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Showing posts from 2008

Article by Suketu Mehta in NY Times

Op-Ed Contributor What They Hate About Mumbai By SUKETU MEHTA Published: November 28, 2008 MY bleeding city. My poor great bleeding heart of a city. Why do they go after Mumbai? There’s something about this island-state that appalls religious extremists, Hindus and Muslims alike. Perhaps because Mumbai stands for lucre, profane dreams and an indiscriminate openness. Mumbai is all about dhandha, or transaction. From the street food vendor squatting on a sidewalk, fiercely guarding his little business, to the tycoons and their dreams of acquiring Hollywood, this city understands money and has no guilt about the getting and spending of it. I once asked a Muslim man living in a shack without indoor plumbing what kept him in the city. “Mumbai is a golden songbird,” he said. It flies quick and sly, and you’ll have to work hard to catch it, but if you do, a fabulous fortune will open up for you. The executives who congregated in the Taj Mahal hotel were chasi

Audacity of Hope

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WOW!!!!!!!!!!! What a night it was. History was made for the right reasons. I felt proud being associated to this election through my television, through the free flowing discussions in my college corridors, through the hush-hush conversations at my desk at office. As a commentator on CNN rightly reported "It is the triumph of FEAR over Hope" When I was new to this country I was often surprised to see the number of fear tactics used by people in power to influence the public. I in no way undermine peoples' grief and shock over devastating events 7 years ago, but living in fear and spreading fear is not the right path to take to overcome it. To have color codes for terror and attune peoples' mind by fine tuning color codes is no way to lead the country. For me the most important thing that I took away from this election, was not which ideology prevailed, BUT THAT IT WAS AN ELECTION OF THE PEOPLE. So many people voted, and they did not think "does my vote count, wh

Happy Watching---The jane austen book club

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Very early when I started to blog, I wrote about an incident when my husband was away for an office trip (his first one) and how miserable I was the whole time alone at home, feeling as though my wings had been clipped. Well after that trip, my husband took many more and slowly my wings kept growing. I can't say that I am flying but definitely I am trying ............ Hmmmm this blog is slowing turning out to be about my wings.. It is not intended to be so.. Today I watched movie (Ya my husband is away for 4 days).. "The Jane Austen Book Club".. Ohh this movie is for you, my girl friends. A recommendation from my side to all of you. Light, yet meaningful and insightful. I am a sucker for romance and there were different shades of romance in the movie. Temptation, boredom, jealousy, lust, love and betrayal... all covered. I must admit that I haven't read any of Jane Austen's Books but I am tempted to do so. For us Indians one of the first images that must be coming

Updates....

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Wow Its almost been 2 months since I wrote on this page of thoughtless ideas. A few of my friends reminded me that I haven't put anything new... that means some of you are reading my nonsense.. I have thought of jotting down some lines many times... but I guess these thoughts were not strong enough.. These 2 months of summer have been bliss (with many interrupted by strong thunder storms). I have not seen such lightening before. And there was an earthquake too. I was alone in the house and I got up too. As my PANIC threshold in very low... I panicked and the rest is history. What else.. I visited Detriot in May. It was nice, may be only for spending 2 days max. We went to the Casino and as played good amount of Blackjack. We won lots and finally left when we lost it all. In June I also attended a ballet done by the Gregory Hancock Dance theater group in which they performed on songs of Devdaas, Lagaan. It was a delight. The performers were all white but they infused bollywood a

Jaane Tu................

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Jaane Tu is a very pleasant watch... Please watch it guys. I am not sure why it didn't hit the theaters in my city.... Love Story 2050 (no comments... you know what that means) is in the theaters now. I loved Jaane tu.. every one must have read the reviews so no use for detail. But its light, fresh and predictable... Romance is always a great watch especially when movies don't force other angles (action, drama, death, separation, family issues, rich poor... blah blah) in the movie. The movie focuses only on the relationship and that it its USP.

Can I be a sports Psychologist?

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Well this is precisely the question my husband asked me " Shweta, Do you think that you can be sports psychologist?". This question was popped to me while we both were engrossed watching the "Federer-Nadal Wimbledon Finals". Now you may wonder how this question came about. Well when everyone was watching Federer struggle to match Nadal's mighty strokes, I wasn't. Truly. I was huddled in my bedroom crossing my fingers. I was pacing up and down from the living room to the bedroom and from bedroom to living room. And Poor Virendra, his job was to shout the score every time the point was played (Yaaa he is nice!!!!). I was praying, but God could not answer my prayers because Nadal deserved to win. Anyways coming back to the question, I told Virendra that "NO" I cannot ever become a sports psychologist. I will be much more emotional than the player and may be the player will land up giving me counseling instead. I am still feeling bad for Federer. A

I am a loser!!!!!!!!!

