

5. They want to shop. ALL the time: Yeah, the prices are so low, who wouldn’t? I think its an innate Indianess in all of us that we look for the cheapest deals and prices. So if we do shop in India, what’s the big deal?

6. They come with their dirty clothes: The only dirty clothes I have carried over the years are my precious saris for dry-cleaning. And that’s because I don’t trust the dry-cleaners here to understand Indian clothes and embroideries to take care of them. Not because of the price but the care. What if I do take a chance and they ruin it for me. And its not like I am asking any of my relatives to do it for me, or pay the dry-cleaning for me.

7. You realise they know more Hindi songs than you: Well I don’t. I have no idea about latest bollywood news. BTW, don’t the Indians in India know about latest Hollywood or English albums?

8. They think India is just a stage for a wedding: Yikes! I hate weddings.

9. Their weddings mean more work for YOU: Never gonna happen. Even if I do get married, it will be a court marriage. And please, I request all those Indians in India not to complain about the lack of ceremony.

10. They want homely, same caste Indian brides and grooms: Huh? Okay dude you have seriously backward relatives.

11. They come with cheap stuff you’ll never use: Again, no idea what you are talking about? I will never buy cheap stuff as present. I will never give anything to anyone unless I use the same brand and stuff myself. But then, may be people in India are more brand conscious than I am.

12. They get ultra nostalgic – and traditional – at weddings: Hate weddings, remember?

13. They don’t want to go malls, just bazaars: Oh well, you must be talking about metropolitans where they do have malls. I don’t think the small towns, like yours truly’s, have malls yet. But then when do big city people think about how the rest of India functions? If they have it in big cities, the entire India has it, right?

14. They complain about the weather: You should visit Southern California someday dude, and then we will see who complains about the weather. They have temperatures of 45-50 C there (spent a summer there with no ac in the car). You see, not all of us have luxury of living in New York. Some of us do live in part of US where the weather is worse than India.

15. They’re bringing us less chocolate than usual (thanks to the recession): I haven’t been to India, thanks to the recession. I haven’t seen my family for three years, thanks to the recession. I have been homesick for past two years, thanks to the recession. I have friends who are out of job for six months, thanks to the recession. And you are complaining about chocolates?

16. They complain about how India’s getting more crowded, hotter and dustier, even if they’ve NEVER lived here: Oh I never complain about the crowd or heat or dust in India. I do complain about the daily molestation going on Indian street and no matter how much we progress economically, I don’t see that going away.And when I do complain about it, I am the one who gets blamed for attracting attention of such people. As if its my fault.

17. Just when you think it’s safe, they come back for good: Never gonna happen. I can’t live through that daily torture of being blamed for being a victim. Not when I now know its not my fault and there is a better way of life out here.

18. They think they have all the solutions to Indian problems: Nope I don’t. I think the reason I am an NRI is because I am running from all the problems we have in India. True, they have some problems in every society but I think I can face these problems because, at least, I am not blamed for being a victim here.

19. They are more Indian than Indians (they’re like Indians in the 12th century): Again, dude, you have weird relatives.

20. They behave like tourists in their home town: Huh? Okay, I no longer eat ghee (I can’t digest it anymore), but olive oil? I go back to all my old haunts including the punjabi dhaba next to the bus-stand. Yes, I have upset stomach all the time I am there but its totally worth it.

P.S.: One day, I am going to write a post about how Indians in big cities assume so many things about rest of the India. Not all of Indians come from Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Hyderabad, or Bangalore. And not everything that you find in these cities is true for the rest of India.

About Sleep

2011-01-14T04:26:00.000-08:00

I learned a new word today: Hypersomnia. It refers to the disorder characterized by excessive amount of sleepiness. By raise of hands, how many of you feel that you are hypersomniac? I certainly feel like one.

P.S.: 1. Its a real disorder and can lead to brain damage. I am certain none of us have it, its just my love for sleeping makes me feel like one.

2. I should add that I wrote this post early in the morning (6:30 AM) from work. Hence, the shortness and the subject of the post.

Test Driving

2011-01-11T17:57:00.001-08:00

..that’s what I have been doing for past few days. Yes, I am finally replacing my first ever car, my dearest friend a 1993 Toyota Corolla. So I have been shopping around.

I guess I should put the disclaimer right here that I am not a very car loving person. I actually hate driving and do it more due to necessity than anything else. Oh ok, I also like the freedom and independence it gives me but still not loving the driving or the car. So this is a chore I have been postponing for a long time.

