Garland of chole masala

While my mother sincerely took a garland of boiled chick peas to please Mr.Dakshinamurthy every thursday, my sister would randomly stick her finger into a page in her history book a

Those fifteen minutes

"Dei machan, I want to see her right now da" he said after 7 rounds of scotch on the rocks. "Enna da, loosa nee??, its 2:30AM and not American time, Indian!". It was three days since he was engaged, and he was not yet prepared to going back to a frustrated long distance phone relationship."Dei, if I miss this then thats it. No other opportunity until the wedding. She will leave, then I have to leave. Apram kalla thoni than ore option". "Seri da, you plan and we will take you".

Her outdated Nokia 3315 vibrated."Are you awake princess? I want to see you so badly, and I am a street away from your house." She felt her pheromones piping, and her drunken fiance was so much more romantic than the usual one, she assumed. The big question now, how to get him in. Thanks to the sweltering Madras heat, her parents usually turned on the air conditioning even in December. So if she did close the bedroom door behind her slowly and met him in the living room, the only risk will be her parents waking up for water or to use the restroom. "I am up, and I cannot wait to see you either. But how can you get in? What if my parents wake up?" she texted back. 5 long minutes of waiting. She definitely cant sleep now without seeing him now. "Ok I will come down and you come to your balcony."

Ayyoo, ithu seriana loosu. He came till here why cant he just come upstairs. "Just come upstairs, I'll open the door for you". Hah! A sober me is a better risk taker than even drunken him. She tiptoed from the room, closed the door behind her, with absolutely no noise and waited. This was the craziest thing she had ever done and she was quite excited. What was the worst that could happen? He is after all her fiance she convinced herself.

She could smell the fresh margazhi air as she slowly turned the knob, noiselessly. The door creaked, her mother coughed and she faintly heard the singing of a distant bajana goshti. He tiptoed in. "Is it possible one of your cousins or family could be with that goshti?. I bet some of them looked familiar", he mocked in a whisper. A boyish grin. He had had an overdose of her family for sure but when she saw the alcohol twinkling his eyes making him look so cute, she decided to let it go. Whoever said alcohol was a bad thing and specially for someone who hardly ever drank. "Ok we have fifteen minutes. Thats the window of time I can risk. My parents may wake up. I will leave the door open so that you can slip out anytime. I hope this is safe". "You mean sex before marriage? It sure is. I have a condom". One long hard stare. Why did I ever say yes to this mokka mohan she thought happily. She heard a small cough and shuffling in the next room. There was so much fun in this, like the thiruttu mangai rolled over in a dupatta and broken over the wall always tastes better.

They sat there for fifteen minutes with the coldest madras air in their face and emotions they would remember for a life time. "I love you" seemed like a trivial thing to say at that moment. He felt exhilarated, she slept feeling secured and loved. She woke up to hear his U.S admit, and his mother saying, "ellam Nichyathartha muhurtham than". Life just rolled by on a red carpet after that but the memory of that night was more intense than any other that came by.

This month

We watched Social network. Though I knew the story before, I thought it was well made. And, I took a moment to think about all my dear friends who get the blessings of Sai baba, open fortune cookies and treasure boxes on facebook coded by some geeky nerd in Palo Alto.

My jaw hurts. It is real. I have been speaking way too much. Amma is here, and I hardly give her a chance to talk. Her visit has significantly added colour to my face and a lot of cheer to the house.

I have been eating more but gaining less weight, again Amma is here.

We have been buying too many electronics all of a sudden. Now we have our own camera and a mac ( The Mac is actually for the Dukie but who cares NC marriage law states that whats his is yours). There is going to be a lot more of publicizing our lives from here on.

A road trip planned to go a beach town, Savvannah for thanksgiving. We have been planning this for a long time and now finally heading down south. I am excited.

A lot of failed experiments at work. I need some more patience. I realized I have an in despicable need to do well at work in order to feel good about myself. I do not know if this needs to change.

A lot of great dinners. A very successful diwali party (No pictures, one motivation to put down some money and buy a camera). All in all very little time to get schizophrenic and write....

Diwali

Its the fourth year outside home and diwali isnt getting any better in the US.
Happy Diwali to all those blessed with the smell of crackers, bakshanam, sun TV and family. The rest of us will make do with pot lucks, "diwali nights" and Bhangra music.

