Forwards' fast forward

Twist in Technology

2005-10-28T19:38:00.000-07:00

The technolgy is now rapidly and rastically developing over the last few years. Due to this, there is a twist in technology now.

Rise in petrol has delivered some new ideas

2005-10-12T21:59:00.000-07:00

With the rise in petrol prices these seems to be better ideas. Soon these will be in practise.

Caption Needed

2005-10-08T01:52:00.000-07:00

Please suggest a suitable caption for this picture. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Soooooooooooooo Cuteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

TRULY AMAZING-- AND SO SAD!

2005-10-06T22:01:00.000-07:00

The following pictures are photos taken of the Columbia (SPACE Shuttle) explosion from an Israeli satellite in space . You remember??? we lost a great American Indian women in that .....KALPANA CHAWLA.... really that was very sad.....have a look upon these Just in case you get a bit woozy looking at these, I apologize up front for the photos below. They are sequential pictures of the Shuttle Explosion, taken from an Israeli Satellite in space. They were taken....obviously,just as the Shuttle began to explode over the Earth.

Same To You

2005-10-04T01:57:00.000-07:00

Picture speaks more than words. If you do a sin to other, you will be punished. This is a simple logic depicted by the picture more vividly

Its the 21st Century - Wedding Invitations seems like this

2005-09-30T01:37:00.000-07:00

In a era dominated by computers, marriage invitations have turned to be like this

STUPID QUESTIONS AND SMART ANSWERS:

2005-09-27T22:04:00.000-07:00

Few silly questions and great answers

BOY : May I hold your hand?
GIRL : No thanks, it isn't heavy.

GIRL : Say you love me! Say you love me!
BOY : You love me...

BOY : I love you and I could die for you!
GIRL : How soon??

BOY : I would go to the end of the world for you!
GIRL : Yes, but would you stay there??

Truly Sensational

2005-09-27T05:38:00.000-07:00

Some pictures which are truly sensational and just kills your thoughts and kindles your feelings.

Programmers awesome

2005-09-24T05:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a conversation, read it

Ramu : I've just become a member of Rotract Club.
Somu : public member or private?

/***************************************************************************
***********************/
Ramu : Hey.. My submarine is not sinking into the water!! What could be
wrong?
Somu : may be u have used float instead of double in the software.

/***************************************************************************
***********************/
THIS ONE IS TOO GOOD!!!
PS : Hey Bull, Can you do me a favor? Can you pass on these 500 rupees to
Suthi..?
Bull : Sure.. Why not? But tell me one thing. Tell me whether its pass by
value or pass by reference.

/***************************************************************************
***********************/
Ramu : Hey.... whats time now?
Somu : System time or local time.

/***************************************************************************
***********************/

And dont miss the last one, it's THE BEST !

4 Easy Steps from dummies to Transfer Files in Windows!
Right click the mouse on the file to transfer and select cut option.
Disconnect the mouse from that PC, take that mouse carefully and connect it
to the other PC where you want to copy that file and try to paste it
there....!!!!!!!!!

Marvels with electronic things

2005-09-23T01:57:00.000-07:00

See these carefully. All the bikes displayed are made using resistors, transistors and capacitors

Believe it or not you can read it.

2005-09-22T01:33:00.000-07:00

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt.

FUNNY DEFINITIONS

2005-09-20T01:35:00.000-07:00

1. Cigarette: A pinch of tobacco rolled in paper with fire at one end & a fool at the other.
2. Love affairs: Something like cricket where one-day internationals are more popular than a five day test.
3. Marriage: It's an agreement in which a man loses his bachelor degree and a woman gains her master
4. Divorce: Future tense of marriage
5. Lecture: An art of transferring information from the notes of the lecturer to the notes of the students without passing through "the minds of either".
6. Conference: The confusion of one man multiplied by the number present.
7. Compromise: The art of dividing a cake in such a way that everybody believes he got the biggest piece.
8. Tears: The hydraulic force by which masculine will-power is defeated by feminine water-power...
9. Dictionary: A place where divorce comes before marriage.
10. Conference Room: A place where everybody talks, nobody listens & everybody disagrees later on.
11. Ecstasy: A feeling when you feel you are going to feel a feeling you have never felt before.
12. Classic: books which people praise, but do not read.
13. Smile: A curve that can set a lot of things straight.
14. Office: A place where you can relax after your strenuous home life.
15. Yawn: The only time some married men ever get to open their mouth.

