Why is history always black and white?

Come on... I am sure history was not black and white! Cinema was invented black and white. Nothing more. It was the same VIBGYOR effect then! But when I assume World War 2 or 'Asoka' dynasty or even MGR (Tamil actor)movies for that matter, things come in my mind in 'black and white' shades.

Just because the 'zoom' effect of the camera, and the color videography was not invented by then; does not mean our ancestors lived in 'black and white' era. Well there is no such 'black and white' era for that matter. We use the term 'black and white times' to describe anything ancient. That's mean! I would want to see Charlie Chaplin in color.

Making of the cake!

It was his birthday! Whats special gift than my handmade cake? And this time its double-layered chocolate vanilla cake! I accept, I used the cake mix bought from stores this time, but I promise I would make it from the scratch next time !!! A picture speaks a 1000 words, they say. So, why type when I have them all captured. Here is the entire process of preparing a birthday cake.

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Step 13.

The 2.30 pm feeling!

I saw an ad about a product that keeps you awake from the 2.30 pm drowsiness. That made me wonder, why in the first place we feel sleepy at 2.30 in the afternoon.

Maybe when the human body was designed, it was supposed to be relaxed twice in a day, one during the night and another in the noon. Maybe, just like how the Americans adjust to the daylight savings, mankind was made or forced to adjust with only one sleep-time(during night). The body got used to sleeping during night. This was a forced rule against mankind, is what I conclude with. And I hate meetings scheduled at 2.30 in the afternoon. That being the case, imagine 2.30pm classes in schools.

Where is the new hair stylist?

Here she is...sitting and blogging! Ya...it feels good to say that. I have never experimented before, cutting hair, not even my own. This reminds me of the weirdest thing that happened with my hair, years back when a roll comb got stuck to my wet hair, while I tried to make some curls in my hair. And I have blogged about it, describing my experience how I(or rather my hair stylist) struggled removing it.

And yesterday my husband came to me and said, "I am too lazy to go to the saloon, why don't you trim my hair?" An opportunity of the lifetime! Well, I was not an expert in hair cuts, not even a beginner. But this was one of my dreams, to shape some one's hair. I knew no one would give me their head, to do it. But here it was, dream came true!!!

Well, to begin with, I started studying his hair and it took me around 4-5 minutes. Then I decided where to start and how to go about it. The good thing about his hair was, it was an ocean. The density helped me a lot, to start with. I carefully trimmed the back curls first. As a stylist, I would prefer getting feedback then and there, and that helps me correct myself. So I gave him a hand-mirror to keep looking at him on the larger mirror. Believe me, he had a thousand specifications. I simply followed his words. I must say, he was a bit cautious about his front part of the hair. He didn't let me do much of it. But that's OK, there is always the next time.

And wow, here he was; with his hair done! And after that.....

......it was 'hair' everywhere, and we ended up cleaning our toilet floor till night!

The reference page

Having read a number of books from childhood (I meant academic textbooks and not novels, which always stay far far away from me), never thought about whats behind writing a reference page. 'Reference page' was one thing I was never bothered to even look at. To be honest, the frequency of getting rid of a reference page would be faster than the other boring pages of a book.

Whats with a reference page? Here are the truths about it. Plagiarism is a very popular term related to writings. An author has to be creative enough in not imitating other person's work. For this, one has to mention the sources from where the information is taken from. And this is precisely gathered in a reference page. A reference page will look like this:

References:

1. Vasan, A. (2010, Apr 16). The City of Atlanta. Retrieved from http://anuradhafeels.blogspot.com/2010/04/city-of-atlanta.html

Notice the number of full stops and commas and their placements in between terms. If one goes wrong, the format is wrong. And did you know that there are different formats for book references, article references, journal references and much more. I have mentioned reference of an article in a website. I am still confused with italics and dates. Imagine the case of researchers who involve even hundreds of references in their thesis and research papers. Only 'format' specialists can spot the mistakes in these reference papers, like how my grammar instructor used to spot grammatical errors in my technical papers in school.

And what is the essence of blogging about references pages. What has it got to do with me and blogs. Oh yes, it has to do a lot here. As writers, we tend to write a lot about 'stuff'. While some are creative, some other are references. And I support quoting or reminding other people's thoughts such that great ideas reach a wider audience through people who spread them. As I already mentioned before, if the writer supports non-plagiarism, then a reference page in the bottom of the article is always better. To write a reference page it is important to follow the rules.

Spaghetti's here in 20 mins

I ran out of fresh vegetables. Its almost lunch time. Well, I had this wheat pasta spaghetti noodles with me. And here it is, another version of pasta.

