Salaam India..

It feels a bit odd that I am taking a vacation to India.. but then this is my first trip back after I moved here. And it is complicated ;-) Anyways, I am all excited to be visiting India after about two years... though I wish I am taking a vacation for 3 months and not just 3 weeks...!

All the same.. no, not the same.. but still I am gonna have a lot of fun... touchwood, barring any swine flu interruptions... Its gonna be three weddings in as many weeks.. and those are my cousins'.. so.... :-)

Here is how my three weeks look like... leaving MSP 22nd morning.. via Chicago and Frankfurt... landing in Chennai on the 24th early morning.. A day of catching up... And then leaving for Kanchipuram on the 25th for the first... Back after the wedding to Chennai on 27th.. official work on the 28th... wedding reception on the 28th evening.. leaving for Coimbatore on 29th morning for the second.. finishing the wedding and leaving for Ooty on the 31st.. Back in Coimbatore on the 3rd for the third.. finishing the wedding and leaving for Bangalore on the 4th.. Bangi!!.. official visit to Hyderabad on the 8th.. back in Bangi... Catching the return flight on 13th at Bangi.. via Frankfurt and Chicago.. landing in MSP on 13th evening...
Whheeeeeeeew!!

Awarded!

Thanks Deez, the sleeping beauty, for this honor! True to your name, you seem to have gone back into hibernation now ... ;-)

Thank you my parents.. without you I would not have been here in the world..
Thank you Lord the devil.. If you are the matter, you are the anti-matter too!
Thank you Dell for making this laptop.. that has been through my thick and thin the past year...
And of course, the Comcast cable modem and internet services.. without whom I may not be online today..

(Well.. what is an award without an acceptance speech?!! :p)



The Kreative Blogger Award comes with these rules :-

1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link the person who has nominated you for the award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated


Well.. here comes my magic seven...

1. The first fairy tale I remember is of the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs... I was fascinated by the story and I probably carry it to this day..

Here is one that I read recently that reminded me of my Snow White...

Goodly Glee and Lovely Blandishment

Most goodly glee and lovely blandishment
She to me made, and bad me love her deare,
For dearly, sure, her love was to me bent,
As, when just time expired, should appeare:
But whether dreames delude or true it were,
Was never heart so ravish'd with delight,
No living man like words did ever hear,
As she to me delivered all that night,
And at her parting said, she Queen of Faires hight.

Edmund Spenser from The Faerie Queene

2. Cate Blanchett as Galadriel in the LOTR is probably the only highlight of the movie for me.. I fell asleep halfway through the movie.. And the Harry Potters too...!

3. I need to remind myself of the Snow White a lot 'cos the snow here is not going to be fun without her!! Minneapolis is supposed to have one of the coldest winters in these parts.. with temp at or about -30 degrees Celsius for a long time!!

4. I'm gonna meet my neice for the first time when I go to India on vacation next weekend.. She is the cutest!!

5. My inspiration - 'The earth that is not yet under my feet!' (Copyright 2009 ;-)

6. Right now, I am really happy. And happiness is a state of mind!! but, snow white, of course, is snow white ;-)

7. I gotta acknowledge.. I took this up today, 'cos I wanted something to write about.. and nothing else was coming to mind!

Now, I nominate Jam n Missus, Jammy, Venkat, Sangi, Maggi, Sukku, Govar

Keep rocking!!

A few of my favorite things…

Four places I have lived

four is too few....!
1) The Netherlands
I just love the place and all the fond memories associated... Also it was my first trip abroad and was my base for 3 fun-filled months.. roaming another 5 countries in the continent... my first love!

2) Chennai
I am going to visit this place soon after more than 2 years.. I have had some pretty good growing-up years here.. And it is one place I can readily call home (at least I could earlier).. Gotta see...

3) Bangalore
I love this city. (Again I should say I used to.. but then with my cousins being there, I have no doubts I will continue loving it and all the things it has to offer).. And I guess I call this home too...

4) Minneapolis - St. Paul
I am having fun so far here.. Itz still summer u c... Anyways this city is quite complex... It is conservative yet modern... fun yet reserved... A lot of the folks are Norwegian-origin... I kinda am reminded of my time in the Netherlands... But -30 degrees in winter? hmmmmmmmmmm....!

Four TV Shows

1) Friends
all time favs..

2) 24
Gripping..

3) Weeds
Wacky.. and funny!

4) Sex and the City
appeals to my sixth sense?!
watevr!! itz damn funny..


Four places I’ve been on vacation

Just curious.. does honeymoon count under vacation?! may be not... itz serious work ;-)

1) Goa n Karwar

2) New York

3) Paris

4) Norway

Soon, I can add 'India' (haha!)