Recent Car Security System - Hurry for your orders

2005-09-19T01:34:00.000-07:00

I couldn't' stop making this comparison..

2005-09-09T01:29:00.000-07:00

inches of rain in new Orleans due to hurricane katrina... 18
inches of rain in Mumbai (July 27th).... 37.1

population of new orleans... 484,674
population of mumbai.... 12,622,500

deaths in new orleans within 48 hours of katrina...100
deaths in mumbai within 48hours of rain.. 37.

number of people to be evacuated in new orleans... entire city..wohh
number of people evacuated in mumbai...10,000

Cases of shooting and violence in new orleans...Countless
Cases of shooting and violence in mumbai.. NONE

Time taken for US army to reach new orleans... 48hours
Time taken for Indian army and navy to reach mumbai...12hours

status 48hours later...new orleans is still waiting for relief, army and electricty
status 48hours later..mumbai is back on its feet and is business is as usual

USA...world's most developed nation
India...JUST A DEVELOPING NATION.. third world

did i get the last fact wrong???
Or am I just being proud of being an INDIAN?

Nature at its best !!

2005-09-02T05:49:00.000-07:00

Spring Has Sprung

Purple Foxglove

Orchid in the Blue

Blue Bell Tunicate

Flower Power

Luscious Lotus

Japanaese T-Shirts

2005-09-02T01:40:00.000-07:00

Easy T-Shirts

Sidhu's sixers

2005-08-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Many are good. (even though some are too far)

That ball went so high it could have got an airhostess down with it.
There is light at the end of the tunnel for India, but it's that of an incoming train which will run them over.
Experience is like a comb that life gives you when you are bald.
Sri Lankan score is running like an Indian taximeter.
Wickets are like wives - you never know which way they will turn!
He is like Indian three-wheeler, which will suck a lot of diesel but cannot go beyond 30!
The Indians are going to beat the Kiwis! Let me tell you, my friend, that the Kiwi is the only bird in the whole world, which does not have wings!
As uncomfortable as a bum on a porcupine.
The ball whizzes past like a bumblebee and the Indians are in the sea.
The Indians are finding the gaps like a pin in a haystack.
The pitch is as dead as a dodo.
Deep Dasgupta is as confused as a small child is in a bar!
The way Indian wickets are falling reminds of the cycle stand at Rajendra Talkies in Patiala..! one falls and everything else falls!
Indian team without Sachin is like giving a Kiss without a Squeeze.
You cannot make Omelets without breaking the eggs.
Deep Dasgupta is not a Wicket Keeper, he is a goalkeeper. He must be given a free transfer to Manchester United.
He will fight a rattlesnake and give it the first two bites too.
One, who doesn't throw the dice, can never expect to score a six.
Anybody can pilot a ship when the sea is calm.
Nobody travels on the road to success without a puncture or two.
You got to choose between tightening your belt or losing your pants.
The cat with gloves catches no mice.
Age has been perfect fire extinguisher for flaming youth.
You may have a heart of gold, but so does a hard-boiled egg.
He is like a one-legged man in a bum kicking competition.
The third umpires should be changed as often as nappies and for the same reason.
The world is all about mind and matter, I don't mind and U don't matter...
In London they drive on the left, in India we drive on what is left!

Facts and oddities of the English language

2005-08-30T22:01:00.000-07:00

The longest word in standard English dictionaries is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis at 45 letters long.

The longest English word that does not contain the letter 'e' is floccinaucinihilipilification at 29 letters.

Cabbaged and fabaceae, each 8 letters long, are the longest words that can be played on a musical instrument.

