Photos from phone

Some photos from my phone taken over a month period.

I Found this jeans in Khols. Available for Sale of course. Priced close to $30. I am just wondering how they make these jeans? What kind of process woud be this? Who ever came up with this idea is a genius. "We tear what you wear". Do they sub contract this job?

My Son is 2 years and a few months old. One day he made this face all by himself. When we saw it, we were surpirsed.

Found this product in a $ shop. Could not resist. For a lack of better name, since most good names are usde up by websites and Chatt room users, they have started giving matter-of-fact names to products now. Rectangular FM radio? Does it play round the clock?



This lake lies next to our office parking lot. It froze during the snowy days. Took the photo from the car itself, from the middle of the road.





Some wild cherries in snow. 'Frozen dessert' anyone?





This building is in Chicago downtown. If you look closely you will see how they have parked cars at lower levels.

Tags: Photos, cellphone, winter, shopping, fun

The Bread Bowl

The shopping spree, so I call it, continued yesterday. We went to Kenosha this time. A strip of classy shops ranging from Nike to Eddie Bauer. We tried out some stuff at EB, but had to return right there when we saw that the 60% off did not mean anything at the end.

Moved over to Old Navy. Picked up a full hand shirt for $10. A decent purchase compared to the lunch we had at Quizznos.

The concept of serving soup in a bread bowl attracts me. A bowl that you can eat. I wish someone copies this idea in India. Clam chouder, my fav. soup next to the French onion, somehow did not go well with the sour dough bread bowl.

The parking was full today too.

Back home felt a bit sick and rested for a while went to Indian store. Dhoom-I was playing in the shop's TV. Some fine shots and daring action. Wondered how Abshek looks so alike his father with those rectangular glasses, true Amithap 'Bacha'.

Another weekend goes by with no big news. Hmmm one more is on its way.

The weekend before Christmas

It was too crowded at the mall today.

Our first visit was to Sam's club which was unusually crowded. Probably usual for these days in the year, but not for the monthly shoppers like us. We ordered the delux pizza at sam's. Ordered it 'to go', but had it right there. We were both a bit sick. Head ache, a simptom of having been out in the cold for a while.

At Sam's we faced a huge crowd, long lines and a whole lot of stuff we did not require.

Went over to Sears looking for some decent dress, lo the crowds had gone ahead of us there. The parking lot was full as in full. Cars everywhere. Gurnee Mills had no parking space unless you had a hover craft.

At sears the shopping went bad. We found nothing interesting. After about a hour of picking and trying various dresses we had to walk out without buying anything.

It was amazing how the holiday spirit has caught up here. People are all out, buying stuff and stuffings. X'mas indeed has been commercialized so much, if the shopping is not an indication the parking is.

Came back home early and started cooking for the first time after I was married in 2003. A simple chicken curry that I am always fond of making.

We have more shopping to do, after all celebrating the birthday of Jesus Christ is no passing thing.



Note: Since this blog has been dormant for a while, reflecting the state of my mind, I have decided to post a few diary entries like the one above every now and then.

The weather from BCCI

An ordinary crickt fan is not a weatherman, nor is he interested in knowing about the weather as much as in the last known superficial statistical analysis of how many times Sachin sneezed when he fielded in the deep. But the Board of Control for Cricket in India seems to know all about weather. To be fair the entire world of cricket executives seeems to know a lot more about when it would rain than the local weather station. How else would they know when to schedule matches that are spoiled by rain at the right time when you expect something to happen?

It is like they have a magical connection with the elements. The earth does not give them the right pitches, the rain falls when they want, there's no fire in the game anymore and its become just hot air. The Players too are well informed about the weather which they share, for a price, with a bookie working from a shaddy room in a corner of Mumbai, and they play to the weather. There is no other explanation to the way they get out like sheeps jumping streams.

If cricket is religion then Varuna Bahvan, the rain god, is the second god. The first one being Sachin. God's are magical. So is Sachin, not only in the way he bats, and bowls those uncatagorizable spin balls to get the occational wicket, but the magic is that when he scores big, the team looses. A perfect win win situation. Indian fans are happy about Sachin's performance and the opposite team has won.

Varuna bahvan, it seems, is a 'Match Fixer' not to be confused with marriages made in heaven. He sends rain down to make you loose one day and to help save your ass the next day. After all his averages seem to be far better than some players.

