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
--------------------------------

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?!
-----------------------------------------

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. :-)
-----------------------

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!!

---------------------

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

17323

SF Half Marathon

It is that time of the year.. when people in the bay area run across the golden gate bridge! yes, it is the SF Marathon time... And I will be there this time!!

Will be loadsa fun... I am so looking forward to that!!!

You can catch the live results at
http://www.runsfm.com/raceweek/bazu.html
http://www.liveraceresults.com/liverc1/Default.aspx

And my bib # is 17323.

Wish me luck, guys!

-----------------------------------------

The Plan

Reaching SFO 11.30am on Sat.. picking up rental car.. going to team Asha pasta lunch @ Palo alto.. carbo load... going to the expo in SF.. picking up the race stuff... going to my friend's place at Sunnyvale in the evening... resssst... rezzzzzzt.... Sun early morning, 3am abouts, getting ready and driving to Sunnyvale caltrain station... joining Asha gang on the shuttle... RACE!... coming somehow to Sunnyvale caltrain station... driving back to my friend's place.... [to be filled, probably rezzzzzzt]... a quick visit to my cousin's place at Fremont... driving to SFO, reaching by 11pm... catching the red eye back... Voila!!!

All for a cause - Sexy campaigns for Burma!!!

you gotta see these videos supporting democracy and Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma....!!





Well... I appreciate the babes.. they did it their own way...
Supporting the cause... check out...
http://www.uscampaignforburma.org/

Loadsa other good stuff too on you tube.... how did I miss these from 2008... ?

ENT and Gyno

This is a short story written by Dr Kishore Shah....he is a gynaecologist in Pune and a gifted writer....as you can see here...
Thanks to Ankush for this fwd!
---------------------------------------------------

My wife is an ENT Surgeon while I am a Gynaecologist. This can lead to some complications, as I recently learned to my anguish. A General Practitioner called me up and told me that she is sending a patient of hers for an abortion. Unknown to me, she had also referred a female with earwax for removal of the wax to my wife.

I duly informed the receptionist to send the patient right in as she was expected (and expecting!) As Murphy lays down the laws of our hospital, it was but natural that the patient who wanted the wax removed from her ear, landed up with me. This is the conversation that I had with the patient.

"Please come in. Be seated." I said with a big smile. I always have a big smile, when I am going to earn some money. The patient gave a feeble smile and sat hesitantly on the edge of the chair.
"Relax."
"Doctor, will this hurt a lot?"
"Not at all." The patient relaxed visibly.
"You know something, Doctor, we tried removing it at home, but failed." I was shocked.
"Thank God. Trying this at home can cause serious complications."
"I first tried to remove it by jumping up and down, but it just wouldn't budge."
I smiled and said, "If it were that easy, who would need doctors?"
She gave a cute smile and said, "Yeah! My neighbour tried to remove it with his finger, but the hole is so small that he used a hair pin."
"Oh my God!"
"Yes! My mother even tried a matchstick."
My blood pressure was shooting skywards. I just sputtered without uttering a word.
"Tell me, doctor, how do I avoid getting this dirt inside me?"
I knew that it was an unwanted pregnancy, but calling it dirt was too much. I replied a bit angrily,
"There are tablets which can prevent this happening. Or you could use protection at night."

Now it was the patient's turn to be confused, "You mean to say that it happens only at night?"
I saw her point. "No! No! I meant anytime of the day, whenever you are in the mood, you should use protection."
She was even more confused, "It depends on my moods?"
Again I saw her point. "My mistake. You need not be in any sort of mood. It just happens."

"My neighbour advised me to go to one of those chaps who sit by the roadside."
"You mean that pin man?"
"Yeah!"
This neighbour of hers seemed to be a very dangerous man. Besides using pins, he was sending her to such quacks. The only safety he knew was among the pins.
"You were wise not to heed his advice."
"But I tried his other advice. He told me to put warm oil inside and wait. However, that also did not work."

This was getting more and more bizarre. Her neighbour deserved to be locked up either in a padded cell or a barred one.

"But have you taken your husband's permission?" Now the patient looked confused.
"Do I have to take my husband's permission? Because if you need his sign, he is working in Dubai . We were not able to meet for the last one year."

It was my turn to be shocked. I gave a sly smirk. It was one of 'those' cases. The pin-wielding neighbour seemed to me the usual suspect. I reassured her.
"No! No! The husband's sign is not at all needed."
"However, I did inform him on phone."

Her husband seemed to me a very broad-minded fellow. I didn't know whether to congratulate her or to commiserate with her. So I hastily turned to other aspects.
"Its good that you came a bit early."
"Actually I wanted to come early in the morning, but I had some other work."
"Oh! I did not mean early today. I meant that if you had delayed this removal, it would have started moving. Then it would have developed a heartbeat."

The patient was staring at me wide eyed as if watching a horror movie. Looking at her face, I decided that she was not fit to listen to the grotesque details..
I decided to relieve her a bit.
I said, "You will bleed a bit, but only for a few days."
By now, the poor patient was trembling,
"how-H-How much bleeding?"
"Oh, only slightly more than your menstrual period, and it will continue only for a week or so."
By now the patient was clutching her hair in her fingers and staring at me wide-eyed.
I asked her soothingly, "Why don't you lie down on the examination table? Remove your clothes and relax."

This was the final straw. She didn't even wish me goodbye. I saw just a blur of motion leaving my consulting room at top speed.