Aegilops, 8 letters long, is the longest word with its letters arranged in alphabetical order.

Spoonfed, 9 letters long, is the longest word with its letters arranged in reverse alphabetical order.

CIMICIC and CIMICID, each 7 letters long, are the longest words that are exclusively made up of Roman numerals when written in upper case. Among words consisting of only Roman numeral letters, the "highest scoring" are MIMIC (2,102) and IMMIX (2,012).

Overnumerousnesses, 18 letters long, is the longest word that consists of only letters that lack ascenders, descenders and dots in lower case.

Lighttight and hillypilly, each 10 letters long, are the longest words consisting only of letters with ascenders, descenders and dots in lower case.

Tittifill, 9 letters long, is the longest word consisting only of letters with ascenders or dots in lower case.

Honorificabilitudinitatibus, 27 letters long, is the longest word consisting strictly of alternating consonents and vowels.

Dermatoglyphics, misconjugatedly and uncopyrightable, each 15 letters long, are the longest words in which no letter appears more than once.

Unprosperousness, 16 letters long, is the longest word in which each letter occurs at least twice.

Esophagographers, 16 letter long, is the longest word in which each of its letters occurs twice.

Discrete - discreet is the longest homophonic anagram (2 similarly pronounced words that are spelled differently but sound the same and are composed of the same letters).

Redivider is the longest common palindromic word ( a word reading the same backwards and forwards).

The longest words that are reverse images of each other are stressed and desserts.

Diet Prayer

2005-08-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

Lord, My soul is ripped with riot

incited by my wicked diet.

"We Are What We Eat," said a wise old man!

and, Lord, if that's true, I'm a garbage can.

I want to rise on Judgment Day, that's plain!

but at my present weight, I'll need a crane.

So grant me strength, that I may not fall

into the clutches of cholesterol.

May my flesh with carrot-curls be dated,

that my soul may be poly unsaturated

And show me the light, that I may bear witness

to the President's Council on Physical Fitness.

And at oleomargarine I'll never mutter,

for the road to Hell is spread with butter.

And cream is cursed; and cake is awful;

and Satan is hiding in every waffle.

Mephistopheles lurks in provolone;

the Devil is in each slice of baloney,

Beelzebub is a chocolate drop,

and Lucifer is a lollipop.

Give me this day my daily slice

but, cut it thin and toast it twice.

I beg upon my dimpled knees,

deliver me from jujubees.

And when my days of trial are done,

and my war with malted milk is won,

Let me stand with Heavenly throng,

In a shining robe--size 30 long.

I can do it Lord, If You'll show to me,

the virtues of lettuce and celery.

If You'll teach me the evil of mayonnaise,

of pasta a la Milannaise

potatoes a la Lyonnaise

and crisp-fried chicken from the South.

Lord, if you love me, shut my mouth.

Canada's rain havoc

2005-08-30T05:56:00.000-07:00

I dunno when it happened, but those photos seem as though it is a live coverage...

Spider Vs Snake - photos

2005-08-30T01:27:00.000-07:00

New entries in Dictionary indicate India is Shining !!

2005-08-30T01:24:00.000-07:00

"Bangalored" is a verb which recently got added in the dictionary. A person is said to be bangalored if he lost his job because the work got outsourced to bangalore or any other city in India.

"He got bangalored last week" is an example of its usage. U can also type this word "bangalored" in Google search n see. Lot of people in US got bangalored that it became an issue during the US presidential election. That’s exactly when this word was coined. One such similar verb is "shanghaied" which means kidnapped.

Great that Bangalore has a verb in its name only that it has a negative meaning.

Is this TRUE???

2005-08-29T21:51:00.000-07:00

Facts about "Jana Gana Mana" - Just a thought for the National Anthem! How well do you know about it? I have always wondered who is the "adhinayak" and "bharat bhagya vidhata", whose praise we are singing. I thought might be Motherland India! Our current National Anthem "Jana Gana Mana" is sung throughout the country. Did you know the following about our national anthem, I didn't.