Ingredients:

Olive oil - Just a table spoon

Wheat Spaghetti pasta - Well, depends on how much you want

Red peppers - maybe, a little less than half

Peas (I used frozen here. You can go with fresh peas)

Onion - just half

Salt

Pepper

And that's it......

Boil pasta for about 15 minutes. Its the usual process from here. Saute onions in olive oil. Add the rest of the ingredients and saute. And now add the pasta. Wow, here it is. The yummy wheat pasta with available ingredients.

Rupee gets a new face!

I was, and am campaigning for change of the new rupee symbol. Mr.D.Udaya Kumar, former IITian (IIT is Indian Institute of Technology and not Illinois Institute of Technology) has designed a face for the Indian currency 'rupee', which was mentioned, in its short form earlier as 'Rs'. And now 'Indian' rupee will join hands with its counterparts - the $ (dollar) and pound(searching for pound in my keyboard).




Coming to the design of the symbol, the letter resembles or is the Hindi alphabet (of the Devanagiri script) 'Ra', with a horizontal strike on it. The officials says that it is also a form of the English alphabet 'R' without its vertical leg. I would say if it has no vertical leg then its not 'R' at all! The person who had designed this letter turns out to be a person from Tamil Nadu. In Tamil Nadu, its a known fact that the language Tamil is given more importance that air, water and sunlight! There is always a sense of cold war between the North and the South India. South Indians don't accept 'Hindi' being the national language. Well, it is not! Hindi is the official language of India. It is the language spoken in the northern and central part of India. Southern states, especially Tamil Nadu opposes Hindi imposition in the state. That being said, it is a question mark how Tamil Nadu is going to accept this new rupee symbol. Also I believe it is not fair to conclude this as a symbol for the Indian currency. Though a Tamilian designed it, it is the officials of the government (majority being Hindi speaking) who approves the symbol!

They say it might take 6 months for the new symbol to reflect in the financial markets. No one knows how many years it might take to reflect in the keyboard!

Image :VoiceofSikkim.com

Unwanted mail forward!

Deeply disturbed by a forwarded mail I got today. Its a very old news in India, yet disturbing! I am talking about the brutal attack of call center employee (Prathibha Srikantamurthy) who was raped and murdered while commuting to work! Looks like her mother is still fighting for justice. The mail had some pictures of her which was disturbing me the whole day! A few years back I used to complain Bangalore is not a safe city to live. Reality is, no place is safe to live! Crime rate increases during after dark hours. Its highly unsafe for women, or for that matter even for men to travel in a cab, even to the airport!

The company which insists the employee to travel during the graveyard hours, will definitely not take responsibility. It totally depends on the individual to take a call. I have travelled during late hours to work. Big mistake! I have learnt to say 'no' now! And I am happy about it!

Karate kid - Avatar - Killers - Raavan

Karate kid - One of the good movies watched recently. Jaden Smith (son of the one and only Will Smith) has done a wonderful job much satisfying for his age. His actions and expressions looked like he was really interested in Kung-Fu and the director filmed it without his knowledge. Expected a bit more action from Jackie Chan. He is getting older.Speaking about him, reminds me of the Jackie Chan movies dubbed in 'Tamil'.Wow! those were very hilarious.

Avatar - I don't understand why James Cameroon was dumped so badly at Oscars. i understand that Oscars goes to movies with stories like 'Crazy Heart'. But Avatar is a movie of its kind! And we can expect a lot - a package from James Cameroon. He is one person who makes gross profit in billions across the globe. His movies are understood by people from all nations. Man, Avatar should have grabbed some more Oscars. Didn't 'Pandora' take us all into it? And yes, on what basis did he name it Avatar? That's a pure Sanskrit word! (Avatar means Incarnation in English)

Killers - Waste of money, waste of time, waste of energy, waste of fuel, waste of food! And now additional waste of time blogging about it! Mr.Ashton, try more humor than action!

Raavan - Everybody in India look Manirathnam as a god of Indian Cinema. Well, he is just another movie director, making sensible movies. Raavan was much awaited. Fully based on the epic Ramayana, which the director denies; is a good watch! Worth the money. Vikram, Aishwarya Rai, Karthik have done justice to their jobs. Music, well yes, treat to our ears but not extraordinary kind!

Is it a crooked ankle?

Here is the scenario. He was walking down the stairs of a dark auditorium and he slipped a couple of stairs ending up collapsing on the ground. There was a 911 call and he got emergency treatment but was sent home the same day. Now that's not a fracture, but a ligament tear. I have known many people for whom this has happened, mostly during their childhood. Children are more prone to such ailments. And their are the sportsperson to whom this happens more frequently.

The main remedy to 'ligament tear' apart from the medication, and what the doctors insists, goes by a simple abbreviation RICE. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. Ample amount of rest, coupled with contact to ice pack, compressing and elevating the affected leg cures and let the ligament grow much faster. Believe me, its that difficult managing a person who has got a ligament tear.

