An aggregate Of the Past

So, how about giving a one word representation to a group of meaningful words as given in the title of this blog? Well, if you really are into one words and synonyms, I was referring to “History”. I was a little reluctant to keep the title as History, as I was not sure if that would entice even the bookworms. I was and still am a lover of History.

Thanks to my history teacher way back in my fourth grade, I just loved History. She made the class extremely interesting that you would expect that class eagerly. Now how many of you could say that? I was matter of fact lucky to get a person who taught history as if it were achievements of someone whom I knew well throughout my life.

Had it not been for History, we would be reinventing the wheel each day. Wouldn't we? We do need to know who gave us the comforts with which we are all living now. We need to know who ruled us, how people fought and how horrible were the aftermaths of such wars, so as to think twice before even dreaming of committing such horrid deeds.

So it was in this history class, our history teacher opened the doors to learn about some of my favorite personalities like Joan of Arc, Captain Roald Amundsen etcetera. In the years that went by, I learnt more about the rich history of South India and the wonderful kings who ruled it. Still further, I learnt some international history and I was intrigued by the happenings that lead to the world wars.

Some of my friends still consider history a boring subject and is fit to be studied if you want a good night's sleep! Perhaps they all did not start off with a wonderful teacher like the one I had! See, if it weren't for history I could not have made out this blog and you could not have read about a small aggregation of the Past!

With more thoughts...

Variety

In anything and almost everything it is the nature of man to crave for variety. Variety is the spice of life and there is no fun without this mirch masala! Right from the common middle class man to the ultra rich business tycoon dreams, thinks and wishes for varieties.

Let’s start with my blog itself. Had it contained the writings about the same topic, I wonder if it would be more interesting that the variety I try to provide. Fashion is the epitome of variety. Perhaps it is the mother of all varieties. We expect variety in films, variety in food, variety in amusements, entertainments etc. Food - my favorite subject is so interesting and it proves to be even more exciting when there is a new variety demonstrated. I used to ask my mom to prepare something new and she would try to recollect any least recently prepared dish and try to make me happy!

Well, we do expect more from films – don’t we? Even if it is a normal love story, we want that to be told in a different manner - a new variety. Though unaffordable by many people, men crave for variety in cars, bikes and the like, while women look out for a variety in vogue, home furnishing and likewise.

Kids too look out for variety. From Cartoons to toys, from chocolates to games, kids today expect a lot! There is variety in cats food and dogs food as well! Using the word "variety" throughout this blog itself is kind of boring. It would be interesting and efficient, if we used synonyms for varieties like multifarious and potpourri!

So much for variety, but ofcourse a wise man once said, "Necessity is the mother of all inventions" (A beautiful adage) and variety is an absolute necessity.

With more thoughts...

The American Roadways

If I were ever asked to give my "Top 10 that you like in the US of A", then, most definitely I will include the American Roadways in the top 3. “I like it”, is an understatement. "I admire it", is perhaps a better word. Whatever; the American Roadways are something that one should check it out! Transportation is a backbone for a country's economy. It is even its pride. There is always a healthy competition between communication and transportation - the net result; we get all that we want sooner and sooner!

Some of the best things about the American Roadways are the broad roads having a number of lanes, the traffic signs, the freeways and what not! There were so many "Roadway jargons" that I was not aware of, and I started to learn them and thereby got accustomed to them after coming to the US of A. My awe and wonder all increased when we went on a road trip from Salt Lake City to the Sin City - Las Vegas. About 650Km - rather a great deal of distance was covered comfortably in 5 hours. And my, my, the entire stretch of road was awesome.

Travel by roads is something that you will love it in the US of A, especially if you are neither the driver nor the navigator! There are specific rules for roadway construction and the rules for overlapping freeways are way too complex. That is perhaps the reason they are both confusing and frightening besides making you wonder, how on earth could they build something as planned as this one?

Being a very vast nation and the resources and manpower spread across it, the US is very well aware of the fact that connecting people is “the” most important thing. Both air and road transportation are so very advanced and long distances are common in both these modes. This is one area that I feel rather jealous about the US, as back home in India; the roadways are not as good as the US. Well, we are improving extremely fast and comparing with a giant is definitely a healthy way to grow and move forward. I hope to see equally good roads in my home country too – sooner though.

With more thoughts...

Reliving April

It is April again - And its the beginning of spring in Salt Lake. And I am reliving those good old "Not a long saunter" blog days. If there is one season of the year, spring is definitely the best. And you can give innumerable reasons to support the above statement! The birth of spring has brought agility back to my cells, which were refusing to budge during snowy winter.

Well, I was delighted to see a very early blossomed tulip. A lovely rosy tulip with strands of white is out there deciding when to fully blossom. It is looking for an auspicious day, perhaps. Its just not the flowers: the leaves of many tress have sprouted and there is a tinge of green on them - Well these are the colorful signs of spring.

