Turducken - What kinda stuff is this !!!

While the rest of the world is busy working... we are busy stuffing.

Move away Turkey, welcome Turducken.

What are we going to do next year...stuff this into a cow!

Oh poor birds...and animal.

Deja Vu

Ok... This is my problem.

I really do not believe Time Travel as they show in movies is possible.
It is impossible to go to the past and interact with the past and change things.
I can't even imagine something like that happening.

We may be able to see the past, but in a 'Read Only' mode. You can see , but you can't interact, or in other words you can't change the past.

I went to 'Deja Vu' last night.


The movie was a good movie, except for the fact 'Time Travel'. But the whole movie revolves around time. So ... :)
Accepting the fact that time travel is possible for like 2.5 hours, this movie was surprisingly a good movie.
My expectation were low for this movie, pretty much I thought it was a junk, but it was at least above average if not good.

The technologies that they use in this movie...come on, its just movie...I do not think anyone in the world has such a technology as of today.

The actress, don't know who she was, was pretty.
Denzel Washington as usual was cool.
Val Kilmer...comes and goes.

hmmm...I wonder what I would change if I can Time Travel and go to past!!!

# The U.S. entry process is considered the “world’s worst” by travelers

* Travelers rate America’s entry process as the “world’s worst” by greater than a 2:1 margin over the next-worst destination area.

* The U.S. ranks with Africa and the Middle East when it comes to traveler-friendly paperwork and officials.

* 54 percent of international travelers say that immigration officials are rude.

* Travelers to the U.S. are more afraid of U.S. government officials than the threat of terrorism or crime.

* Two-thirds of travelers surveyed fear they will be detained at the border because of a simple mistake or misstatement.

http://www.poweroftravel.org/release-11-20-06.aspx

James Bond's Casino Royale - Daniel Craig fits the role

Last Saturday went to 'Casino Royale' and 'Happy Feet'.

I wanted to see 'Casino Royale' on Friday, First Day.
But was invited for a Birthday party so I had to watch the movie on the second day :(

So went to see the new Bond after a second Birthday party at noon on Saturday.

The new Bond was awesome.
This is a very different Bond movie.
This is the 'Bond Begins'.
Bond is very rough at the beginning of his career.
He is not sophisticated.
He makes mistakes, he apologizes, he doesn't know how to act(like Bond) around women. He gets beaten and kicked around. He bleeds badly. As the movie progresses, you can see this rough Bond getting refined and starts to kick ass. In the end we get, 'Bond, James Bond' :)

As this was the first novel written by Ian Fleming, there are only few gadgets like the Defibrillator in Bond's Aston Martin and a tracking tag implanted in Bond's arm.

Iam a big fan of Pierce Brosnan. When I heard that he won't be doing the Bond sequel I was disappointed. But when I saw Daniel Craig, I thought it was a good choice.
Daniel Craig made a good impression in this movie as the rough, unrefined Bond. I do not think Pierce Brosnan would have fit the rough Bond role as perfect as Daniel Craig. Piece Brosnan looks sophisticated.

I liked the movie.

It's interesting it gave a tough competition for the Australian animation movie 'Happy Feet' despite the fact that the Bond audience is considerably less than the animation movies and in addition to that, many Bond fans boycotting the Bond movie, to show their dislike in Daniel Craig.

In my opinion, they should watch the movie for themselves.

'Happy Feet' is, I believe, the first Australian full length animation movie. I thought it was hilarious. The animation was very realistic.

Dum Maro Dum - Hare Krishna Hare Ram, Zeenat Aman to Yana Gupta

I've been listening a lot to one of my all time favorites 'Dum Maro Dum' from 'Hare Krishna Hare Ram'.

Bought the song in iTunes too.

If you wish to see the video of the song, its in YouTube.

Dum Maro Dum YouTube video


God, if I had money, I would remake the movie with Yana Gupta in the role of Zeenat Aman.

Only Hotmail

Only HOTMAIL.

Iam a paid customer of Hotmail.

A Movie A Day Week

Monday - Flags of Our Fathers
Tuesday - Flushed Away
Wednesday - Borat
Thursday - The Prestige
Friday - Babel

India, Pakistan activate anti-terror mechanism

ok...that's funny, because

"I am a Lashkar member", Pakistan MP discloses

Are these guys kidding Indian government?

A friend of mine and I planned last weekend to do 'A Movie A Day' where we see one movie every evening for 1 week. So far it has gone good. Let's see how it goes from now on.

I was also in for a surprise when I came to know this.

Sivaji The Boss Trailer - Rajini Shriya Vivek Vairamuthu AR Rahman Shankar AVM

I created this trailer using some still pictures.
Turn on the music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADioDbIPggc

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8196567495169793799&hl=en

India's Bangalore in name change - Bengaluru

"The BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi says that for many it is an assertion of regional pride and preserving local culture in the face of growing Western influence."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6107082.stm

Preserving local culture ???
You preserve the local culture by closing the bars and night clubs, not by changing name

India's Google Map ?

I came across this India's version of google maps today.
Even though its not as detailed as US and Canada, this looks cool.
At least its a good start.

Who knows, Yahoo or Google might end up buying this company, making the owners millionares.

http://db.mapmyindia.com/

You can see a map, or you can get driving directions too.

Road Trip to Canada - Part I

It was like 8.30 am on a wednesday morning. I went to Vasanthi akka's home to get some Canadian dollars. She had some from her earlier visit to Toronto. I thought I could use it. It was a 11 hour long drive from Richmond, VA to Ottawa, Canada, according to my car computer. It started badly. I was lost in Richmond twice. Yes, it's quite embarassing considering that I have lived so long here, I took wrong exits twice and it cost me nearly 30 minutes. Then as I had lots of water that morning, hoping to stay hydrated during the long drive, I had to stop twice to pee between Richmond and Washington DC. But call it blessing in disguise, because of this delay, I missed the rush hour traffic in Washington DC.

When I reached the US-Canada border the immigration post was like a toll booth. The officer 'Bonjour' ed me. I replied the same and said 'Hi' . That's my complete French vocabulary, other than 'Sortie' for 'Exit'(this is very important, I needed to know how to get the hell out of a place when in danger) and 'One, Two, Three'.

The officer did not ask much questions. He knew why I was there.


Then when I reached my place at Ottawa it was like 7.00 pm wednesday night.


I checked in and was looking for a place to eat. I found a Greek fast food place and ordered some Falafel togo.
Came to my room, had it and went to bed.



The next day was important for me. I needed to be relaxed and comfortable.