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I have never been a fan of video games... I think we had a Atari growing up, but I was never attracted to it. In fact I always found it a waste of time. However my husband does not share my views.. (isnt that obvious, when do couples agree not to agree on something). Veeru, devoted (wasted) a lot of time playing video games in school, but somehow after marriage, my constant hammering had made a dent in the amount given to it. On his last birthday he bought a playstation and on my birthday he bought me a Wii (isn't it a wonderful idea to gift your spouse something u want). I guess as relationships grow older people start to become more of themselves... Which means that Veeru is playing more and more video games nowadays. And I think I am okay about it.... But what has happened is that I myself am spending some time with the Wii. Well whatever the story is, and how much I hate to admit, Wii is amazing. Its so easy and user friendly and easy and it makes a non-gamer feel very powerfu

AMU---- Give it a watch

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I recently watched the movie "Amu". And I loved it. This movie captured many of my experiences across different phases of my life. Before getting into that, let me just say that this movie is worth a watch. Konkana as usual, brilliant. The guy cast opposite her (Ankur khanna, ya I think thats his name) is cute too. The best part of the movie is that it is shot in actual locations and nowhere do you feel that the characters are placed in sets, they just belonged I felt. The movie dragged at places but a DVD watch never hurts. For all gals who have studied in DU, you will be effortlessly transported into the Delhi where we lived some precious years of our lives. Yes, Meenakshi (I know you read my blog) there is Miranda House, there is mention of Chacha's bhatura, Blue line buses, there is Dilli haat and on the whole the flavor of Delhi. I never thought that I will say I miss Delhi. The movie also captured many issues relevant to social work. They actually shot in Delhi slu

This winter did not get to me this time

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Come November, and I get the november blues. I think of the next 6 months that will be spent whining about the cold, we being confined to the house, and basic restrictions on many "things to do". The gloomy weather got to me last year, and I think that I was suffering from seasonal depression. No sun, no fun. However this season was very different. It is the end of march and the winter is no where out-of-sight. We friends often discuss how long the winter has been, and how cold it is. And I dont know why my view would stick out as a sore thumb from the groups. I would say, it hasn't been that cold, its okay...... At home I asked my husband then, that has the winter been that bad this year? He said "No". I was wondering why the winter did not get to me this time. Actually this winter My husband and me decided that no matter how cold it is, we will not stay indoors. we will go out in the evenings like the way we did. And thats precisely what we did. And somehow no

My trip to Chicago

This is about my trip to Chicago during the easter break. My brother's friends had decided to meet up at a club and he said that we come along as well. My husband and me are acquainted with a few of his friends but not that well, so we were apprehensive about going. But I had a great time there. There were about 7 girls and all of us danced together, no boys. Wow... it reminded me of college times. It was a lot of fun. So I think that next time we go out here in Indy, we girls can have fun on our own. And that makes me thinking that when will have our girls' nite sleepover again. The last one was so much fun. So my friends if you are reading this lets plan on one soon. Girlfriends are indispensable. Chicago reminds me of another funny incident. We all had gone to the signature lounge in the Hancock tower for a drink. I had heard that the view from up (95th floor) there is great, and why pay to watch chicago from SEAR's Tower when you can have a drink at the signature loung

Different ideas that I wanted to blog about

It's been so so long since I wrote something on my blog. Its not that I didn't have ideas but I didn't think they had enough substance.... Like I wanted to write about Jodha Akbar- there were such mixed feelings. Such a long movie, but I couldn't blame the actors. I think that the director was to blame for he thought that every thing he directed was so precious that it could not be edited. I think that some scenes could have been taken off. Also there wasn't any coherent theme in the movie. It was a good buffet... but don't we always get tired of buffets. It wasn't clear if he wanted to demonstrate Akbar's greatness, Jodha's strength of character, the love between Jodha-Akbar, the political instability at those times, etc etc.... Anyways Jodha Akbar is long gone and most people I have known have liked it... Then my friend had said that she was waiting for me to write about JUNO. After I watched the movie, I didn't have enough motivation to write.

The original Korean song--- lifted in entirity in the movie Race

I really like Atif Aslam and I really liked the song from Race which he has sung. However this weekend my friend pointed out that the entire song has been directly lifted from a korean song..... I am so proud of Bollywood.

When will the blogging bubble burst?

