Santa Fe

This week Atanu and Shoma came down in their brand new shinny black Santa Fe. Shoma brought a plate of Accordian Potatoes for us, which she had very thoughtfully spent the morning preparing for us. I felt guilty of having pushed her into making this dish for us , but what the heck-- I absolutely love the potatoes. I mumbled my congrats for the car but my eye was on the plate of potatoes. Later I got a chance to ride the car as well and the insides were as impressive as the outside. Atanu mentioned these cars are made in Alabama not in Seoul . I wonder why they named this car after the capital of New Mexico!!!

Atanu & Shoma -- wishing you many happy hours with the car.

A beautiful Summer Day

The temperartures rose to a gorgeous 20 Deg Celcius and everyone tried to get outdoors to catch the sun. It was a bit windy but not the type that "bites" into you but the type you love to have blowing through your hair and in your face.

I tried to click a few pics (something my family does NOT like) & I managed to grab a few stills.

Later in the day the weather turned nasty and we had a thunderstorm-- seems like good times are always short lived.

Daffodils

The first few daffodils have started to "peep" out of the ground.
The summer is finally here.
The sun is shining and I wish I had a convertible....

Its good to be alive

I walked out of the office this friday evening. The pressures of the week were behind me and as I stepped out of the double doors, a refreshing breeze hit me. The sun was still shining, the time was approx 1730hrs and my body was alive with the freshness ofthe environment around me. The temperature were around 15 deg celcius. The walk from the front doors of the office building to my car on the extensive parking lot was filled with the joy of being there in that moment and on that day.

Maybe everything did not go as planned during the week, there were challenges of every nature but during that walk in the parking lot, I focussed on that experience.

I was happy to be there.

Elora village

Today on the long Easter weekend Anita and me made a trip to Elora. Not the one in Maharastra like Ajanta & Elora but the one in Ontario, Canada. Its kinda a difficult to believe but the history of Elora, ON is that one scotsman, Capt William Gilikinson named this town after the Elora caves in India. Another freaky bit of trivia was that the inventor of the Cannon camera was from this town.

The Elora village is a quiet quaint place where home based resturants and craft shops lined the tiny down town area. Missing very conspiciously were the Tim Hortens / Macdonalds.. that sprout everywhere in an urban setting. The weather was much too cold to walk outdoors but short well bundled ventures were doable. Having just recovered from a bout of congestion and cold you can see both of us well layered in the pic on top. The sun being out was not of much help as the wind seemed to blow all the warmth away. The drive to and fro was extremly nice. Miles of rolling farmlands recovering from the melting frost. We saw quite a few "bed & breakfast" joints and had half a mind to drive in and spend the night there ( tomorrow being sunday) but we put it off to later this year.

This summer I plan to go back there -- the camping ground seemed very nice. Maybe that's where we will take everyone for Canada Day.

Fixing the Financial Problem

I recieved this email doing the rounds & addressed to BO -- just sharing it with all those who care to read it..

Dear Mr. President,
There are about 40 million people over 50 yrs in the work force;
Pay them $1 million each in severance, with these stipulations:

1) They leave their jobs imdtly. There will be Forty million job openings - Unemployment gets fixed.
2) The new blood in the work force buy NEW American cars. Forty million cars ordered - Auto Industry gets fixed.
3) The same people either buy a house or pay off their mortgage- Housing Crisis (a large portion, at least) gets fixed.
All this is still cheaper than the "bailout".


Now is'nt that brilliant!!!!

ADD

I wrote this some time back but did not realize that I had not published it.....


ADD......That's Attention Deficit Disorder, not ADD as in arithmetics. Over the last few weeks I was convinced that I had it. The inability to stay focused. This weekend I decided to give it the litmus test. I had set myself a clear aim of sorting out my documents--the mounds of paper just piled on my desk in my den which needed filing or discarding. Every time I approached the task I found myself being side tracked into surfing the net or running off to the basement to fetch my tool set (why cant they have homes all on one floor like in India?) or just stopping by the fridge for a quick snack and ( since I was snacking ) checking "what else is on TV" while I devoured the junk.

