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What’s the connection between pets and therapy? Can dogs help kids read better? Find out all about it at http://www.animalangels.org.in/
What’s a wordle? Go check http://www.wordle.net/
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Many of us must have forwarded SMSs on the occasion of the Children’s Day yesterday. Can I suggest another way of celebrating it today? Sponsor a child’s education and tell at least one of your dear friends about it. Following two sites come to my mind. If you know of anymore that are doing similar work, do drop a comment.
http://giveindia.org/c-51-children.aspx
http://www.nanhikali.org/
http://giveindia.org/c-51-children.aspx
http://www.nanhikali.org/
Moonstruck
I made it a point to look at the moon before going to bed yesterday night. There’s something now on the surface of the planet that belongs to my country. :-) Chandrayaan has successfully put its Moon Impact Probe on the moon. This was my way of paying respects to the Tricolor that’s put on all four sides of it!
A million thanks to ISRO for making this possible :-) Tusi great ho!
A million thanks to ISRO for making this possible :-) Tusi great ho!
Friday, November 14, 2008
I don’t understand what this whole brouhaha about Dr. Manmohan Singh not getting a call from Obama soon enough was. And then there was considerable heartburn over Janab Zardari having already enjoyed a tete-a-tete with the new President-elect. What’s new about it, I say. No matter who the occupant is in the White House, the US was, is and always will be one of the ‘Friends of Pakistan’. And I thought everyone knew about this!
I didn’t lose much sleep over Obama’s not calling our PM. I found Obama’s comment on successful launching of our Chandrayaan highly entertaining and disturbing at the same time. And this despite India being some years away from launching a manned spacecraft while Armstrong took ‘a small step for a man’ years ago. Clearly, the POTUS is going to have to reach out to grab his bottle of antacids every time India achives a milestone.
I also suffered some anxious moments when he uttered the “K” word though. No, no, I am not talking about “Kremlin” here. It’s about the paradise on earth and the “United States of Obama” wanting to use its influence in reaching a solution. I won’t go to the extreme and predict that the trigger-happy nation will march out there as it did in Afghanistan and Iraq but who said they can create only a military mess? I won’t make the mistake of underestimating them when it comes to making a diplomatic mess! In a nutshell, with their clear bias towards our neighbors - who are looking for a bowl to go to IMF to beg with – they are the last nation on God’s earth that should get involved with the issue of Kashmir – even if they believe, as Sarah Palin does, that God has chosen them for such missions.
As I write this, Dr. Singh did finally get a call and I vaguely remember there being some news about the possible visit of the soon-to-be Mr. President to India. So guys, paste on the best diplomatic smiles you got and keep them in place till Air Force One takes off. But please keep your eyes and ears open – because it’s an Olympian leap of faith to think that such a strong “Friend of Pakistan” can be our best buddy.
I didn’t lose much sleep over Obama’s not calling our PM. I found Obama’s comment on successful launching of our Chandrayaan highly entertaining and disturbing at the same time. And this despite India being some years away from launching a manned spacecraft while Armstrong took ‘a small step for a man’ years ago. Clearly, the POTUS is going to have to reach out to grab his bottle of antacids every time India achives a milestone.
I also suffered some anxious moments when he uttered the “K” word though. No, no, I am not talking about “Kremlin” here. It’s about the paradise on earth and the “United States of Obama” wanting to use its influence in reaching a solution. I won’t go to the extreme and predict that the trigger-happy nation will march out there as it did in Afghanistan and Iraq but who said they can create only a military mess? I won’t make the mistake of underestimating them when it comes to making a diplomatic mess! In a nutshell, with their clear bias towards our neighbors - who are looking for a bowl to go to IMF to beg with – they are the last nation on God’s earth that should get involved with the issue of Kashmir – even if they believe, as Sarah Palin does, that God has chosen them for such missions.
As I write this, Dr. Singh did finally get a call and I vaguely remember there being some news about the possible visit of the soon-to-be Mr. President to India. So guys, paste on the best diplomatic smiles you got and keep them in place till Air Force One takes off. But please keep your eyes and ears open – because it’s an Olympian leap of faith to think that such a strong “Friend of Pakistan” can be our best buddy.
The involvement of the religious leaders and armymen in the Malegaon blasts is not just disturbing – it’s sickening! Weren’t these sadhus and sadhwis supposed to renounce the world? Why are they then meddling in the affairs that are no business of theirs? How can someone from Army be involved in this and what’s worse, go undetected for so long?
I can understand that the staunchest seculars amongst us can occasionally fall prey to the thoughts of “an eye for an eye”. At the risk of shocking friends who might be reading this post I confess that after one of the blasts I had remarked to a friend that we should give Pakistan a taste of its own medicine. But then the moment passed and sanity returned. After all, there are those like us on the other side of the border who want nothing else but normal lives. The road for revenge will lead to total destruction and nothing else.
What’s more, here we are talking about harming our very own citizens – most of them having nothing to do whatsoever with earlier blasts. There simply cannot be any justification for such acts and there is no doubt that the guilty should be severely punished – no matter what their station in life and in society. If we stoop to the level of the terrorists, what’s the difference between us and them?
And at the same time there should be an active dialogue between people of both communities to foster an environment of trust. I am not talking about the leaders here. Time and again, they have proved themselves incapable of doing anything that doesn’t further their agenda. I am talking about ordinary people – people like you and me. We have to start doing something about this because we are in the direct line of fire of these bombs – not the traffic-stopping politicians who travel in bulletproof cars escorted by the police.
It’s time we did something about this, people. We owe it to our future generations.
I can understand that the staunchest seculars amongst us can occasionally fall prey to the thoughts of “an eye for an eye”. At the risk of shocking friends who might be reading this post I confess that after one of the blasts I had remarked to a friend that we should give Pakistan a taste of its own medicine. But then the moment passed and sanity returned. After all, there are those like us on the other side of the border who want nothing else but normal lives. The road for revenge will lead to total destruction and nothing else.