My new digital Camera

For a long time, I wanted to own a digital camera.
The one I had bought in 2001 was a very old camera with poor resolution and very low memory.
I gave a Canon digital camera to my sister as a gift.
But I myself never owned one.
The only camera I had was a film SLR.

So for this Canada trip I decided to buy a digital camera.

I was impressed by reading the reviews of a particular camera
Kodak EASYSHARE V570 Dual Lens Digital Camera

I also bought a 1 GB memory card.

I took lots of pictures in Ottawa, Toronto and Niagara falls.
I will have to download them to my computer, which by the way suffered a hard disk crash, and check out the quality of the pictures and video clips(yes, the camera seems to take beaufiful video clips).

But first priority, salvage my notebook computer and see if I can recover my data from the hard disk.

Camera Review:

It's simple, easy menu options, less buttons, not too complicated.
For a "not so smart" guy like me who just prefers to take pictures and does not want to spend time figuring out how to take pictures, this is a good camera.

Road Trip to Canada

Yea, that's the route of my Road Trip to Canada.

Richmond, Virginia, USA
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Buffalo, New York, USA
Richmond, Virginia, USA

About 1800 miles, 5 days.

Throwing a stone!

Maybe they just had one nuke and they used it for testing and now they are thinking they made a mistake by using the only one they had for testing.

If this is the way NK is going to fight, then we don't have to worry about them.

Oh I forgot to tell about another movie I saw with my friend in the theater. 'Fearless'.

Jet Li seriously kicks ass.

This weekend was both tiring and relaxing.
I went to the gym and did some intense exercises after a very long time, and Iam very sore and tired. At the same time I rented lots of DVDs and watched a lot of TV at home too while relaxing in the comfort of my couch.

I saw 'The Triangle'. I thought this was a movie about Bermuda Triangle, but it happened to be a 6 hour TV movie about Bermuda Triangle. Nevertheless I enjoyed it, worth all the money I spent as I got 6 hours of entertainment. Also it was good to see 'Catherine Bell's cute face. But my plans of sleeping early Friday night and getting up early on Saturday morning got screwed.
Then I have started to Netflix one of my all time favorite TV Serial, The X-Files.
I got the first 2 DVDs of Season 1, total 8 episodes including the pilot. Man, I love X-files. Its good to see the faces of Agent Mulder and the flawless Agency Scully :)

Then I also saw 'V for Vendetta' starring one of my favorite actress 'Natalie Portman'. It was an ok movie, in my opinion.

Goddammit its 9:50 am. Let me get back to my work.

The most unwanted

Even since I returned from There, I have been going though a phase, I guess.
Suddenly I feel like the most unwanted person or the most insignificant person.
I very well knew each one of us and everything we have seen in this planet is insignificant compared to the Space Time Scales we have known.

For those who don't know what Iam talking about, you should see this Cosmic Calendar.

This shows in the known Time scale, our life span is so insignificant. Also we all know the size of the solar system, and the Milky Way galaxy and billions of such galaxies and may be even billions of universes. So both by Space Time scales we are insignificant.

But recently I have started to feel that even in this small planet earth, in the small city where I live currently, Iam the most unwanted and insignificant.

I do not know if this just happened or this was always the case and Iam just aware of it now after coming back from There.

"I would say that we should never use the word Islamic with whatever is happening. Islamic terrorists. Now, Islam doesn't believe in terrorism. It hurts people's sentiments. You can call terrorism terrorism. It has no religion. There are terrorists in Sri Lanka. Are we calling them Tamil terrorist? Hindu terrorists? They are Hindu."

-Musharraf, September 2006

http://www.foxnews.com/

uh...Mr Musharraf...if the 'terrorists' in Sri Lanka are to be called as 'terrorists', then why should the 'terrorists' in Kashmir be called 'freedom fighters'???

Doesn't make any sense!

oops Flag upside

Ranjini, Music Box & This Guy (Ye Ladka)

Ranjini Ettigi is a Richmond, Virginia born young singer who is making her mark in the music industry.
Her album is soon to debut in MTV Asia.

http://www.qwilite.com (official website)
http://www.qwilite.net
http://www.myspace.com/ranjinimusic

License Plates

I've been thinking about this for a while.
Whenever I drive I see these vehicles passing by, or the ones that I pass, and have this coded message or some text in their license plates.
I find it fun to decode them and see what the license plate says.

Then I thought why not catalog them and put it in a separate blog.
(huh, yeah, yet another blog from me. Iam sorry folks, but you always have the choice to not read all my boring blogs)

http://decrypt-licenseplates.blogspot.com/

Evolution of Hi

How Are You?

became

HAY

became

Hai

became

Hi

Her hair... soft and rich...
Her voice... liquid...
Her eyes... bewitching...
My sleep filled with restless dreams...
My wakefulness with longings.


Be like a running brook... which deaf, yet sings its melodies for others to hear..
Feel the pain of too much tenderness...
Awake at dawn with a winged heart...
And give thanks for yet another day of loving...
Empty yourself and yet be filled...
And know you are in love.

iPOD

Finally I got my iPod.

Nelly Furtado is HOT.

Thanks Q94.

Promiscuous Girl by Nelly Furtado

I've been listening lately the song 'Promiscuous Girl' by Nelly Furtado, and also watching the video. WAW.

After 5 years, now I feel the time has come to buy an iPod. Iam shopping :)

Also, I like the song 'Temparature' by Sean Paul.

Why Tamil is a Classical Language !

http://tamil.berkeley.edu/

"To qualify as a classical tradition, a language must fit several criteria: it should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich body of ancient literature. Unlike the other modern languages of India, Tamil meets each of these requirements. It is extremely old (as old as Latin and older than Arabic); it arose as an entirely independent tradition, with almost no influence from Sanskrit or other languages; and its ancient literature is indescribably vast and rich."

The BMW that my friend Raghav bought recently.

Doing Business in the East - The West Way

There is something unique about how some businesses are run in the west

Wireless phone service providers give phones free or at highly discounted rates. Sometimes they even give you money back when you buy one of their phones.
The catch is, you will have to sign a contract for 1 or 2 years with the service providers. That's where they make most of their money.

Car dealers, give great discounts when you buy a new car from them. Dealers don't make much money when they sell the car. But when something is wrong with the car, and when you take it to the dealer, they charge you heavily. That's how they make most of their money.

This is how business is usually done in the West.

Tamilnadu Assembly Elections 2006

DMK has promised a free color TV to every household, if they win the elections.

Now, the question of whether they will stick to the promise, now that they have won the election, will have to be seen.
Honestly, I don't think so. I believe that in urban areas, many families may get free color TV, with great media attention. But in rural areas, probably a whole village may get 1 or 2 free color TVs.

