To God

I dreamt
I hoped
I failed.....

There is still hope
And faith
Your dream is better for me
Show me Your dream
I am waiting

Merry Christmas From Hyderabad!

Under the star lit skies
Reflected off the moon lit pool
There is joy in the air

With Santa behind you
Tucking neat presents under the tree
There is joy in the air

Hubby honey baking
A Christmas cake
There is joy in the air

Darling kids singing
Christmas Carols
There is joy in the air

Happy families skating
On the sheet of white ice
There is joy in the air

Serene Sunrise
On a misty winter morning
There is joy in the air

Wish you a Merry Christmas!

Btw, In Hyderabad we have White Christmas!
The sun scorches you until you blanch white!

Memoir of R2I

How long is the blog due?!

ISB is beautiful. Hyderabad is enchanting. The growth I see around the city is remarkable. I am truly happy to back! Back to the city where the old and new live in harmony.

The many new malls that have been added to the landscape showcases the young money flooding around here. Stand in IMAX and you could be in Hong Kong, there is absolutely no difference. Wealth is splurged with no reverence. Right from Ratna Deep to City Central, goods and brands from the consumer country USA rule. Even the guarded secret of Durgam Cheruvu is highly commercialized. It is one rich city is a really poor country. Anyways, I have to applaud the corporation for having maintained clean parks, roads and safe pathways. Of course, my experience is highly limited to the “shuttle route” that ISB bus takes ok, that means that we don’t own a personal vehicle of any kind. Right now, not adding to the carbon footprint!

Life at ISB has been a delight to say the least. Except for the constant scare of snakes, and all kinds of wild reptiles, insects and may be even boars it is the place to be. The luxury of hiring a house maid! Wow! Without sounding condescending, I should say that this is the best part of being in India. While India is largely poor, I also have to admit it is largely lazy. Hence good workers in this part of India continue to impress me, right from the auto rickshaws, house maids to chai wala, they seem to have good work ethics and I really respect them for that. Touch wood.

My job here entails me to interact with a few people from the academic circle and it is quite an experience. The hours are awesome. The work profile is quite unstructured and the hence the scope of learning is way better than what an industry job offers. Besides, there are a zillion things on campus to do. Fitness workouts, Spanish classes, public speaking sessions, yoga, magazine publishing and photography – there is just not enough time to do all of these. Plus, I have made some dear friends that make the place even more endearing and enjoyable.

In all, exactly three months after I set foot outside the United States, I am not disappointed. While the emotional attachment to the first life I had as a home maker raises its head from time to time, I think I truly enjoy the transition back to my home country! There is definitely no regret! R2I is here to stay!

On a different note, I am glad India lost in the world cup! Hope this gets A off the couch!

Going back to India for good ..

4.5 years - thats how long I have been in this country as a student, as a wife, as a H1B person in the American workforce, as a New Yorker, and more. There are a million relationships I am leaving behind; taking only the memory with me in the next few hours, in the 20 hour flight back to India, back to my home.

Its quite a conflict of emotions running right now.

R2I

In what seems like a whirlwind of time, the last four plus years has zipped past me in a myriad of eat outs, cooking, schooling, working, travelling, moving, losing, gaining and smiling!

I am not sure if the feeling of leaving the coveted United States of America has sunk in yet. Those days that unfolded with long lists of words from Barrons remain agonizingly fresh in my memory. Life got fast forwarded and the circle is drawn. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything else in the world.

My experiences are truly enriched by the people I met here, the ones that reshaped the course of my life, the ones that turned me from being ignorant to informed, the processes and systems that made living seem so much easier on the surface and so much scary down under. The jobs that always swayed above quick sand, the economy that swelled and plunged, the hurricanes that left people thinking beyond, the elections that played politics, the winter that leaves one cold and numb – it all added to the multitude of perspective.

So many reminiscences flash down the memory lane, faster than I can consciously think. I can’t record the emotions that are running through me right now- the entire gamut from excitement, joy, poignant, uncertain, insecure and bloody shit scared. Sometime I am sane and think straight, but most times my emotions take the better of me and I get lost. I seek guidance from my sources of strength (read I pray like I have never before). And then I feel a little sure and certain, however I realize I am so human and falter again.

However in the grand scheme of things, I am definitely looking forward to the suspense in the life forward.

God, stay with me!

A fresco painting

Apparently this is a popular subject for many paintings in the 15th century times. It shows the mythological giant man carrying a child across the river. It was his job as summoned by the elderly people of the town in his pursuit of reaching God. He was a 12 feet tall man that wanted to work for the most powerful being in the world. After spending many years with the Satan, he realized that God was more powerful than Satan and started his quest to see God.

As he was a Giant man, he helped people cross the river by carrying them on his shoulders. Anyways, as you might have guessed, carrying this kid made him so physically exhausting and the river turned unusually violent lending the child to reveal himself as the infant Jesus.