PS: I did notice I have a cribbing post before every diwali. Thats why I made this one short.

The girl in the Yellow sari

Dev accidentally stumbled about a hidden wooden jewelery box in his closet. A wrapped up gift and still waiting to be given for the past twelve years. He opened it and found the silver anklets he had bought for his lady love then, Suhana.

It was "Pohela Falgun" or the first day Spring in Dhaka when he first met Suhana. It was usually the start of a festival season at Dhaka university after the first exams. A very pretty day, with the westerners' Valentine's day the following day. It was the day when every single girl wore a yellow saree to symbolize spring. The weather with its mild breeze and low humidity in added to the romance in the air. To think back now, Dev could have sworn the Hilsa fish and rice they served in the dormitory did not smell half as good as he remembered it in his head. After spotting her amongst the freshers, Dev soon started to look for her everywhere in the campus and opportunities to talk to her. He had not seen anyone more simple or charming. She mostly wore pastel colors, and let her hair loose. She had perfectly set curls which showed the roundness of her face and set her dimples apart.

What impressed Dev was that she was the only girl then who took part at the Students Union and who was involved with the communist politics. Her visions like her were simple and idealisti. She was an excellent orator, and a rare combination of a person. They soon started talking, politics, sports and academics. There was an open admiration for each other and an undeclared love. For four years, they spent atleast four hours every day together, growing closer and fully aware of what was coming.

When the time came for Dev to graduate, his parents decided that India is the place to pursue a career or his masters degree. Dhaka was getting congested, growing out of opportunities and they definitely did not want the Moslem bahu they saw coming. After relentless arguing, Dev moved to India and started staying with some of his relatives there.

Now sitting in Somerville, a beautiful suburb in Boston he could not relate to the person he had been back then. Life had gotten to him big time. He had graduated with a PhD from Rockefeller University at New York and married. Marriage had not been easy. They had found it very difficult to adjust with each other. Sometimes just tolerate each other. By the end of the first year of marriage they had had a fight about everything under the sun, from money to where each of them would like to sit at the dinner table. His wife was so different from his first love. She wore make-up to work, always ironed out her curls and did not want to be anywhere near politics. She had graduated with a masters in computer science from John Hopkins and taught at a community college in Boston. She argued with him and demanded he do half his share of work at home.

Hearing his wife's footsteps he came back to reality and hurriedly but the box away. "Old memories huh?" asked Suhana looking at his Dhaka University certificates lying about. "Well you have changed so much too, motu" She remarked taking his thoughts a step further than where he had gotten. He smiled, glad they had grown with each other. It would have been impossible to still love the Suhana he had met eighteen years back. He put the anklets away, it had been returned by his father -in-law once when he tried to send her a gift from the states before their case passed through at both their homes. It would be an ideal gift for their ten year anniversary.

Te-less-vision

The first T.V that I ever remember is a colour solidaire TV with those tiny buttons to change channels. There were only 7 channels in total (Which seemed a lot. We used only three) and I almost remember the Doordharshan channels in order. Later on we shifted to a fancy Onida TV with a remote control and all. It had some 60 plus channels, which is also now pressed deep under by all these plasma techies. That was the last TV I was associated with. I havent owned a television in the past three and a half years and even better - realized it only today. I realised it when I overheard an Indian couple at the coffee shop discussing something called "Dealaa no dealaa". At that moment gratitude filled me. The lack of resources, or denying a need to have a TV has spared me some or probably a lot.

Its not like I donot watch TV shows or listen to the news. I have my favourite TV shows. I love "how i met your mother"and "the big bang theory", used to like ugly Betty, friends and sex and the city. I enjoy watching Anthony Bourdain's "No reservations". I watch some tamil/hindi movies. But there seems to be a freedom to pick and choose what I want to watch, thanks to the internet. I am not forced to enjoy a loud sun tv comedy bit or badly reported news just because its incessantly running. I pick and choose, and enjoy it that way. Though the fear of watching a future Simran or a Brad Pitt and saying, "Ivan etho puthu actor pola irukku. Nanna nadipan pola iruke!" is always there, at present I enjoy this freedom.