Why would DMK want to give a free color TV, say mainly to people in urban areas?

I belive the reason is two fold.

First, to get people's attention and win the election, which by the way seem to have worked.A classic example of textbook execution.

But the second reason, which I think is true, is truly an interesting and amazing plan.

Sumangali Cable Vision (SCV), part of the Sun TV group, DMKs voice in the media world, is a large cable operator in the Chennai area. They are in a huge acquisition spree, acquiring small cable operators in all parts of Tamilnadu.

So the more people have TV, the more subscribers for Sumangali Cable Vision, the more revenue! TADA!

And since SCV is in acquisition spree, very soon, they will have a huge monopoly in cable business.
Of course the cable service might be free for sometime, say 3 months or so, much similar to the ‘deals’ that they give in USA.
But after that, there is a great chance, that they can charge high amounts for the cable service. This also serves as a platform for them to provide broadband internet services through cable, similar to Comcast in USA.

Once almost every household have TV and SCV, DMKs voice, it can be used as a powerful media to push the agendas of DMK. They can literally control what the people can see and listen through TV.

This is really an ingenious plan.

ICC International Cricket Council adopts one more suggestion from me :)

The International Cricket Council is to debate whether to allow teams to appeal against umpiring decisions.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/4975832.stm


I earlier wrote an email to ICC suggesting few changes to cricket. The email and the response here.

http://vimaln.blogspot.com/2005/02/icc-proposes-changes-in-odi-format.html

The only suggestion remaining now is my 3rd suggestion for Timeout.

Superman Returns - Brandon Routh / Hrithik Roshan

So my favorite movie Superman Returns...

With Brandon Routh, who resembles Christopher Reeve remarkably.

Although I think Hrithik Roshan will make a better Superman. At least that's what I would have done had I owned WB.

"O Podu" ... Section 49 ‘O’ of the Election rules 1961

“O Podu” is a social awareness movement.


“O PODU’ means “cast the vote”. Voting is both the right and duty of the people. Another objective of our movement is to make people aware of their constitutional right to cast their vote under section 49 ‘O’.

It is a unique feature of our Indian constitution that it has provided the legal right to the voter to reject all the candidates. Section 49 ‘O’ of the Election rules 1961, has empowered the voter with this right. This section has conferred the right to the voter to inform the booth officer, after the indelible ink mark has been marked, that the voter does not want to vote for any of the candidates. The section requires the booth officer to record the voter’s choice of 49 ‘O’.

http://www.keetru.com/ohpodu/english.html

THE CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS RULES, 1961

God and Science

I thought this was interesting (even though I don't agree with either of them 100%). Nevertheless , I learned something from it.

I wonder...

Scientists question paranormal behaviors saying that until unless they can be observed, measured and repeated, it cannot be accepted and therefore it is not True.

Scientists speak in support of Darwins Evolution theory.

Shouldn't they wait, until they observe the evolution of one species to another, measure and repeat it ?

What the Bleep Do We Know?

Last night Dixita and I watched the movie/documentary 'What the Bleep Do We Know?'.

I heard a lot about this movie and the hype around it.
Finally got to watch it last night. It was a good movie. But it was over-hyped in my opinion.
It was good in the sense there were lot of things that I was able to understand and learn. But there were many gray areas with inadequate explanation.

I think anyone who is interested in spirituality, quantum physics, or have questions like 'Who are we?', 'Who is God?' et cetera, should watch this movie.

Holy Cow!

Digits that we recognize as "arabic" were brought to Earth by our teachers from Thiaoouba...

This is kinda spooky!

Google Pages

Alright, today I got an authorization from Google, to use their yet another beta product, "Google Pages".

Right now, google pages, don't offer much. It's very primitive. Let's see where it goes from here.

http://vimaln.googlepages.com/

Parallel parking

Do you find it tough to parallel park(like me hehe)?

Well, this is how you do it.

The picture on the left is nuclear reactor dome. A potential place where nuclear weapons are made.

The picture on the right is siva lingam. A symbol of Lord Siva, the God of Destruction.

Anyway, I just learned about 'Diminished Value'.

Our ancestors?

Looks like the theory of meteors carrying seeds of life, as mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, dated April 25, 2005, might win. Read this , dated March 5, 2006 and be amazed.

Did nothing significant this weekend. Just posted some blogs in my Touring Talkies and SHRL

Hey hey, Sivaji Stills have started to come out.

What can happen on the eighth of this month, that can be a precursor to a change or change a lot of things happening around the world?

They did not know what to do. They were losing power and time was running out. They had to do something to establish their supremacy and bring things under their control. They needed something, which was radical, and was already a proven success.

My one liner(Hollywooders) or பண்ச் டயலாக்(கோலிஉட்டர்)

பணம் சேர்த்தா இந்த ஜென்மத்துக்கு தான் பயன்படும்.
புண்ணியம் சேர்த்தா அடுத்த ஜென்மத்துக்கும் பயன்படும்.

This mystery has been baffling me for a long time, I decided to create a new blog on this.

http://naadi-jothidam.blogspot.com/

Kushboo summoned in case relating to rape, murder of child

http://news.webindia123.com/

"The case against Kushboo pertained to suppression of facts with regard to the alleged molestation and killing of the girl in a five star hotel last year.

The incident allegedly occurred during a party in a five-star hotel and the parents and hotel management had hushed up the issue.

It came to light when Kushboo reportedly mentioned the incident in an interview last year, saying that it still haunted her."

Allright, now Kushboo has had seen a crime against a girl and did not report it.
So much for 'Women Empowerment'!

'Survival of the fittest'.

I think it's actually 'Survival of the smartest'

weekend-2 movies-priyasaki, oru naal oru kanavu
visit downtown christmas lighting
relaxing

And it continues...

http://o3.indiatimes.com/amjadkmaruf

India and development

This is my first blog on India, after visiting it after two and a half years.

My first take, whoever said India is developed or developing fast, Iam gonna kick him.

India is nowhere near a developed nation and still not a developing nation. India is more like a under-developed country.

Iam not bashing India, but Iam just talking ground reality here.

Just because every Tom, Dick and Harry has a cell phone, doesn't make a country a developed/developing country.
Just because a few individuals in a couple of sectors(read IT & BPO) make lot of money, doesn't make a country a developed/developing country.

The above 2 are the major things that has happened in India. Maybe a few restaurants here and there.

These things don't make a country developed.

Then what does?

Only when the society and the infrastructure is developed, a country can be called developed.

I did not see the above in India, or should I say at least in Chennai, Coimbatore, Erode, Mettur and Podanur(basically the places I visited).