Unpredictability is the finest element in a game of cricket and the weather. But the weather has been far more predictable now a days. If you see a perfect game you can predict that rain would fall.

BCCI should try to help farmers by holding matches in drought areas. For god knows how, but it rains for sure when there's a good match that you are watching after 2 years of watching any cricket, awake at 1:45 AM when even the attenders at drive through windows have dozed off for a few seconds.

An ordinary fisherman is not a cricket fan but he sure knows when it would rain by just one look at the sky.

late night humor

"President Bush went to Iraq to boost the new government. That shows you
how rough the situation is in Iraq when a guy with 30% approval rating stops by
to give you a boost." --Jay Leno

"First Lady Laura Bush flew from Washington to New York and instead of flying Air Force One, she took the Delta Shuttle. The first lady said she did this because unlike Air Force One, commercial airlines are cheaper, they waste less gas, and she doesn't get stuck sitting next to a dumb guy." --Conan O'Brien

"Last night was the season finale of 'West Wing.' 'West Wing' is gone. And ABC has cancelled 'Commander In Chief.' So, now the only fictional president is Bush." --David Letterman

"President Bush said catching a 7.5 pound fish was his best moment since becoming president. You know the sad thing, a lot of historians would agree with that." --Jay Leno

"President Bush said that when it comes to hurricane preparedness, step number one is to, quote, 'pray that there's no hurricanes.' Later President Bush admitted, 'Yeah, that's our entire plan.'" --Conan O'Brien

"President Bush is denying that he's planning an air strike on Iran. So, you know what that means? He's planning an air strike on Iran." --David Letterman

"June 1st is the start of the hurricane season. President Bush is already stockpiling excuses." --David Letterman

"Saturday is April Fool's Day and President Bush ... has a great April Fool's joke planned. He's going to put out that old 'Mission Accomplished' banner." --David Letterman

"The president said we must continue to find new sources of oil. The only place he doesn't want any drilling, 'Brokeback Mountain.'" --Jay Leno

"The government is scheduled to launch a mission to Pluto. Apparently this is President Bush's last chance to find those weapons of mass destruction." --Jay Leno

This elephant can dance

This weeks Time has India Inc. in its cover. Snippets from one of the articles.

• In ways big and small, Indians are changing the world.
• (India) the second most populous nation in the world, and projected to be by 2015 the most populous...
• Writers like to attach catchy tags to nations, which is why you have read plenty about the rise of Asian tigers and the Chinese dragon. Now here comes the elephant.
• India's economy is growing more than 8% a year, and the country is modernizing so fast that old friends are bewildered by the changes that occurred between visits.
• During the cold war, relations between New Delhi and Washington were frosty at best, as India cozied up to the Soviet Union and successive U.S. Administrations armed and supported India's regional rival, Pakistan.
• Making friends with India is a good way for the U.S. to hedge its Asia bet.
• Prosperity and progress haven't touched many of the nearly 650,000 villages where more than two-thirds of India's population lives.
• Backbreaking, empty-stomach poverty, which China has been tackling successfully for decades, is still all too common in India. Education for women--the key driver of China's rise to become the workshop of the world--lags terribly in India.
• The nation (India) has more people with HIV/AIDS than any other in the world, but until recently the Indian government was in a disgraceful state of denial about the epidemic.

• Transportation networks and electrical grids, which are crucial to industrial development and job creation, are so dilapidated that it will take many years to modernize them.
• China's key economic reforms took shape in the late 1970s, India's not until the early 1990s. But India is younger and freer than China.
• Many of its companies are already innovative world beaters. India is playing catch-up, for sure, but it has the skills, the people and the sort of hustle and dynamism that Americans respect, to do so.
• It deserves the new notice it has got in the U.S. We're all about to discover: this elephant can dance.

Curry-N-Rice Girl

Check this out maams.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4532245984549289375

Comming to America

Dear friend,

Heard that you are coming to America to work here. I am sure you have heard how tasty the Pizza here is , also how clean the roads are that you can be served food on it, and how about the restaurants where semi naked waitresses rub more than shoulders with you?

Yes there is a lot of fun stuff here. But fun is not the sole purpose of your visit I guess. May be I should let you in on a few secrets – more like tips – that helped me here.