Hence he got the St. Christ(opher- meaning carrier).

Anyway apart from the mythology apart, this painting is done in the fresco technique by the famous fresco master Domenico Ghirlandaio. In this technique, pigments are mixed with water and applied to the fresh plaster made on the wall. As the plaster sets, the chemical reaction makes the plaster become part of the wall. Also, since the painting can only be done on the fresh plaster, the artist has to divide his painting into sections and plan to finish each section in one sitting. This division can usually be made out on a close up view. Fresco paintings have to be transported along with the wall that it was painted on.

Did you notice a flaw in the painting?
Look at his legs above and below water. May be in the mythological books, light does not refract on the surface of water ;)

Dagon primordial couple

It is a couple carved out off a monolithic rock – the man and the woman symbolizing equality and complementing each other. The figurines look very alike except for obvious physical differences of the sexes. The woman holds a baby in her back symbolizing her role in the society as the pro creator while the man holds a quiver on his back denoting his role as the provider and protector. In this culture, the equality of sexes was important and hence the figures are even made to look the same height. Another distinct feature is the degree of bilateral symmetry making them each a part of the whole bringing about the integrated and harmonious union of man and wife.




Also the couple is seen sitting on a stool which has legs indicating their ancestors as a way to acknowledging the importance in making them who they are. The interpretation of this piece speaks a lot about the culture and society in that day and age in Africa.

Aristotle with a Bust of Homer

The king of Spain commissioned Rembrandt to paint “a philosopher”. This generic commission left Rembrandt with a great deal of freedom to choose his subject. His end product was an oil-canvas painting showing three subjects connected by a deep philosophical thread.

Aristotle, the greatest philosopher of all times is seen standing with his right hand placed on a bust of Homer and his left hand on his hip touching the heavy gold chain that he is wearing. The interesting aspect of the painting is the third character in the painting, Alexander the Great seen hanging in the form of a pendant from his gold chain.




In the Iliad, Homer explains the many rules of the game of life, the decisions and their consequences in practical life scenarios. Aristotle, the teacher and a contemporary of Alexander gifted him a copy of Iliad that became one of his prized possessions. With these seemingly fragile connections, one of the interpretations of the paintings is that Aristotle by placing his dominant (right) hand on Homer and by placing his inferior (left) hand on the golden chain symbolizes the nobility of Iliad and its teachings in comparison to the smallness of power and wealth of Alexander and his invincible kingdom.

While the intent of the artist can never be proved, and part of the plan was probably leaving the painting for possible interpretations, I found this interpretation very profound and insightful.

Time and again, I am touched by the wisdom that history has left for us.

MET

Finally fighting the inertia and the cold, we went to the Metropolitan museum of art, New York today. It hosts magnificent pieces of arts from across the globe bringing bold histories to the new york city.

Some of the exhibits really picked my interest – it brought my artistic perspective to the fore ;)

More blogs to come on this topic.

Hudson water landing !!

If you haven’t seen the news, here it is -

I was at work when I came to know of the incident. I felt weak and shiver positively ran across my spine. And then I followed the news and was in relief and in awe of the phenomenal rescue efforts. Time and again, New York does not fail to impress me. If such mishaps have to happen in the world, let it happen in New York, because that’s where the impact is minimal –what an incredible effort.


I am especially inspired by the pilot’s reaction to the incident. Supposedly he was calm and composed, took important decisions and maneuvered the plane to land on water, like that was his daily routine. Wow! When failure is not an option, don’t you panic? Probably not!?

I don’t know how you can commend the heroic efforts from the rescue team. I am sure there are atleast 150 families who bless them whole heartedly.

If you were on-board,

It’s quite a life-enriching experience for the common man on board. It’s like having a second chance to live. It’s like you had an eternity to reflect on your past life, before you were lunged out to safety. Lastly, it’s one reality check for us to think beyond economy, losing jobs, mounting mortgages, broken relationships, and petty fights and find that common ground with that entire dissimilar unrelated people in our society.

Again it happened in New York, in my backyard. NY inspires in ways more than you know!

Winter special !

It was a Saturday. I was working a 6 am shift at the computer lab; half asleep I was supposedly assisting the inane med-students in their attempt to turn paper notes into slides! Those labs in med school was built with least respect for people working with computers, or so I thought, recessed in the insides of concrete jungle after miles of corridors from the nearest exit.

Two days ago, I had just peeped out of my window to catch the first glimpse of snow. The fresh flakes that seemed to be in a hurry to reach mother earth welcomed the concept of winter in me. I was happy, I remember- all those childhood dreams of America seemed to be turning true, the land of snow and year-around Christmas! (Well, that’s what I thought after watching Home Alone as a kid) However we did not venture out and the snowfall was rather short-lived.