To begin with, India's national anthem, Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka, was written by Rabindranath Tagore in honor of King George V and the Queen of England when they visited India in 1919. To honor their visit Pandit Motilal Nehru had the five stanzas included, which are in praise of the King and Queen. (And most of us think it is in the praise of our great motherland!!!)

In the original Bengali verses only those provinces that were under British rule, i.e. Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat, Maratha etc. were mentioned. None of the princely states were recognized which are integral parts of India now Kashmir, Rajasthan, Andhra, Mysore or Kerala. Neither the Indian Ocean nor the Arabian Sea was included, since they were directly under Portuguese rule at that time. The Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka implies that King George V is the lord of the masses and Bharata Bhagya Vidhata is "the bestower of good fortune".

Following is a translation of the five stanzas that glorify the King:

First stanza: (Indian) People wake up remembering your good name and ask for your blessings and they sing your glories. (Tava shubha naame jaage;tava shubha aashish maage, gaaye tava jaya gaatha)

Second stanza: Around your throne people of all religions come and give their love and anxiously wait to hear your kind words.

Third stanza: Praise to the King for being the charioteer, for leading the ancient travelers beyond misery.

Fourth stanza: Drowned in the deep ignorance and suffering, poverty-stricken, unconscious country? Waiting for the wink of your eye and your mother's (the Queen's) true protection.

Fifth stanza: In your compassionate plans, the sleeping Bharat (India) will wake up. We bow down to your feet O' Queen, and glory to Rajeshwara (the King).

This whole poem does not indicate any love for the Motherland but depicts a bleak picture. When you sing Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka, whom are you glorifying? Certainly not the Motherland. Is it God? The poem does not indicate that.It is time now to understand the original purpose and the implication of this, rather than blindly sing as has been done the past fifty years. Nehru chose the present national anthem as opposed to Vande Mataram because he thought that it would be easier for the band to play!!!

It was an absurd reason but Today for that matter bands have advanced and they can very well play any music. So they can as well play Vande Mataram, which is a far better composition in praise of our dear Motherland -India.Wake up, it's high time! Shouldn't Vande Mataram be our National Anthem.

Focus on solutions !!

2005-08-29T21:36:00.000-07:00

Difference between Focusing on Problems and Focusing on Solutions

Case 1

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink won't flow down to the writing surface). To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C. And what did the Russians do...?? They used a pencil.

Case 2

One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soapbox, which happened in one of Japan's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soapbox that was empty. Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly! line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soapbox went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soapboxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty. No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent a whoopee amount to do so. But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc., but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soapbox passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

Moral: Always look for simple solutions.

Devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problems

Mankind's greatest invention

2005-08-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

The story of the search for the perfect number system - N.S. Rajaram

The Universal History of Numbers, 3 volumes by Georges Ifrah (2005 PB). Penguin, India.

"Finally it all came to pass as though across the ages and the civilizations, the human mind had tried all the possible solutions to the problem of writing numbers, before universally adopting the one which seemed the most abstract, the most perfected and the most effective of all."

In these memorable words, the French-Moroccan scholar Georges Ifrah, the author of the monumental but somewhat flawed The Universal History of Numbers, sums up the many false starts by many civilizations until the Indians hit upon a method of doing arithmetic which surpassed and supplanted all others- one without which science, technology and everything else that we take for granted would be impossible. This was the positional or the place value number system. It is without a doubt the greatest mathematical discovery ever made, and arguably India's greatest contribution to civilization.

The three-volume Indian edition is the English version of the 1994 French edition. It tells the story of humanity's 3000-year struggle to solve the most basic and yet the most important mathematical problem of all-counting. The first two volumes recount the tortuous history of the long search that culminated in the discovery in India of the 'modern' system and its westward diffusion through the Arabs. The third volume, on the evolution of modern computers, is not on the same level as the first two. Better accounts exist.