What’s more, here we are talking about harming our very own citizens – most of them having nothing to do whatsoever with earlier blasts. There simply cannot be any justification for such acts and there is no doubt that the guilty should be severely punished – no matter what their station in life and in society. If we stoop to the level of the terrorists, what’s the difference between us and them?
And at the same time there should be an active dialogue between people of both communities to foster an environment of trust. I am not talking about the leaders here. Time and again, they have proved themselves incapable of doing anything that doesn’t further their agenda. I am talking about ordinary people – people like you and me. We have to start doing something about this because we are in the direct line of fire of these bombs – not the traffic-stopping politicians who travel in bulletproof cars escorted by the police.
It’s time we did something about this, people. We owe it to our future generations.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
The Hairy Biker’s Cookbook
A weird name for a culinary program, don’t you think? I was pretty sure it’s about bikes when I first noticed it in the schedule of programs on the Discovery Travel and Living Channel. But one day I chanced upon this program accidentally and did a double take when I saw two huge biker types pottering about with pots and pans and actually cooking something edible.
But their appearance was deceptive as I found out when I watched another episode of this program recently. It was shot in Romania – that’s right, the land of the Prince of Darkness. Don’t ask me to name the dishes that they cooked because the names were absolute tongue-twisters and I had never seen some of the ingredients that went in the preparation either. One of the guys cooked a pancake filled with a savory mixture and the other one filled another pancake with a dripping-with-calories chocolate filling. So a word of caution – if watching cheese, chocolate, whipped cream and butter makes you feel as if you have piled on tons, don’t watch this program. :-) It’s not meant for those with an anemic metabolic rate!
After the pancakes, they prepared the national dish of Romania – with cooked cabbage, layers of wafer-thin beef and some stew. It took a long time - hats off to them for their perseverance! All in all, a pleasant enjoyable program - except that in this episode they cooked against the backdrop of an ancient fortress and I half expected the Count come gliding in to take a bite out of the neck of the nearest Hairy Biker :-)
But their appearance was deceptive as I found out when I watched another episode of this program recently. It was shot in Romania – that’s right, the land of the Prince of Darkness. Don’t ask me to name the dishes that they cooked because the names were absolute tongue-twisters and I had never seen some of the ingredients that went in the preparation either. One of the guys cooked a pancake filled with a savory mixture and the other one filled another pancake with a dripping-with-calories chocolate filling. So a word of caution – if watching cheese, chocolate, whipped cream and butter makes you feel as if you have piled on tons, don’t watch this program. :-) It’s not meant for those with an anemic metabolic rate!
After the pancakes, they prepared the national dish of Romania – with cooked cabbage, layers of wafer-thin beef and some stew. It took a long time - hats off to them for their perseverance! All in all, a pleasant enjoyable program - except that in this episode they cooked against the backdrop of an ancient fortress and I half expected the Count come gliding in to take a bite out of the neck of the nearest Hairy Biker :-)
A son is leaving the family nest – packing his suitcases as a caring father hovers in the background. The son suddenly comes across a piece of string and smiles as memories from the childhood come flooding back. A child is seen, in tow with his father, just at entrance of a village fair. The child is not at ease and shares with his father his anxiety of getting lost in the crowd. The father fishes out a piece of string from his pocket, ties one end to the boy’s wrist and the other to his own. He smilingly assures the kid that he won’t get lost now.
Next we see the now old father picking up a ringing phone with the same piece of string attached to it. It’s the son calling and if you want to find out what he tells his father, go watch this latest ad from Airtel. Surely tugs at your heartstrings – this piece of string does :-)
Next we see the now old father picking up a ringing phone with the same piece of string attached to it. It’s the son calling and if you want to find out what he tells his father, go watch this latest ad from Airtel. Surely tugs at your heartstrings – this piece of string does :-)
Monday, November 10, 2008
Do you want to be Mitch McDeere?
I don’t want to be in the shoes of Mitch McDeere – ever! I don’t want the low rate mortgage. I don’t want business trips to the Cayman Islands and I don’t want the BMW in color of my choice. Imagine being a lawyer fresh out of law school with multiple job offers – some of them from established Wall Street firms. And then the little known law firm from Memphis comes along to make a tempting offer that no one in their right mind would want to refuse. For someone who doesn’t have a secure childhood to boast of, it’s almost like Manna from heaven! A proof that you have arrived in life!
So Mitch takes the offer and moves to Memphis along with his pretty wife Abby. But something is rotten in the state of Memphis. The firm office on Front Street is like an iceberg – it conceals more than what it reveals. It surely is on the right street as the law firm is a “front” for something else.
Mitch is clueless till the Fibbies walk in – though not through the front door. The real game starts then – a game of wits and courage, of fear and resolve, of doubt and certainty. Finally, the hunted turns into a hunter and leads the Mafia, the FBI - and the readers - through the motels across America’s quiet little towns and beachfronts.
You can hardly wait to turn the next page of – John Grisham’s “The Firm” :-)
So Mitch takes the offer and moves to Memphis along with his pretty wife Abby. But something is rotten in the state of Memphis. The firm office on Front Street is like an iceberg – it conceals more than what it reveals. It surely is on the right street as the law firm is a “front” for something else.
Mitch is clueless till the Fibbies walk in – though not through the front door. The real game starts then – a game of wits and courage, of fear and resolve, of doubt and certainty. Finally, the hunted turns into a hunter and leads the Mafia, the FBI - and the readers - through the motels across America’s quiet little towns and beachfronts.
You can hardly wait to turn the next page of – John Grisham’s “The Firm” :-)
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