When my shift was over at 2pm, I was hungry and after a long walk outdoors, I found it was snowing, rather heavily. I knew the forecast had been bad and was well prepared and yet I think I did not quite expect it to be this heavy. It was not anything like what I had watched on TV or that, that was two days ago, not a pretty sight by any means, not when my tummy was growling. And I had a ten minute walk through the campus before I can reach home. Not quite sure, how to steer my route, I was walking on fresh now; deep down I was scared if I would skid and break a limb or two. I was scared more so because, I did not see anyone else out ‘walking’ in the snow and if I did fall, I was not going to be able to get up without help; I imagined that if I fell, I would slide down the MLK road, slide down all the way until MLK’s gradient leveled. That big jumbo leather jacket from India protected me and brought me home. Later I came to know that was the heaviest snow in Cincinnati in 16 years!!!!

Today, as I was walking down to work on the streets of Manhattan, braving the cold and the wind, some tiny harmless flakes of snow, for some reason, I remembered this first venture with snowfall. I smiled. Well, I have definitely begun to love winter in my brief stay in USA!

Time waits for none......

so why are we bound in time?

Interesting it is….
To watch life unfold
Remain detached
To ones own self

And watch the ways
Days turn weeks
And weeks turn years
As millions entwine

Observe the perception
Changes with time
Metamorphosis of
Ideas and ideals!!

Listen to
An uncertain voice
Grope through
A cacophony

Discover in the dark crevices
Of your mind,
That you rather not
Rummage around

Find the calm
And the sanity
In that lonesome
Land of love

That only you
Can reach and react to

Bye bye Ganguly, bye bye Kumble, bye bye Cricket

Well, I felt indebted to cricket for a lot of my growing up (or lack thereof). I thought I owe a tribute to its demise, but I could not have done any better than this. So I gave up !

From my living room....

Hot chai on one hand
Remote on the other
Money and market doomed
On a cold afternoon

Out through the windowpane
Far, I see tinted haze
Muted edifices reaching for the sky
A blue river and boats glide

Some choppers in the air
Young and gallant on a ride
Someone lone on a private yacht
When for many, life is tending to a naught

I watch….

From the humble shack
West and across the brook
A picturesque view
That’s New York City for you

It was one awesome game –NJ Nets vs Detroit Pistons.

Pistons has never been a team that I especially liked, because I don’t think I have the patience to appreciate defense. I need fast breaks, big dunks and brilliant play setting to sustain my attention – and Pistons’ extremely defensive tactics is so boring to the average follower in me.

Here I go to this Nets game almost certain I will end up on the losing side, given the lead up Pistons have had in the season. And the fact that Iverson is playing debut kind of hyped the expectations for Pistons’ fans. By the way, I always hated Iverson- I hated the entire Nuggets team, anyways that’s another story. Billups was only guy that I kind of looked forwarded to in the Pistons team and I am disappointed with the trade.


By the time we reached the stadium, it was almost the end of first quarter – Score read 14-23 Pistons. Well, I did not expect anything better, so I attended to my grumbling tummy first. Pet ka pooja !


First quarter ended at an embarrassing 14-27 at home. My photo pursuits followed suit – the game was simply too one-sided. But I guess we brought some luck with us in the form of Boone. Second quarter was very valuable with Nets scoring 25 against 15 from Pistons. Half ended at a more respectable 5 point deficit to Nets.

In the third period, Devon Harris brought a new level to the game scoring a whooping 19 points against a pretty solid defense. Iverson was quiet with only two field goals. Harris always impressed me from his Mavericks’ days – trading for Kidd wasn’t bad at all for the Nets. Digressing, Kidd was pretty wrong footed in Dallas in the last season. At the end of the third quarter Nets were 72-70.

Even now, I was not too hopeful; I thought the experience of Wallace and the grit of Iverson will see Pistons through. Adding to that Yi Jianlain and VC were going to get fouled out. But Boone’s dunk in the last quarter put Nets in a big lead – 87-79 – from which there was no looking back.

A fine piece of a come-back game, Harris’ career best -38 points, ending a 7-0 losing streak against Pistons – it was a great game for the New Jersey Nets.

Go Nets!!

Ice Hockey !!

Hockey is not one of the games that I have followed with much intensity, however when you are offered free tickets to watch NJ Devils, it is hard to say no :)

Trust me, hockey is a game that absolutely needs to be watched only from the stadium and only from seats like we had – a $250 valued ones just behind the ice. With a brilliant panoramic view, close enough to see the puck and the angled shots that toss and turn it, I watched an entire game of ice hockey for the first time.


Devils had lost some key players for the game including Brian Rolston, Bobby Holik and Martin Brodeur- the goal tender. Brodeur is seven wins short of creating history with most career wins. Anyways, that kind of put the match in an interesting position against the much lower ranked Tampa Bay Lightning. In the first period, the devils were very slow and they really seemed to miss the key players in setting up the plays. Lightning clearly came on top 1-0 at the end of the first period.

