Friday, December 28, 2007
an addendum to my earlier post
I had forgotten to add one thing in my post...musings, the other day...
I have had to relegate my position on our sofa to Frisky....Earlier, Madhu used to occupy the left most corner, near the arm rest( to slouch on), and i used to sit next to him, while eating, or watching TV. Now, frisky has the place.
When he couldn't jump up, Madhu used to pick him up and place him next to him. Now that Frisky has learnt to jump up on his own, I am banished from my spot. !!!!!Frisky now has the centre place,and I am pushed to to the right hand corner.
Frisky usually wants to sleep on the sofa, in between both oif us, just like a kid..wanting Mom n dad next to him/her. If Madhu is sprawled on the sofa, like vishnu on adisesha, Frisky is usually in my corner, and I have to be content with sitting on the two seater.....
Why I don't push him down and reclaim my spot?? Looking at a cherubic face, ears down, giving occasional snores of contentment,(yup...dogs snore too!!!) peacefully sleeping Frisky, I just don't have the heart to disturb him!!!!!!!
Frisky loves to sleep on Madhu's chest...I suspect its because it feels like a large cushiony bed to him..:) :) .Being lulled to sleep listening to Madhu's heartbeat is the ultimate joy for Frisky, and Madhu too. .Frisky likes those cosy corners..his favorite places are, the carpet under the office table, under the side table in summers, sofa arm rests, and by our feet.....
I have had to relegate my position on our sofa to Frisky....Earlier, Madhu used to occupy the left most corner, near the arm rest( to slouch on), and i used to sit next to him, while eating, or watching TV. Now, frisky has the place.
When he couldn't jump up, Madhu used to pick him up and place him next to him. Now that Frisky has learnt to jump up on his own, I am banished from my spot. !!!!!Frisky now has the centre place,and I am pushed to to the right hand corner.
Frisky usually wants to sleep on the sofa, in between both oif us, just like a kid..wanting Mom n dad next to him/her. If Madhu is sprawled on the sofa, like vishnu on adisesha, Frisky is usually in my corner, and I have to be content with sitting on the two seater.....
Why I don't push him down and reclaim my spot?? Looking at a cherubic face, ears down, giving occasional snores of contentment,(yup...dogs snore too!!!) peacefully sleeping Frisky, I just don't have the heart to disturb him!!!!!!!
Frisky loves to sleep on Madhu's chest...I suspect its because it feels like a large cushiony bed to him..:) :) .Being lulled to sleep listening to Madhu's heartbeat is the ultimate joy for Frisky, and Madhu too. .Frisky likes those cosy corners..his favorite places are, the carpet under the office table, under the side table in summers, sofa arm rests, and by our feet.....
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Lay off's in job market
Everyone knows that in America, its a hire-fire policy as far as the job market is concerned.
Now the economy is nor doing too well,and people are losing their jobs, and job security has drastically come down.
Just last week, 30 people were laid off from Red Cross, due to organization re-structuring. I came to know that there weren't sufficient funds, and by laying off 30 people, the red cross was able to save up to $ 1 million. Two whole departments have been disbanded,and 7 new positions were created in the re-structuring...It was so hard on the people.
The Friday before the news broke,an employee party was held,and one of them actually received an award for her good work in reaching out, and making partnerships for the Red Cross. Come Monday, she is one of the 30 people who have been laid off!!!! It was tough luck...
Those who had been laid off, continued to be on the payroll till 31st December, and were given reference letters to apply elsewhere. Some of the more emotionally affected were sent for psychological counselling. The CEO held a meeting, in which he quoted statistics saying that 41% less people had decided to contribute to non profit organizations than last year. I thought Americans were very community oriented people...they begin volunteering at a very young age, and teach their kids to do so too, and donate generously....however, they are also like us, i guess...I mezn, Indians aren't too much into volunteering, donating etc, apart from religious causes.
Well, any thoughts on this???????
Now the economy is nor doing too well,and people are losing their jobs, and job security has drastically come down.
Just last week, 30 people were laid off from Red Cross, due to organization re-structuring. I came to know that there weren't sufficient funds, and by laying off 30 people, the red cross was able to save up to $ 1 million. Two whole departments have been disbanded,and 7 new positions were created in the re-structuring...It was so hard on the people.
The Friday before the news broke,an employee party was held,and one of them actually received an award for her good work in reaching out, and making partnerships for the Red Cross. Come Monday, she is one of the 30 people who have been laid off!!!! It was tough luck...
Those who had been laid off, continued to be on the payroll till 31st December, and were given reference letters to apply elsewhere. Some of the more emotionally affected were sent for psychological counselling. The CEO held a meeting, in which he quoted statistics saying that 41% less people had decided to contribute to non profit organizations than last year. I thought Americans were very community oriented people...they begin volunteering at a very young age, and teach their kids to do so too, and donate generously....however, they are also like us, i guess...I mezn, Indians aren't too much into volunteering, donating etc, apart from religious causes.