I went to Melmaruvathur temple from Chennai. It's a toll road. That road (I heard that it goes just few kilometers after Melmaruvathur) is really awesome. It's almost as good as any good highway in Europe and US. What was amazing was, I saw women folks cleaning the highway sweeping the dirt in many places. This is really a good sight. One, it gives employment opportunities to many, particularly women, and two, the highways are clean.
Whoever visualized, conceptualized and executed this project, "Thanks. Excellent job".

But the road after that, huh.
I couldn't get a train ticket and I ended up travelling in KPN bus from Chennai to Coimbatore. Oh what a nightmare ride. The roads were so pathetic. Many places it looked like a 'Otthai adi paathai'. Full of pot holes and bumps. It took me 2 days to recover from the neck, shoulder and back pain.

The bus got flat tire twice. I was late to coimbatore by 4 hours.
The second flat tire, those guys didn't have a spare and we had to take the bus to a tire shop and got the tire fixed.

Almost all the places were very dirty, with garbage scattered all over the places. I believe this is one more reason why the rain waters did not drain properly, as the drainage were all clogged with garbage. Had it been clean, the waters must have drained fast.

Again, Iam not bashing India that its dirty. All Iam saying is, if we want to becomed a developed nation, these are the things that we have to be fixing.

Tourists from other parts of the world love to visit India. One of the major complains that they have is the lack of clean surroundings.

Every individual has to be part of this. What's the point when a software engineer, making 2 lakhs a month and driving a Ford, dumps garbage in streets and public places?

Traffic and following road signs and stop lights....ya...our cities will ask "Are you kidding?"
Need not say more.

I think people are making more money, their standard of living has improved but they seem to be selfish. The attitude seems to be "I don't care" when it comes to doing something back to the society.

With the population exploding due to rapid urbanization, until unless the people also become responsible and follow rules and regulations, the government really can't do much.

Until unless we get the attitude that this is the place where we live, and we have to take care of it, it's going to be tough.

Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey's split

At last, after much speculation, its official. Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey split.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/zwecker/cst-ftr-split25.html

I used to watch their reality show 'Newlyweds'. They looked like a perfect couple.
hmm. I also like Jessica Simpson very much.


"Many believe the collapse of the couple's marriage can be blamed on the fact that Simpson's career has far outshone Lachey's since they tied the knot. Her star turn in "The Dukes of Hazzard" film this summer (plus rumors that she may be the next "Bond Girl") -- along with successful endorsement deals like her "Dessert" beauty line -- made Simpson a reported $35 million in the past year."

Is this what happens when wives do better than husbands? I wonder.

The only good thing out of this whole thing is ...yahoooooooo...Jessica is single again. hehe.

Oh Sachin

Sachin Tendulkar

vs Sri Lanka

93(96)
67(69)
2(3)
11(19)
19(30)
39(48)

vs South Africa

2(9)
2(22)
2(15)

This is looking little bit ugly.


I can only think of 2 possible things.

1. Either Sachin is extremely confused as to his role in the team.

He seems to be confused whether he should attack and rip apart the opposition or just play a supporting role to the other batsman. Having observed sachin for a very long time right from his career start, I have come to the conclusion that sachin cannot play defensive or supportive role. His nature is to attack and that's what he is best at and that's what he should also be doing.(Much like what Viru is doing now). Whenever he starts to play defensively, 9 out of 10 times, he fails.

2. Or he just doesn't have the fitness/reflex as he used to.

Or sachin wants to play like how he used to, but doesn't have the quick reflex that he possessed or he is still injured or his injury has restricted him a little bit. If that is the case, then if his injury is very bad he should just call it quits or if his injury is not that bad he should come in as a middle order batsman, I would say he should come in, like in the 30+ over time period.

many pretty actress who missed their hallowed showcasing in Isles

shiva shiva
abachaaram abachaaram

my thoughts have become noble. hehe

brahmacharyam brahmacharyam brahmacharyam
girls are evil girls are evil girls are evil
let the force be with me

bihar elections

as my knowledge on this is nil, i refrain from making any comments
(who cares about bihar)

stupid suhasini

i was right in the middle of action when it happened. yes, i was in chennai and this news was all over the media. i think suhasini is stupid. when kushboo herself apologized and wanted to close the chapter, why the heck would suhasini want to issue such a statement?

i think she was pissed of that kushboo, an ex-actress(like herself) and who married a director(like herself) was getting too much media attention and was jealous of it. duh!

i think the protestors had a valid point when they asked who elected suhasini to be the 'representative' of tamilnadu.

but what i thought equally stupid was, a ban on maniratnam movies.

i think she might have been shocked to see that nobody except few women who call themselves as 'murpokku sindhanai pengal' supported her.

sania claimed that she never spoke in support of pre-marital sex.

Back to Richmond

I'm back to Richmond after a 3 week vaca in India.

Thanks Echo, for you are the only one who thought I was MIA.

வணக்கம் தமிழகம்!

இனிய தீபாவளி நல் வாழ்த்துக்கள்.

Perfect Storm? Chennai, Tamilnadu

Wad di 'ell iz gowin on ? Rain, flood in Chennai and Tamilnadu. Satellite picture

Chennai, bulls eye?



I haven't seen a hurricane or cyclone or a storm formation so perfect as this one in India. This is current, look at timestamp.

For more recent you can hit
Weather.com

Did we eat Beef?

I landed up in this article, about how ancient Hindus ate Beef.

As I was going through the article, I also came across the following para.

"Over a period of time mainly after the emergence of Buddhism or rather as an accompaniment of the Brahminical attack on Buddhism, the practices started being looked on with different emphasis. The threat posed by Buddhism to the Brahminical value system was too severe. In response to low castes slipping away from the grip of Brahminism, the battle was taken up at all the levels. At philosophical level Sankara reasserted the supremacy of Brahminical values, at political level King Pushyamitra Shung ensured the physical attack on Buddhist monks, at the level of symbols King Shashank got the Bodhi tree (where Gautama the Buddha got Enlightenment) destroyed."

This ringed a bell in my head. This sounded more like the author in one of my earlier post

India - The True India
India - The India Today
India - The Question

in September 2005.

The authors are different. But what they say concur.

This just reiterates the facts mentioned by Phulgenda Sinha, the author of the book "The Gita As It Was - Rediscovering the Original Bhagavadgita".

Aravind Samy today

I read somewhere that he is the CEO of a big BPO.

I always thought he was more interested in business than movies. Iam sure he made millions more in business than in movies.
Cool.

hmmm...what did I do this weekend.

It was a cloudy saturday.
Took some pictures of Saravanan's new acura and ourselves.

