Its different..

Like Maggi hot and sweet tomato ketchup.

But you probably knew that before.

Its about here and there.

Here there is electricity.There is none there.None being 12/24 in winters and 12 tending towards 24 in summer.

Here there is food.Organic, inorganic, grade A, B,C ,D ALpha beta gamma, theta, t2 t3 suchlike.You would starve in the aisle while chosing whats good for your heart.But yes, there is food. There is food there also.Mostly non shiny, non polished, chemical free, precious food...you want carrots- there is just one way its available...you want eggs- you have no clue whether they are grade abcdefgh or brown or white or organic or inorganic..you neither know if the hens were caged or not or treated rbst pqrs etc nor do you care.Its life as BB (Bhagwaan Bharose).

Here you are perpetually afraid and try to avert disasters- get h1n1 vaccine, know how to do basic first aid, read the manual, install the car seat, take life insurance, take medical insurance, take car insurance take renters insurance, take insurance insurance...jeeeez as they say.There it is BB- jab hoga dekha jayega...kis kis cheez se bachogay...life is short so enjoy it to the hilt..why eat unpalatable food- agar heart attack hoga to uskay baad exercise karengay...In my 10 yrs of car driving not even once did i think of what to do if car fell in water.Here i see a soap about a guys car getting in water and i start to do a PhD in how to escape from a sinking car...my mood changes and i am yet again afraid..

Here you weigh in pounds...the upside is when u are putting on weight it seems like its just in pounds..its not in kilos so its acceptable...which is also the downside...there anyone above 60kgs in weight whatever height sex religion, caste, social status...is consider obese and is called fatso either behind or in front of their backs :D

Here you have the maximum choice of anyone in the world- but you also do not have the basic freedom to earn your living if you are a foreigner...on a dependent visa.You have the best salaries but you have no assured employment, you have the best stuff for babies in the world wide world..but your employer gives you no paid time off to have babies...you have everything, you have nothing....There you have classes, but no teachers, you have medicines, but half of them work no better than placebo, you have institutions that prepare you for going abroad, you have the most intelligent people- in the bureaucracy - whose life is dedicated to making the country function less efficiently than before....

But you wish you were there...and you are a free bird there...its all greener there..just because its home....

Return of the king...

At the possibility of creating a CR infringment and stuff like that, I still brave on, for what else is an apt title for this blogpost, braving adversity and change to create itself from the current nothingness or need of either the creator or reader to warrant its presence.
To break the month long slumber of this blog, it braves on, muscle and sword in hand to yet establish a connection between the different factions that created it, gave it life, blood, only to abandon it in times of full frolic work responsibilities, hardships and all that kind of stuff.
Before the onset of yet another harsh american winter full of suprises, market crashes, chori, dakayti, births, rebirths, autumn falls, house shifts, cartons unpacking, cramping urself in 748 sft of urban illusion of space, before all this came the summer.
Having discovered the tastes of varies foodstuffs like pancakes, shrimps, fishes, chicken, pastas, crabs, lobsters, waffles, and all else foreign and forgotten, my taste buds suddenly started longing for home food. Home smells, flavours, places, everything "home". Friend of mine asked an interesting question- 026 where are thy abode? Whr is your home? MN, WI, NJ, CT, UP, AP, RJ....BBSN...CAL...
Silly question. Of Course home is where the heart is...or whr u have spent yor childhood.It a trite question for me.Could be interesting to ask 021 this question- one who never stayed in one place for more than 5 yrs.In all probability he is gonna say CA.Good for him.
So well almost 11 yrs out of "home" this nostalgia makes me irritated more than sick...how can it be...whatever happened to mans adaptibility and stuff....why do i miss vegetarian food....why cant i get kadhi chawal out of my head...why do i want to wake up in carpet waala room, with sun shining on my face...and no electricity at home...why do i think of lighting and thunder and rains pouring on the red bricks lining the lawn....i d not even think of just the wonderful times like holi diwali...even the time i had chicken pox and typhoid and lay in bed the whole day comes to me with a sweet longing smell....
So i wait...
Wait for the return...its said the thought and emotion is stronger than what one actually feels when one achieves something he has been longing for....I feel like I am in the forst semester of my hostel again....
And that feeling my friend is worth a thousand lives...for what follows was jst fun and frolic!!

May Cold Winds, Ironman et al

I sometimes wonder if I have repeated the titles.So I write about what I am going to write about in the title.I also observed that I types as fast as I speak and since I don't know typing it really creates a lot of typos when i type fast - and If i dont, I lose track of what I was thinking...See that typo came, slowed me down and now i forgot where I was...

The title helps...

Can you imagine being cold in May- May the month of heat, starting of summer holidays, ACs back home...we are in May and the heating is on...it was raining for hours yday and today when Mr Sun finally found the time to show its face, it came along with Mr Wind going on at 20 mph..dont ask me what it did to me...

Freidns ask how is it here- are you liking it or not- i wish i could sometimes just listen and walk away- like they do when they visit my blog- read and walk away..come on people- feedback is always welcome- bad or good..at least i would know people read the crap i write...

