November 26th, Mumbai

Much will be written and said by the media about the terrorist attack. But this is my say …

The lightening fast communication mystifies me. No sooner the terrorist attack took place in Mumbai than it broadcasted live inside our living rooms in USA. Fox news channel seamlessly blending with the NDTV coverage. It was like watching NDTV news on television back in India. The new age of collaborative news seems to thrive well in the flat world. Maybe Fox and NDTV are sister channels.

The Indian news reporter or I must say all NDTV journalists whom I watched today reporting live from Mumbai are par excellence. They are no less than any of their American counterpart. Be it news delivery, news coverage or vocal English, in fact the overall persona of one and all was cosmopolitan.

Fall 2005, Boston

The incident happened, back in good old days when we did not possess a GPS, navigation system. Finding our way out was limited to handwritten driving directions, courtesy www.mapquest.com. During initial days a wrong turn, left the note in hand of no use; unless until one is smart enough to drive back to the street, from where s/he made the wrong turn.

Boston suburbs are sparsely populated. One finds them even more thinly populated, if you have recently arrived from India.

One afternoon, we lost our way. It was a precarious situation; neither in the position to reach the destination nor drive back home. Our route quest resulted in the endless loop.

After a long wait, I sighted a man at a distance. Quickly approached him and rattled away my sorry tale. He patiently listened and replied in one sweet line

“I DON’T KNOW ENGLISH” , in spanish accent.

Gosh, I could not stop laughing aloud, wondering who taught him this one great sentence. It was then I realized for the first time, English challenged people live in America too. After getting driving directions from a friend on phone, we reached home safely.

Few tips on what to do when lost.
1.Look for a gas station. Get down from the car and ask the person at the counter inside the convenience store for the directions. Probably he might be of help being familiar with the area.
2.Most important just not carry the address but also note down the nearest cross street. It really helps you to reach the area, close to your destination; then you can get down, walk around a bit and find the exact address.
3.There is no better option than GPS. It won’t shut-up till you are right on track. It is indeed a very useful device for frequent travelers.

Red Light

I was desperately waiting for the traffic light to turn green and quickly reach my friend’s place. What else do you expect at red-light intersection?
Pedestrians and cyclists slowly crossing the road. They have the right of way, whether your signal is green or red, it hardly matters.

At few intersections the red-lights are pretty longish. I have seen ladies making the best use of the available time, combing hair, applying lipstick or sipping coffee.
Accepted, I have a bad habit of peeking inside cars but then holdback and read on…

The incident I quote today is the most bizarre I have encountered yet. One fine evening, at red- light, a car halts next to mine. A young smart lady in the car, glasses rolled down, shaving under arms with a suave razor.

It was rather strange, to believe, at first. I may sound conservative but what is wrong is wrong wherever in the world you might be. Few things need to be done inside the four walls called home.

I do not totally blame the girl, it might be circumstantial. Maybe she was out on a date and did not get sufficient time at home to do the needful. It got rather late coming out of the office too. After all its America, anything can happen. No lines drawn. Open culture open society and happy living.

Lets Play And End Hunger

www.freerice.com, started with English Vocabulary. Now it has incorporated few more subjects like Art, Chemistry, Geography, Language Learning and Math. Select the subject of your choice and start playing.

My personal favorite subjects are English Vocabulary and Geography.Multiple choice questions appear on screen. For each correct answer, twenty rice grains are donated to the hungry via UN food program. The entire concept is amazing; learn and donate.

Fresno Chaffe zoo

I am stuck!!

Just have a look at the tortoise, in self style trap. Leaving all the open space available; it squeezes through the logs, a dangerous maneuver. Now sheepishly sitting , finding hard to come out, as there is almost no space to twist and turn.

The zoo keeper managed to pull out the logs. Another lured the tortoise with a banana, showing the way out. So remember, tortoise also eat bananas not only monkeys and elephants.


Free at Last!!

A visitor feeding few leaves to giraffe, under strict supervision at the feeding station. American way of fun and little adventure too.

DOMINO'S

I chanced upon a Domino’s flyer, flashing achievements in grand numbers. The numbers mentioned were mind blowing, all set to make world record.

Domino’s drivers cover 9 million miles each week in United States alone which is approximately weekly 38 round trips to the moon. It is nice to know Domino’s do not possess APOLLO space shuttle; otherwise its drivers must be visiting moon every now and then. One can well estimate the huge fuel consumption in United States.

Domino’s delivered 360 million pizzas last year; roughly a little over million pizzas each day. It adds to the proven fact Americans spend more at restaurants than on grocery bill. One of the benefits of economic recession which I foresee is more healthy Americans. Home foreclosure and job loss will force Americans to cook and eat at home and stay fit. It is well said every dark cloud has a silver lining.

No doubt, domino’s figures forced me to write this post. But I must confess; I myself enjoy domino’s pizza a lot; especially thin crust veggie feast. Not only it tastes good but the entire hi-tech online ordering process interests me. Right from selecting the pizza crust and amazing half and half topping option.

Numbers do not lie. Domino’s pizza is the number one pizza; I would recommend it to anybody. It is worth your dollar.

The list seems short; many more tasks can be added to the list. Multitasking is the buzzword of modern times. Why in the world this miniscule towel left behind in exemplifying its eternal versatile usage.

I came across this guest towel in a hotel room. Materially, not close to any towel, more like a gigantic paper napkin. The hotels come out with great innovative ideas to impress guests.

ENERGIZER

I often visit a 7-eleven convenience store, located close to my apartment. It caters to all my grocery requirement when spouse is out of town, though the prices are relatively on the higher side. Moreover to my observation, having done quite a bit of travelling across United States , I find several 7-eleven stores owned by Indians and notice South Asians efficiently working in the store.

On a very recent visit to the store, two teenage girls greeted me, having a stall on either side of the entrance, each ready to offer a sample drink, followed by numerous advantages of M-150 over other available energy drinks in the market.

I had a vague idea about energy drinks, though never savored one. Often times seen people consuming liquid of vibrant shades, which is neither soda nor chilled beer, hence concluded must be something different. Energy drink is a trendy concept here, no wonder Americans are full of life and zest at any time of the day.

M-150, a non carbonated energy drink, the girls bragged, no caffeine, no alcohol. Since two young girls were advertising and giving, BUY ONE GET ONE FREE offer, the most popular modern global marketing strategy, I went for it.

With two bottles of M-150(6.2fl.oz=185ml) and a gallon of milk, I swiftly walked down home, wondering about the contents of the drink, which makes a person so very energetic.

No sooner I reached home, than I started reading the information all over the bottle. It gives about, 130 calories of energy based on 2000 calorie diet.

The nutrition facts on the bottle had some numerical value corresponding to Carbohydrate and sugar. Rest is Pantothenic acid, which comprise about sixty percent of the content.Pantothenic acid, not part of my vocabulary, researched and came to know it is Vitamin B5.

ITS DIFFERENT, the slogan aptly fits M-150, as it is a product of Thailand, unlike every other product you buy in America, which comes with made in China seal. I liked the tangy test, flavor close to pineapple, color faint red, stored in a brick red glass bottle, signifying the fire it will arouse. It is a welcome change from routine beverages like tea, coffee and soda.