I was also scared of those hagglers called car salesman. But I finally plunged in. I have been around quite a few dealerships and read a lot about different cars before entering the dealerships. I can actually quote the generation and features introduced with each generation for all the cars I test drove which includes Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, Toyota Corolla and Toyota Rav4.

I test drove, I discussed deals, I got the information and then gave them the dose of “I have to talk to my fiancé” and walked out. In a manner, I used to my advantage the belief of the other sex in my sex’s lack of car knowledge and inability to take decision in these matters. I am not sure what I did was right or wrong but it certainly was haggle free. I know I had to act like all those women whom I despise but somehow I don’t feel guilty. I am simply relieved.

Am I doing something despicable? Should I feel guilty?

Saturday Shot: Christmas

2011-01-08T00:45:00.001-08:00

Title: I won’t smile

Location: Baton Rouge, LA

Date: December 25, 2010

Fat Phobia

2011-01-08T00:16:00.001-08:00

“Can I have a packet of juice?” three year old asked his parents.

“No, you already had one. That’s all.” Replied the parents.

“Please, can I have one more?” asked the kid again.

Mom melted and said, “okay”. Dad didn’t like that and told the three year old that he will become fat (accompanied by the hand gesture showing him how fat he will become).

I was speechless. An extra packet of juice! And that too a 3 year old who, btw, don’t show any sign of obesity. I mean, I understand if parents want to restrict food intake for kids with health problems but this was utterly and hugely disgusting.

I don’t even know where to start. It was a pack of juice, not even ice-cream or cake! He is three years old and very active kid. He burns off more calories during his daily activity (which is running around 10-12 hours a day) than we adults ever can. He is a growing child. And it’s a pack of juice!

Worst of it all: they are inducing a good amount of fat-phobia in him. That’s exactly what the dad told us when some of other protested about his behavior: “Just inducing the fear of overeating in him. Its good for him”.

In a child who doesn’t need that fear in him, he is introducing it. What they are really introducing to him is called fat-hatred. I simply cringe at the thought of the kind of person he would be when he grows up, unless he somehow outgrows his family’s influence. I hope, he does.

P.S.: The couple are big time fat-phobic people. They once told me that I need to loose weight (and become stick figures like them). And then they ask me why I haven’t contacted them in past 3 months I have been here.

They were also one of those people who attacked me because I became good friend with someone who is obese. Actually whenever I mention anything about her, their first comment is usually: “She is so fat”. They are not interested in anything else, I guess. It doesn’t matter that she is far better person than any of them.

In case you haven’t heard…

2011-01-04T15:49:00.001-08:00

A beauty queen who has brains, who stands for what she believes in and who is actually doing something good instead of talking about “world peace”.

Link via @ Joe

Next Life

2011-01-03T19:58:00.001-08:00

So the other day I was talking to a friend and she mentioned a game going around in her circle. The game is basically to answer a question: Who do they want to be in their next life? (The question already assumes the validity of next life existence and all that.)

So she asked me the same question. Who would I want to be in the next life? The first answer that popped into my head was: someone normal, doing normal things. You know someone who blends in and is not different.

Her next question was so you want to be T. Now T is an acquaintance whom I despise. But by all standards she is one of the most normal, conforming person I know. She got married when she was 25. She had a kid when she was 29. She has a career and family. She never had any parental or childhood or any kind of issues. EVER. She is not bothered by what’s going on in the world, she has no inkling about the latest news. But then she also don’t have any common sense or sense of humor.

So yeah, may be like her but with a bit more common sense and sense of humor. “But then isn’t that the catch?” My friend asked. “As soon as you have common sense and sense of humor you are no longer normal. You don’t conform. You don’t fit in.”

She has a point, doesn’t she? What do you think? Does having common sense sets you apart from the crowd?

And what would you want to be in next life?

P.S.: 1. If you are wondering, I went to a desi party on new year and was surrounded by the typical normal desis. I felt really out of place which explains my answer the next day.

2. The most asked questions in the party were:

So your husband work in which oil company? (Houston is the world’s oil capital, hence the assumption about oil company).
You are not married! Are you engaged?
You live alone and you cook everyday?

Not that I was surprised by the question, just out of place.