The term 'Arabic numerals' is a misnomer; the Arabs always called them 'Hindi' numerals. What is remarkable is the relatively unimportant role played by the Greeks. They were poor at arithmetic and came nowhere near matching the Indians. Babylonians a thousand years before them were more creative, and the Maya of pre-Colombian America far surpassed them in both computation and astronomy. The Greek Miracle is a modern European fantasy.

The discovery of the positional number system is a defining event in history, like man's discovery of fire. It changed the terms of human existence. While the invention of writing by several civilizations was also of momentous consequence, no writing system ever attained the universality and the perfection of the positional number system. Today, in the age of computers and the information revolution, computer code has all but replaced writing and even pictures. This would be impossible without the Indian number system, which is now virtually the universal alphabet as well.

What makes the positional system perfect is the synthesis of three simple yet profound ideas: zero as a numerical symbol; zero having 'nothing' as its value; and the zero as a position in a number string. Other civilizations, including the Babylonian and the Maya, discovered one or other feature but failed to achieve the grand synthesis that gave us the modern system. Of the world's civilizations, the Mayas came closest. They, like the Babylonians, had an idea of the zero, but never learnt how to operate with it.

In Ifrah's words: "The measure of genius of the Indian civilization, to which we owe our modern, system, is all the greater in that it was the only one in all history to have achieved this triumph." Modern civilization rests on the modern number system. The decimal system is just aspecial case of it.

The synthesis was possible due to the Indians' capacity for abstract thought: they saw numbers not as visual aids to counting, but as abstract symbols. While other number systems, like the Roman numerals for example, expressed numbers visually, Indians early broke free of this shackle and saw numbers as pure symbols with values. We see it in other fields also. The great grammarian Panini describes the Indian alphabet in purely phonetic terms, without reference to symbols. It is the same in music. While the Western notation depends on both the form and the location of notes written across staves, the Indian notation can use any seven symbols.

The economy and precision of the positional system has made all others obsolete. Some systems could be marvels of ingenuity, but led to incredible complexities. The Egyptian hieroglyphic system needed 27 symbols to write a number like 7659. Another indispensable feature of the Indian system is its uniqueness. Once written, it has a single value no matter who reads it. This was not always the case with other systems. In one Maya example, the same signs can be read as either 4399 or 4879. It was even worse in the Babylonian system, where a particular number string can have a value ranging from 1538 to a fraction less than one! So a team of scribes had be on hand to cross check numbers for accuracy as well as
interpretation.

The Universal History of Numbers is an impressive achievement but not a definitive work. It has several drawbacks- errors of omission and commission that are perhaps unavoidable when one tries to cover a vast area spanning space, time and civilizations. The author's discussion of palaeography sometimes goes awry due to his reliance on secondary sources, some of which go back to the nineteenth century. He accepts as proven conclusions that are contentious and even demonstrably false. (Like his acceptance of the non-existent Aramaeo-Brahmi as the source of the Brahmi alphabet.) These, however, do not seriously detract from a marvelous work.

The books may be read by anyone with an interest in mathematics. In summary, Georges Ifrah has opened the gates for what promises to be a major new pathway for research. It is now for others to rise to the challenge.

N.S. Rajaram is a mathematician who has written on ancient history.

Strategy Specialist

2005-08-29T06:35:00.000-07:00

A nice story !!

Strategy Specialist...

Grandmother was pretending to be lost in prayer, but her prayer-beads were spinning at top speed. That meant she was either excited or upset. Mother put the receiver down. "Some American girl in his office, she's coming to stay with us for a week." She sounded as if she had a deep foreboding. Father had no such doubt. He knew the worst was to come. He had been matching horoscopes for a year, but my brother Vivek had found a million excuses for not being able to visit India, call any of the chosen Iyer girls, or in any other way advance father's cause. Father always wore four parallel lines of sacred ash on his forehead. Now there were eight, so deep were the furrows of worry on his forehead. I sat in a corner, supposedly lost in a book, but furiously text-messaging my brother with a vivid description of the scene before me.