R-O-B-O-D-A

I have never been that much of a Rajini fan as I have been of Mani Ratnam's but those two were my favourite tamil movie genre. I have grown out of both of them now, and to a large extent started even critiquing them. Mani Ratnam's movies probably dont feature in my top ten list of favourite movies anymore but still the excitement and mood both of them set off are a world apart. There is something in common. From the initial posters to the audio release and figuring out the story line we almost live with it until we watch it. Everyone is excited about it. It gives a feeling of oneness amongst tamils from California to Japan.

We watched a preview show at Cary town, which is relatively a "small tamil settlement". So every single tamil was present. From the gopuram restaurant owner to the random amway mama we keep bumping into was there. So the crowd was alive. Much needed for a rajini movie. The movie did not disappoint me. Like all other Rajini movies logic has to be kept aside. And to a certain extent the over analyzing husbands needed to be kept aside too. But if you let go, then the movie is a lot of fun.

The movie has brought out certain points very well. Simplistically well. Like how technology can be good and bad. How human beings are always dumped with emotions. That was the big message. I think Rajini has a knack of getting it through without muddling it up with God, details or Tsunami complications. Thats when it reaches.

Like all tamil movies, a one hour editing would have made it brilliant. It had the potential to become better than a Spielberg made sci-fi. A little under used resources and catered to suit commercial big hit.

I also missed watching it in Madras. The high pitched "Thalaivaaaaaaa" screaming and not being able to hear the first half of the movie is an experience in itself. Here everyone screamed and whistled for a while. Then they shut up. The crowd considered themselves too civilized to get up in a theatre and dance for Kilimanjaro or applaud when "Ivan per sonnathum perumai sonnathum kadalum kai thatum". Which I along with a couple of others did.

Now, rajini. Rajini was out of the world. He looked great and acted great. Who can believe that man? No words. The villain rajini brought out in between was brilliant. He is a great actor probably a little under used. The effects were again awesome. But probably over used. I did not think Aishwarya Rai or rajini's house needed to look like that. Most research labs dont look like that. But again when needed they did a great job.Some of the songs were filmed really well. Kilimanjaro, I heard was filmed in Peru. Its beautiful. Without A.R.Rahman's soundtrack Rajini's style or shankar's effects would not have been half as good. Aishwarya did her part of being a nothing more than a doll and a little annoying as usual. She is starting to show her age and hence made an excellent pair for rajini.

The movie had a simple story line for a complicated sci-fi subject, a little exaggerated effects and brilliant acting. It needed a little more editing (less masala?). But probably caters to every single tamilian to watch atleast one. But to me the whole movie was definitely worth watching - atleast twice. Both times for Rajini.

Verdict: Super hit

PS: There cant be any spoilers for the movie, except for some brilliant dialogues. So I will not go into them.

Routines

Monday: Bland rasam rice

Tuesday: Somewhat palatable dhal

Wednesday: Take out food. (We believe in not eating refrigerated left overs - so we eat out!)

When I put the salty sour rasam, I cursed myself for not waking up a five minute early to bring a snack or a small treat along. I could think of a hundred things sleeping in the fridge that got in as part of our "intelligent grocery shopping" but failed to enter the bag. And by day 3 of a 5 day week we had given up cooking and cleaning.

From kindergarten through my MSc excepting a brief hostel period, there was not a single day that I had not taken - A lunch, a healthy snack, a salad and a container with yogurt in it. All most all of them. Every single day. I have no clue what the other three in the family took. I was the picky one. I wouldn't eat my food with a scrunchy vegetable on the side. Not a single day went when we did not have food at home.

After consistently picking amma's brains, she gave away the secret - Routine. Get used to it and fall in love with it. Apart from our "Evening tea" and our friday "evening out" aka our date, we dont have any routines. Slowly the salad on the dinner table has creeping in (sincere efforts to make it stay). I hope we get better than that. Hoping some of the healthy habits I had as a kid like yoga, reading and waking up early show up again. I don want to become a fat, stressed out and irritated aunty too soon.

PS: Amma is God.

Herman Hesse

Siddhartha] had begun to feel that the love of his father and mother, and also the love of his friend Govinda, would not always make him happy, give him peace, satisfy and suffice him. He had begun to suspect that his worthy father and his other teachers, the wise Brahmins, had already passed on to him the bulk and best of their wisdom [but] his soul was not at peace.