Resolution Time

2011-01-01T13:36:00.001-08:00

Its that time of year again: Time to make resolutions and hope to change to a better way of living. And every year, after few days, or few weeks, or few months these resolutions are either broken or completely forgotten. So this year, in an effort to remember and follow my resolution, I have decided to put quantative resolutions instead of qualitative. I mean, I am going to put a number and quantity with each resolution. I hope it will help me follow the resolutions better. So here it goes:

- Drink less soda. Last year saw a drastic increase in my soda intake. I attributed that to anxiety and stress associated with finishing the Phd and then with moving. But its time for me to quit.

I am going to limit my number of sodas to once a week unless there is an all-week long meeting or course. In that case I would need something to keep me awake and motivated.

- Exercise better. Again last year saw a major decline in my exercise routine. Even though I have been exercising for past 2 months or so, I haven’t been doing as much as I used to.

I am going to include some aerobics in my routine: 2-3 times a week for 30 minutes each. Continue with my strength training with 2-3 times a week and no matter what, do stretching 6-7 times a week.

- Eat healthier. Again I have been good about it for past couple of weeks but I still need to improve.

I am going to limit my intake of Maggi to once a week. I will not eat out more than once a week unless, of course, I am in a meeting and I don’t have a choice. I will not skip breakfast on weekends.

- Read more. I do like to read but am no reading buff. Lately, I haven’t been reading much, even though I have now transitioned to job life which means no more work at home..

This year I will read at least 2 books per month. I would need to make a list of book I want to read. This month, I am going to read “The girl with the dragon tattoo” and “Lord of the ring”. I have had both books for a while and have been wanting to read both of them.

- Be more social. I am a social-phobe. Unless I am very close to someone, I usually back out from going to parties, meeting people, and generally being social.

This year I will call up friends more frequently. Saturdays are for friends. I will call at least one of my friend every Saturday and talk to them, and if possible, meet them.

- Call home. I have been very bad about it past year. Again PhD and moving but I can’t use that excuse now.

So am going to call home more frequently: at least twice a week.

- Read scientific journals. I know I should to keep at breast with latest research but guess what, I don’t.

So I will read at least two of the most popular journal, whenever they are published. And actually read the papers and just not the abstracts (this will be the first of the resolution I will break, I know it). I will also start attending monthly Special Interest Group meetings. Its always good to be part of a scientific network.

- Blog regularly.

I promise to post 15 posts every month but I also promise that I will not write a post for sake of writing a post but I will only post when I have something significant to say. So no more NaBloPoMo but I will still post regularly. Also I will log on to my Facebook account associated with the blog more regularly.

- Take more photos. 2010 has been kind of slow year for photography except for the times I visited some places. I need to be more regular about taking pictures and not restrict myself to the times when I visit some place nice.

I will get out and explore Texas. Enough of moping and criticizing. I agree landscape and culture are completely different but that adds another dimension to photography, doesn’t it? So from now on, I will go around every other weekend and explore the area I live in.

I guess that’s about it. I don’t know how many of these resolutions I am going to keep, but at least now I do know things I feel guilty about. That’s a good start. Acceptance is the first step towards the change..

Saturday Shot: Diptych

2011-01-01T12:49:00.000-08:00

Title: Cycle of Life

Location: Texas, US

Date: 2010

Adios

2010-12-31T17:46:00.001-08:00

Dearest 2010

You have been very nice to me and I want to thank you. You are one of the most special years in my life. During your reign, I finally fulfilled my long time (in fact, longest time) dream of earning a PhD. Ever since I came to know about PhD (at the age of three) accompanied by the fact that my Dad already had one, I dreamt of earning one. However, during the course of my journey to PhD, I almost quit the voyage. during those dark times I thought I will never fulfill this dream. So you see, I will always treasure you as the year I fulfilled my dream and finally, finally, earned my PhD. I will be always grateful to you for that.

I know not many people will thank you as your reign also saw a bad economic recession and a high unemployment rate, so it becomes even more important for me to remind you that not all of us hate you. I will always remember and cherish you.

Sincerely yours

Richa

My vote

2010-12-31T17:29:00.001-08:00

Asian Window is asking me to choose between Munni or Sheila for the favourite item number.

Munni

Sheila

After watching both the videos I have decided to vote for Waka Waka instead. Mind you, I am not a big fan of Western music but if you are looking for the item number of 2010, I think Shakira in Waka Waka takes the prize. Don’t you think? I mean just watch her move (for whatever small time window she does move).

Waka Waka

A Christmas Story

2010-12-27T20:43:00.001-08:00

Oh yes, the apologies first. I disappeared but guess what, I had a great Christmas weekend. Even you can’t make me feel guilty at the moment so stop trying.