A few days later I stood outside the airport with father. He tried not to look directly at any American woman going past, and held up the card reading "Barbara". Finally a large woman stepped out, waved wildly and shouted "Hiiii! Mr. Aayyyezh, how ARE you?" Everyone turned and looked at us. Father shrank visibly before my eyes. Barbara took three long steps and covered father in a tight embrace. Father's jiggling out of it was too funny to watch. I could hear him whispering "Shiva shiva!". She shouted "you must be Vijaantee?" "Yes, Vyjayanthi" I said with a smile. I imagined little half-Indian children calling me "Vijaantee aunty!". Suddenly, my colorless existence in Madurai had perked up. For at least the next one week, life promised to be quite exciting.

Soon we were eating lunch at home. Barbara had changed into an even shorter skirt. The low neckline of her blouse was just in line with father's eyes. He was glaring at mother as if she had conjured up Barbara just to torture him. Barbara was asking "You only have vegetarian food? Always??" as if the idea was shocking to her. "You know what really goes well with Indian food, especially chicken? Indian beer!" she said with a pleasant smile, seemingly oblivious to the apoplexy of the gentleman in front of her, or the choking sounds coming from mother. I had to quickly duck under the table to hide my giggles.

Everyone tried to get the facts without asking the one question on all our minds: What was the exact nature of the relationship between Vivek and Barbara? She brought out a laptop computer. "I have some pictures of Vivek" she said. All of us crowded around her. The first picture was quite innocuous. Vivek was wearing shorts, and standing alone on the beach. In the next photo, he had Barbara draped all over him. She was wearing a skimpy bikini and leaning across, with her hand lovingly circling his neck. Father got up, and flicked the towel off his shoulder. It was a gesture we in the family had learned to fear. He literally ran to the door and went out. Barbara said "It must be hard for Mr. Aayyezh. He must be missing his son." We didn't have the heart to tell her that if said son had been within reach, father would have lovingly wrung his neck.

My parents and grandmother apparently had reached an unspoken agreement. They would deal with Vivek later. Right now Barbara was a foreigner, a lone woman, and needed to be treated as an honored guest. It must be said that Barbara didn't make that one bit easy. Soon mother wore a perpetual frown. Father looked as though he could use some of that famous Indian beer.

Vivek had said he would be in a conference in Guatemala all week, and would be off both phone and email. But Barbara had long lovey-dovey conversations with two other men, one man named Steve and another named Keith. The rest of us strained to hear every interesting word. "I miss you!" she said to both. She also kept talking with us about Vivek, and about the places they'd visited together. She had pictures to prove it, too. It was all very confusing.

This was the best play I'd watched in a long time. It was even better than the day my cousin ran away with a Telugu Christian girl. My aunt had come howling through the door, though I noticed that she made it to the plushest sofa before falling in a faint. Father said that if it had been his child, the door would have been forever shut in his face. Aunt promptly revived and said "You'll know when it is your child!" How my aunt would rejoice if she knew of Barbara!

On day five of her visit, the family awoke to the awful sound of Barbara's retching. The bathroom door was shut, the water was running, but far louder was the sound of Barbara crying and throwing up at the same time. Mother and grandmother exchanged ominous glances. Barbara came out, and her face was red. "I don't know why", she said, "I feel queasy in the mornings now." If she had seen as many Indian movies as I'd seen, she'd know why. Mother was standing as if turned to stone. Was she supposed to react with the compassion reserved for pregnant women? With the criticism reserved for pregnant unmarried women? With the fear reserved for pregnant unmarried foreign women who could embroil one's son in a paternity suit? Mother, who navigated familiar flows of married life with the skill of a champion oarsman, now seemed completely taken off her moorings. She seemed to hope that if she didn't react it might all disappear like a bad dream.

I made a mental note to not leave home at all for the next week. Whatever my parents would say to Vivek when they finally got a-hold of him would be too interesting to miss. But they never got a chance. The day Barbara was to leave, we got a terse email from Vivek. "Sorry, still stuck in Guatemala. Just wanted to mention, another friend of mine, Sameera Sheikh, needs a place to stay. She'll fly in from Hyderabad tomorrow at 10am. Sorry for the trouble."