Its just not me who welcomes spring - the entire country of China welcomes it with grandeur. The spring festival is celebrated in China and is as important as Christmas in the West. There is the St Patrick’s Day, celebrated in Ireland, welcoming the spring season. Even though spring is not so well marked or felt in my home country India, it is those few days where the climate is good enough to roam around. For Chennai's hot tropical climate, winter is more or less a spring!

Counting my days to go back to my mother land, this April is a month of expectations. A month in which we have a major release at work. A month to do a loooot of shopping. A month to sit and countdown for the day to travel back. Well these are the non reliving parts of April, that has provided more enthusiasm to an already bright April!

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To Sir, With Love

After a long time, I happened to watch a movie which made me feel so glad that I had watched it. It was the same way I felt after watching “Erin Brockovich”. This time it was a movie from the UK and rather an old one. To Sir, With Love is definitely a movie worth watching. It is a heart warming drama that makes your heart filled with emotions.

It is the story of a young black man, who is an engineer, happens to join a school to teach, when he does not get a job in his stream of study. The school he joins is the school that is run for the kids who are not so privileged. They are kids who work in the evenings and come to school in the mornings despite many financial and personal problems. They definitely do not lead a life of luxury. In short, the school is run for such unattended kids, who are rough, indecent and unruly.

Sidney Poitier, the teacher, takes a new approach of giving and taking respect to these kids while teaching. He calls his male students by their surnames and the girls are addressed by "Miss". He gives them respect and self importance that are so very new to them. He talks to them about not geography or arts, but about real life. What is marriage? How should a man behave to gain respect? Who decides whom to give respect? His class is filled with questions and answers. Questions on how to lead a better life. And the answer brings in light to these kids.

Poitier also takes them to outings - museums etc, where the kids learn about art, history and also have their break from their routine life. He moves more personally with each student and wins their heart. During their last day in the school, the kids plan for a dance where Poitier and his favorite girl student have a fast dance and win an ovation. As an icing to the cake, one other girl student sings a song in praise of their "Sir". This song was a hit in those yester years and the lyrics are so powerful that you can make out from it, how wonderful a teacher was Sidney Poitier.

The Song:
The time has come for closing books and long last looks must end
And as I leave I know that I am leaving my best friend
A friend who taught me right from wrong and weak from strong
That's a lot to learn, but what can I give you in return?

If you wanted the moon
I would try to make a start
But I would rather you let me give my heart
`To Sir, With Love'

Well, I had such wonderful teachers too, who are indeed the ladders, making each of their students to climb up in life.

With more thoughts…

Home Beautiful Home!

There are times when we tidy up our sweet little homes. Times when guest comes by or when friends drop in. Better still, when your in-laws come in! There are some of these times when you land up cleaning, when you have had enough of dirt lying down, or when you have become wise to realize that your search for the most needful item of the minute will turn out not to be a search if you have kept it orderly - a little more to add, shall I say spick-and-span?

Besides the benefit of living in a house that is pleasant in appearance, that is clean and tidy and above all orderly, a clean house is considered to be a beauty in its simplest form! Oh! You need not be a decorator, an artist or a fashion pundit to keep your home the most beautiful and appreciated one. You ought to be however, a person who loves to admire beauty.

Innate talents are not needed to decorate or beautify. I am no pro and I fall under the admirers’ category and I land up in keeping a house clean. Atleast the portion of my bedroom and my bath is definitely clean and I really boast about it! When it comes to your own house, your responsibility and the tendency to beautify it, comes naturally. I have seen folks keeping their rented houses worse than dungeons. Ughh…

Having been checked into a new home back in Chennai, my interest to choose space saving multi-purpose furniture, mild, simple, yet fabulous curtains and sheets, vases, showcase items have topped my google search. The hair salon in Salt Lake that I go monthly provides me the time to browse the Beautiful Home magazines, which are my source of international interior decorations.

If you happen to be an admirer with a strict budget, get on to the local shops and look out for unique designs or items that will attract your guests. Right from bonsai to table top Zen fountains, miniature and affordable decorative pieces are lying down everywhere. It is up to us to choose the best ones and embellish our sweet homes!

With more thoughts…

Shopping Spree

It’s been more than a month and a half, since I have blogged. Its UAT time - ie. testing time here for our projects and I am way too busy to think about anything but issues! It's a lazy sunday evening and here I am watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, admiring Harry's courage, Hermoine's skills and Ron's altruistic nature. What a wonderful bunch of kids!

Well, we were not so lazy yesterday, as we did a non stop 5 hour shopping. It so happened that we went to this famous factory outlet store in Park City. Perhaps every Indian in Salt Lake goes to these outlets before their trip to India! Hmm, it has an array of shopping malls, from jewellery to watches, from clothes to cosmetics, from kitchen wares to what not.

