tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60895082024-03-19T13:30:08.702+05:30If you get my drift..."Half of what I say is meaningless...I say it so that the other half reaches you."
- Khalil GibranS!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.comBlogger133125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-80275392719096133752020-04-28T13:53:00.000+05:302020-04-28T13:53:46.604+05:30The Right Thing To DoJohn Rawles was an American philosopher. Well? Well, you should look him up, if you want to. But one of the things he opined on is designing a fair society. By the way, it's impossible to do so. He said that the way to do this is to make rules regarding a good or fair society behind a veil of ignorance - i.e the people who make these rules cannot have any idea which social bucket S!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-24108078946072569642009-03-26T14:02:00.002+05:302009-03-26T14:13:13.502+05:30Getting into soupOf all the gastronomical practices prevalent in this muddle of a country of ours, the one which never ceases to make me raise a three-fifth astonished and five-sixth annoyed eyebrow is the unreserved splatter of all available sauces into the soup without even a forethought of if a chicken clear soup indeed merits a marriage to tomato ketchup, with soy sauce & chili sauce spreading themselves S!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-75394956917948612052008-11-30T22:46:00.002+05:302008-11-30T23:16:16.532+05:30Point & shootThe standard Indian explanation of terrorism by the way of pointing fingers toward Pakistan seems rather shallow at this point. Even if it is true, we still cannot justify the failure of our intelligence, police & the general rise of civil unrest in the country based on religious grounds which includes Hindus, Muslims & Christians alike - the difference being one of degree. This is a mootS!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-6372614569958865482008-11-22T23:46:00.006+05:302008-11-23T00:52:59.187+05:30Being Rahul DravidRahul Dravid is struggling to score runs. And he has been struggling for a while. Whether he decides to quit the game or not is his own call & his place in the side regardless of his personal decision is a question for the BCCI. For me, though, looking at Dravid as just a number 3 batsman in India colours is violently reductionist - it is tantamount to saying that Edmund Hilary was S!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-19101131823819792942008-11-02T06:12:00.002+05:302008-11-02T06:36:59.522+05:30Expanding your....ummm...horizons!So I'm stuck again in a hotel room for the rest of this year. I'd have to say that the weather in Alpharetta, Georgia is not quite inclement this time of the year - in sharp contrast to the bally snowstorms in Minneapolis earlier this year.Well, it felt like snowstorms anyway. What do you think I am - an eskimo? Or is it an igloo?So you may be inclined to ruminate about my sharp social encountersS!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-44411271703722281152008-05-18T09:17:00.004+05:302008-05-18T09:19:35.830+05:30Pasta, fasterA easy quick meaty meal to fix yourself when you're short of time, drunk, & hungry:Fettuccine with Italian Sausage:Serves one person:Onion - 1 medium size, finely chopped.Tomato - 2 small or 1.5 medium sized; coarse chunky pieces.Italian Sausage - Chunky pieces;Cut 1 sausage into 4-5 pieces.Bacon (optional) - Nothing like cooking in animal fatFettuccine - A little less than enough for one S!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-60982470474294980912008-05-17T20:58:00.002+05:302008-05-17T21:27:32.393+05:30Carbon footprintOf all the ways we perceive, & change according to, the world around us, one of the important measures to know & care about is your carbon footprint. It is all very well to know about global warming, though I'm personally unsure how much of the global warming debate is driven by scientists as opposed to activists (or alarmists...), however, I think that it is important to know how much S!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-50657691422486352292008-05-14T08:02:00.005+05:302008-05-14T09:28:44.019+05:30Deep thoughts on foodUsha has tagged me to do a post on questions pertaining to food & the like. While I prefer eating food more than writing about it, I'll do this post regardless, because like Anatole, aunt Dahlia's cook, " I am cool as a few cucumbers." :)What’s your favourite table?Ok, I know that I'm not very smart, but is that a trick question? It simply does not matter as long as what is on it is good. I S!