All day he used to sit rest and watch movies. Man, he had his vacation for two weeks. One good thing was, at the end of second week he was ready to even drive a car. And ya, we did do a crazy thing, to go on a long drive (almost covering 500 miles up and down) to mark our anniversary.

Did I mention the reason why he was coming down the stairs, before all this mishap happened? I was on stage for a debate show and he was going to video tape it.

TamilNadu - Karnataka

OK, there was this dispute for water for many decades now, between the two states. River Cauvery originates in Karnataka and joins the ocean in Tamil Nadu. History says that the conflict between the 2 states started way back in 1804, during the British rule. TamilNadu was then known as Madras province and Karnataka as Mysore province. Its been more than 2 centuries now and the conflict still goes on strong.

The recent IPL(Indian Premier League) cricket matches within major Indian cities triggered me think about where and how it all started. I was following a forum few days back where I came across an unhealthy debate between the Tamils and Kannadigas. If the Chennai (known as Madras then) cricket team won a match, the Kannadiga forum members would end up saying 'there was a match fixing' or 'Chennai won it by luck'. To this the Tamil forum members would counter attack with wild and annoyed statements. I was very upset to read the thread.

In India, first there is this India-Pakistan dispute for the state of Kashmir. And within India there are a million disputes between states most of them unwanted and selfishly triggered by politicians. And there is this Cauvery water dispute between TamilNadu and Karnataka. And within TamilNadu there are a zillion disputes between castes. The caste separation is like a virus everywhere and more predominant in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Where is India heading to.

Sometime back the dispute between the 2 states were so nasty that Tamils in Bangalore were attacked physically. And I am not very sure about the 'vise-verse' happenings. And there was this publicity stunt of the film industry people of both states fasting for the Cauvery issue. I am a big fan of Actor Rajnikanth, who is a superstar in the state of Tamil Nadu, with Karnataka as his birth-state. And during this 'fasting' issue, his name was pulled out more than anyone else unnecessarily.His opponents Actor Sathyaraj and Director BharathiRaja used their chances to the maximum, to let him down. The crux being 'How could a person from Karnataka be framed as a superstar in Tamil Film industry'. The inner crux being, 'How could a non-Tamil person be considered God of Tamil Cinema'.

Next to Kannadigas, Tamils make the maximum percentage of population in Bangalore, the capital city of Karnataka. Right from Software Engineers to auto drivers to restaurant owners, most people from Chennai have migrated to Bangalore; for its pleasant weather conditions, trying to beat the heat of Chennai. Being born and brought up in the beautiful city of Chennai, I have experienced every bit of the hot weather there. Summer is long and winter is short in Chennai. That is a known truth. When it comes to growing trees and maintaining them, I must say that the government of Karnataka has taken immense measures.

Hoping to see some greenery and experience fresh air in the city of Chennai.
* In Picture - Marina Beach, Chennai

Chennai City Traffic Police

[Again, this was a post saved as a draft for almost 3 years(on 8/8/07 at 11.11 AM) now, in my Dashboard. This is about a traffic scenario in Chennai, India. Hope the situations are changed and people are enjoying hassle free commute!]
Imagining a scenario at a busy Chennai Road, everyday we see the Traffic police yelling their voices out without any racial differences. The intensity of bad words they use over the people who break the traffic rules might be funny for others, but at times creates a chaos when the concerned party starts firing against the cops.

The picture shown here is a situation at a busy place called Tambaram here in Chennai. Tambaram is a south node which joins Chennai from other places in Tamil Nadu or Tambaram can be defined as the 'Gateway of Chennai'.

Now, I need to reach point '9' from point '1' everyday while traveling back home from office. Practially, logically, mathematicaly and actually it should take 1 minute if my bus is allowed to take '1-2-7-8-9' route. But the red spot there has a problem. Thats the traffic police destination who do not allow a U-turn for vehicles at point '2'. So my bus takes the '1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8' path to reach point '9'. Crazy people and crazy traffic situations!!!

Doctors everywhere!

Consultation, diagnosis, test, report analysis, consultaion again, medication/surgery is 'to-be' done by a single doctor. If you do your consultation with doctor 1 and unfortunately had to give blood test to doctor 2 in a different place using the prescription given by doctor 1; thats the end of it!