Chapter1, Page3

After a long time, I felt the need to read. To read nonstop. It was a small book, "Siddhartha" by Herman Hesse. I was recommended this book way back in 2005 or 2006. It took a good 5 years to get to it. The book is about the spiritual experience of Siddhartha I think the book is an experience. To start with, the writing is beautiful. It flows, and leaves you with a solace after every page, every line almost. Some of the verses are for keeps. Like,

"Slowly, like moisture entering the dying tree trunk...so did the world and inertia creep into Siddhartha's soul; it slowly filled his soul, made it heavy, made it tired, sent it to sleep. But on the other hand his senses became more awakened, they learned a great deal, experienced a great deal"

There is a lot to this book. Surpasses human emotions or those that I was aware of till now.It helps unwind from a lot that we have accumulated in the name of "growth" and "education". It brings back a wee-bit of the child like enthusiasm that is somewhere down there. And the element of friendship between Govinda and Siddhartha was brought out beautifully I thought. Before I go totally off, I shall sign out and dwell in the after thoughts of the book.

PS: This blog is dedicated to one of my dearest friends.

Random thoughts

However good or bad certain things can only be negative like,

Holding on to the Past - However beautiful or traumatic your past has been, at some point you need to let go in order to grow

Influence - This is a quote from Oscar wilde's "Picture of Dorian Gray". Influence can never be good. Either good or bad, when you are trying to influence someone, you are in a big way obstructing his personality.

And finally

Addiction - Even intellectualism and prayer, when it becomes an addiction, is no good.

Yikes Yeti!!!

Ok, so both our lab and the hallway outside it, is extremely quite. And long. So different from my previous lab. My previous lab was somewhat like a noisy classroom. People constantly walking in and out, lab drama developing and progressing every second. It is just natural that here, without all that I am going a little crazy. Also my brain needs constant entertainment. So whenever I walk out of the lab, into the corridor to shovel ice (Not like out of the drive-way or from the door, but into a small tub to keep enzymes from degrading). I usually imagine a big huge Yeti man (yes, the Yeti man similar to the one from F.R.I.E.N.D.S) walking and charging towards us. My brain everyday pictures different people and different reactions, and my reaction. And always I react the best. I practice this well, in case he really comes. Everyday the Yeti man is coming - charging. Sometimes these visuals get extremely intense, depending on how long I have to wait for the ice to fill in. On one such intense drifting off situation, one of my dear colleagues came all sweaty and asked "Did you see the yeti man?"

"Oh my God, did you see him too? I see him everyday"!! Spontaneous high pitched answer from me. She stares. You weird brown woman look. Me realizes. "What did you say?". She repeats, "I said - did you see the MAIL Man today?". Shakes her head and leaves. the only saving grace is that I did not say the word "Yeti".

Chemical imbalance in my brain I am sure. The mental health practitioner in my sister says as long as you can differentiate them as visuals you are ok. I have immense faith in her.

Corn Field

Every year till now there have been hard days working at the corn fields. I love working in the fields, though it IS hard work and there is always the risk of seeing a snake. Its a great break from the cold silent lab and the continuous thinking/calculating process and lab drama. Field work usually consists of corn pollinating, bagging, picking, inoculating etc etc in hot blazing sun. You need to be dressed in work pants/shorts carry a lot water and not be a dainty darling. But it pays off. Its usually refreshing and the grouchy grumpy mood swings amongst co-workers is way less. The last comes the best part, harvesting. With hands on experience in the field I can now easily understand why every culture and country have some sort of harvest festival. The feeling is amazing (Even though we are harvesting infesting - hybrid - mutated research corn). Its so much fun to see full-full ears of golden-yellow corn. Every year the department of agriculture decides on a day stating that after that the nights are going to get too cold to keep the corn. And so we harvest. The whole lab including professors, neighboring labs, neighboring schools are there and there is always a tiny party while harvesting. And then tractor rides. And then cold beer under the sun along with chips and salsa. If you are no beer drinker, then you go find some pond water.

But it also makes me a tad sad. While driving back I start noticing the trees developing a rusty shade. Soon they will be just trunk and sticks. The nights are getting cooler and the "shorts, flip-flops, tank tops, shades" days are almost over. We will see less and less of those self -timed sprinklers or daisies on the patio, or home grown tomatoes.

Today we did our final corn harvesting and the routine I spoke about. It ends all the breaks we had from the lab and also ends sample collection times. The next six months will just be focusing in the lab and not running out of sample. It will also get cold, depressing, dark and green-less.We can still find alternatives like white sleet of snow or a hot chocolate milk to talk about, but thats where we stand now. I am sad the summer is almost over. A toast to a beautiful summer, plentiful sunshine, lots of rain and a wonderful harvest.