What did I do for Christmas, you ask? Well I went to Baton Rouge and New Orleans (both in state of Louisiana) to visit my best friend and her family. Before I plunge into my ramblings, I should tell you that she and her family are originally from New Orleans, actually they are from the area that was destroyed by hurricane Katrina in 2005. The neighborhood still bears the mark of that catastrophe, so does their family. Oh yes, also they are not Indian. None of this is important for my rambling but a little background doesn’t hurt, does it? Specially when it hung over my conscious (hurricane Katrina, not the Indian part).

The best part of the Christmas was, of course, the kids (her two daughters) and their excitement on the Christmas morning. The second best thing was meeting her extended family. If you have seen the movie ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ you might have some idea what I am talking about. If not, then may be you have seen a big family gathered together during a wedding or some other ceremony. As for me, they reminded me of my Nani’s (maternal grandmother) house as it used to be when we were kids. All the chattering, screaming, gossiping, joking and teasing, along with lots and lots of food.

We reached there at meal time (I can’t tell you whether it was dinner or lunch, just that we ate). And as I have seen time and again in our own India, all the women were in kitchen, heating everything up, serving the plates for kids, elderly and men, while the rest of them (kids, elderly and men) sat around, chatted, joked and laughed. Finally, women also sat down and ate.

The surprise came after the meal. Now there were men all around, cleaning up, taking out the trash, brooming and sweeping, disinfecting, folding tables, cleaning dishes while women sat around, chatted, joked and laughed. All of this was automatic. As if it was the most natural thing. As if it wasn’t a big deal. That was only thing that made me realize that this was an entirely different culture. Wish we had that in our family.

The worst part of this Christmas was, of course, saying goodbyes on Sunday and the drive back. The second worst thing, well I wouldn’t call it bad, just disturbing: for the first time in my life I met someone with Alzheimer's disease. A sweet, old lady, and soft spoken too, except she was not making any sense. She had no idea what any of us were talking about, though she wanted to participate in the conversation. But as she couldn’t make head or tails of our conversation, she became progressively agitated and confused. It was pretty sad but there was nothing any of us could do to help her. Honestly, if this ever happens to me, I would prefer euthanasia. I know medically you are alive till your heart beats but personally I believe that life ends when brain ends. What’s the point of life when you are not you anymore? That reminds me, I have to get a living will done. Perhaps, I will put it in 2011 resolution list.

All in all, it was a great weekend. It was worth 12 hours of driving with shoulder pain and bad traffic.
Hope you guys had a great Christmas as well.

P.S.: I hope this post covers for my absence for past few days. It is a long post, after all.

Addicted

2010-12-23T20:56:00.001-08:00

I knew it will come to that one day though I confess I didn’t think it will be now. What am I talking about? The internet addiction recovery program. I kid you not. There is now a company, reSTART, that offer rehabilitation program for internet addiction. I checked the common symptoms and it seems I am not addicted or may be I am in denial. How about you?

P.S.: Been sick for past two days and hence no post. Going to Louisiana for Christmas so most probably won’t be able to post again. Not sure how much internet connectivity will I have. So if you don’t hear from me: MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Stuck in my head…

2010-12-20T21:00:00.001-08:00

…and my iPod. I usually have problem moving to other song once my iPod reached this song. So I had it on repeat for the whole day. Even though I haven’t heard it for past few hours now, I still can’t stop humming it. Needless to say, I am absolutely in love with this song. Although you have to stop watching the video to enjoy this song completely..

Do you have any such song that you simply can’t let go off?

The Zoo

2010-12-19T20:40:00.001-08:00

Ever since I moved to Texas, I haven’t gone out to take pictures. Yesterday I broke that spell and went to the zoo. Well, they (the zoo) had their first “photography day” yesterday. Unfortunately for us, the weather wasn’t very cooperative yesterday. It was freezing out there and hence almost all the animals were quite inactive. The cloudy morning was yet another drawback. Still I did manage to get some nice shots (at least I like them). Here are few, the ones I have manage to post process so far. Let me know what you think:

Title: Playful

Title: Watchful

Title: Camouflage

Will post on my photoblog, that is if you are interested.

Saturday Shot: Fossil

2010-12-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

Title: Fish

Location: Rajasthan, India

Date: 2003

Sexism in Advertisement

2010-12-17T20:20:00.001-08:00

I was browsing around when I came across this one:

What do you think?

Burned or Buried?