Doctors do not have healthy relationships with their counterparts in the industry. They envy other doctors and also do not give up easily with them. A doctor will never accept something good about another doctor. Even if there is one single medicine to cure a disease that is recommended by a doctor, another one who looks at the prescription ends up saying 'who on earth gave you these medicines'. He adds up saying, 'I recommend you stop this current medication and start up fresh with what I suggest'. Damn! I pity the patients around the globe.
The same happens with 'Tests'. Blood test, urine test; no matter what is required for you to be taken there is a lot of confusion in healthcare industry. If Doctor 1 suggests, you got to give urine samples 5 times a day for a single test; Doctor 2 suggests, just 1 sample of your urine before breakfast would be sufficient for all necessary diagonosis. Crazy! Not just individual doctors, even the medications differs from country to country. With so many types of medications like Alopathy, Homeopathy, Siddha, Ayurveda; people in India are totally confused which one to stick on with; as all of them seem to cure their ailments either partially or totally.

Health care costs are sky high here in the US. General consultation costs at least $50 (roughly Rs.2500). I recently bought a pack of medicine which had 2 tablets in it and the cost of it was $40 (roughly Rs.2000); which is, a single tablet in Indian terms costs Rs.1000. There was a time when 4 people including me had buffet lunch in a star hotel in Chennai which had cost us Rs.1000. Now I understand why parents in India wanted their children to take up medicine as their career after 12Th grade. That's one field which does not have any recession!

**Don't forget to look at today's 'health tip' (right side)!

INDIRANK

Finally IndiRank is here! My IndiRank as you can see to your right reads 68 in bold and big. If you notice a little more, it says 68/100. From my childhood, I have been brought up knowing, the lesser the Rank is, the more better you are. But here, according to IndiBloggers, the more your Rank is, the more score your blog has got and the more better your blog is!
Phewww, I was a bit shocked looking at it today morning and was thinking how bad a blogger I am; blogging since 2006. Got myself cleared after having researched on it. Here are the stats about my blog:

You have a good Alexa Rank.
You update your blog frequently. Keep Blogging!
You have a good IndiRank.Keep blogging and watch it
increase!

A dumb poem, dedicated to him!

This post was lying as a draft for almost 4 years. Now when I was clearing and cleaning my blog, I came across this and dint want to trash it. Though I am a dumb poet, this one did bring in laughter at home today!

The first day you bullied me,
I was then a pure ghee;
The second day you were sarcastic,
Even today when I think of it its fantastic;

The third day you made friends with me,
Then on you behaved like a honey bee;
Few days after you got closer,
I never knew then you were my owner;

You did propose me in front of everyone,
I was happy and said within,that you are the one;
Today we are more than what we were,
I will be a good better half for sure

The City of Atlanta

Are you planning for a trip to Atlanta? I thought I could help. Here is a long pending 'to-be' posted post in my 'Edit Posts' list.

A very nice city to be in; the city of Atlanta is the capital of the state of Georgia; that falls under the south-eastern part of the United States. There is only one state that lies below Georgia and that's the state of Florida which is called the 'sunshine' state. Florida is mostly sunny all around the year. People travel to Florida for vacation anytime in the year. Well, the lifestyle in other states are purely based on the weather conditions. Georgia does not have extreme weather conditions in winter like the north-eastern states of New york, Philly etc.

Georgia is pleasant most of the times. In other means, the weather is manageable enough to go for a drive even in winter. In Atlanta, it snows for a maximum of 3-4 days in winter. In the Downtown(Atlanta) there are a number of very popular tourist attractions.

CNN - The headquarters of the CNN is located very much here in Atlanta. Its a $15 tour inside CNN that allows you to get a feel of the newsroom and the live news telecast. I got a chance to view live news reading by eminent news readers. They also take you to the HLN network. The tour starts with a briefing of how an actual 'News' telecast is broad casted; by a 5 minute video presentation. And guess what, there is much more for you. One can actually experience news reading(wearing a professional attire) which one can buy in a CD format. And the best reader wins a chance. Also we get to know about the 'weather guy' and how they actually shoot the 'weather' part of news with a blank 'green' screen that shows as hell a lot of information at the receiving end. This reminds me of my 'Doordharshan' tour in Chennai, closer to the Marina Beach, years back.

Georgia Aquarium - Considered world's largest aquarium. True beauty in itself. We get a live feeling of being under the sea. We can spot the sea animals moving right on top of our head. There are Beluga whales here. It is a huge aquarium with many attractions within, which would at least require a whole day to tour on. And it costs $35 to get in. A very predominant and most popular attraction for people visiting the city.

World of CocaCola - Another one of its kind for the city of Atlanta; the headquarters of CocaCola is also here in Atlanta. The 'Cola' preparation right from concentrate preparation to the customer enlightenment; 'the world of Coca-Cola' is a truly interesting location to give a visit. Not much does it costs to get in. For $15, apart from the tour inside , one can get a chance to actually drink gallons of 'Coke' products. I never knew there were so many varieties of Coke around the world. The 'sample tasting' section is actually divided into continents, wherein you can fetch a mug of coke according to your choice. And finally, there is a Coca-Cola shop that sells T-shirts made from recycled plastic soda bottles.