1. Be friendly – People hate strangers, Americans are even afraid of them they instruct their kids not to talk to strangers. So don’t be a stranger. There is this great American custom of saying a ‘Hello’ or smiling at total strangers, a smile indeed takes the ‘strange’ out of the stranger. Also at work befriend people you are working with. They may resist at first but keep trying. Smile with them joke with them. Once you become friends with them then your stay here is going to be easy.

2. Be Sincere – I am sure at offshore you had your own excuses for each time you skipped a meeting, or forgot your ID card, or went a day late after vacation. Forget all that it is better to be sincere than to be caught lying. I have known several people who had career difficulties because they are caught lying to the client.

3. Be communicative – If you want to impress people here you need to have good comm. skills. If you feel that you are average I would suggest you pick it up as fast as you can. It is easy. Start observing how people speak. Make changes to the way you speak very often by adapting. Watch American television often, stay away from J. Springer.

4. Be confident – This is the most important virtue. If you feel confident about yourself, it shows, and it helps. I have seen people with average communication skills being confident too.

5. Be respectful – It is important to realize that you are in entirely new cultural milieu. You may see, hear things that are a shock to you but a very normal thing here. Do not be judgmental of people. Do not stare at people who may look different or do things differently. Remember point number 1.

There is lot more. But I think I covered the bases.

Do not forget to bring the Avakka pickle, Garam Masala powder and a pack of kings.

Cheers.

Prayers for sale

Evangelism - Zealous preaching and advocacy of the gospel (Bible).
Televangelism - Zealous preaching and advocacy of the gospel (Bible) on TV.

Even as a Christian it irritates me to see all these so called evangelistic programs on TV. There’s hardly any difference between QVC and these people, except the evangelists sell Christ and Prayer.

Jesus said “If you want to follow me, bear your cross and follow me”. But none of this coat clad, bible wielding, loud singing, devil chasing, money collecting, tap dancing preachers seems to be bearing any cross.

These guys are devil incarnate compared to Jesus who lived the simplest life possible on earth. There is never a mention of him accepting any wealth or payment. He just went and dined with whoever invited him. There is even an incident where his disciples plucked corn from a field, naturally belonging to someone else, to eat.

Worst thing is how people willingly get cheated. What do these believers get in return? Just a prayer. Well I won’t pay a penny to the guy who even speaks directly to God, leave alone one who says a common prayer for me(But I will pay if I see him speak directly to god).

Most of these evangelists have amassed wealth like hell, pun intended. And as for people, who pay to get a prayer, get a life or HBO.

Thanks Blogdesam

I had started with this blog. after being disappointed over the hit count i stopped. There is no use writing if no one is reading. So I switched to Tamil Blog.

Thanks to Blog Desam I am planning to blog here, in English again. It is amazing what Tamil Manam group is doing. Please continue the good work.

Congratulations on the new site and all the best.

Limbo gone...many more to go?

The Catholic Church has begun coming around. 'Limbo', a semi-heaven, created for children who died without baptism is being officially closed. In Limbo there's eternal bliss, but you could not see God. Hmm... that sounds much like 'earth' to me.

Trying to explain 'everything' about god has led to extensive dogmatization. The Catholic church with its numerous Dogmas and Canons, most of which is not made known to the last Catholic yet, seeks to explain God in simple terms., as if describing ‘how pop corn pops?’.

Limbo is one such answer it came up with when people wondered what would happen to Children who die with original sin, i.e. without Baptism. Today the church realizes that god will not punish innocent children but take them into heaven.

While St. Peter has his work cut out in letting all the souls into heaven, I still want better answers for the following questions,
How is Mary ever virgin?
What do you mean by resurrection of body? I see dead bodies rotting away?
Is there salvation outside church? (I keep standing outside church most Sundays).
Why should an innocent child be born with original sin? Isn’t that a manufacturing defect?
Please explain to me again why Jesus had to die for my sins, which I had not committed at that time.

It is a great thing that a major world religion dares question itself and tries to find new meanings to itself and to its faith in this age.

But Limbo is just the beginning, many more to go.

2005 at a glance

Cartoons of 2005
http://www.cagle.com/news/2005best/main.asp

Best photos of 2005
1 http://www.time.com/time/yip/2005/

2 http://photos.reuters.com/

3 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10467269/