So there we were, father and I, with a board saying "Sameera". At last a pretty young woman in salwar-khameez saw the board, gave the smallest of smiles, and walked quietly towards us. When she did 'Namaste' to father, I thought I saw his eyes mist up. She took my hand in the friendliest way and said "Hello, Vyjayanthi, I've heard so much about you." I fell in love with her. In the car father was unusually friendly. She and Vivek had been in the same group of friends in Ohio University. She now worked as a Child Psychologist.

She didn't seem to be too bad at family psychology either. She took out a shawl for grandmother, a saree for mother and Hyderabadi bangles for me. "Just some small things. I have to meet a professor at Madurai university, and it's so nice of you to let me stay" she said. Everyone cheered up. Even grandmother smiled. At lunch she said "This is so nice. When I make sambar, it comes out like chole, and my chole tastes just like sambar". Mother was smiling. "Oh just watch for 2 days, you'll pick it up." Grandmother had never allowed a muslim to enter the kitchen. But mother seemed to have taken charge, and decided she would bring in who ever she felt was worthy. Sameera circumspectly stayed out of the puja room, but on the third day, I was stunned to see father inviting her in and telling her which idols had come to him from his father. "God is one" he said. Sameera nodded sagely.

By the fifth day, I could see the thought forming in the family's collective brains. If this fellow had to choose his own bride, why couldn't it be someone like Sameera? On the sixth day, when Vivek called from the airport saying he had cut short his Gautemala trip and was on his way home, all had a million things to discuss with him. He arrived by taxi at a time when Sameera had gone to the University. "So, how was Barbara's visit?" he asked blithely. "How do you know her?" mother asked sternly. "She's my secretary" he said. "She works very hard, and she'll do anything to help." He turned and winked at me. Oh, I got the plot now! By the time Sameera returned home that evening, it was almost as if her joining the family was the elders' idea. "Don't worry about anything", they said, "we'll talk with your parents."

On the wedding day a huge bouquet arrived from Barbara.

"Flight to India - $1500.

Indian kurta - $5.

Emetic to throw up - $1.

The look on your parents' faces - priceless" it said.

Why We Forward Mails?

2005-08-29T01:22:00.000-07:00

Huh !! Got this message. Was a nice one received sometime back. Once my idea of blogging forwards is materialised, I was in search of this mail. Failing in ten searches, got the mail atlast:-) Good one.

When you are very busy,
but still want to keep in touch,
guess what you do - you forward jokes!

When you have nothing to say,
but still want to keep in contact,
you forward jokes!

When you have something to say,
but don't know what,
and don't know how,
you forward jokes!

To let you know that:

you are still remembered,
you are still important,
you are still loved,
you are still cared for,
you are still wanted,
guess what you get !!
A FORWARDED MAIL....

Quotes from Vivekananda...!

2005-08-29T01:17:00.000-07:00

When I Asked God for Strength
He Gave Me Difficult Situations to Face

When I Asked God for Brain & Brown
He Gave Me Puzzles in Life to Solve

When I Asked God for Happiness
He Showed Me Some Unhappy People

When I Asked God for Wealth
He Showed Me How to Work Hard

When I Asked God for Favors
He Showed Me Opportunities to Work Hard

When I Asked God for Peace
He Showed Me How to Help Others

God Gave Me Nothing I Wanted
He Gave Me Everything I Needed

Janmashtami

2005-08-28T21:53:00.001-07:00

Starting with almighty or about a sanctified day is one of the feel good factors. Received some krishnar pictures for JANMASHTAMI. Hope many of u have received them.

But to my grievance has the santabanta.com logo in them :-(

Forwards' Blogggggggggggggg.....

2005-08-28T21:49:00.000-07:00

What will happen if we receive too much of forwards!! They will be forwarded, many times ignored and many times replied. Here forwards sent to me have transformed into a blog. I don't know the history of the forward mails. I am not going to analyze the truth behind those forwards. I will just post it. Let me have a view of how good my forward mails are....:-)