Where are the toilets!

India has more cell phones than toilets says UN. After having observed and experienced travelling in India and US, mother India is far beyond in development areas like sanitary needs.
'Rest Areas' in the US are pretty well maintained, while the ones in India; between places are not called 'Rest Areas', but 'Dirty as you go' locations; wherein there is neither individual responsibility nor government maintenance. The blame is on both sides. No use targeting the government for each and every negativeness.

Hygienic toilets or restrooms lack a place in most Indian locations. And with the ever growing population and kids no one knows how to manage the entire 'toiletry' system. There should have been a 'minister for toiletry'; only and only if there are rules and norms will people follow it. There should be fines everywhere printed on boards. 'Rs 100 fine if new toilet seat cover not used', 'Rs 50 fine if hands not washed after usage', 'Rs 500 fine if water is spilt on floor'; and to climax it up; '15 days in jail if toilets are not flushed after usage'. And to the women population, I would strictly like to add , 'Rs 1000 fine if sanitary pads not taken care of'.

Again there comes the difference of 'Indian' and 'Western' toilets. Somewhere someone says 'Indian toilet is the one on which the body of the toilet does not touch the body of the person using it'. And 'Western toilet is one on which a person haves the feel of sitting on a chair while passing stool'. And guess what, theories say that Indian toilets are best way of exercise. More precisely on my research, its better known as 'Squat Toilet' than Indian toilet, and looks like poor countries opt this method. India was once poor, not anymore!

Her body - Breast Cancer initiative

Breast Cancer is a very known and common attack on women these days. Awareness about it is not enough; at least in India. People tend to think that Breast Cancer is a disease that attacks older women. And how many men care about creating awareness about it to their fellow women.

To be more precise and accurate, studies say that, any kind of small or large lump called cysts might be a cancer cell. And I read somewhere that breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer next only to lung cancer. Hence early detection and removal of the cancerous cell might lead to a normal and healthy life in the long run.

Another of its kind called 'Fibroadenoma' is a tumor that develops when 'a small lump like' cell grows in the breast for quite some years. This is very common in adolescent women. Not many teens and young adults are aware of it. I would suggest such awareness are created right in the schools and colleges to help avoid major developments.

Indians in America

A single post would not be sufficient enough to describe about our fellow Indians in America.
Disclaimer 1 :As a disclaimer, I would try to be on safer side mentioning that I am not generalizing.
Disclaimer 2: I am born and brought up in India and I love India. JaiHind!

Major US cities are now flooded with Indians. One in every 20 people are Indians. That's my guess on the ratio. I am yet to research on the actual proportion. Indians can be easily distinguished by many factors like color, accent, attitude, attire, physic, food, kids, parents, drivers, cars, etc.

As a first note, an Indian would predominantly drive a Toyota Camry or a Toyota Corolla or a Honda Civic. Its is very hard to find an Indian with an American model car. Secondly, Indians are always found in groups only with other Indians. To say it more detailed, the groups are precisely based on region, religion, language, caste. Of course, looks like an extension of India by itself.

Thirdly, an Indian will never teach his kid how to behave in public places. He'd rather pinch the kid to cry more. Again my words like 'never', 'always' are meant not to generalize, in this post!Well, I might sound a bit weird and harsh here. But having observed the other kids, I am bound to compare. In a flight, or a queue, or a bus, or a train, or a shop, or a library, or a place with a 'silence please' board; a kid who screeches will 99% be of an Indian's. I don't blame the kid, but his dad!

Fourthly, some forgotten/ignorant disciplines like parking the car a little away from the given premises considering plus or minus phenomenon. Indians are brought up with Indian driving skills and a sudden change to a more disciplined driving does not seem to suit them, at least for sometime in the beginning. And our housewives, who have accompanied husbands in H4 Visa make no difference to their counterparts in India. A little difference with the 4 walls being, American. I have observed ladies peeping into other persons privacy by staring at them for a longer period of time. I would really want them to come out of this regular 'cooking-child care-husband care-cooking-sleeping-cooking.....' schedule.

Fifthly, I would like to continue later on when I experience something weird.

What is your name?

What's in a name? Why bother if it has 20 letters or too funky. Everybody has a name! Even a man who does not have a kidney would have a name. But what's in a name?