Well, any thoughts on this???????
Birds and chilly weather
I am feeling very sad...For the past three days, i.e 24th, 25th and 26th of December, I have had to come across dead baby pigeons.
I was taking Frisky out on his walk, inside our apartment complex, when on all three occasions, Frisky, who had just been sniffing around, grabbed something in his mouth. I bent down to inspect what it was, and it turns out to be a dead baby pigeon, apparently fallen off the tree due to strong wsnds and cold weather.
I made Frisky drop those birds, and took them into little plastic bags, and put them inside the trash can. the best thing I could do for them, under the circumstances.
I was taking Frisky out on his walk, inside our apartment complex, when on all three occasions, Frisky, who had just been sniffing around, grabbed something in his mouth. I bent down to inspect what it was, and it turns out to be a dead baby pigeon, apparently fallen off the tree due to strong wsnds and cold weather.
I made Frisky drop those birds, and took them into little plastic bags, and put them inside the trash can. the best thing I could do for them, under the circumstances.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Eddie Izzard-----and learning French
For those of you who learnt french, here are a few tips on how to include what you learnt in the course of everyday conversation.......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1sQkEfAdfY
Others who don't know French, bitte verstehen sie!.....a lil bit komplazion!!!!
enjoy!!!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1sQkEfAdfY
Others who don't know French, bitte verstehen sie!.....a lil bit komplazion!!!!
enjoy!!!!!
Gabriel iglesisas
hey ppl, chk this link out for his comedy....really nice...
we enjoyed it a lot...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcQlz1mt1kQ
we enjoyed it a lot...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcQlz1mt1kQ
Monday, December 24, 2007
Musings of a girl
Well,the year 2007 is going to end soon.And somehow, over the past few days, I find myself slipping into musings about the past, and how I have changed now, or what changes have come into my life.
The first thingf I have noticed about me, is that I am more responsible these days. I mean, for household related work...washing, folding dry clothes, cooking, vacuuming..everything has to be done on time. In India, i used to slip into blissful slumber for atleast 2 hours in the afternoons. A few months into coming to US, this continued. But stopped from June or July onwards. I simply wasn't able to sleep in the afternoons. Now a days, since i am so exhausted from my Red Cross work, housework, etc, I sleep sometimes, though now the maximum duration would be half an hour or 45 minutes. even when Madhu tells me to relax, forget all the work pending, n sleep, I am not able to. Thoughts of pending work keep dogging me at the back of my mind.
So, the conclusion being, I have become more responsible in taking care of things. And possibly, an insomniac. !!!!!
Secondly, Frisky!!!!of course, how can I not mention the little bundle of joy, on four legs. He has brought Madhu and me so much happiness,and taken away our tensions and worries. Thanks to him, we are getting trained in parenting, in many ways...For example, when in the cold mornings, I want to snuggle back under the covers, after switching my alarm clock off, I am reminded of Frisky, how he would be waiting for us to take him out for a walk, so that he can "do his business"...If we don't wake up and take him out, he would come and lick our hands, or jump to the edge of the bed,and try to wake us up, if he is in great urgency...Once or twice, our laziness, or lack of understanding, resulted in Frisky doing it inside itself ....But to his credit, he knows when he has done something bad, something he is not supposed to...he would go and hide under the office table, or under the bed, and not come out. Other dogs are not like that, from what we have heard from the dog owners we meet.
Again,As I hacve mentioned earlier in my posts, Frisky ios scared of the vacuum cleaner sound...be it the large one we have,m or the small hand vacuum. Similarly, mixie sounds. So when I am vacuuming the house( its susally me..."designated Evil Vacuum Lady") and Frisky would go scampering off to find some safe spot to hide from the vacuum. If I am alone at home, he is tied to his leash in the patio. Otherwise, I plop him down next to Madhu. Madhu keeps a protective arm around him, and soothingly talks to him while I am vacuuming. { For those among myfamily/ in-laws reading this, believe me, 90% of the time, its Madhu telling Frisky" Don't worry. the Evil Vacuum lady won't come near you. I am there da kutty". And if by chance I am in the same room, he tells Frisky, "Don't worry, its only Mommy....":) :)
However, Frisky lying on Madhu's arm, on the sofa, is the cutest picture...Hai, meri hi nazar na lag jaaye.!!!!!!Madhu has been showering Frisky with toys, n a nice comfy little bed of his own, one in the car, and one in the home.
For my part, Frisky never used to listen to me that much, even though Madhu and I said the same commands.Amnd I used to complain to Madhu about it. For the past 2 weeks, since winetr chill started, I have been taking Frisky out day n night. So he apparently got more attached to me. When Madhu and I both enter the house after having been away, or having left him and gone, he runs and greets me much more thsn he greets Madhu. He jumps up, wags his tail, puts his paws up to my knees,and generally shows his happiness seeing me back. And in case, Madhu is inside the house,and I am still outside (picking up grocery bags or something), Frisky will come outside, and wait for me to step inside..And then he will follow me in. :) :)
Isn't that positively Sweeeet of him???/ Madhu is already plotting revenge. Come summertime, he is going to take Frisky out on walks, not me, he says.
