My Life in Films Meme

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

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

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

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." (Guess I belong to that century - Blue is my favourite colour despite being a girl!!)

The babies before 1900 wore white dresses. No blue or pink. No gender coding at birth. Somehow I like the concept. Why do we, as in society, need to know the gender of baby anyway? Will it change their behaviour if its a baby girl or baby boy? If not, then why colour code babies or tod?

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. 

Travel Diary: Canadian Tulip Festival

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

Title: Brothers

Location: CA

Date: 2010

Tag: Years past

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

 

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.