If

Just like that...inspired by nan!

If I were a season, I would be Spring
- If I were a month, I would be April
- If I were a day of the week, I would be Saturday
- If I were a time of day, I would be early morning
- If I were a planet, I would be Jupiter
- If I were a direction, I would be going west
- If I were a tree, I would be a Banyan tree
- If I were a flower, I would be Tea Roses
- If I were a fruit, I would be grapes
- If I were a land animal, I would be a Cheetah
- If I were a sea animal, I would be a Dolphin
- If I were a bird, I would be a falcon
- If I were a piece of furniture, I would be a wooden patio swing
- If I were a liquid, I would be spring water
- If I were a stone, I would be an aquamarine
- If I were a kind of weather, I would be bright and sunny
- If I were a musical instrument, I would be veena
- If I were a color, I would be red
- If I were a facial expression, I would be a smile
- If I were an emotion, I would be euphoria
- If I were a sound, I would be the rustle of leaves
- If I were an element, I would be mercury
- If I were a car, I would be a red BMW Z4
- If I were a food, I would curd rice
- If I were a place, I would be home
- If I were a flavor, I would be white chocolate
- If I were a scent, I would be the smell of wet Vibuthi(Ash) that comes from Grandma
- If I were an object, I would be a pen
- If I were a body part, I would be the calf muscle
- If I were a song, I would be "the Piano man"

In addition to that...

- If I were a Book, I would be "Seagulls" by Johnathan Livingston

What about you?

Peepli Live

Peepli live was an unexpected surprise. After long awaited - disappointing tamil and hindi movies, I would rate Peepli live - excellent. From the colours, to the right co-ordination of music, to the ease at which humour was used, the movie is just great. A subtle satirical humour ran through the movie and the message was well conveyed. Succint to suit our taste! A class apart...

Invictus

Tuberculosis of the bone is called Pott's disease. Tuberculosis in general is a bacterial infection, cause by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Primarily attacking the lungs. An extra-pulmonary form of tuberculosis is the Pott's disease. Spreading to the spine, slowly eating up the vertebral column. William Ernest Henley suffered from this when he was 12, and from a relapse when he was 25, affecting his lower leg leading to amputation of the leg. He wrote "Invictus" or "The unconquered" from his hospital bed. The last four lines of the poem always strike me hard, and send me into a trance. The poem, easily understood as his fight against the growing tubercle, has a hint of stoicism - prevalent amongst the 1800s working class Victorians. A patient resignation to life prevailed, "What God gives, He takes away", and William Henley questioned this. It is hard to break the barriers of life and let out THAT free spirit. Even if we try, can we succeed? Even if we do succeed - is it OUR doing?

I will let you read the poem.
PS: Pay attention to the last four lines.

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Who is more manipulative

" I am just going to leave the room and not bother about the consequences". My sister was referring to her 18 month old twins. They have just gotten into the intricacies of sibling rivalry and learning everything from attention seeking to physical violence.

What I observed is the gender variant manipulative scheme they seemed to use. From my observations, I conclude - The female of the species wins. I will allow you guys to make your own impressions given two situations.

1. Adhav

Technique used - Straight forward manipulation

Maya finds an interesting object at her reach, which has kept her occupied for more than ten minutes. A miniature Bailey's bottle that has not been uncapped. No harm object. Running in her mind now - Damn. This is even worse than one of those child protective locks.

Adhav wants to have that, so picks up the closest, quickest interestig object, a keychain, runs to his "chichi" and points to Maya. Lure her with this and get me that bottle. Good technique, but very straight forward.

2. Maya

technique used- Emotional manipulation

Maya desperately wants a small silver lamp that is on the kitchen counter, totally unreachable to her height and was refused to her by more than three people. After a while, the quietly playing Maya smiles at her Chichi in the kitchen. She then runs to the kitchen, and smiles her best, making her eyes shine and says 'Chichi...' in a recognizing and affectionate tone. I fall for the bait, pick her up and kiss her, still smiling she reaches for the lamp which is now in her access and now is not looking at me anymore!

Who is more manipulative?

Racism as I see it...