Watched Ironman today..not bad..paltrow did a good job..who is the ugly hero anyways..but if he is an MIT grad, I am certainly not putting him down on the must watch list...which makes me think - are all genuises made of the same DNA- he reminds me of some of the intellectuals I have met in Life...is DNA(by which i mean behaviou, motivations, mannerisms) of all these guys eventually == Flirts, highly egoistics (dont blame them for it though), Driven , Geeky, Weird, Bad at any sorts of Filial Relationships...??

And you thought i would say it was an awesum fun movie ? what with eating a four dollar hot dog?!

More later...too late at nite...

Ciao.

@Public Library

After much ado ....and for the sheer curiosity of it- I finally reached the Minneapolis Public Library. I think what compelled me to do this was the fact that "working from home" really doesn't help if you are holed up inside a 1 BHK and specially not when its supremely messy...

Do not ask me why did I not think of this earlier, but as someone said- Adversity is the harbinger of change- so after hearing one too many digs about how working from home means housework and people giving a small grin when I told them i actually work, to hubby laughing at my measely paycheck..i decided to take my future in my own hands...

Which means....I am now joining the thinking, working, doing population of the United States of America for which you need to step out, get dressed and sit with a laptop amidst people with similar goals.

About if this move helps me get my grey cells working faster than sitting on a sofa with a laptop curled up on my lap struggling to read and type..is still a matter of debate.

I shall keep you posted dear readers.

Till then,
syonara

Talking of composite houses

Think the whole of amru land is made up of just that...

Pieces, pieces and more pieces. I think by the time I leave I would have my brains full of assembly instructions for all arbit things- table, rack, more tables, more racks, sofas, utensils, bed, matress, pillow, covers, toilet seats, tissue papers...i guess you got the general idea.

I recently got a Huge lego set as a Gift (no I just teeny weeny Forced my hubby)..which has 2400 peices for assembling.Now I regret the decision- after having bought a TV stand which has equal number of pieces with elaborate assembly instructions.

Now you would ask me why am I sitting here blogging when I have a sexy new, newest (latest in the stores we were told) HDTV 37"? Why? Silly, the table hasn't been assembled yet...

..becasue unlike Lego pieces these ones weight about 20 kgs each.... I love India- I love Indian carpenters.I am gonna cook food for them everytime they come and do assembly work at home. (Thinking about that, how great it would be if we could outsource carpentry to India!hmmmm...)

Now comes a better one- the reason why TV prices have been going down I have been told is because the manufacturers are cutting down on labour intensive activities like "calibrating the TV set" which for "only$250 more we could do for you:---Are you out of your mind? Thats ow much a TV in India costs me...so well interestingly this is all that calibrating a TV does for me as a customer and for everyone bothered about the enviornment -http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=1765771&type=story

But yeah, we cheapos didn't get ours calibrated or castrated or whatever else nonsense they do for the purpose of cost cutting (the articles doesnt mention its a cost cutting intiative, but the Best Buy guy did). So well, we evil guys down here will watch our Blaringly bright TV without shame- that is once the TV table is assembled.

The second month in amru land

So I survived the first month...through numerous slumbers, phone calls, gtalk conversations, grocery shopping and getting used to the awful cold..

I think i will be 200 pounds by the time i leave from this country.

I just hope the above doesnt come true please deliver us from evil (aroma of cakes, ice creams, packed food, lazy winters, jumbo cokes, jumbo everything, cheap junk food).

Amen.

One Week completed..

..In Uncle Sam's land.. I seem to have visited a decent number of places for a first time visitor- Walmart, Target store (3 times), Macy's, Patel's, and of course the fitness center!

I miss paapad...sigh.. I absolutely am amazed by the number of people in the gym- i have never seen so many people together in one place in the whole of minneapolis downtown!

So well, that is to say that unlike what most of us think- everyone in amreeca is not fat and obese (which gives me less company than i thought i would have!). I do not miss office at all..which is strange considering that 90% of my life in Hyd was spent in the office (or maybe thats why i dont miss it!)

I have already started liking the cold..and am experimenting with doing with fewer layers each time i use the skyway... I miss reading do rupaiya ka newspaper- the newspapers that come here for free are so crappy-they are worse than dainik jagran...and the normal ones at like $1.75 to $2...hardly worth it..besides no one delivers newspapers at the apartment which is totally insane! or maybe i will have to hunt around a bit for that..

Baaki, I am overall a little awed and amazed at this country- its got so much and thats becoz they have a govt which functions...i really dont know if i will be as proud an Indian when I return as when I came back!

EMC's Country

Ok here goes what I have been trying to put in since quite a long time:

First the positives- What I like about America or rather minneapolis:

1. Hershey's chocolate bars...I have been dying to have them!
2. very friendly and professional people...at least on the face of it
3. Heated houses.
4. Clean environment
5.Beautiful stationery and gift wrapping
6. The snow!
7. Super fast internet
8. drink from tap
9. Cheap Electronics
10. The mississippi
11. HEated Skywalks
12. Big book stores
13. Post offices looking like muesems

And things I am not fond of here..

1. 1.75 dollars for laundry per load, 1.75 for drying additional
2. $15 from walmart by cab
3. Sub zero temperatures
4. Bitter tasting water
5. Bulk sized packs for junk food
6. Shyam sunder
7. chinkies smelling of soya sauce
8. windchills
9. Everything is free, though installation, maintenance, taxes etc are all charged
10. $25 for home delivery for a $17 dollar cake
11. Incoming charges on the phone
12. Continental Airlines ki service in economy class