Today, Sunday was different. I decided to forgo my jog in a beautiful 11 deg celcius weather to sort out my desk-- Anita was down with a running cold and while I did my bit of trying to give her fluids and fruit and saline water , she kept me at arms length, so that I would not get the "bug". I then decided to give my ADD a test. As I eyed my over burderend desk of papers , Antrix came up on Skype from Kyoto. He filled me in on the absolutely beautiful world that he was living in and we chatted for some time. He told me of this concept of capsule hotels in Japan-- what a concept. I then took the laptop over to Anita who was sniffling away in bed ( there are bugs all over my keybrd now)-- so that she could chat while I could get back to my "task". As I snuck away -- Anita demanded tea. Off I went to make some tea. Now team making in our home is a "process" First you microwave the water, milk and tea bag with ginger for 3 mins, then you wait an indefinite time and then re microwave it for a shorter time. Then you strain the tea bag and add just the right amount of sugar ( more for me and less for Anita) and serve the tea with "Brittania cookies". As tea as most of you know is a social thing & hence it is never consumed in isolation, so it was back for tea with Anita..

Once tea was done, I bounded back to my desk and had just about got the first few papers stacked correctly when there was a call for breakfast....
I guess you get the drift. Wheather it was ADD or just the fact that there are multiple things happening at the same time in our usually quiet home , completing simple tasks at home has become quite challenging.

The "Purse"

Ever noticed a lady's purse? I mean really noticed it? -- and I ask this of the guys! She treats it as something VERY personal. It has all the nick knacks that one would need while on the go. You need a clip & she will produce it. Pens/ scribble pads/ stickies/ rubber bands/ loose change ( all in a nice little bag) , comb, sticky tape, glue.... besides ofcourse all the girly stuff that is strictly "hands off" for us guys. When I got married, I had this habbit of never carrying a wallet and since I was expected to pay the bills now, I talked Anita into carrying my wallet in her purse. In those initial years you can swing anything & so my seemingly innocent but "laden" request went through without a ruffle. Up until very recently my wallet resided there( in her purse) -- easily reachable and yet avoiding me the agony of sitting on it on long drives, had I had to carry it in my hip pocket.

Over the years I have found my own "purse". My laptop bag. The bag goes where I go and it bears my precious "stuff". My swiss army knife (its quite a weapon) , BB cable, reading glasses, sunglasses and ofcourse my wallet. I have been trying to get my camera into the bag but it is a bit too bulky to find a home in the bag.From time to time some other little pieces of temporary interest find their way into my laptop bag but then get jettisoned as soon as they finsih their role.

There is only one thing that bugs me about the ladys purse. It is how women tend to carry their cell phones. When you want to reach them 90% of the time all you will get is their VM. You see the cell phone is usually in the purse and the purse is under the chair in another room. The litmus test to check for an efficeint woman is to see how she carries her phone-- if it is hitched to her belt or on her person -- put her down as "efficeint"-- if the phone is in her bag, - dont even bother leaving her a VM. ( Anita has hers hitched to her belt 24/7 -- well not 24/7 but atleast 10/7)

BTW: apologies for the poor pics on top -- I was lazy clicking them ( which is what I should have done) & simply took them off the net-- not very efficient eh!

Joggers

For almost two years or maybe more ,every morning we jogged past each other. He on his side of the road and I on my side. A friendly nod or a wave was given and acknowledged. We jogged on .. to take on the challenges of the day ahead of us. We did not exchange a single word -- ever. I had secretly named him the 'nodder'. The name was given because of the way he nodded his head while he ran. It was very peculiar and I looked for the nodder every day. Sometimes my wave did not catch his eye and i would wave again .. I had to have to have the acknowledgement. i could not pass him with out that wave or nod being reciprocated. Then for almost a year/ six months I did not see him -- maybe he changed his beat or maybe he moved. There was no way I would have known..I missed the 'nodder'

Today, after so many months -- I suddenly saw the 'nodder' again. He was not jogging he was walking & that too with a limp. Without a thought I crossed the road and greeted him. The joy in seeing each other was mutual. We spent the next several mins exchanging names , addresses and such preliminary info that normally should have been known to us. The jog was forgotten and a friend was made. It came out that he had had an accident and fractured his thigh. He had been in a cast and now the meds had allowed him a short walk. He indicated where he lived and I revealed where my home was located. With both of us needing to get back we parted company feeling very nice and happy.

Tomorrow, when I cross him , should I jog past with the normal wave or should I cross the road to say hello again?? Not sure what i will do -- i will probably "go with the wind"