WAW. We took some 130 pictures in like 5 minutes. After a long editing process, here are some of them which survived.

http://planetvimal.com/gallery/

Went to Indian Food Festival at Richmond Convention Center.
It was lot of food, and very little cultural activities :)

"It's fall here in USA"

Anyone wants to take a guess on who my all time favorite in Hollywood is?
I've given a 'Da Vinci Code' clue ;)

Update 1: As nobody has broken my code, Iam providing another clue.

The Rajini Factor

Chandramukhi crosses 200th day.

The pressure is now on Kamal Hassan. His Mumbai Express bombed. And he hasn't given a huge success in recent times.
Will 'Vettayadu Vilayadu' be his answer?
We will know.

Also in the Chandramukhi function the producer Ramkumar mentioned that the movie is going to be released in Tokyo, Japan in the International Film Festival on October 23 and 28 as a special show.

Also when Rajni was speaking at the function he mentioned that Aishwarya Rai was considered for the role of Neelambari in Padayappa and also for a role in Baba(The role was later modified to fit Manisha).
But looks like Rajni is trying to get Aish in his new movie 'Sivaji', directed by Shankar.

Also, not that Iam tooting my own horn, but my blog has successfully crossed 1 year :)

In other news...
I did some shopping this weekend at Need Supply Co and Nordstrom.

I ended up buying a pair of Jeans, a pair of shirt and a pair of shoes.
The financial damage has been estimated to be around US$800.00

Shopping at this rate, I think I will end up filing for Bankruptcy :(

Reema Sen

After a long thought process, I have come to the conclusion that Reema Sen is and will be my all time favorite.

Do not even try to think why, You will never get an answer, at least from me.

Day 48

Today is my 48th day as a vegetarian.

When I started this, I didn't have any time in my mind. I thought I will take it easy. But somewhere in between, I decided I should be a vegetarian for at least 48 days.

You might ask why 48 days.

When I was young I remember reading that in our Tamil tradition, 48 days counts as a mandalam. It's just a time period. I did not know the significance of 48 days at that time.

Few days ago, I was curious about this 48 days mandalam, described in our Tamil/Sanskrit literatures.

What I found was quite amazing.

Apparently it is something to do with our internal body(biology) clock. In west, they call it as Biorhythm.

History of Biorhythms

The clock starts from the time you were born.
You can find your state of clock at any time by using Biorhythm calculator. Here is one such calculator.

Now I have decided to go 53 days at least.
After that, I don't know.

May be I will start to eat meat.
May be not.

Keira Knightley's Domino

My favorite actress, Keira Knightley's movie Domino is releasing this week. Gotta watch it on first day.

"Bond, James Bond"

Meet the new Bond.
Daniel Craig.

Martin Campbell will direct CASINO ROYALE, the 21st film in the 007 franchise.

"Shaken, not Stirred"

45th day as a Vegetarian.

Kashmiris slam tardy aid response

"With only a trickle of aid reaching Indian earthquake victims, angry Kashmiris were blocking roads and demanding relief."

CNN

I thought this rescue and relief operation will be a significant event in the history of J&K. Whichever government(India or Pakistan) does the most for the affected people in J&K and PoK respectively, will look good in the eyes of the kashmiris.
This might even change the mindset of the common kashmiri. It is imperative that Indian government does everything possible to help the victims, even if it means going 'out of the way', literally.

Any mishap here can end in a bad PR and can be very detrimental.

Quake: Militants suspend violence

In the wake of the killer quake, the Jehad Council, an amalgam of 14 militant outfits based in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, has announced temporary suspension of its operations in the ravaged areas of Jammu and Kashmir.

Salahuddin asked all the constituents of the council to direct the militant cadres across the state to halt their operations in the affected areas and extend possible relief to the victims

http://us.rediff.com/news/2005/oct/10quake15.htm?q=tp&file=.htm

...and once the victims recover, to resume their militant activity killing the same victims.

This weekend is long weekend for me.
Monday is holiday, Columbus Day.
So far this has been...hmmm...what can I say, a very lazy weekend.

Saturday did some shopping in Nordstrom, at the Short Pump mall. I was shopping for some Jeans and Shirts.

I rented and watched 3 Tamil movies.

Aiyar IPS (one of the worst movies mankind has ever produced)
Maayavi (was ok, a different movie little bit)
Englishkaaran (a pretty descent movie, different story)

Will have to watch another movie Chatrapathi.

Then it was like 3am when I went to bed. And slept almost the whole day on Sunday. Wokeup at around 4 pm on Sunday afternoon.

I was watching Sunday Samayal in Sun TV. I noticed that the commercial for Sakthi Masala has changed.
Usually Kushboo will come in that commercial, and today I saw a different girl.
Well...I guess everyone knows why this change was made.

Kushboo has got herself into a bad PR situation.

I don't know what else will change from now. Remove her from mega serials ? I don't know.

Khushboo's sex comment takes political tones

A remark on pre-marital sex and virginity by South Indian actress Khushboo has set off a major controversy. Now, the issue seems to have taken political colors with a Dalit party tacitly backing protests against her.

http://us.rediff.com/movies/2005/oct/06khush.htm?q=mp&file=.htm

Ok...this is where it gets dirty.
What was a simple social issue, is now storming into a political issue.


Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, N Ram said that whether or not one agreed with Khushboo, 'the intelligent and experienced actress' 'forward-looking' views needed to be respected.

Crap.

For everyone's sake, 'forward-looking' is not about losing virginity before marriage. It's about how to develop the one earth and world we have and make it a better place to live.

How tough is it to get that into the head?

The beleagured actress has virtually been left to fend for herself by the South Indian Film Artistes Association (SIFAA).


Since almost all the film artists are in one political party or the other, or having their own party, eh...you can understand that they are just trying to save their own ass.

I feel sorry for Kushboo. Once a social issue becomes a political issue...eh...you are pretty much f**ked up.

The Kushboo story

I wrote this comment in my friend's blog (Echo). It was a nice little story, so I decided to present it here again, in its original form.

Let me tell you something.
Mr. Host invites Mr. Guest to his house warming party.
Guest, buys a nice little painting, which he thinks will go good in Host’s bedroom.
Guest, goes to Host’s home and gives the painting.
Host appreciates it and he starts nailing the wall in living room, to hang this painting.

The guest sees this.
He will say one of the following three things:

1. "No man with a sense for art will hang this picture in living room."
2. "Don’t hang the picture here, hang it in your bedroom."
3. "If I were you, I would hang this picture in the bedroom."