2010-12-16T21:24:00.001-08:00

Well the actual question was:

“What do you think happens after we die?”

But my thought train took a wrong turn and I instead ended up thinking about funeral costs and funeral services and such nonsense. But during all this thought process I realize how unique background I come from. Most of the world, that is most of cultures around the world, bury their dead while our culture, or more precisely Hinduism, insist on burning them.

Before you jump the gun and start defending either method, I am not writing this post to discuss the philosophy or religion. I am just wondering that if given a choice, would you liked to be buried or burned after death? Would you like to have a grave site which your loved ones can visit and grieve, miss you and carry out imaginary conversations; or would you like to be burned and have your ashes thrown in a river so that they can, or rather should, move on with their lives?

The first answer that pops in my head is obviously, being cremated. But that’s simply because I don’t want my loved ones to grieve for me. Actually I don’t want my loved ones to grieve. Period. Its worse if I am the reason. But does my desire of them moving on, really help with their grief? Isn’t it equivalent of me telling them to internalize their pain and pretend to be normal and happy? Is that what I really want? But does having a place to grieve and remember help them with the grieving process? I think so.

My favorite uncle passed away an year and half ago. I didn’t attend his funeral. Hell, I was told 2 days after his funeral. I cried, I grieved, I felt awful but I didn’t find closure. He was a photographer and I bought a D-SLR camera for him as a surprise gift. I never told him that. He never knew about the camera. He would have loved it. I still have that feeling of unfinished business. I don’t have closure. I never got to say goodbye and I really wish there was a grave, a place where I could go, pay my respects and say goodbye.

What do you think? Do you want to be burned or buried? As for me, I think I would like all my loved ones to be buried so that I can go there and be with them but I should be cremated. Sounds selfish, isn’t it? May be a bit hypocritical too but I really don’t want them to cry for me.

Just a thought train…

Laser Light Painting

2010-12-15T20:45:00.001-08:00

I got my new green laser pointer today. What did I do? I did this:

How I did it? Well, the procedure is described here. People do amazing stuff with laser pointers. May be some day, I will do something cool like that but this was my first attempt. You know, first experiments. These simply show the enthusiasm of getting a new toy to play with…

Give a damn

2010-12-14T20:48:00.001-08:00

Pardon my language, but that’s the name of this campaign: we give a damn. It’s about workplace discrimination, hate crimes, bullying at school, suicide and such issues faced by gay community. They have a heap of advertisements but I particularly like this one:

Give a Damn

They are adorable.

And yes, I give a damn, if you pardon my language. Hope you do too…

Link via Joe my God

FOB

2010-12-13T19:29:00.001-08:00

“Where are you from?”

That was the first thing she asked me. I was putting my bag down in the seat next to her. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a long kurta. So yes, that was the first thing I registered about her: she is Indian or rather, from Indian subcontinent, but I didn’t expect the question. The first thing, even before a courtesy smile, even before our eyes met. I wasn’t even looking at her. I didn’t or rather couldn’t respond immediately, instead I looked at her and she repeated the question:

“Where are you from?”

“India”

“Oh”

She was taken aback. A moment later she added:

“I am from Pakistan.”

I gave her a small smile not because it made a difference to me but because it did to her. After a moment’s pause, she sprung the next question:

“Are you a Geologist?”

“No, Geophysicist.”

Now she was completely disappointed. I made an excuse and walked outside knowing full well that I will be sitting next to her for next five days. Isn’t life peachy?

P.S.: 1. In her defense, I later learnt that this is her first time outside Pakistan, so I think her shock of meeting a person from India is understandable, however, that doesn’t excuse her reaction to me being a geophysicist. Neither does it excuse her rudeness.

2. The difference between Geology and Geophysics is similar to the difference between Biology and Physics: they both fall under the subset of science, however they are very different from each other. More importantly, people who excel in one doesn’t usually excel in the other.

3. I am in a class this week (today was the first day. That’s where I met her). When I was three, my mom told me that Ph.D. is the highest degree one can earn and once you get that, you don’t have to go to classes anymore. She was so wrong.