When I first read the Joel Stein article the only thing that came to my mind was "funny". Nothing more or less and then when I slowly saw how the rest of my friends were reacting through social networking sites, my opinion formed. Why did everyoe get so hurt when Stein called our Gods multilimbed or our food spicy??

I think all of us have a little bit of racist streak in us. The tamilians dont like to be called telugu, the North Indians have their own opinion on the south Indians and the mallu & Singh jokes are never ending. There used to be a friend in grad school calling me chicken-worshipper.(Muruga swamy) And we dont stop there, the china-china's accent and food jokes, the jewish - well lets not even go there. Neverending. Its Ok to make small non viscous jokes. Its OK for someone ELSE to make fun of us. The indians here boast about their kids doing well in math and sci, being attached to their family and culture. Its OK if someone jokes about something like this. The whole point is, we are different. We cannot force Americans to acept and like our culture all the time. We dont either, thats why we have innumerable Patel Brothers, Hindu temples and Movie theatres. I am not asking everyone to shut up when a racist group attacks us, but just take a small joke.

The article was more on the lines of how a certain Deepa or Madhu would feel if T.Nagar is infested with... well even just plain vada naatu makkal (we dont even have to imagine outside India). Racist jokes will be all over the place!

The untold story....

To laugh a little bit harder....
To dream a little more wilder...
To live with a lot more spirit and
To die with a lot more content

Is my untold story, nobody ever listened to.

She was a 21 year old woman, raised to live with humility. To not think about beauty as though she possessed it. Marriage to her was not about an adrenaline gush. It was to hold hands and patronize each other. Her mind involuntarily decided what was suave, responsible and right. She grew up in humid Madras where Mohammed Rafi and Kishore Kumar soared in the air and the discussion of mathematical patterns of music was as rampant as the monsoon, manga bathai and filter kapi. She grew up amidst cousins who let her feel intelligent and responsible. She entered trusting; willing and malleable. She entered with no skepticism. She lacked the skill of looking at life with it.

After decades of being happily married she still held her childhood memories tight and close; MS, Mohammed Rafi and the smell of nithyamalli on the porch and her story unfurling in her heart.

Loneliness....

You always believe you are something unique. You can handle more than whats on the plate. You have handled long distance and loneliness pretty well; staying in another country and working your ass off on something that you love. Then it hits you, suddenly out of nowhere. When you have nothing to do; You have finished checking for the tenth time if the banana peppers have bloomed and if the photo on the wall is straight. Other women annoy you because you aren't like them waiting for you husband to be back for dinner. You are waiting for the random HR guy to call you back. You have a car and you can drive but you have none of those girl friends to hang out with. Its a city that you know no one in. No grad school buddies, no school friends, no athai, akka or anna either. Then your playlist tunes to playing Bharathiyar's lines in D.K.Pattamal's voice "Naam Irukkum Naadu Namathenbath Arinthom..Athu Namakke uriyatham endru unarnthom...." and then tears roll down uncontrollably.

Its Cancun Baby!

Hola! Buenos dias! Welcome to turquoise blue, white sandy beaches of the Carribean right on the shores of the Yucatan peninsula! Our ten day trip to Cancun was a well deserved vacation and a long awaited honeymoon. And we were not cheated even for a minute.Equipped with books that we wanted to read in a long time, shades, bathing suits and sun screen we hit the Carribean.

A must do thing at Cancun is to get lost, to experience true Mexico. Otherwise the "Zona Hotelleria" a part of land extending into the ocean as a narrow strip, is Las Vegas on one side and Hawaii on the other. Its buzzing with activity of swimmers, surfers, water skiiers during the day and party on the beach during the night. Not so much into dancing away till 2:00 AM, Sai and I would stroll into a leisurely walk by the ocean after dinner. Sometimes with moonlight, others with hooters and dancers.

Everyone you speak to will say, "Don't miss Chichen-itza" one of the wonders of the world. Taking their advice and wanting to tick mark a wonder, we visited Chichen-Itza - representing the left over of the Mayan civilization. With a guide who will not give up until he has provided an exaggerated version of Apocalypto, I for one ended up with a terrible migraine . It was a wonder nevertheless, could have been prettier if the temperature was 60 instead of 80.

In my opinion a must see spot was tulum, Mayan ruins by the beach. Mayans built it to protect their city of Coba from invaders and like other forts, was beautifully encrypted and felt like the walls had a story to tell.