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The idea of this article came to my mind so long back that I don’t even know if I will remember the facts clearly…. Well on our last trip to Borders I picked the GQ magazine to give me company while I slowly chipped at toffee and macadamia nut cookie (trust me, it was heavenly). I was pleasantly surprised that the GQ magazine held my interest much longer than I anticipated. Anyways getting away from the distractions, let me come to the point. I began to read an article on blogging. I don’t remember the title too well, but it spoke about blogging in a negative light. Being a budding blogger, I immediately took to the article. The article said that the blogging bubble would soon burst. When Justin Hall (yes the first blogger) started his internet diaries (as Wikipedia refers it as) in 1994 , this movement has since seen rapid and exponential growth. Justin H all soon started writing intimate details on his blogs, I am not sure if he is still actively blogging. Blogging gave the co

vellagiri.blogspot.com

I have realized that may be I have too much time, or I am utilizing too much of my time on blogging, hence my new blog name is vellagiri.blogspot.com. LOL. I think that this reflects my state of mind better than my name. what say??

Beliefs, religion - is it the same ... or may be not ?

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I have recently started to watch the detective series 'Without a trace' on TNT. I think it used to come on CBS or whatever but I am catching the old series on TNT. Well this blog is definitely not about the show (as much as I would love to write on it), but a line on last night's show that made me think. " We all need something to believe in". We all can have different reasons, power, justice, vengence etc etc but we need something to believe in. Religion is often a topic that is part of my household discussion. There is just so much confusion there. Am I religious ?- It is a question I often ask myself. This question can only answered if I correctly operationalize the word "religion" as it appears to me. What constitutes a religion. Why not Google the word religion. So here is what I get. " A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader " - Answer.com. " A religion is a set of beliefs and practices ge

Patriots and charity

Ya the Patriots are doing charity work after losing the super bowl. I heard a piece of news that the Patriots had printed millions worth of sweatshirts and other sports accessories that reflected that the Patriots were superbowl champions, 19-0 team, the perfect team etc etc. Now that they could not do anything with that post superbowl, they have shipped the entire stuff to Africa. Imagine the African children wearing 19-0 jerseys, Ha ha ha. ....

Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander--- the stars aligned for the Giants.

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When the Patriots took to the podium after a shocking loss to the Giants, they echoed the truth. As Rodney Harrison said, “Nobody can take the credit away from the Giants today, they were the better team on the field and they deserve the victory. However it is the truth that the Patriots have had an unbelievable season and their 18-1 season will go down in history well remembered.” As we can carry on to debate, whether the Giants’ conquest was a “major upset” or a “great win”, I am just too thrilled that Giants did it. I somehow hoped for it and I am so so happy that it happened. It wasn’t a fluke either, the Giants were gathering momentum all along and the finale saw it delivered. Eli Manning was backed defensively and he delivered offensively. I was just so thrilled to see Peyton Manning jubilant. The Patriots are famous for pulling through a close win coming from behind when the last few minutes are ticking away, but today was not their day. The stars aligned for the Gian

Feminism----- A perspective on men

Feminism.............. Wohhhhhh this word ticks off "many" people and I assume that the majority of those "many" would be men. Yes, this is true, but surprisingly in recent times there are lesser younger women who associate themselves with this term. I am writing this blog as an offshoot to a discussion in class. My professor made a comment that "my husband is a feminist, he will not do the car oil change for me, he does dishes, and he cooks too ". I understood what she meant, " breaking away from traditional gender roles" is as simple as she described her husband's trait. To me then, feminism works wonder for both men and women. Why is that the word feminist arouses strong emotions and reactions. And please to all those reading, dont start cursing under your breath. And some how I do realize why many dislike the word. I know many people perceive feminism to be equivalent to men bashing. As a lay person, Feminism to me means providing

Pleasing men!!! Not as easy as it seems

Recently it was my husband's birthday. Birthdays are fun, but they bring along some anxiety with them. The million dollar question- What present shall I get him? I can brainstorm this issue and still never arrive at a satisfying conclusion. So lets begin.. If your husband is finicky- you can not buy clothes, shoes etc etc (if he doesn't wear it, I will feel bad) If he is tech savvy- then he knows what is the best thing to buy, read all the freaking reviews and even know a better place to get a decent deal. If you had earlier asked him to prepare a wish list (I tried that too), then all the things were so expensive (I could not spend that much money). If your husband prefers tangible things, then all other ideas such a surprise trip, and other fancy ideas can be thrown out as well. (Last time I bought him a package of guitar lessons, I am not sure if he thought it was the best present). If you are too finicky then you dont want to be repetitive and give something similar to wha

Siding with the underdogs- Manning keeps the hopes high

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What is it with me being so unsportsmanlike...... Well sports isn't all about skill , or is it!!. Ever since Colts lost to Brady, I would side for any team playing against the Patriots. But Giants held a special place, after all they are somehow linked to Manning. I am so thrilled to see Giants win the NFC championship. It was an extremely exciting game and I am openly wishing and secretly praying that Giants score a big upset and trample the Patriots. Well may be thats going a bit toooooooo far, but a wish is a wish. Siding with the underdogs is a not so rare phenomenon. Like if Roger Federer had lost to Tipsarvic, it would have been exciting.

