Some great Audio Books

Just read ( heard) two great Ken Follets'-- "Pillars of the Earth" and "The World without End"
I wonder if I ever mentioned how keenly I have taken to audio books. Its a great way to keep up with reading which started off very well in primary and middle school with Enid Blyton -- all those Sudden ( Oliver Strange and the other guy-- forget his name-- My name is Green , James Green), Desmond Bagely-( never see those books anywhere now-- not even in Chapters) & later we moved on to James Hadley Chase and Harold Robbins for which some of us got caned ( that was 6 whacks on the rump by Bro Huges with his lack cane). As we moved into the big bad world --Somewhere down the line TV and our profession got the better of us and the "book" got dropped. This went on for many years during which i did read an odd book but it was rare. Suddenly I find myself visiting the library very often picking up an audio book I have put on hold. Today as I drive or even potter around the house I remain plugged in to an exciting audio. Just finished listening to two great epics by Ken Follet ( the ones on top) -- highly recommended to any one who has the inclination. Just be warned , that this is VERY addictive and could even get you into a spot of trouble -- any one interseted to know how?

A coursemate comes calling...

Around two yrs back Shokin was here & at long last another coursemate, Anil Nanda made it to us in Canada. Anil was in the US on business and very purposefully planned his trip to Canada to come meet with us. Perhaps it was due to the momentum and energy that was generated due to our course reunion on Feb 13th that prompted this visit but it was great to connect with Anil and his son Ankit and nephew Anirudh who is a student here @ UofT. Anil was nursing a lingering cold and declined a beer ( else i would have served it in the porcelain momento we got at the reunion)and had to settle for some lesser beverage, (which he got in a cheap glass :)!!

To the Services 79 batch: Spring is around the corner, as you can see the snows are melting-- who is next???-- I promise you the finest local lager in the reunion mug :).

Holi in Toronto

Living far away from India, there is a high possibility of such festivals slipping by without one even noticing it------ not if you have Anita monitoring it via the phone, web and the regular temple updates. The usual Holi revelry that evening was interrupted by the famous Ice Hockey Olympic game between Canada and the US and the spectacular closing ceremony. I am sure Crosby will find himself a great niche in the Hockey hall of fame. We even caught sight of the Indian team in the closing march past-- I wonder what event did India participate!!

At the end of all the feasting and a couple of games we did indulge in a little bit of color -- the results you can see above

New Year's Day - 2010

The New years has come and gone -- to all those who visit this blog-- wish you and your family and friends a great 2010. May all your dreams come true which implies that you must have a dream ( Can't win a lottery without buying a ticket -- remember)
Like most people I too have made some resolutions. I am following through for the last three days -- only 362 days left. Come tomorrow ( Jan 04th) and the world will kick into gear and that is when we will all go chasing our dreams.
Good Luck and make each day count.

"Aaall is well"

We saw 3 idiots yesterday. As we drove up to Square One because of the Year end shopping craze, the parking lots were choker blocked. This caused some tension and if I had known of the "Aaal is well" mantra prior to the movie -- I would have used it then.

What a great movie! I have come to love Amir Khan & Boman Irani. The other two ( Raju & Farhan) were outstanding as well. The innovativeness of "Rancho" was commendable and I am sure every engineering student seeing the movie ( we have two in the house) wanted to emulate Amir & if not atleast everyone now knows what is a "vacuum delivery" thanks to the movie. Some great scenes from Ladakh made me reminiscence of my days at Dras and the great NH-1A ( the national highway from Srinagar to Leh)

As it happens with every movie I see, the effects linger on for a day and the effects of this one had me smiling away to myself for much of the following day. If you haven't seen it-- go see it and "aal will be well"

Skiing Day

Aay and me made our yearly ski/snowboarding trip during the Christmas break. This time we chose the Kelso Glen Eden slopes in Milton as against our usual choice Chicopee, Waterloo. Kelso being closer won our business. Ant had decided to stay back as per his logic doing this just once a year gave him more aches than thrills. With just 39cms of snow on the slopes (Kelso had their snow making eqpt churning out the white stuff to compensate what global warming is doing to the skiing business around the GTA) and the wind chill factor hovering around the -20 degree mark I made 17 runs on a not so challenging slope and most of which I completed in a "snow plough" position. It was quite embarrasing to see little kids whizzing past with such superb skills and one could easily see that its the likes of these kids who will be representing us in Vancouver in Feb 2010. My careful snow ploghing and slow meandering ensured that I came away without a spill which was not the case with Aay who felt he must push himself over the edge to emulate what we all see on TV and not surprisingly he has come back with a sore behind. I tried to placate him with some piping hot choclate but with all my good intentions the hot choclate did not know which part of his body needed it most :)
I could not get too many pics -- obviously not -- it was too bloody cold to take off your gloves and stand there with exposed hands ,waiting in the feezing wind to get a pic which in all probability would come out a blur anyways.
Towards the end of the day we drove away exhausted, bundled up in a warm car, it had just started to snow. As I sipped my hot choclate I could not help think that this had been a day well spent.

Christmas Day

The last two weeks of 2009 are finally here. Ant & Aay are back from Waterloo and in front of us are a whole string of holidays. On Christmas eve we lit a fire and settled down for Angels and Demons with some Pizza. Tom Hanks was great though many a times I found it too stretched when Tom looked at a sword/arrow held by a statute and took that to be the location where the bomb could possibly be. Very eerily the very next day we heard of the assault on the Pope in the Vatican. I wonder if they summoned Tom Hanks to get to the bottom of it!!
Holidays are a great time to indulge & there was lots to eat-- Anitas's famous burgers and "alo gobi"-- I gorged on cake and every time I ate some I knew i should'nt-- but then its Christmas. Later on Christmas day we drove down to the office where Ant will be doing his internship for the next few months. We found a Timmy's just below and we all trooped in to buy our own favourites ( English Toffee, French Vanila and double double). Its been raining all day.. Toronto has had a very wet christmas.