Gone are the days of ancient adage, HEART OF GOLD. The new mantra is, HEART OF NUTS. Scientific evidence suggests, nuts, especially walnut and almonds, as part of a daily diet low in saturated fats, reduce the risk of heart ailments.Thursday, December 11, 2008
Healthy Heart
Gone are the days of ancient adage, HEART OF GOLD. The new mantra is, HEART OF NUTS. Scientific evidence suggests, nuts, especially walnut and almonds, as part of a daily diet low in saturated fats, reduce the risk of heart ailments.Tuesday, December 9, 2008
The elephant, The tiger And The cell phone
“THE elephant, THE tiger AND THE cell phone” by Shashi Tharoor; centers around India as the emerging super power of twenty first century. For me it has been third in series, books predicting futuristic India based on statistics past and present. The earlier two being ‘Planet India’ by Mira Kamdar, and ‘The world is flat’ by Thomas Friedman.
One really needs to have extraordinary vocabulary while reading Shashi Tharoor. There are far too many words to look up in dictionary. Few interesting excerpts from the book follow.
Sarojini Naidu on Mahatma Gandhi’s frugal lifestyle, one of the great one-liners of independence struggle.
“If only he knew how much it costs us to keep him in poverty”
On renaming of Indian cities like Bombay to Mumbai.
An American businessman who was planning a visit to India after a long absence told me (author) that his associate there “used to live in Madras, but he seems to have moved to some place called Chennai.”
When told that his friend hadn’t moved but Madras is renamed as Chennai. He promptly replied “But cities don’t do that”.
Soap Operas, a new vision of Indian family, teeming with betrayal, infidelity and rivalries of all sort, has gained entry into the living rooms of middle class.
A popular international news magazine reports that the septuagenarian (being seventy years old or between the ages of seventy and eighty; that’s why I mentioned above one will need a dictionary all along while reading this book) wife of then president of India, Shankar Dayal Sharma, instructs her servants to tape every episode of the afternoon serial Swabhiman that her official duties oblige her to miss.
Monday, December 8, 2008
How People Identify Me
Incident 1
I stepped into dry-cleaners cum tailoring shop for altering my Capri pant. I was briefing about required length; the guy was taking measurements and et al. Amidst all this Capri discussion, a question pops - Are you from India??
To this out of context question - I replied, “ Yes, but how do you know?”
Firstly, he said Indians shake their head a lot while talking. Secondly, for affirmative answers also they shake head sideways. It needs to be like this, with proper demonstration, moving his head vertically.
Good and accurate observation.
Incident 2
This incident happened in Rite Aid, a pharmacy store. I was engrossed trying varying lipstick shades on the back of my hand in a serene cool corner. A petite girl arrives and stands next to me. The dumb damsel extends a paper in front of me. I cross read and hand over a five dollar bill. Some sort of fund raising campaign.
She starts reciprocating in a Japanese fashion. Had I counted, it must have been more than ten times, she bend almost at ninety degrees each time. In the end said SHUKRIYA, the first word she spoke. It left me spellbound; next came my reflex question, “how do you know this ?”.
“I have many Indian friends”, she replied casually and left.
It is really amazing how skin color, facial features, behavior reveal our ethnicity. Once abroad, lest we forget, we all are ambassadors of brand India.
I stepped into dry-cleaners cum tailoring shop for altering my Capri pant. I was briefing about required length; the guy was taking measurements and et al. Amidst all this Capri discussion, a question pops - Are you from India??
To this out of context question - I replied, “ Yes, but how do you know?”
Firstly, he said Indians shake their head a lot while talking. Secondly, for affirmative answers also they shake head sideways. It needs to be like this, with proper demonstration, moving his head vertically.
Good and accurate observation.
Incident 2
This incident happened in Rite Aid, a pharmacy store. I was engrossed trying varying lipstick shades on the back of my hand in a serene cool corner. A petite girl arrives and stands next to me. The dumb damsel extends a paper in front of me. I cross read and hand over a five dollar bill. Some sort of fund raising campaign.
She starts reciprocating in a Japanese fashion. Had I counted, it must have been more than ten times, she bend almost at ninety degrees each time. In the end said SHUKRIYA, the first word she spoke. It left me spellbound; next came my reflex question, “how do you know this ?”.
“I have many Indian friends”, she replied casually and left.