While in the Carribean don't get carried away so much by history that you fail to jump into the ocean with your snorkeling gear. There were three things that I did for the first time in Cancun. One, snorkel, two para-sail and the third was to swim in the ocean. If you get over the initial fear of claustrophobia underneath the snorkeling gear, its a paradise of a world underneath. The coral reefs with schools of fishes, star fish spotting etc snorkeling is a must do. Fighting waves and trying to stay in place in the middle of the ocean, is a skill I haven't mastered yet though.

Locals in Mexico, are extremely warm and we were the target of many of their light hearted jokes. Being the only brown around, the "namaste" never missed our ears. But we truly felt at home with friendly and "nakal aduchufying" hotel hosts.

Shopping is a must thing in downtown Cancun at market28. Not for their prices but for the sheer experience of the colors and musicians on the street. With sai's poquito knowledge of Spanish and extremely warm shoppers/vendors around, we had no bad experiences.

And with that and list of things that were particularly special during the trip, I recommend Me-hi-co to all my native Indians.

1. We got lost after our natural aquarium trip and came to the hotel changing two local buses. The second local bus ( A little bigger and cleaner than Thiruvalluvar) drove the bus after his shift was over for almost forty five minutes - and the passengers were just us two!

2. Mangai (green kacha mango) is eaten with mexican hot sauce, and its lip-smacking.

3. Jose, the guide who complimented Sai extravagantly and respectfully for his "wife's beautiful eyes" left us behind on our way back from the natural aquarium park and we almost had to hiked our way back.

4. The four Mexican guys who accompanied us on our trip to Chiceh-itza, saved us from buying local road side tequila and were a lot of fun to hang out with.

5. The most beautiful dinner in a fancy restaurant by the harbour on a deck watching the yachts.

6. The pool which had lazy under water seats and Fernando to get our drinks and food. I miss that the most I guess.

7. Hard Rock Cafe, and Coco Bongo by the beach. So margaritas, awesome desserts and music by the beach.

8. Giant sea turtle sighting from 250 feet above the ground on our para-sailing expedition. By far my favorite. With bright light and an almost transparent bluish-green water, under water life can be seen so well from up above.

So here is a toast to well spent ten days. No visa required to Mexico if you hold a valid US visa!

Adios

Fridays....

Friday is the day....

that usually starts with a brain storming lab meeting at nine followed by breakfast of donuts and coffee

that progresses into a seminar which ends in an extended gossip session followed by free Pizza lunch and a chattering bunch of us clearing them away

when there as a late afternoon discussion with the "big name" scientist - thouroughly refreshing and reinstalling our faith and fantasies in research

when Frank swings by to give in greenhouse news and more interestingly a few quick treats from the field

when I feel I have more time in the world to think about work, take breaks, read a book, walk around the lake and take the liberty to slip out of back door into the lawn to be on the phone

when an international movie is screened in studcenter

when Rec center is brimming with badminton players;so we vettis wait around for our turn to play squatted on the ground discussing - mostly people

when the evening air is filled with barbecue smoke from the latin american students

when geetha and I definitely watch a late night lousy movie with olive oil,fried food and a homemade shake

Fridays are definitely my favourite in Carbondale and today was special, being the last one here. Its almost three years since I moved into Carbondale. This place has seen my loneliness, joy, heart-breaks and success. I made my worst enemies and hand picked my friends. Its also the first time I got over my fear of water and learnt to swim, learnt to cook, learnt to bike uphill and learnt to handle stress(i think). Its by far the most beautiful place I have ever lived in with twilight falling through tall coniferous trees, huge lakes, deep dark woods and plenty of sunshine in spring and summer. Its the first time I have lived and enjoyed the four seasons. It is also the first time I survived without a television, for that matter with no means of entertainment inside the house. Here is where I learnt to let go of small things and hold on to bigger things. For the first time, had my own space, my very own home. For the first time learnt to appreciate myself, to be in peace with myself. I am going to miss everything about this place.

Say You're one of them

After realizing I was going to be stuck in Charolette Douglas Airport for eons, I decided to spend a chunk of money on an airport book store. I dont regret any penny spent on Say You're one of the them by Uwem Akpen. The cover of the book reminded me of "Nowhere in Africa", a German movie that I loved and that was one of the reasons for picking it. The book is a collection of short stories written by a Nigerian author and every story was worth at least 5 minutes of after thought.