Four favorite food items

1) Curd rice and moor mulagai

2) Seppankizhangu paste roast (Colocasia)

3) Dulce de Leche Caramel ice-cream

4) Soanpappadi


Four websites i visit daily

1) Google news

2) Google finance CTSH

3) Yahoo mail

4) Facebook


Four places I’d rather be

No where else....
well... may be...

Miami, Bora Bora, Chennai/Bangalore (on vacation), Paris (with my girlfriend)

But I choose to be here ;-)


Four things that i hope to do before I die

1) Accelerated Free Fall (not tandem!)

2) Fly my own plane across the most beautiful places

3) Live and work across the world

4) Go into the outer space


Four novels you wish you were reading for the first time

1) Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

2) Timeline - Michael Crichton

3) The Godfather – Mario Puzo

4) The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand


Four movies that I can watch over and over again

1) Casablanca

2) Before Sunset

3) Michael Madana Kama Rajan (Tamil)

4) There is something about Mary


Four people I want to tag

Deez

Sujatha

Kalps

Sri (vera yaarum maatla ;-)

MKKK... 1

Yet again, a word of caution.. this is based on a collection of peeps, incidents and imagination... Draw conclusions, inferences, et al. (sic!) at your own peril!! ;-)

And to understand the lay of the land, read MKKK.. The Prologue
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Now, Minimma was a popular figure (pun intended, of course ;-) She landed at LA and took the high ground 1. She met this guy at a party and found him pretty funny. He was chubby and over-weight. Some of these guys have a flair for humor and that is a turn-on for some women. In the heat of the moment, Minimma gave him her number.

And sure, he set himself up for a date. They met at a plush restaurant and he started talking about his life. He went on and on about how he dated only the sexy and oomphy... always the playmate material 2. Initially, our Minimma was happy.. she thought she was being compared to a playmate. But, soon all the high rolls started getting on her nerves.

Minimma excused herself to the restroom.. And immediately set up an escape call with me - "Oh! you need to come here now - your dog is whining controllably!!!" types.. Well, the knight-errant that I am, I rescued the damsel in distress and all is well.. :P

And curious, I asked her.. "what really was the issue with this guy?" And Minimma promptly answered.. "I can never be serious with a guy that has bigger boobs than me!!"

Thats a pretty solid reason, whatsay?!
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1 Take the high ground! was a movie nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay, but lost to the Titanic (1953).

But I am referring to the Jessica Simpson's 7 inch high ground here.

2 You know they are on twitter too! Playboy Playboy Blog

MKKK... The Prologue

Well... call it adulation.. appreciation... anything....
but this series is about a few of my girl friends (not gfs ;-).. with a twist!! :P

I just like to capture some of the quirky, funny, imaginary incidents uncommonly called L.I.F.E. :-)
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Minimma Kaiyila Karuppu Kaai..!!

For the tam-illiterate, Minimma is a rustic yet quirky and modernish name of a Madrasi belle.. One of my friends was super excited about her black berry.. and that planted the seed for this series.. As you might have guessed it, that forms a part of the name too. Karuppu Kaai is the (my) given name for blackberry! (sic!) (somewhat a literal translation)
So, the title stands for a blackberry in the hands of Minimma!!

The Prologue:
Minimma lived right next to the San Francisco zoo.. Though, for good measure, the closest exhibit was shielded from her view even when she stood on the terrace of her fourth floor apartment's balcony.1

But, she could see a couple of ducks within her complex.. in the pond overlooking the north end of the apartment. These ducks were probably lovers. Well, I say 'probably' because, in these times, instant gratification and day/night stands are becoming common even within the duck community. [They still are better off than President Bush.. still..]2

These ducks would go around once in a while and swim in the pond together and lovingly kiss each other on the beaks. And they will form the shape of a heart. (how romantic!)3

Everytime Minimma sees this, she would run home to get her DSLR camera with extra sensitive pentaprisms to capture the moment. But, by the time Minimma can come back, the ducks would have gone their own ways. It was almost like they knew Minimma was looking for incriminating evidence of their affair, to present to their spouses. But then, the ducks dont give two hoots 'cos they are in an open relationship. Of course, our Minimma does not know this... so, she keeps on trying to capture their PDAs 4 and failing miserably.

So, one of the reasons Minimma is super-excited about her blackberry is because it has a very good camera. She is now armed to a T and stealthily. And her hopes are revived!!

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1 The SF zoo ran into serious problems initially when the closest exhibit, a Siberian tiger named Tatiana got wild(est) and attacked the zookeeper. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_Zoo_tiger_attacks
To this day, it is a well-kept secret on why the tiger attacked the zookeeper. But, just to give you a hint, the SF zoo walls were raised from 12.5 ft to 16.33 ft to shield from an adjacent apartment complex. And I am not going to name that apartment. Or tell you that it had four floors. Anyways..

2 President-bush-lacks-sense-god-gave-duck

3 Kissing swans

4 PDA Public Displays of Affection