Recently I came across reference to a book - A Short History of Nearly Everything by author Bill Bryson.Sounded pretty interesting so I marked it for future reading. The internet, however, is such a wonderful thing that I found a .pdf version of it.

All, I need now is a wonderful rainy day :-)

Tired of the same old games? Try your hand at the Sifteo Cubes.

And here is one for all my friends:

I am not a pencil to write your happiness
But I will be a nice rubber to erase all your sadness

Who are the Talibans afraid of?

Who are the Talibans afraid of? A few days back, maybe different people would have given different answers. But I guess today, many people would say that they are afraid of a 14-year old girl. A girl who dared to speak against them. A girl who defied their orders to go to school. A girl who refused to back off. And so they decided to kill her.

Fortunately for us, they didn't succeed. Malala Yousafzai is alive and fighting for her life. I hope and pray that she wins this fight.

This reminds me of an Urdu couplet.

मेरी सोहबत मे भेजो ताकी इसका डर निकल जाये
बहोत सहमी हुई दरबारमे सच्चाई रहती है

Please send the Truth with me so it can lose its fear. It seems pretty terrorized these days.

I guess Malala is one person who is perfectly capable of looking after the Truth!

"Who would you say is your favorite leader?" someone from the interview panel had asked me during my B School interview a couple of years back. I was clueless. A couple of names popped into my head but honestly, I had never paid much attention to their lives except for the occasional news in the Business newspapers. ' I am afraid I don't have an answer' I said and prayed that this answer wouldn't be the proverbial last straw that broke the camel's back. Turned out my fears were unfounded because eventually I received the letter of acceptance.

In due course MBA was over and I started working again. Over the course of years, I completely forgot about this question. Until I started watching 'Grey's Anatomy' that is. If someone were to ask me this question today, my answer would be 'Dr. Miranda Bailey'. 'Why?' you ask. Okay, here's why.

First of all, she is very good at what she does, in fact one of the best. Then the way she manages her team is a perfect blend of assertiveness, supposedly a masculine trait and nurturing, supposedly a feminine one. She is not open to suggestions when she decides who gets to work on which case. She demands discipline and obedience. She is strict and doesn't give much allowance to her team. But she waits by Christina's bedside when she is operated upon due to the complications in her pregnancy. And is the one to tell Dr. Shephard off in no uncertain terms when she senses that his constant attention will do more harm than good to Meredith after their rather public breakup.

She has a good sense of humor and is quick to respond with witty rejoinders. She has the guts to take on the The Chief whenever the situation demands. And she is perfectly capable to put the annoying relatives of a patient firmly in their place. And yet, all this comes wrapped up with the sensitivity and practicality that is so essential to becoming a good doctor and a good surgeon.

Oh yes, Dr. Miranda Bailey is my idea of a perfect leader. I must confess that I wasn't too fond of her when I started watching the show. She was a bit too high-handed for my taste. But as the show progressed, my opinion changed. I was disappointed when she went on leave following her pregnancy. But I am glad that she has come back - time for more leadership lessons I guess :-)

McDonald's is not my choice of destination when it comes to lunch or dinner. I feel that their vegetarian menu doesn't have a lot of choices. And the non-veg one contains too much chicken for my taste. But the rest of the group wanted to eat there so I decided to go along. Once there, I had to settle for McSpicy chicken.

I was almost through the meal when, suddenly, out of the blue, I remembered the Leviathans (from the show Supernatural) and their evil plan to turn the entire human race into fat stores of meat to feast upon at their will. Their choice of weapon? Specially manufactured burgers! Try as I might, I couldn't think of anything else. Whatever was left of the burger in front of me turned even more unappetizing. I had to make a Herculean effort to finish it off and I did so just because I don't like to waste food.

Whatever the reason, I am glad that I am weaned off at least one type of junk food :-)