Let’s analyze the above.
(1) is basically insulting the Host. You are literally saying either that Host doesn’t have sense for art, or he is an idiot. Definitely NOT polite and NOT respectful.
(2) is like you go to another persons house, and tell him what he should do in his own house. Definitely NOT polite and NOT respectful.
(3) Is like saying, if it was my house and if it was my painting I would hang it in my bedroom, but hey it’s your house and your painting, you can do whatever you want with it. Definitely polite and respectful.

Things might have changed in India now, but I would say, most of the people in India would have said (2).
Here in US, almost everyone would have said (3).

So does that mean people in US are more civilized than people in India?

If kushboo had said:
“I don’t mind having pre-marital sex” and
“If I were an educated man, I would not expect my wife to be virgin”
(similar to (3))

then that is polite, civilized and respectful.

But Kushboo said:
“No educated man could expect his wife to be virgin”
(similar to (1))
That’s like saying, educated men who expect his wife to be virgin is stupid, or uneducated men doesn’t know anything and he is ignorant.

If an educated girl, who moves in upper class society, behaves this way, what can you expect from poor uneducated people?

This is my opinion.
And that’s just me. Everyone need not be like me :)

So we will agree to disagree and move on to next debate ;)

NOTE : Seriously... Iam running out of stuff to blog :)

Will evolution be able to explain this?

Rebirth: Girl tracks old parents

http://vimaln.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_vimaln_archive.html

Who are we?

Evolution vs Intelligent Design vs Creationism

Evolution is the process by which populations of organisms acquire and pass on novel traits from generation to generation, affecting the overall makeup of the population and even leading to the emergence of new species.

Intelligent Design (or ID) is the controversial assertion that certain features of the universe and of living things exhibit the characteristics of a product resulting from an intelligent cause or agent, not an unguided process such as natural selection.

Creationism or creation theology is the belief that humans, life, the Earth, and the universe were created by a supreme being or deity's supernatural intervention. The intervention may be seen either as an act of creation from nothing (ex nihilo) or the emergence of order from preexisting chaos.

How did we come into existence?

Did we evolve, learning and adapting to the forces of nature?

Are we the products of an experiment by superior intelligent beings, who designed us and make changes to us and other species making us learn and adapt to the forces of nature?

Were we created by God, as said by all religions?

Shibuki - Platinum is the new Gold

Platinum Guild International commissioned a superlatively beautiful platinum necklace to follow in the footsteps of last year's sensation "Aqua". Featuring 158 gms of platinum and 5.52 carats of diamonds, the "Shibuki" (meaning Splash in Japanese) is the second jewel commissioned by PGI to take its inspiration from water - the very substance of life.

Created by Yuka Kobayashi of the Kuwayama Corporation in Japan, the delicate strands of platinum rise up to represent water gushing out of the ocean. The use of diamonds adds to the feel of fluidity, reflecting in the light to look like brilliant droplets of water. This truly unique piece has been specially designed thus to convey platinum's values of purity, rarity and eternity.

Designer Yuka Kobayashi said, "It is very exciting to be involved in the platinum Aqua collection. The splashes shining from the reflected light of the sun were expressed by setting diamonds amongst the platinum to create a sense of different textures,"

This one of a kind piece, is worth US$100,000.

Paheli selected for Oscar

"Amol Palekar's Paheli has just been selected as India's official entry for the 2006 Oscars.

The other films considered for the nomination were Mangal Pandey, Veer-Zaara, Iqbal, Swades, Parineeta, Page 3, Black, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, Sachein (Tamil), Anniyan (Telugu), Uttarayan (Marathi), Achuvante Anna (Malayalam), Graham (Telugu), and Kadal (Tamil)."

http://www.rediff.com/movies/2005/sep/26paheli.htm

Sachein ???

What the f**k?
Who shortlisted these movies? Where the hell did Sachein come from ?
Oh you intelligent guys!

No wonder our movies have never won an oscar.

I just noticed that in the last few weeks my hair is falling at an alarming rate. At this rate, in few months, I guess I will be having the hair style of Andre Agassi :)

Looking back I came up with three reasons.

1. I stopped eating meat (sudden cutback in protein)
2. Changed shampoo and conditioner
3. Reduced taking a multivitamin to one third

I think No 1 is the main reason. But Iam not sure.

I talked to my personal beautician about this and she suggested the following.

1. Drink karuvapalai juice
2. Eat goose berry (Nelli kai)
3. Eat a lot of keerai
4. Use the white of an egg bfore u shampoo ur hairdoes good for your hair
5. Eat dates

I wish all the above was mixed and made into a tablet :)

Sivaji - How is it?

Love Is Real Medicine

A good article.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9466931/site/newsweek/

"In modern times, no educated man should expect Tamil songs to be in Tamil" - Vimal Natarajan 2005 A.D.

Note: eh...for those who want to protest, you are advised to come after 6.00 pm or during weekends....or....you will just be shouting at an empty house.

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher marries

"Actors Demi Moore 42, and Ashton Kutcher 27, have married, capping their celebrated two-year-long older-woman, younger-man relationship."

CNN Article

Just last week Renee Zellweger and Kenny Chesney split, after a short four month married life. In fact they will have their four-month-old marriage annulled.

Let's see how long Demi and Ashton go.

I bet they won't last for 1 year.
Anyone wants to bet against me?

Here's your moment of Zen

"Initial claims of the al-Qaeda raid later proved unimpressive. The captured fighters, described as important figures and foreigners, turned out to be Afghans.

The army could not even tell us if they were Taleban and did not produce them for us to see.

And the al-Qaeda base that had been destroyed turned out to be the compound of a madrassa or religious school that has been raided several times. "

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

Kushboo temples demolished

Activists from political parties have demolished Kushboo Temples... some of them as old as 15 years.

Long time supporters KMK (Kushboo Makkal Katchi) and KJP(Kushboo Janatha Party) have vowed to build the temples again at the disputed site.

On other news, Saravana Bhavan has stopped serving 'Kushboo Idlis' from today.
They said they will now be offering 'Jothika Idlis' and 'Simran Idlis',...the thin version.
The representatives of Annapoorna could not be contacted at this time.

Woman can indulge in pre-marital sex: Kushboo

"The actor is now caught in the eye of a storm for reportedly stating that women could indulge in pre-marital sex provided safe measures were followed to prevent pregnancy.

Later, she justified her statement by saying that no educated man could expect his partner to be a virgin.

Some political parties like the PMK, BJP and the Dalit Panthers of India have taken umbrage over the statement that they see as promoting licentious relations.

Significantly, the main political parties - AIADMK, DMK and Congress - have remained mum on the issue."

mmmm...that's because half the men politicians in AIADMK, DMK and Congress are uneducated and the rest ...eh...don't have to feel guilty now.

www.newindpress.com

"No educated man could expect his partner to be a virgin" - Tamil actress Kushboo 2005

Moooooooom...Daaaaaad...Why did you send me to school?