All of us were victims of parents' poverty or wealth, experienced riots or war, made and broke friends along the way. All along, as kids, we thought we were responsible for everything that happened. Guilt always stayed. As adults we are able to shake off bigger sins than the small ones we could not as kids. In this tone, street life and human trade is captured well in this book with a hidden positive streak. It made the "shallow me" think a lot about how certain childhood incidents took different turns in my life, and how those turns dont not matter at all.

It was a wonderful read after a long time; and self picked too. I did not feel the 8 and a half hour flight delay!

Sixth sense?!

"Between the two of us either you stay or I stay, and I definitely want to stay” therefore shot him between the eyes and there he went.


My friend's neighbor’s pet had to therefore go. Her neighbor was a nice and friendly gentleman. Dean of a university, a “very intriguing person” she often says and really fe Until she discovered his pet. The entire neighborhood plotted against this innocent creature and killed him. That is some serious offence; you can’t kill someone’s pet. “That aint no freaking pet” she retorted... Didn’t they go to school, partition a page and learn the differences between wild and domesticated animals??

He is not the only one f’shore. I once met a really nice and sweet couple, who loved their hot summer morning sweat. Loved hiking and biking, fishing and camping. They have a nice and cozy home and were so normal that even my sister would not call them bi-polar. They have a tiny pond in their yard, where I first met their pet. She had often me told how her baby had a “nice personality”. When I saw the baby alligator, I said, “she better keep her nice personality. I don’t want to know otherwise”.

My cousin once had a run for his life when a dog chased him. Recalling was funnier than the dog chasing scene from Mozhi. He got seriously offended when we laughed at the story. I empathize now. Here, in the United States if you vaguely mention putting down an animal you become a bigger villain than all those Taliban put together. You feel judged. You can get away saying, “so can you drive to India or you HAVE to fly?” but you can’t get away saying, “I don’t like pets”.
My friend often says animals have a sixth sense that humans don’t. You need to just take a moment to “connect” and they cannot hurt a thing. Seriously, is there a surety, like AVTAR? I don’t want to make a wrong connection here with my four and a half sense.

I rest my case here. There needs to be paperwork done, and routine EPA checks to let people keep their “pets”. I can live with Christmas gifts and birthday cakes for dogs and cats, even make friends with giant squirrels, possums and rabbits. But a boa constricter?

In love...again!

I watched the tumor grow. Invading every single cell, taking the vital nutrients forming a huge useless mass of cells. Ugly, poisonous green toxin all over, it grew killing everything healthy and happy, leaving not even traces. As I watched it, it reminded me of the clutter I had accumulated. Over the year knowing fully well it was only invading me. There was no thinking in a straight line anymore. The clutter always came in between. Unnecessary, and like the tubercles taking the most essential neuronal connections.

The mess is good. Somewhere in this, I realized what I never want to lose in life. I realized what made my heart warm and eyes glow and my head feel light with schizophrenic madness. The adrenaline gush. Yes, I am probably not entirely successful but I am happy. Thanks to my schedule, I was forced to go back to my "pre marital" busy-ness, I was able to make the connections despite the clutter. I am in love with science all over again.

Where are we going from here?

While the rest of the world watched Haiti break down over the television I learnt about it through a desperate student. I found her handing out flyers at the student recreation center informing how to donate effectively to Haiti. She had not heard from her family from Tuesday onwards. No advances in communication or globalization had helped her till now. There was another colleague like that who was able to reaCH her family on friday finally and she was so grateful for that. I felt small and guilty for worrying about nothing.

The earth quake's magnitude was 7.0 which I have heard from experts should not cause such a significant loss. A lot contributed to it, the building structure, how developed their emergency management system was etc. Here in the united states every building is designed to take natural disasters. When the tsunami hit India, only those who paid close attention to Kamal Hassan's movie knew what it was. Is natural disaster coupled with the country's economical structure nature new way of saying "survival of the fittest?" Could Darwinism be extrapolated to the modern commercialized - globalized world?

You are one now

24 posts! Not bad. Happy birthday bloggie.

I noticed I said 2008 was the worst and best year of my life. I did not notice what was coming next. I guess thats how life is.

As a toast to it, I am going to have a (want to) separate section for book and movie reviews, but under the same blog. I just dont know how to. Help required for the communication impaired!