This one came in an SMS:

One day a man asked God 'What is the difference between your love and my love?'

God smiled and said 'A bird in the sky is my love. A bird in the cage is yours'

Do you begin your day wondering what to have for breakfast? I do. 5 days of Muesli in a row and I am ready to skip breakfast. There is no time to make parathas and God knows that even if I had time I won't make them as I don't like them. As luck would have it, all the fruits that I like – strawberry, custard apple, lychee, mango – are seasonal. And I cannot stand the sight of the fruits that are available all throughout the year – banana, apple, orange etc. So what to do?

That's why I read the article "Heat-proof your breakfast" with interest. True, I don't think a paratha made of sattu will be very tasty but I can surely give it a try. And that cucumber sandwich sounds tempting too :-)

And so the gutka is banned in the state of Maharashtra. What good will it do? No one knows. But then no one cares either. Everyone except the people who are consumers of this product know how dangerous they can be. So the solution would have been to raise the level of awareness. Of course, that is very difficult. Hence, this step of banning the product altogether. Then the government can always say that they have done their bit.

All said and done, it's the cat that no one wants to bell.

I am not quite sure why people think that India-Pakistan cricket matches generate a lot of goodwill. It could probably be so for those who are going to mint money from the upcoming series but for most of the common people on both sides of the border, it is nothing short of another war. And whichever team ends up losing, the its countrymen feel let down.

In my humble opinion, it is much better to go the cultural way – arrange screenings of the movies on both sides of the border, organize food festivals & music concerts, set up special travel packages to major tourist attractions.

But of course, they won't generate so much of money and hype, will they?

This was probably supposed to be a soul-searching SMS:

Isn't life like a grammar lesson?
At times, we find the PAST-PERFECT.
And sometimes the PRESENT-TENSE

But when I forwarded it to a friend, she responded by saying that the only thing she remembers from her English grammar classes is the 'gerund' - without its meaning. Come to think of it, so do I :-)

I was in the office pantry during a short snack break today when I heard the call of the Kingfisher. I must confess that at first I thought I imagined it. Surely, an office area in Mumbai suburb sounds like an unlikely place for an exotic bird like the Kingfisher, doesn't it? Nevertheless, I moved to the window and scanned the outside area. A wire was running across the road close by. A could see a tiny bird perched on it. It was too far away for me to see it clearly but when it sang again, I was sure that I had located my Kingfisher.

As I munched on the fruit slices I listened to its calls wondering if perhaps I was the only person in that area who was aware of its presence :-)