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-58990784231004251582008-04-23T10:46:00.003+05:302008-04-23T11:09:00.423+05:30Music & lightsWell, this again is Bangalore. It has been exactly 2 months since I was here last. And I'm here for just a week before I fly back to Minneapolis again for about 5 weeks - hopefully gorgeous as it can be.Homecoming never loses its potency even if you're traveling all the time. A total of 6 or so months in the last 24 months in Bangalore still means Sangam Reunions - now with expanded families S!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-72298293902227420902008-03-29T19:45:00.002+05:302008-03-29T20:27:49.768+05:30The ends of love - Dance DramaThe Ends of love is a dance drama commissioned by the the Stuat Pimsler Dance & Theater group. Staged at The Ritz, across the Mississippi, on University & 13th Ave NE, what amused me to start with was the composition of the audience. With the exception of me, it was all white. And there were two distinct age groups in there. One, college students. And the other, elderly people. You could S!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-91630163427951003682008-03-23T11:05:00.007+05:302008-03-23T11:54:25.358+05:30Listening to NPR - Indra NooyiI heard the interview of Indra Nooyi on NPR yesterday. It was a replay of a BBC interview recorded earlier. Engaging as it was, there were many fascinating things Nooyi said that do not quite ring true to my ears. She was insistent on how everybody across the world, India included, has always loved America & continues to do so. She alluded briefly to how people are able to separate people S!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-86476877007531436812008-03-17T05:55:00.003+05:302008-03-17T07:00:26.477+05:30Swining in Minneapolis - GasthofGasthof zur gemutlichkeit, which roughly means the inn of coziness or comfort, is a Bavarian restaurant on the University Ave NE in Minneapolis. From our many visits to Bavarian restaurants in Munich last year, I noticed a few similarities & dissimilaritiesBavarian food is earthy, chunky, & goes down like knife through butter, in Munich & in Minneapolis. It makes you give up pretensesS!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-68604532180339218712008-03-09T01:11:00.002+05:302008-03-09T01:15:10.674+05:30Being PurushottamAs far as I know, Lord Ram had a rather trying training as a child - living in jungles & reading deep, fat books when other children his age were playing cricket. He had the abysmal bad luck of running into Parashuram once as well. And then he gets himself exiled, has to start living in the woods, gets his wife kidnapped by some weirdo, uncool king & manages to befriend a few apes for S!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-79189278629269699812008-03-07T09:32:00.003+05:302008-03-07T10:22:39.219+05:30Indian food in MinneapolisWell, this post could also be called "how not to have a life". Yes, it is incredibly cold in Minneapolis & I do not want to know exactly how cold it is for the fear of slipping into depression, & I do not have a whole lot to do - except work - & assorted & repetitive disillusionments on the treadmill.Minneapolis has a thriving cultural scene including great music, theater & S!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-61519458117980274042008-02-14T09:47:00.002+05:302008-02-14T09:54:23.819+05:30This I believeThis I believe is a show on NPR. National Public radio is one of the best parts of being in the US. While we extrapolate an anti-Bush & anti-aggressive-foreign-policy stance to anti-America in general, NPR is one of the many glorious contradictions to such generalizations. While you may read my thoughts on NPR here, I took on the subject of one of it's programs to say this:"How we behave in S!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-65180215450333426032008-02-10T12:42:00.000+05:302008-02-10T12:53:32.712+05:30That song in your headRemember that song in your head that you cannot rid of?I recently read Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks. I've only started recently reading on Neurology, & as a book, I perhaps rate "Phantoms in the brain" slightly higher than this one by Sacks only because I understood a lot more & a lot more was explained. However, the sheer variety of ways in which we appreciate music is quite S!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-80198749899524119452007-12-31T10:03:00.000+05:302007-12-31T10:56:04.342+05:30NewsBenazir Bhutto has now been buried. In a certain way, the media coverage of that story is the perfect example of media coverage in general lately. While the concerns over Pakistan sliding down to civil war & the safety of the nuclear arsenal at it's disposal are genuine & have indeed received a good amount of attention, the assassination of Bhutto has also led to needless glorification ofS!