My name is 'Anuradha', it means, a 'star' says Google. I gave it as 'Anuradha Vasan' in my credentials, having my father's name next to mine, following the traditional rule. Well, its been more than a year since my marriage, and still I have not gone for a surname change. My husband has left the choice to me whether or not to change. Well, that's not the topic here. I am addressed as Ms.Vasan in most places. My father's name 'Vasan' has a history again. His original name was Vasudevan, that of lord Krishna's. Since their were two Vasudevan's with the same initials, he decided to shrink it to Vasan and thats how my surname came up. Now back to myself. Here in the United States, people who are not Indian natives call me Vasaaan; thats Va-sa-aa-an(rhymes well with Nissan of Nissan Altima). I tend to correct them in most places. Now that I have become sick of it.

My husband's surname is Krishnakumar, and again since people in US call by surname, he goes mad spelling his name over phone even for a Pizza delivery. Most times his email ID would be mis-spelt. He is pretty much having a tough time. And his first name is Ramgopal. Most people prefer calling him Ram (that used to be my most favorite name even before I knew I am going to marry a guy called Ram). But here in the US, its addressed as RAM (as in 25MB RAM (memory)). Again he got fed up correcting people, hence he got used to himself calling it RAM. Now he says, RAM as in Dodge RAM. Easy for them to follow.

In India, people say that every body's name is related to god somehow or the other. Modern Indian parents want their kids to have a traditionally-funky name. That's because the most common factor that comes in their mind while naming their child is, the revenge against their own parents. In those days parents named their children only with traditional names not knowing that their child would someday become a CEO of a multinational company. Well, I am not complaining the way they named. But I learnt from few of my friends , how dissatisfied they were with their names. A girl named 'Abhithakuchalambal' would get bullied big time at college. 'Pichai' would find it it very difficult to survive in a Tamil speaking state. And so does 'Gundu Rao'.

How about 'Champakavathi', short form should definitely be Champa. Even short names like 'Dhruthi' doesn't seem to be fluent enough. Friends of 'Godavari' would like to call her 'Goda'? or 'God'? 'Hansanandini' shrinks to 'Hansa', I know a person named Hamsa; I would definitely get confused between the two. How would 'Kamakoti' or 'Kamakshi' be called at home? I don't think either would prefer being called with a short form.

Jothika's name in the movie 'Sillunu oru Kadhal' was 'Kundhavai'. This reminds me of the Vivek's comedy in 'Sivaji' about 'Anga-vai'. I had a friend named 'Mrinalini'. At the same time I knew another girl called 'Mirnalini'. Phew!!! That was a tough time differentiating both names. American Indian, 'Vera Mindy Chockalingam' from the US TV series 'The Office' ,is better known as Mindy Kaling here in the United States. While watching the serial sometime, I heard from one of her dialogues, that her parents named her 'Rajnigandha' and she does not like it.

My very own, most common name, 'Anu' was also bullied at times. People used to say Anu's shirt, Anu's cycle, Anu's ring as Anus ring. A small apstophe would change the enitre meaning and would help my enemies bully me.

Most Indians have remodelled or even completely changed their names according to their wish. Based on numerology or even profession, people prefer others to call them with names they choose for themselves. What about film actors. Name a few who haven't gone for a name change. Rajnikanth is a magical name for Tamils or even Indians across the globe. If he was still Sivaji Rao Geakwad, it would sound like some character artists in 1950s. But that's business. People love calling him Rajni though they know he is Sivaji Rao.

I often used to tell my husband that we must be very careful while naming our child. The name should be crisp and easy to pronounce and definitely not a one which our child would want to change in future. There are parents who name their child after a very close relative of them or one of their mothers or fathers.

I came across an English name 'Cupcake' which I recently saw on TV. And I met a person called April. Another beautiful name called Melissa of a person whom I know; I used to say Melissa romba meleeesa aayita...(which means Melissa has become thin, in Tamil).Well that comes under sarcasm which cannot be helped. But lets not forget the genuine cases.There was a girl in my college whose accent and attitude stunned me. Her name was 'Paapathi'. That was the biggest shock for me. Her name was not at all related to her by any mean. But people called her 'Pops'. Now isn't that funky enough!

*Picture - Savannah, Georgia

Separate food blog???

I have a passion towards cooking, that's because I feel cooking is not a 'woman's only' job but its an art. In the recent times, I had been blogging a little more about cooking. Suddenly I came up with this notion of moving my 'cook-posts' to a new blog; and even started thinking of a name for it. Well, that reminds me of parents naming their newborns, which I would want to discuss in my next post. Complicated enough to call out during an emergency, 'Sahaskruthi', 'Abhiprithi','Seemantini', and the list goes on. Back with naming my cook blog, I had a few names in mind - 'Pasta', 'Garlic','Burp', 'Taste it baby', 'Take a bite man' or even 'Fart', if I ran out of names.

