Driving Styles

I am sure most of you must have got this as a forwarded mail. Just thought of sharing it since all of us need a good laugh from time to time :)

Different Driving Styles ...

One hand on steering wheel, one hand out of window. - Sydney

One hand on steering wheel, one hand on horn- Japan

One hand on steering wheel, one hand on newspaper, foot solidly on accelerator... - Boston

Both hands on steering wheel, eyes shut, both feet on brake, quivering in terror- New York

Both hands in air, gesturing, both feet on accelerator, head turned to talk to someone in back seat- Italy

One hand on horn, one hand on holding gear, one ear listening to loud music, one ear on cell phone, one foot on accelerator, one foot on clutch, nothing on break, eyes on people in next car, *** - Welcome to INDIA!

Olympic Fever

The Olympic torch was lit two days ago in Athens as usual. This got me thinking about India's participation in the Games. Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to find out about India's participation in the Olympics this year.

Like millions of other people I went to my favourite site google.com and searched for Team India. After about half an hour's search all my enthusiasm wore down and was instead replaced by frustration and anger. Even after 30 minutes I was unable to find one proper site which listed the people who have been shortlisted to participate this year.

All I got was one lousy site which I believe is the official site for Indian Olympic team. For all eager Olympic followers the site is

http://www.olympic.ind.in/

I don't know where to start commenting about the site. Before that just go through the following two sites as well.

http://www.usoc.org

http://www.olympics.org.uk

Well let me start with the layout and format. This is probably the worst site designed ever for big government. Any 5th standard kid could have done a better job. Some links are broken and the whole look and feel is horrible, to say the least. They have given a number of external links which point to the official Olympic site for Beijing 2008, Commonwealth games, etc. If only the designer had taken some time off and visited these sites the design would have been much better.

Once I thought about my initial quest I forgot about the poor appearance of the site and decided to start the hunt for Team india. Alas I was up for more disappointment. The site had wonderful photos of all the committee members of the association but failed to even mention the members of the team. Not a single scrap of information about anything to do with the team that's supposed to go nor about the accomplishments of Indian athletes in previous Olympics.

Now I'm left wondering why no names are mentioned... Is it because no one is going? Have the old athletes been forgotten so fast? Is it because the committee members are so self absorved that the site is serving as a publicity portal for them? Who maintains these sites? Doesn't anyone bother to update them??

All this when India is supposed to be brimming with software professionals who are filled with talent. Can't the govt find just two people to bring the site to a decent shape and maintain it with constant updates???

I guess these are questions which will never be answered. Questions asked in vain...

Dancing with the Stars

Since nothing interesting was being telecast we decided to watch the season opening of Dancing with the Stars. The star ladies were scheduled to dance on this episode and it had a great list of people (Monica Seles, Priscilla Presley, etc) so we decided to give it a shot.

The show was pretty good and we enjoyed watching everyone trying to tread safely in unchartered waters as novices though each one is a pro in their own area. What really caught my attention was Marlee Matlin's dance.

I have added the link for the video for those who have missed it. Watch it before reading further.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2kZ5mL-uTBY

This lady is just phenomenal. The main thing for dance is music and rhythm. Marlee, being deaf, can't hear the music. She still managed to dance so superbly in spite of this deficiency. It was just spectacular and really inspirational watching her dance like that. Seeing something like this motivated people to go out and do whatever they are doubtful about. I definitely got motivated seeing the dance.

Before I sign off, a word of praise for Fabian - the dance partner. He deserves praise too. It's no small achievement to make someone like that dance so well in tune. Hats off to both of them.

Sunset

Today evening while I sat reading a book I happened to look outside the window. I was just fascinated by the sight that met my eyes - the beauty of sunset. The dimming rays of light were giving a golden tint to everything that they touched - the leaves, branches, grass and even the garbage bin.

Sunrise and sunset are the most beautiful occurrences each day. I've captured more sunsets than sunrise (since I'm not a very early waker). This sunset made me revisit my photo collection to enjoy the sunsets I had managed to capture.

Hopkinton Park (Frozen lake)

Hopkinton Park

Hopkinton Park

On our way back from Harvard

The Mystery of the Stolen Identity

Two days ago my husband told me that my brother was online on yahoo messenger. This puzzled me for two reasons.
1. It was almost midnight. He never came online at that time.
2. His final board exams were taking place and he was supposed to be studying for that. (For those unfamiliar with the board exams in India all I can say it is life and death matter for us :) )

So I decided to investigate into the matter. I messaged him twice on the messenger but did not get a response on either occasions. This could only mean one thing - his id had been hacked. Now this was bad news. I got worried and told my brother about this. He also wondered about who could have done that.

Yesterday again we found the culprit online with my bro's id. This time my husband took matters into his hand and instead of sending a tame 'Hi' he sent a threatening note about reporting him to the police for having stolen the id. Now we both knew it was a harmless threat coz first of all how were we going to get his ip and then track him down?

Guess what the threat worked. The person who was using the id got scared and sent in a confession :) He turned out to be a friend of my brother. He also sent in a detailed explanation that my bro had signed in using his PDA and due to some problem in the PDA it automatically signed in using my bro's id instead. He sent a long explanation about trying to figure out how to resolve it. He immediately text messaged my bro also about it.