Some of the shops that interested me and proved to be well within budget were the toy shop and the paper shop. The toy shop brought my age down atleast by 15 to 20 years and I got a car and a bike! It’s not for me to play, however for my showcase back home. So I went off in a shopping spree, trying to get many gifts and articles to decorate my home.

We had ceaser's salad for lunch and oh my! It left no space in my tummy after eating it. With more energy we shopped, shopped and shopped till we were tired. The drive back to Salt Lake from Park City is one of the picturesque drives, with mountains filled with snow, cute little house standing on those mountains and the roads that curve around them giving us all those delightful views.

So that was quite some initial level shopping done yesterday and it proved to be exciting and tiring!

With more thoughts…

Made in America?

Very recently I had been to a place called as "Valley Fair Mall" situated very near my home in Salt Lake City. Probably for my friends back home, if I say Valley Fair is something like a very mini Spensers Plaza, they will come to know that it is a "Many shops Shop"! So it was here, I was doing a good deal of window shopping while my friends seriously emptied their wallets depriving it of a few dollars and cents.

Well, I happened to go to a popular fashion mall and was casually going thru some t-shirts. One of my friends pointed out a t-shirt and said "Hey this is Made in India!" and Lo and Behold, in this popular trendy outlet was a dress made from my mother land. Out of interest and curiosity I went and checked about thirty and odd shirts and found them to be made from a variety of countries across earth - China, Columbia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and so on. Much to my surprise, none was from America!

I then entered a gift shop which had a motley of items displayed for sale. Over here again I noticed that there were things brought in from places and lands near and far alike. It was so heartening to see the articles made by people belonging to various countries under one roof - Globalization perhaps? Yes - that is it. There is always a craze for imported goods. Seeing them make us feel as if we have come closer to that place.

I came back home and sat on my couch with no potatoes, nevertheless switched on the television. There was this Spanish Channel, Italian cuisine, a Korean soap besides the films made in Australia, England and America! Yet another Globalization? Whatever you call it or where ever you make and label it, here I am sitting in one corner in Salt Lake City and enjoying this global togetherness!

With more thoughts...

Helen Keller

As it has happened the previous times, the idea to write this blog came up accidentally, when I was googling about "Joan Of Arc". I was rather looking for some accomplishments in general, when the name Helen Keller popped up both out of google and out of my little brain at the same time!

It was my fourth grade where my English syllabus had a lesson about Helen Keller under the title "The story of My Life" - The autobiography by Helen Keller herself. The lesson starts with the plight and helplessness of a young girl who is blind and deaf in the late 19th century. Just like a savior angel, came Miss Anne Sullivan into Helen Keller’s life, a teacher who taught her the words of wisdom.

The very first word which Helen learned, understanding its meaning was the word “Water”. The way in which Miss Sullivan taught her blind and deaf student was extremely innovative. She opened a tap and placed Helen's hand under the water and in the other hand she wrote the word "water" with her fingers. Thrilled by this new method of teaching, Helen, who by this time was revealed the mystery of the language, showed eagerness and enthusiasm in learning. This made her feel better and she garnered skills strong enough to write her own biography.

Just imagine the period in which Helen lived - where technology was perhaps not even a bud (forget being a full bloom flower!), where a child who was differently-abled, (This is one of the very positive word in English language. You know what - we no longer use words like disabled!) became a role model.

Helens accolades were some of the most astounding ones - She became the first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Helen was also awarded the "Presidential Medal Of Freedom", the nation's highest civilian award.

So if you are woebegone and so run-down - go, get yourself a copy of "The story of My Life" and you will find yourself brimming with optimism.

With more thoughts...

Everybody Loves Raymond

Well, as I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs, soaps being my cuppa tea, the first and perhaps the most frequently watched soap in the US by me, is "Everybody Loves Raymond" - And I am no exception to it! With the base story line that is so very similar to our Indian family and comedy soaps, this daily serial brings in some nostalgia. It is somewhat similar to my most favorite serial back home in India - "Tu Tu Main Main" - the tug of war between the daughter in law and the mother in law. ELR is quite similar to it, only difference being the hero has a brother who provides us an equally fair amount of laughs.

ELR is ordinary comedy soap, and the key thing that would make a normal show, a lively and a hit show is based on the characters you choose to act - to a major extent. In ELR, the characters do not act - they rather live. This key difference is what makes this show a hearty family soap.

Penned around Raymond and Debra, the lead couple, the story is all about the differences they have and their love for each other and how they put up with Ray's parents who happens to live just across the street, nevertheless are always in Ray's home! With 3 kids, Debra has a tough time and tries her best to control her tempers when her sweet old mom in law (Marie) interferes!

Aired at 10:00pm every night, this show is comfortable for onsite bachelors to watch while having dinner! Either before the offshore call or after the offshore call, ELR comes as a welcome break! Well folks, it is time for ELR and I am off to fall in love with a program that makes me laugh heartily!

With more thoughts...