But then, the whole idea of having a separate cook blog was not enough satisfying. That's because I do not want separate my ideas as 'General' and 'Cooking'. Neither did I want separate readers for both blogs. I want men who are a 'zero' in cooking, also to read posts about cooking and food; not just in my blog, but elsewhere. Come on, its the food we eat. Lets know where and how it comes from!!!

Making of a Burger!

First let me tell the history behind this making! Yesterday I planned to make 'Aaloo Mutter' (an Indian version of creamy, rich, buttery* Potato-Peas curry) with Chapathis. My pressure cooker, in which the peas was getting cooked remained dead for quite sometime without whistling. Finally, after about 20 minutes there came the first whistle. (Shiva, the guy who used to follow my bicycle when I was in 8Th class used to whistle better than that!) After its second whistle, my cranky thoughts were to let go 5 whistles, which a normal woman would never do. I assumed that the peas being so hard without being soaked well initially, would cook better in 5 whistles. End result - the peas was mashed thoroughly forming a semi-solid paste!!! And hence raised the idea of making Burger today! A person who is learning to cook good would normally not read further after listening to this mess. But you can trust me!

The most popular McDonald's does not provide veg Burgers. Hence, the vegetarians(especially the ones by birth who have migrated from India to the US) have lesser choice of outside food, or to be specific, Burgers. Well, the making of the patty is a little tricky here. Remaining process is so simple that, even a person like my husband who thinks cooking is a rocket science, can do it easily.

Ingredients I used:

Mashed peas - 2 cups

Boiled potatoes - 2

Scrapped carrot - 1

Salt - very important you have it enough. Plus or minus of this ingredient would spoil any dish.

Chilly powder - 1+ tsp

Garam masala powder - 2 tsp

Jaljeera powder - 1 tsp (I usually add it for its tangy flavor)

Coriander leaves - well....... a little!

Oil

Made it this way:

1. Mix all the above ingredients well. I prefer mixing it with clean and dirt-free hands than with a spatula. Mash the potatoes within. Wow, that was a good exercise for my hands.

2. Now it might look like a solid ball (If its in the right consistency). Partition into 4.

3. Grab each portion and roll it with your palms. Flatten a bit

4. Heat each of them in a non-stick pan, preferably; simply because it consumes lesser oil to cook the stuff.

5. Let it become brown both sides. The patty is ready to become a layer.

The Burger arrangement begins:

6. Cut the Burger bun into 2 and toast it. I prefer toasting it.

7. Spread some melted butter.

8. Place the patty and then a sliced tomato and onion. Lettuce or cabbage is optional.

9. Salt and pepper optional but I suggest you add.

Serve with fresh lime.

The final step to Burger enlightenment!!!

Precious / Up in the air

Academy award for 'Best Support Actor' - Mo'Nique in Precious (and) 6 Oscar nominations for 'Up in the air' ; made me watch these two movies as part of my movie night last weekend!

Precious, the most spoken about movie in recent times. Unfortunately I did not watch the climax because I turned off the TV half way through. I was moved. Precious, the obese, illiterate teenager becomes pregnant twice by her own father and lives with her mother who physically and mentally abuses her. Mo'Nique who plays Precious's mother has shown amazing talent in acting. Gabourey Sidibie who plays the 16 year old Precious lost to Sandra Bullock in Oscars under 'Best Actress' category.

Up in the air, its all about firing! And a little romance in between. If you are looking for a corporate movie describing the recession times watch this. A subtle and soothing journey up in the air; its about a man who completes his 10 million miles in the air. George Clooney (Ryan) is hired to fire employees; helping bosses who are coward enough to do it themselves. Anyone would love a job like that. But Natalie, Ryan's coworker did not and she resigned after hearing that the employee whom she fired had committed suicide. 2009 had been a year of recession and this movie looks like a summary of the same! Good watch!

*the pictures show only George Clooney because - Oh god! I just love looking at him, and only him!

Brahmacharyam...

I feel so annoyed by this word - Swamiji! How many Swamijis in line to have taught the same lesson to our Tamil devotees(or should I generalize as Indian devotees). And how many excuses do our people need to repeat the same foolish mistake of following the false footsteps of these sick people.

For those unaware of what crap this post is about; let me explain in detail right from the spiritual guru's motto "Worry is created out of ignorance and sustained by ego" says Paramahamsa Nithyananda in his devotional website.

And yesterday I saw this Sun TV news clip on YouTube and went speechless. People call him god. I blame the people first! There were similar controversies related to sex scandals by Godmen in the past. I do not want to mention names here. If technology can help them in many ways, let it help you in googling about them. Here,the devotees still seem to show that they have not learnt anything from them. Mere stupidity! As told in many south-Indian channels, a swami is a person who sacrifices luxury and chants the name of god.But there is something known as betrayal. That part of the controversy made me write this post.