The second period was luckier for us- David Clarkson finally gave the important break through, with a shot that was deflected in. Immediately following that, Elias did not miss the power-play opportunity for another goal and the second period ended 2-1 in NJ’s favor. Unfortunately our seats were closer to the NJ’s goal in the first period and there was no action.

Ten minutes in to the third period, Devils were still up and looked good for the victory. However Tampa Bay was really good on the offense and tied the game. Now the stadium was erupt with fervor, NJ’s game suddenly seemed to shift to the next gear and soon Jay put us 3-2. Now the passion in the stadium was awesome; shouting at the top of the lungs, the atmosphere truly came alive. This is one of the best things of watching a game at the stadium as against the comforts of the home on HDTV :)

Understandably, at 3-2 Devils went on the defensive and yet managed to foul and give a power-play. And this time Tampa made no mistake and the period ended tied at 3-3. No shots were goaled in the overtime by either team and the game proceeded to shootout. What more can you ask for when you spend time and energy (and no money ;-)) to go watch a match in the stadium? Absolutely thrilled at this time.

Lightning went into the shoot out first – and goaled :(
Devils went in and missed :( :(
Lightning’s second shot was brilliantly defended by the replacement goalie Kevin Weeks.
Again the arena exploded in joy
Devils completed the second shot real smart
Score tied 1-1
Lightning took the third shot and missed again – hooorayyyyyyyyyy!
The stadium was all up and waiting for the victory shot from Jamie Langenbrunner and the pressure was enough to keep the Mike Smith, their Goalie fumbling.


So there it goes, a superb game ended in a brilliant shootout !!

Wow what a match it was!!

To top it all, the $250 seats come with free food and free beer !! – ha ha ha

Some pictures of Fall 2008

On a bright sunny Saturday afternoon, I took a stroll in the Central Park- the green expanse of beauty in the bustling city of New York.

Here is my first stint at photography !


Pictures are of very low quality after the upload :(

Happy Diwali !!

Diwali in my childhood was all about new clothes and fire crackers. I would start looking forward to it starting a good one month in advance. Shopping for different types of oothubathi, the latest and fancy fire-cracker of the season, the longest Sara-Vedi and the rockets that I always had to sneak in, long lines at TNSC – my memory is real fresh. As I grew up in to late teens, craze for crackers died down a little (call it becoming socially responsible ;-)), but foodie goodies gained importance. It was still a time when I devoured all the jamuns, coconut burfis, kaju kathlis, naada murukku, chaklis, cornflakes mixture and karaboondhi. Those were the times when health / fitness / figure consciousness were unknown; I also remember showing enthusiasm in trying out less known recipes like Mohandal :) All I remember now is that it was some form of sweet. Cousins, aunts and uncles huddled watching the idiot box all day long; nonstop rain spoiling our fireworks, Solomon Pappaiya patti mandram, Simran and Sarath Kumar interviews is another memory I have of Diwali. I don’t recall attaching any religious significance to Diwali at any time, save the customary stacking of new clothes in the pooja room the previous day, the early morning hair wash and a quick peek at the local temple- new years was more religious to me than Diwali ever was !!

Today new clothes still reign in high spirits, pot-lucks are more like the order of the day, sweets and savories are more delicious to prepare than to eat and gain weight and lighting little lamps seem to dispel the winter gloom of New York City.

One of my teammates at work remarked:

" I see everything, but I don't see everything"

I was intrigued by the profundity!!!!

Saroja - a review

Saroja was a very different foray into cinema making in Kollywood industry. A pretty serious plot made incredibly funny by the lead quadruplet – a slightly more responsible S.P.Charan and Vaibhav playing brothers; Siva and Premji Amaran chipping in with remarkable humor. Venkat Prabhu has turned a fleshless story line into a captivating and amusing 180 minute show.

The seemingly disconnected parts were brought together by the end of a racy first half. Apparently this method of storytelling was worked out successfully by Mexican director Alejandro Gonzales Inarittu in Oscar winning Babel. Some of the escape sequences of the second half seemed unnecessary and repetitive; but even with its flaws the movie in all was quite a entertainer after Tiruvilayadal in 2007. For one liners lifted from many movies including Vijay’s “Evlovo Pannittom, idhu pannamattoma” and Rajini’s “I was helpless; I was kaarnered” the cinema-hall erupted with laughter. There were way too many funny one-liners that the movie probably merits to be viewed many many times.

Even with the hilarity spread all over the movie, for the faint-hearted it did provide a elevated g-factor of six-flag rides. Thrill and suspense is maintained till the end – but I only wished I knew that all ends well, so that I could have relished the witty scenes even better.