Today I called my brother and told him about it and we all had a good laugh. The funniest part was that his friend ultimately uninstalled yahoo messenger and reinstalled it. Wow... What a classic case of stolen identity and problem caused by technical problems in Yahoo.

Well that solved the mystery. And what a fast closure :)

Karadayar Nombu

Today we observed Karadayar Nombu. For those who are not familiar with this - it is a puja done by married women for their husband (and unmarried women for their future husbands). We make a special type of food called nombu adai (and we need to make two varieties of it - sweet and salty one) which is generally made only for the nombu.

This was my first nombu away from home. Till last year my mother used to make it and I used to eat it happily. Since it's usually done only once a year we crave it a lot and the adais taste more delicious. So now here I was faced with the enormous task of making both types of adai. As u must have guessed I got a few pointers from my mom and m-i-l about what to do for the nombu.

To top the confusion I was told by a few people in US that the nombu was a day before. After much deliberation we decided to go ahead with the initial date itself. So we set the alarm and even tested it to see if it rang and went to sleep.

As fate would have it the alarm didn't ring in the morning. I woke up at only 7:30 instead of the scheduled 6:00. The catch was that everything had to be done by 8:30. Thankfully I had done some preparation last night. So there I was... Got up, had a quick shower and was there in the kitchen at lightning speed. I started my meticulous yet hurried preparation of the offering. Almost by luck I got the first batch done by 8:30... My deadline was met. Phew mission accomplished.

For those who are wondering if it turned out properly, the result is displayed now. I'd say it turned out to be pretty decent if not very good :) Better result next time...

Grand Canyon

Rathnam & I went to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas for the President's Day weekend. Here I want to share our experience in the Grand Canyon. We decided to take the bus tour to the Canyon since we didn't want to drive all the way. Our package included a trip to the South Rim and an IMAX movie about the canyon.

We set out early in the morning. After a quick breakfast we started our journey. We were really excited about seeing the Grand Canyon. On our way we stopped for a quick photo op at the Hoover Dam. Due to the high security these days no one was allowed very close to the dam.

The road leading up to the canyon was very deserted of human life. Everywhere we turned we could only see plants, shrubs and a lot of open area. The entire route was very scenic. I felt as though I was seeing a series of postcard pictures.

Once we landed in Grand Canyon I couldn't take my eyes off the beautiful place. Nature has truly humbled all the work of mankind. How slowly and with patience nature has worked out such a beautiful sculpture and the best thing is the work is not over yet.

My husband and I have developed an interest in photography and what better subject to shoot than the Grand Canyon :) So we both started clicking from all angles and we managed to get a few good photos.

This trip will always be remembered with fond memories. One regret was that we were unable to stay around the Canyon and capture the sunrise/sunset. Next time we intend to make a long trip and camp there and go rafting as well. Till then these photos will remind us of our beautiful trip...

COLORADO RIVER (Taken from our bus)

No need of an intro... That's the Canyon

This photo along with the next one gives the perspective of the depth of the canyon. The focus is on the huge pillar. Looks very close doesn't it??

Now look again at the rock... It's way down there. One of the best photos we took there.

TV Commercials

I realized that watching TV can be a very stressful process. Back in India we were shown glimpses of our favourite shows in between numerous ads about various products ranging from toothpaste to designer saris, cooking oil to latest cellphones, etc etc. We even had the ads about the so called "mineral water" produced by the leading alcohol manufacturers. All these ads were spiced up with great jingles and the latest hit actress dancing to the music.

Here in US the major advertising segment is medicines, more medicines and even more medicines... They start with depression, restless leg syndrome, bipolar disorder, acne, seasonal allergies, immunization against cancer................ List goes on... Add any other health problems that you are reminded of. The funniest part is the long list of side effects that may be caused by each of these medicines. Now this is done in such a low tone and with such speed that would put most of the waiters in some local hotels to shame... Some of them even mention loss of life as a side effect... Wow now wouldn't that be perfect? A person dying by taking medicine for seasonal allergies.

By the time we finish watching Law & Order or any other prime time show we would have seen all these advertisements at least twice. I'm not sure why they do this. One good thing though is we don't have too many commercials for alcohols and cigarettes.

Back home I used to complain about all the song and dance routine in most ads... But hey I prefer the song and dance ad any day...

First Glimpse of USA

When we shift from one place to another we are subjected to a lot of change. The change is more profound if we shift to a totally different country. My move from India to US was similar. I must mention here that I have travelled considerably so there was no rude shock involved here.

One thing I find fascinating here is the mass quantity of food portions here. The first time I went to a restaurant here I was rather surprised by the size of the glass of water. It was HUUUGE. If I managed to finish that glass of water I would not have been able to eat anything. The same applies to the coffee that we get in any coffee shop such as Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks. It will take me a full day to finish the coffee :)

Another thing that strikes me as a little odd is that almost everyone keeps munching on something or drinking something non stop. I can understand the coffee cup in the hand of the person walking in the cold but why do people keep munching even while walking down the aisles of shops?


All this typing has tired me out.. I'm joining bandwagon too... Wait I'm coming. Where did I put my pack of chips and Coke???