I got a lot of calls and email from dear ones asking about Hurricane Rita. Fortunately, Virginia was spared. Thanks for all those.

It was second time that a second hurricane devastated the gulf within a span of 2 weeks.

Unfortunately, my aunt,uncle and their kids who were living in Houston was asked to evacuate. They were seriously plyboarding their windows, and sticking duct tapes to the glass windows so that they won't shatter. But after seeing the plight of other evacuvees who were stuck in Highway I-45 , they decided that they will stay back home.

In the end it turned out to be a wise decision. As the hurricane was downgraded from Category 5 to Category 3 when it made landfall, the impact on Houston and surrounding areas was very minimal. Unfortunately the levees broke again in New Orleans flooding them again.

I also saw the movie Sishya, starring Karthik and Roshini. It was an old movie. I thought Roshini looked beautiful. I liked her the most among all 3 sisters, Nagma, Jothika including.

I also rented a tamil DVD after a long time. I saw 'Ullam Ketkumay'.
It love story. hmmm...

After coming to US and seeing the culture here...well...one can see the difference when it comes to love.
The way the love is proposed is so different in India and US.

Its surprising that guys in India are still the same. Hesitating to say their love to the girl and giving love letters and cards. It all looks so funny to see now.

But the love itself seems to be the same across the world.
When it comes to relationship, while the guy usually looks at the beauty of the girl, the girl actually looks at so many different things.

The movie itself was good I thought, except for some sentimental dialogues and scenes.

Greg Chappell, Sourav Ganguly and BCCI

Alright.
We now have the text of email that Greg Chappell mailed to BCCI...which by the way, now stands for Board of Cricket Controversy in India.

We are now waiting for a rebuttal from Sourav Ganguly.

I, have always admired the captaincy of Sourav. I believe that he was one of the best captains India ever had. He was aggressive and confident. He knew what he was doing.

But watching him and the events unfolding around him last 2 weeks, I guess Chappell is right when he says Sourav is mentally not fit to lead the team.

One can easily come to the conclusion by watching what Sourav has been doing and talking last 2 weeks.

He really looks like he has lost the confidence in himself and his decisions. The way he handled this whole issue was also immature.

After all this, I think it is time for him to step down from captaincy, or if he doesn't want to do that, move on.

I am not sure if Rahul is a good replacement as a captain, as his records as a captain doesn't seem to impress that much.
But saying that, there is also an allegation that Harbhajan Singh, was asked to underperform under Rahul's captaincy.
Now that is very interesting. We don't know if its true and if so, who else was asked to underperform under Rahul's captaincy.
If that is true, then no wonder India did not perform well under Rahul's captaincy. Poor Rahul.

If true, then its only fair to give Rahul another chance.

IAEA resolution against Iran : Where does India stand ?

Something very interesting happened over the weekend.

I hope you all must have read the proposed India-Iran natural gas pipeline project through Pakistan.

India was about to go ahead with this project ignoring US interests. This, in fact, after the increased India-US relationships since the Bush administration. Bush also had agreed to give co-operation in nuclear energy technologies, including help with the construction of nuclear plants.
Even after that, India was in favor of the Iran gas pipeline project, which had 'disappointed' US. Condoleeza Rice, when she came to India talked about it. When Manmohan visited US, Bush talked about it.
India had insisted that it needs energy to sustain the current growth rate and said it is going ahead with Iran pipeline project.

But now, an IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) resolution drafted by European Union's 3 biggest powers - France, Britain and Germany, and backed by US was adopted by IAEA.

The resolution requires Iran to be reported to the security council over a failure to convince the agency that its nuclear program was entirely peaceful.

22 votes was passed in favor of the resolution, 12(including Russia, China and South Africa) abstained and 1(Venezuela) voted against it.

Now comes the interesting part.
India, which had opposed the resolution, voted in favor of it this weekend.
This has surprised many.
Analysts speculate that India voted in favor, due to US pressure and not to jeopardize the relation with US.
India disagrees that their decision is in no way connected to the nuclear deal with US.

Iran officials say they will review the decisions taken by India and South Korea.

The next few days will be interesting to watch on this issue.

Pakistan on the other hand abstained from voting.

Countries who voted in favor of the resolution:
United States, Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Argentina, Belgium, Ghana, Ecuador, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Slovakia, Japan, Peru, Singapore, South Korea, and India

Countries who abstained from voting:
Pakistan, Algeria, Yemen, Brazil, China, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, and Vietnam

Countries who voted against:
Venezuela

The above 35 countries are the IAEA board members for 2004-2005.

I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you

These words are my own.
From my Heart.

This is how guys get screwed

"The former mistress of convicted murderer Scott Peterson is back in the spotlight after a DNA test showed that her first child was not fathered by the man who was paying child support."

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/21/amber.frey.ap/index.html

"Frey's attorney, Gloria Allred, said Wednesday that her client never intended to deceive Flores.

"Amber, in good faith, always believed that Mr. Flores was her child's father," Allred said."

Yeah...Right!

What the heck is gowin on?

Well....you can find it out yourself from here.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/

Buoy's, which are floating sensors in the middle of ocean, measure sea conditions round the clock.

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=42001

This is one such buoy in Gulf Coast, currently under the influence of Hurricane Rita. Look at the wave height. 34 feet !

And see the wave height graph.

Today was best of both the worlds. Busy yet Relaxed.
I was very busy at work. Our production date is nearing and we have to wrap development by this week. So I had to work out few minor issues. It was interesting as I got most of it done according to the plan. Hope it continues tomorrow the same way.

Varun is one of my good friends here. Very cool guy. Later in the evening, Varun and I decided to get together for dinner at 'Tara Thai'. This is a relatively new Thai Restaurant. Their food is awesome. It's the best Thai food in Richmond , I would say. As I am a vegetarian, I had to order Vegetable Fried Rice. Usually whenever Saravanan and I go there, we order Chicken Fried Rice. Fortunately, the Vegetable version turned out better than the Chicken. Both Varun and I had it very spicy. It was good to have it with the 'Singha'.

This weekend I went to the movie 'March of the Penguins' . I have one word to describe the movie. 'Very Beautiful'. Yeah, I know what you are saying. It's two words. I know. But I think it deserves it. It's a story of love and survival fighting the most powerful force, Mother Nature.

The movie is so funny, right from the beginning, where the male penguins walk like 70 miles to have sex. OK, I shouldn't say sex. But walk 70 miles to find a partner and have courtship. Then the struggles they go through fighting against nature, and having chicks and finally it is so cute when the chicks are on their own.