One liners

2010-12-12T22:22:00.001-08:00

Enjoy…

My computer just beat me at chess…but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
Slept like a baby last night…. Waking up every 3 hours crying for food.
One day your prince will come. Mine just took a wrong turn, got lost and is too stubborn to ask for directions.
Dance like no one’s going to put it on YouTube.
Every day, man is making bigger and better fool-proof things, and every day, nature is making bigger and better fools. So far, I think nature is winning.
I want to merge MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter and call it: MY FACE YOU TWIT.
Don’t you find it funny that after Monday(M) and Tuesday(T), the rest of the week says WTF?
I dream of a better world...where chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned.
If your relationship status says, "It's complicated", then you should stop kidding yourself and change it to "Single".
Be nice to nerds, chances are you will be working for them.
Have you ever had a fly or small bug land on your computer screen and your first reaction is to try and scare it with the cursor?
Hi, my name is Damimeve. The 'mime' is silent.
Do you know what really makes me smile? Facial muscles.
I hear there is scientific proof that birthdays are good for you... the more you have the longer you live.
I just read a list of 'the 100 things to do before you die'. I'm pretty surprised 'yell for help' wasn't one of them...
TEIAM - problem solved.
Top Tip Of The Week: When going through airport customs and you are asked "do you have any firearms with you?" do not reply "what do you need?"

Source: Link1, Link 2.

Saturday Shot

2010-12-11T20:15:00.000-08:00

Title: Colors

Location: Stanford, CA

Date: 2008

Left vs. right?

2010-12-09T19:26:00.001-08:00

So I was filling out the form to renew my passport. Answered all questions to best of my knowledge and, of course, I finally reached the end of the form where they ask to sign the declaration. You know where they ask you to swear the allegiance to India. At the end of all that declaration they ask you to sign or put your thumb expression. And right below that there was a statement in parentheses which is the reason for this post. It says:

Signature/ Thumb Impression of applicant

(Left Hand T.I. if male and right Hand T.I. if female)

Left hand for male and right hand for female? Why is that? I tried googling it and there are some very ridiculous explanation from “because those are the ones most used by each gender” (Really? Are they telling me that all the males are left handed and all the females right handed?) to “It is a government rule. Rules are rules. Can’t change it”.

Not a single proper reason why is that so. Does any one know? And how do they know if the thumb print is right hand’s or left hand’s? I know its not a big deal and it doesn’t matter, I am just curious.

P.S.: Yes I signed my allegiance to the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India. Hopefully they will reissue my passport soon enough.

Something Nice

2010-12-08T06:26:00.000-08:00

This post is inspired by PB’s post, Passport-Photobia.

So last Saturday I went to get my passport photo taken for getting my Indian passport renewed. My first stop was Walgreens who refused to take the photo as they supposedly can’t change the dimension of photo in their system (in California they did!) but they pointed me to a place where they do. You know, the place by the cemetery. I kid you not, the gates of cemetery and this “place” are almost adjacent. The reason I use the term place instead of studio is because it is a house (quite creepy, if I might add) and not a studio. You actually need to ring a bell and wait for someone to open the door.

Anyway, so finally it was time for me to get my picture taken. And here is the verbatim instructions from the photographer:

“Don’t smile but think about something nice.”

“Sit up straight and think about something nice.”

“Look at the camera while thinking about something nice.”

At this point I wanted to tell him that if he introduce me to Mr. Something Nice, it will be easier for me to think about him. As soon as this thought popped up in my head I almost smiled. However, unfortunately, I had a pretty bad mouth ulcer that day so the moment I started smiling, I winced and precisely at that moment the camera clicked. He took one look at the shot and went again:

“Think about something nice again. We will take 3 photos and then choose one. So look at the camera while thinking about something nice.”

Which resulted in some more wincing on my part. It took 10 minutes and I think about 15 shots before we could get a decent shot. With the amount of pain I endured in the process I am sure I have become passport-photobic. At least, I have been scarred for a long long time.

Is it just me?

2010-12-07T19:43:00.001-08:00

Somedays I am okay. I am confortable, even confident, in my own skin. Then other days I loose all that. The funny statement that sounds funny in my head, doesn’t come out right and loose their pun in the process. My confidence level plummets and I just can’t carry myself well in the social circle on those days.

It usually happens when I among strangers or in some hostile situation but at times it is simply associated with my mood or simply the stress level in my life. I know all those things does affect one’s personality but does everyone else get affected like I do? Or is there something wrong with me? Do I overreact to stress and need a better way to manage my stress level? Or do I simply overanalyze my actions? Does anyone else faces this problem or is it just me?

P.S.: You guessed it. Last two days have been such two days. Hopefully it will get better with coming days.

My Problem…

2010-12-06T21:05:00.001-08:00

(from: PhD comics)

P.S.: I can’t think of anything to write today.