Education- its meaning for students

Ya thats my style

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My brother's defense on beautiful Indian girls (His writing)

Let me tell you a story related to India. No it is not related to Information Technology nor a tale on the land of fakirs or Taj Mahal or Gandhi for that matter. It is about beautiful girls from India, and my attempt to convince my colleagues That they truly are Indian. It started when I forwarded the email I received, carrying the Kingfisher calendar (featuring the beauties from India) to my friends. So my white friends reacted that "they look like any people in the world" “…Well I countered with “ Why is so difficult to accept these girls as Indian .” It seemed as if my friend wanted to say that “no you guys cannot be that beautiful”. It struck me that my friends had a narrow view about a billion people, and that I should help them better understand that these dames are truly and purely Indians, as I am or technology support girls working in the office are, likewise they are “Indian” models. “Ah no” …well “ mixed breed ” was what they were most ready to c

2 days .........and no work

My husband left yesterday for out of station on an office visit. This meant that I was alone in my apartment for 2 days and 1 night..... Well what does that leave me with. Finally some alone time..... or back to bachelorhood days (as my husband teased me) or that I will be eagerly waiting for him to return, counting every hour? Yes, counting every hour is precisely what I did. And as I am writing it, I am truly ashamed of it. I suddenly had this feeling that just because one spends all their time with their partner or is habituated to living with someone, it is hard to go back to being one your own.. I told my husband that it is hard to imagine how people live alone. And then he said to me that living alone is not a problem, but once you get into the habit of living with a partner, then it is hard to go back to living one. This reminded me of a lecture on social psychology in my undergrad that for people who have not been in love, Love is not a big deal. But for someone who has experie

Colts-- hmmmmmm

I am in state of shock, well the shock is wearing off slowly but still, the COLTS loss to Chargers today was very disappointing... Could we have played better, I think so. May be I am one of those fans who is only satisfied in a win (may be not a true fan then), but we failed to deliver as a team in the crunch time. Sports psychology man, I think it really counts. Coming from the bottom, and then clinching a victory is not a very common trait to possess. " Confidence " .... may be Manning could work on. When we lost, I was feeling like one should stay away from attachment. But no ya... life goes on. Colts you rocked.. Hopefully better performance next time. However it makes me realize how good TOM BRADY is. Like Shailesh says " with Patriots you have to play all 4 quaters". However I am enjoying my interest in Football. A sport I could barely make sense of a year ago.

Taare Zameen Par

Hats off to Aamir Khan for directing this movie. He has made a splendid movie, right from the heart. It carries a beautiful message, and has brilliant performance. Aamir comes at the interval and is present only in the second half. He is selfless in the sense that there is scope for every actor in his movie to have their space, ample screen time and deliver their best performance. The little one in the movie Darsheel is brilliant. For all who dont mind crying while watching movie, there is ample scope for you. Go watch everybody... you won't regret.

Caste system in India

I have just gotten off the phone with one of my friend. She had called me to discuss an email that had been circulating to my list serve in school. The email highlighted an incident in Chicago where a Hindu person is accused of burning alive his daughter and son-in-law because she married a person of lower caste. Such emails which highlight atrocities are common to our social work list serve, however the last sentence of the email read " Hindus carry and live with their caste wherever they go". I took great exception to this statement as it was clearly making a judgment on all Hindus and especially since it was coming from all another fellow Indian. I cannot speak for all but I know of many people who have come a long way in denouncing the caste system and working towards a India which does not practice discrimination. Spread information as against propaganda....

Back to orkut

The word ORKUT is synonymous with many thoughts, some good and many bad. Well after a hiatus of I dont know how many months, I am back on orkut. I have mixed feelings.... 3 months back I had told my sister to delete her orkut account and concentrate on her board exams. I know what she will think when she gets to know of it. But anyways, since the usuage of phone to call not-so-near friends has gone down (at least by me) so much that I am sure I will make positive use of orkut. I am also glad at the many measures initiated by orkut to make it private..