I think this movie is a must see.

Then Sunday, after long time, I went to Sudarshan Kriya, Art of Living.
I introduced Dixita to this Art of Living and she is now more involved and regular than me. It's kinda little embarassing for me there..,but you know...it happens. Later in the evening Dixita and I watched 'Finding Neverland'. It was a good movie too.

Yesterday was also my 21st day as a vegetarian. Iam amazed how I can be a vegetarian for such a long time and still not miss meat.

Distorting history : Impossible?

One of my readers, after reading my Trilogy on India (I, II, III), argued that it cannot be true.
He was arguing based on a fact, everything that happened few hundred years before 800 A.D. was well documented. It’s so recent in history was his point.

Well…this is the fact.

When something is documented, it means, something is written down or printed somewhere.

The world’s first printing press was invented in 1454, by Johannes Gutenberg. Of course 1454 A.D.

Going back in history, we find that the Chinese actually experimented with printing technology in 1040, but only to discard it later.

Going further back in history, before the movable type printers were invented, we learn that the Chinese used wooden blocks to print Buddhist writings by hand, on scrolls, in the 9th Century. While there are no surviving examples of the Chinese printing presses of the 11th Century, the oldest surviving printed book on record is the Buddhist Diamond-Sutra of 868 AD.

So, before that period, it’s very clear that the only way to document was writing down by hand.

When scriptures were written down by hand, it is highly likely that only 1 or 2 copies were written down. Only several years later, copies would have been made, or rather written down by hand again, until the invention of printing press or rather until the introduction of printing press in ancient India.

Taking the above into consideration, I believe that one cannot rule out the fact that while making the copies, writing them by hand, one can easily interpolate.

So arguing based on the fact that anything happened before 800 A.D. is well documented is really not a strong point to rebut.

Also, in my opinion, history can be easily distorted; even today, in a world which is connected by telephone, television, radio, media, Internet etc.

Considering how our ancestors communicated 1200 years ago, hey, you must be kidding if you think it’s impossible to distort history.

This weekend I saw lot of movies. Dixita and I went to a movie 'Red Eye'. It was an ok movie. Not bad, in my opinion.

Then after the movie she wanted to go to this Japanese Restaurant 'Osaka Sushi'.

Since both of us were vegetarians, and as she had been there before I let her to decide what to order. She ordered Tofu Teriyaki and she recommended Vegetable Tempura for me.
Then we also ordered a Japanese Drink called 'Hot Sake', which is a wine made of rice.

The Tofu Teriyaki was really awesome, I liked it better than Vegetable Tempura. Vegetable Tempura was more like our 'Bajji & Bonda'. It's basically vegetables, spinach, battered and deep fried. One of the vegetable was actually banana. I remember when I went to Kerala I had something exactly similar. I think it was a banana battered and deep fried and the taste was almost exactly the same.

The sake was really good. As it was little hot/warm I guess it will make a good drink for Richmond's winter evenings.

I saw many movies that I had recorded in my DVD recorder. All of them Western movies. I saw 'Billy the Kid', 'The Magnificent Seven', '3:10 to Yuma' and 'Nevada Smith'. I would say all were good, but Nevada Smith was my favorite, followed by Magnificent seven and 3:10 to yuma.

I also watched the movie 'Oruvan' in Sun TV. Pooja Bhatra is very pretty. She has class. I always liked her. She is tall too.

I then cooked some potato fry and Bengan Bartha, an eggplant dish.
Preethi, if you are reading this, you are invited to my home to have some eggplant ;)

For those who don't know what eggplant is, it's nothing but brinjal. In America, brinjal is called as eggplant.

Saturday was very good as I had my massage and reiki. My masseuse, Jill, is a blonde with beautiful green eyes. She is a very sweet person. She talks a lot unlike other masseuse. She is more towards eastern philosophy. She talks about chi, yin and yang, prana, spices etc. She explains everything she does. It was my first reiki session with her. I felt so good during and after that session.

I tried White Iced Tea from Ellwood Thompson. White Tea is supposed to be very good for health, packed with antioxidants. I liked it very much. Have to buy some more. The actual reason why I tried it in first place is different :)

Iam waiting to watch Adhu Mattum Ragasiyam in Sun TV. That serial has grabbed my attention a lot. Very good story, screenplay and direction.

Aaahhh Preethi, no more questions ok.

Seven things you plan to do before you die!!

1. Get Lost in an Island with the 'special' someone
2. Fly a fighter aircraft
3. Live in a submarine
4. Work in a Cargo Ship
5. Make movies
6. Become a political leader
7. Realize the Truth

Seven things you can do!!

1. Talk
2. Bold
3. Smile
4. Cook
5. Make someone laugh
6. Love
7. **** ****

Seven things you can't do!!!

1. Lie
2. Not talk
3. Not wink
4. Not smile
5. Not plan
6. Come up with the 7th point
7.

Seven things that attract you to the opposite sex!!

1. Blonde Hair
2. Brunette
3. Green Eyes
4. Smile
5. Funny
6. Innocence
7. ****** Preethi, do you remember how you described Keerthi Reddy when I showed you that picture ;)

Seven things you say most!!!

1. Howz it goin?
2. Hi there
3. Kick Ass
4. Super Awesome
5. Sweet
6. Cool
7. Alrighty
8. What the f**k was that? (Where the hell did this 8th point come from?)

Seven celebrity crushes!!!

1. Gillian Anderson
2. Kirsten Dunst
3. Natalie Portman
4. Kate Winslet
5. Reese Witherspoon
6. Nadhiya
7. Reema Sen
7. G - Can't say, only Initial, sorry ;)
7. S - Can't say, only Initial, sorry ;)



One person who asked me to take this quiz..

1. Preethi

Water crisis looms as Himalayan glaciers melt

Scientists say the 40 percent of humanity living in South Asia and China could well be living with little drinking water within 50 years as global warming melts Himalayan glaciers, the region's main water source.

Tulsi Maya, a farmer on the outskirts of Kathmandu, has never heard of global warming or its impact on the rivers in the Himalayan kingdom, but she does know that the flow of water has gone down.

"Maybe God is unkind and sends less water in the river. The flow of water is decreasing every year," she said standing by her grandson, Milan Dangol, who weeds the crop.

CNN Article Today (Sep 9, 2005)

This is exactly what my previous blogs were talking about.
Though the farmer today is in India-Nepal border, I guess it speaks for the thought-pattern generally.

"God is unkind"

We blame God for our suffering. We believe Man cannot change or solve this problem.

It's good to see things are changing(ISRO scientists) at last.