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-81389339328579770402007-12-06T16:01:00.000+05:302007-12-17T11:40:03.672+05:30Labyrinths & lobsters - Fort KochiTucked away between the Chinese fishing nets, the bustling Ernakulam town, & the now submerged Fort Immanuel lies the sleepy little town of Fort Kochi. Antara & I decided to pack our bags & a little carelessness weekend before last & spend a couple of days in this little town away from the clocks & responsibilities. Even in December first week, Fort Kochi was not the coolestS!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-55636626187324787872007-11-21T10:35:00.000+05:302007-12-06T16:40:26.687+05:30Strangers in a strange land - II: The bus to FussenThere are two castles that you cannot afford to miss if you happen to be in Bavaria. The Neuschwanstein (literally, the new rock of the swan) & Hohenschwangau (the lofty swan). So when Antara & I, having experienced these two castles & having managed to get drenched in the freezing rain, awaited the bus to Weiskirche at the foothills of the castles, it seemed to me that the very best S!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-60046304191744384752007-11-16T10:47:00.000+05:302007-11-16T12:27:46.947+05:30Strangers in a strange land - I: The train to MunichCertainly, our budget for the Munich Holiday did not account for cloak room charges of 15 Euros per day for 5 days. So Antara, I & our eight pieces of luggage found ourselves with the task of somehow finding our way from the airport via a train ride to the Munich Hauptbahnhof & rolling from there to our hotel. It was not very difficult getting to the airport train station given the S!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-60784958986347176152007-11-04T07:10:00.000+05:302007-11-04T07:46:23.189+05:30Clinton - esqueThe thing about Hilary Clinton is that she seems to always take the side of the correct, while managing to be to as candid as possible with the usual dash of charisma, not to mention caution. Briefly, she is complex. While I think that it makes for a very well-rounded person, I think such a fine balancing act that she has to put on all the time makes her too complex to win an election.Drew WestenS!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-31760450098115818372007-10-20T20:38:00.000+05:302007-10-21T04:56:12.728+05:30A Saturday bumWell, I do not mean bum - the person, I mean bum - the personification. Like the sleeping beauty or the growing lust. Oh wait, that wasn't quite the correct example. Well, what I'm trying to arrive at is that this is as amazing a Saturday as you can hope to see, especially if you're in Ashburn, VA, & you have it all at your whim.Things started off rather splendidly this morning over an S!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-57661529352159077892007-10-20T02:03:00.000+05:302007-10-20T02:27:35.762+05:30The mottoDo you remember the motto of your school? Well, you might if you think about it. For some reason, sitting here alone in the office on a gloomy & humid Friday, I started thinking back on my school days & finally landed upon the Wikipedia pages of my school. Exactly how I jumped from there to the the motto of Kendriya Vidyalayas, I've no clue. But I vividly recall the Hindi teacher in viithS!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-73741524301206674602007-10-15T17:44:00.000+05:302007-10-15T17:54:07.719+05:30Back in the StatesWell, I'm back like a counterfeit coin. Hardly two months between leaving the Dulles airport & rebounding back to it.Coming to the Virginia's high-tech corridor time & again has reduced coming here to an absolute non-event. That's not necessarily a bad thing because that invariably implies how smoothly I can now work with the system here. Of course, the wide roads help & my mammoth S!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6089508.post-29987131556562380102007-10-01T12:17:00.000+05:302007-10-01T12:33:20.851+05:30Rescuing BismilOne of my most enduring memories of watching Rang De Basanti is the incredibly powerful rendition of "Sarfaroshi Kee Tamanna" by Laxman Pandey (Atul Kulkarni). It was a poem written by Ramprasad Bismil. I have not been able to find these lines in the audio CDs of the movie though the other part of the same poem is rendered equally powerfully by Aamir Khan (this time with accompanying music) laterS!http://www.blogger.com/profile/16530331322257003674noreply@blogger.com0