Wikipedia says "Swami is primarily a Hindu honorific title". What should have made him honorific. I also went through his website and was wondering; do small scale software companies have a tie with such guys to build their websites, so beautiful and professional.

And need I say about these actress who pose in such videos and controversies. Swamijis,film industry personnel, sportsperson, multi-millionaires, politicians are predominantly popular among controversies with actress.In this video, what I discovered was, the actress was trying to keep stuff on light; while Swamiji was keen on turning lights off. My prediction was; whether the actress was involved in helping people find out his true colors. No one knows the truth! And the Swamiji supporters are trying to prove him innocent. Well, lets wait and watch. But from the eyes of a normal human being and of course being a person who knows sufficient information about graphics and computers, I felt there was not much morphing or graphics work.

But you people who blindly follow false footsteps, think twice!

Biology-Electronics-Mainframes........Business?

Initially, when I was a kinder-garden kid, people used to ask me; what I would want to become when I grow up. And being a popular girly answer at that time, I would reply - Doctor! Then, during my high school days my goal slightly changed towards my interest in space research. For quite some years, I was sticking onto this profession(I mean dreaming about this profession). Then during my higher secondary, my electives pulled me back into my childhood goal of becoming a doctor (Oh yes, I mean I was in Biology group).

My board exam results made a slight twist. Since my Maths score was more than that of Biology, according to Indian law of Medical Entrance my chances were very weak to become a doctor. Hence, Engineering colleges opened their gates wide enough for me. Here, I jumped into the pool, or rather the ocean. And my choice of specialization was none other than 'Electronics and Communication Engineering'. Well, my father decided during my first year of engineering that I would become an expert 'Electronics Engineer' and join him in BSNL repairing 'Telephonic circuits'.

He in fact was very keen and adamant that I work only for a government concern (the 9 to 5 office, remember?). So he in his own way started spending money on application forms of government office like BSNL, VSNL, BHEL, Railways, to name a few. Trust me, I cant imagine sitting in those old buildings, with a ceiling fan too far from the ceiling supported by a long rod; and which almost comes and hits your head. And not to forget, reaching office at 10.00 AM, lunch at 12.30 AM inside the so called office canteen with uncles and aunties and grandpa's and grandma's. I used to hate these government jobs and wrote these UPSC exams just for the sake of my dad.

Thank God, I narrowly escaped joining them. And what else, fell into another pit called IT; oh ya as a technology person trying to code and talk. And now, do you remember I initially wanted to become a doctor. But guess what, there was a time when doctors were envying software engineers. Not anymore I guess, after this cycle of recession. Oh ya, did I mention; somewhere between my high school and higher secondary I also had another goal - to join the army! Well, that vanished in between my busy schedules.

And now, after about 5+ years of breaking my head in technology; is management my path?

Oh ya, there was a subject called as 'Engineering Drawing' during my first year of Engineering. Only the guys who framed the curriculum would know why on earth they had to include such a subject in the course. Maybe they thought, in future sometime after 10-15 years; that would help me sketch the plan of my house; on my own. And still the device called 'drafter' is hanging down somewhere in my bedroom loft!

Junk Comments

Whoa....A sudden increase in my blog comments. And not to my surprise most of them being junk. In this world of internet, now I guess blogs are hot spots to forward and spread junk/spam links and information; may or may not be with a viral infection. One of my laptops got seriously infected with this culprit. Am searching for antibiotics!

Great Smokey Mountains at Summer

A look back on all our trips to the Great Smokey Mountains. I failed to write down my experiences then and there. Here I am recollecting my beautiful moments at the Great Smokey Mountains National Park across Tennessee- North Carolina. This was my first among the 4 trips, across all seasons.

Summer (June 2009) - This reminds me of the scenic lush green mountains, last summer. Greenery everywhere! We did not feel the heat of summer anytime on the mountain top. The strech from city of Cherokee to the city of Gatlinburg is the main essence of the trip to the Smokeys. In between this stretch is the Tennessee-North Carolina borderline. Gatlinburg is a beautiful city surrounded by mountains. The Gatlinburg stretch has a number of shops with a variety of food and fudges and what not! Though there are a number of hotels/motels you can opt for, I suggest you can stay in Pigeon Forge, which is 6 miles away from the Mountains as well as Gatlinburg.

Pigeon Forge is another city full of activities. It has a number of fun parks.

On our way back home we switched routes and came via Chattanooga, a must-see location in Tennessee. 'Ruby Falls' is a historical underground falls, which was discovered by Leo Lambert who named it after his wife 'Ruby'. An elevator takes you underground and there is a mile long trekking inside the caves to view the stunning beauty of this 'America's Highest Underground Falls'.