It is really amazing how skin color, facial features, behavior reveal our ethnicity. Once abroad, lest we forget, we all are ambassadors of brand India.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Mesothelioma
A frequent television commercial flashes, mesothelioma, a kind of lung cancer caused by exposure to asbestos dust. The advertisement is not by any government agency, hospital or non profit organization but by a law firm.
In the ad two attorneys, literally provoking employees of shipyard and construction company who might have been exposed to asbestos and now victims of mesothelioma; to sue their employers for medical bills and other financial loss.
Americans believe in value of human life. There are laws which need to be strictly adhered to. Filing a law suit is a common practice.
Now coming to the point, where I correlate myself to the topic. I myself have spent; say over two decades in a parental house back in India, having asbestos patio ceiling. I remember spending significant time under the asbestos roof, playing, eating, sleeping, and doing lot many activities along with other family members. All being ignorant about mesothelioma.
I came to know about mesothelioma very recently after moving to California through a TV commercial. It maybe a new research finding. Americans research on anything and everything and very well know how to make a living out of it.
In the ad two attorneys, literally provoking employees of shipyard and construction company who might have been exposed to asbestos and now victims of mesothelioma; to sue their employers for medical bills and other financial loss.
Americans believe in value of human life. There are laws which need to be strictly adhered to. Filing a law suit is a common practice.
Now coming to the point, where I correlate myself to the topic. I myself have spent; say over two decades in a parental house back in India, having asbestos patio ceiling. I remember spending significant time under the asbestos roof, playing, eating, sleeping, and doing lot many activities along with other family members. All being ignorant about mesothelioma.
I came to know about mesothelioma very recently after moving to California through a TV commercial. It maybe a new research finding. Americans research on anything and everything and very well know how to make a living out of it.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
EVOLUTION OF EMC
EMC sounds familiar, can well be related to the age old debate; is time real or relative. I remember learning, theory of relativity, the energy mass relationship E=MC2(read 2 as superscript) during college physics lectures.
Few years ago, I was enlightened about EMC, a storage company with the tag line, EMC2 - where information lives. Dissecting the term IT – information technology one can analyze the drifting trend. Earlier the stress was on technology i.e. hardware and software. But in recent years Information plays the key role. It is well said, “Content is the King”. Hence several storage companies are emerging to securely store zillions of bytes of information.
Couple of months back on the Oprah talk show, the guest was American pop singer Mariah Carey with her new album titled E=MC2.The meaningful title stood for - Emancipation of Mariah Carey to the second power.
All seems interesting. Albert Einstein and his ever evolving formula found diverse usage; the energy mass relationship, IT Storage Company and now a pop album.
Few years ago, I was enlightened about EMC, a storage company with the tag line, EMC2 - where information lives. Dissecting the term IT – information technology one can analyze the drifting trend. Earlier the stress was on technology i.e. hardware and software. But in recent years Information plays the key role. It is well said, “Content is the King”. Hence several storage companies are emerging to securely store zillions of bytes of information.
Couple of months back on the Oprah talk show, the guest was American pop singer Mariah Carey with her new album titled E=MC2.The meaningful title stood for - Emancipation of Mariah Carey to the second power.
All seems interesting. Albert Einstein and his ever evolving formula found diverse usage; the energy mass relationship, IT Storage Company and now a pop album.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
CHANDAMAMA
From an educational website (http://educatorslog.in), which I visit often and sometimes contribute resources to, initiated by one of my school alumnus; came to know that CHANDAMAMA a popular Indian children’s magazine, is now available online. It brought about childhood memories a fresh as I explored the site and came across a witty fable, mentioned below…
Once, Hodja invited his friends home, for a meal. He soon found he did not have a cooking pot large enough to make the pilav. His wife suggested that they could borrow it from the neighbor.
So Hodja went to borrow the pot. The neighbour was a little hesitant, but then he gave the pot to him. When the feast was over, Hodja placed a smaller pot inside the cooking pot and gave it to the neighbour. “Why is there a smaller pot inside?” the neighbour asked.
“Oh!” said Hodja casually. “Didn’t you know your pot was pregnant? It gave birth while it was at our house.” The neighbor’s disbelief was overcome by his delight. He happily took both the pots.
About a month later, Hodja wanted to borrow the pot once again from his neighbour. The neighbour gave him the pot willingly.