5001 words...!

Minneapolis..!

Just Beat It..

Am so beat right now... that I can only tweet ;-)

RIP MJ.. the Molester Jackson ? We will have to wait until one of the kids grow up and write a book... by then, you may be long forgotten...

Check..

Hangover - the movie.. check
Pani puri.. check
Sunnyvale Saravanaa Bhavan.. check
4th July fireworks.. check
Red eye to Minneapolis-St.Paul.. check
Subaru Impreza.. check
Extended Stay America, Bloomington.. check
Meow meow.. check!
zzzzzzzz.. checking-in now!!

Bloom!!

Yaay! I will be moving to Minneapolis-St.Paul-Bloomington area. I am pretty excited about this team and opportunity....!!!!

In that spirit, here is a song for Bloomington...
I gotta feeling... this year is gonna be a good year...!

This is fcuking hilarious..!!

Thanks to Chikita and originally to Ryan Deal !!

King Ryan says "Ahh… the friend zone. It’s pretty much nowhere near where you want to be with any girl you actually like. Being in the friend zone can keep you from the love of your life or at least from possibly some of the best sex you’ve ever had. Here’s a handy chart that shows you exactly where the friend zone is… so you can avoid it."

But there is more to it... look carefully! Like.. null set!!!

First look.. Last glance?!

I might soon be saying 'au revoir' to this lovely city... Never imagined my love story will come to an end so soon.... I had grown so comfortable in its arms.... But its probably time.... to say goodbye.. till we meet again.... Take care my sweet heart...

I am a micro lender..!

I made my first microfinance loan today!!

I came to know about Kiva when I attend the TiE conference last month. [TiE - The Indus Entrepreneurs). Premal Shah, who is the president of Kiva, was one of the winners of the top 50 startups award at the conference. And he was also one of the speakers on social entrepreneurship. Man, you should hear him speak... he just is so simple and sincere and straight-from-the-heart and obviously, his presentation touched, and inspired me.

Kiva - the world's first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.

Of course, I got in touch with him right away and it helped that we had a couple of common friends. Well.. thats how Kiva started for me. And I wanted to lend on Kiva, but somehow did not get to it... Until today that is!

I got the tweet last week about a mixer organized by Kiva and the Good magazine in the city. And I decided to attend that. I marked my calendars and worked through a couple of things - one of them being that I should be a lender before I attend the party!!

Of course.. it is fun partying... and if I can mix partying with doing good... Wow! what can beat that?!?!

The party was today (Tuesday) and it was great, but that is another post! This post is about Kiva. And Kiva is cool!!! Check it out!!

You can make a difference to an entrepreneur today..

Wisdom!

Some wise man said...

Love an angel.. but marry a woman...!!

Learning from a Fishing Expedition!

The best con — one where everyone gets what they want even if they didn’t know they wanted it!!!

The Brothers Bloom

-----------------------------------

- You need to expend positive vibes during fishing...

- Surround yourself with folks that are better than yourself.. of course, they should not be better at fishing!
-- when going fishing, take with you someone (like 'wingman') that can enhance the energy & can work the waters for ya

- Have three questions to ask the fishes and fellas - simple questions you can fall back on (e.g. is the water good?)

- Keep it simple and genuine
-- compliment the fish
-- appreciate the work of art (every fish is unique and is a work of art!)
-- use positive reinforcement :-)

- IF you think the fish is better than you, then go out of your way to be useful for the fish.. go out of your comfort zone!! (Jump into the water ;-)

Season 2 has begun!!

cross-posted on my running blog

Itz season 2 of my marathon experience... continuing my training with Team Asha...
I did not run at all after the Silicon Valley Half Marathon last year - took complete rest and allowed my body to refresh itself in the winter.

Then I ran the Asha 10K Spring Run in March early this year. That was good. And end of April, I started my second season with the team. The team, coaches, mentors are as awesome as ever. And I seem to be doing pretty well too.. No real pains so far... which is great!

Hoping to run the San Francisco Half Marathon on Jul 26, 2009. And then, I will decide which full marathon to run. My goal is to get to the start line injury-free and have fun all along while raising money to support one of Asha for Education's projects in India.. That reminds me.. I need to select the project too.

Anyways, to Team Asha... may you fulfill more dreams and help create educated children and inspired citizens!!

Events...

It has been quite an eventful week..

First came the news that LTTE Prabhakaran was dead.. It was a little sad. He was a leader for the Tamils in Sri Lanka, but his choice of war as the means to achieve his goals led to enormous destruction. Sad to see all lives wasted including his own.. There is this succinct article in the latest Time

Then came the news that the Congress has won a convincing majority at the Indian Lok Sabha Elections 2009. I think that is a good thing for India - a stable government for the next five years and that too one that is progressive and pro-private is definitely welcome..
If you have not been following the elections, you can read about it here
I also think that DMK party coming to power again in Tamil Nadu is a great relief.. for one it breaks the anti-incumbency voting pattern over the decade or more.. Goes to show that people are not discontent without rhyme/reason.. and I think the parties had also started to take it for granted that they will return to power in alternate cycles, irrespective of their performance or policies or platforms.

The Indian stock market reacted to the Election results with a huge positive surge... for the first time in the history of the Sensex, trading was suspended for the day because the index hit the upper circuit, twice! The index was capped at 17.2% spike.

On the personal front.. quite some things happening.. but, sorry, I cannot divulge more details now.. ;-)