This time, however, Hodja did not return the pot for a long time. Finally, after many days, the neighbour came asking for it. Hodja pulled a long face and said: “I didn’t know how to break the news to you, but your pot died about a week ago.”
“Died?” shouted the neighbour indignantly. “A cooking pot cannot die!”
“Well, why not?” asked Hodja unanswerably. “You believed that it could give birth, didn’t you? So, why can’t you believe it can also die?”
DON’T FORGET TO VISIT www.chandamama.com
Once, Hodja invited his friends home, for a meal. He soon found he did not have a cooking pot large enough to make the pilav. His wife suggested that they could borrow it from the neighbor.
So Hodja went to borrow the pot. The neighbour was a little hesitant, but then he gave the pot to him. When the feast was over, Hodja placed a smaller pot inside the cooking pot and gave it to the neighbour. “Why is there a smaller pot inside?” the neighbour asked.
“Oh!” said Hodja casually. “Didn’t you know your pot was pregnant? It gave birth while it was at our house.” The neighbor’s disbelief was overcome by his delight. He happily took both the pots.
About a month later, Hodja wanted to borrow the pot once again from his neighbour. The neighbour gave him the pot willingly.
This time, however, Hodja did not return the pot for a long time. Finally, after many days, the neighbour came asking for it. Hodja pulled a long face and said: “I didn’t know how to break the news to you, but your pot died about a week ago.”
“Died?” shouted the neighbour indignantly. “A cooking pot cannot die!”
“Well, why not?” asked Hodja unanswerably. “You believed that it could give birth, didn’t you? So, why can’t you believe it can also die?”
DON’T FORGET TO VISIT www.chandamama.com
Monday, December 1, 2008
Do It Yourself
We were planning to buy a new sofa for a long time. After doing much research, about different styles, colors and fabrics available, my husband placed an order for a sofa online, from the comfort of home avoiding all the hassles of buying one, from the store alternatively. On the day of Diwali, UPS delivered two packages at our place; it was a sofa, which came like a Diwali gift for both of us.
The big brown boxes were opened with great excitement and anxiety. We were well aware of the fact, that sofa will not be ready for use, rather, the few chunks and pieces, which came along had to be assembled first, for the guest to be comfortably seated; very clearly mentioned on the website when the order was placed.
To our utter surprise, the two packages contained thirty eight wooden pieces, all well numbered with screws, nuts, foam, fabric , pair of gloves and a booklet to guide through the entire assembling process. It really had to be fixed from scratch and took almost three hours, two of us working together, to give the final shape. Though the steps were precisely explained in the manual with pictures. It was more of a jigsaw puzzle to fit all thirty eight wooden parts together and not to mention they really fitted well to build a sturdy sofa which could support forty people’s weight as advertised.
Assembling the sofa was a wonderful hands on experience of wood work, without having any prior knowledge of carpentry, we were able to manufacture (really!!) a sofa. It was that simple.
I am awestruck and all praises for the person who has so meticulously designed this sofa, which transforms from simple small wooden pieces of all shapes and sizes, for easy shipment and delivery to any corner of the world, into such a robust and comfortable sofa. I do appreciate the designer’s skill and accuracy of measurement, leaving no room for any kind of error and maintaining the best of quality as well.
The big brown boxes were opened with great excitement and anxiety. We were well aware of the fact, that sofa will not be ready for use, rather, the few chunks and pieces, which came along had to be assembled first, for the guest to be comfortably seated; very clearly mentioned on the website when the order was placed.
To our utter surprise, the two packages contained thirty eight wooden pieces, all well numbered with screws, nuts, foam, fabric , pair of gloves and a booklet to guide through the entire assembling process. It really had to be fixed from scratch and took almost three hours, two of us working together, to give the final shape. Though the steps were precisely explained in the manual with pictures. It was more of a jigsaw puzzle to fit all thirty eight wooden parts together and not to mention they really fitted well to build a sturdy sofa which could support forty people’s weight as advertised.
Assembling the sofa was a wonderful hands on experience of wood work, without having any prior knowledge of carpentry, we were able to manufacture (really!!) a sofa. It was that simple.
I am awestruck and all praises for the person who has so meticulously designed this sofa, which transforms from simple small wooden pieces of all shapes and sizes, for easy shipment and delivery to any corner of the world, into such a robust and comfortable sofa. I do appreciate the designer’s skill and accuracy of measurement, leaving no room for any kind of error and maintaining the best of quality as well.
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