Another thing I have done is, prepared food on trips we have been on. My mother used to cook everytime we travelled via train to chennai, or pudukkottai. So in my mind, it was always amma who would do such things, not me. Now the time came for me to do them, and it was a learning experience.
Our California trip was such that all the women coming along said, they weren't going to waste time and money in eating in restaurants. So we all agreed on who would make what, and generally shared the burden of cooking for lunch n dinner. Each person cooked enough for 10 people, so we had a variety of food to eat. Similarly, on our Vegas trip too, I cooked chole, and pav bhaji and took it along. Though this time there were bitter argumnets with Madhu about this, I realsied how this was a very good idea on reaching Vegas.
Prices there are so high...Petrol itself was 25 cents higher than Phoeniz prices per gallon. And the menu in any restaurant had nothing to offer for vegetarians...Since Madhu also didn't eat non veg or egg or Saturdays, we were saved the expense of having to spend on burgers for breakfast lunch and dinner... and had chole n pav bhaji instead. Those hotels didn't even have a coffee machine in the room, and I was deprived of early morning coffee in the sanctuary of the bedroom. They want to extract as much money as they can out of you, I guess.
So in this way, I guess I have become like other housewives, learning to save on unnecessary expense in hotels etc.
I know some of my friends wouldn' t agree with me. But my school friend who is also vegetarian, told me there is nothing for vegetarians to eat unless you go to an Indian restaurant. There, in spite of paying dearly, you end up getting a frozen-heated samosa on your plate....I am inclined to sympathise with her, as she is a home science student,and knows her stuff.
Telephone conversations with my college friends, during navaratri, and Diwali, centered around exchanging recipes, and sharing ideas on what to do with leftovers, what new dish had someone tried out, etc. Online chats with my mother consisted of asking her the rates of Sona rice in Chennai, as in Phoenix, they had increased by $4.00 for a 10 pound bag. This led to my sister teasing my mom, "what, you are now discussing grocery prices over chat with ur daughter in USA?"
I also find myself eager to dispel doubts of my American friends/acquaintences, about India, and Indians in general. Many of them have seen, heard, or been acquainted with North Indians, and hence find my surname astonishingly long. At Red cross, when they were trying to make my ID, they designated me as " the girl with the long name"..Clearly, they do not know Indians specialise in having long names, esp South Indians. Our names can be tongue twisters for the Americans. To their credit, they try to pronounce it correctly as much as possible. It does sounds funny however, when you hear your name being pronounced in a sing song way....However, when recently someone asked me about this long surname, I countered them with a joke about Polish names .
Many people are eager to know about Indian cuisine. So I made vegetable pulav one day,and distributed it to those who had expressed an interest. Another day, I made kesari,and gave it to them. Both these dishes were much appreciated. I have been questioned in detail about arranged marriages, wearing of the thaali, sarees, mehendi, kumkum pottu, to name a few. I try my best to explain it to them. However, as one American girl pointed out, " If i were getting married, the only person I would want arranging it is ME!!!!. "
Similarly, some peopel think that Indians also speak "Indian"...like Chinese speak Chinese, British and Americans speak English...I have told them that though Hindi is the national language, many states have their own regional langauge. India has many langauges, with dialects,and sub dialects. So there are many people in India who still do not know Hindi. One person actually though that Telugu was some tribal langauge, that's why I was referring to it as my mother tongue!!!!! :)
Again here tehre are two sides of the coin. I see and hear people ask me questions like this. On the other side, when Madhu and I watch Cash Cab,on Discovery, we see people here know many amazing facts that both of us had no clue about. We are left speechless when we see peope answer such difficult, obscure questions about contemporary world events, or Greek / Roman history....As in, a former President of US made the Latin phrase meaning "something in return for something" very famous? what is the phrase? Madhu and i were searching our minds for answers, coming up with vice versa, vis a vis...when the answer turned out to be "quid pro quo"...We both were berating ourselves the minute we heard it.,...
OOOOOOOOOOOH... i have just seen the clock, and its 8:20 p.m....I have been on a roll ...typing away since 6:45 p.m....Well, stomach rumbles, and grumbles...so gotta go. tata. Ciao...Those of u reading this...u must have spent atleast 15 minutes in reading this....Better make it worth my while, n respond back, ASAP.
The first thingf I have noticed about me, is that I am more responsible these days. I mean, for household related work...washing, folding dry clothes, cooking, vacuuming..everything has to be done on time. In India, i used to slip into blissful slumber for atleast 2 hours in the afternoons. A few months into coming to US, this continued. But stopped from June or July onwards. I simply wasn't able to sleep in the afternoons. Now a days, since i am so exhausted from my Red Cross work, housework, etc, I sleep sometimes, though now the maximum duration would be half an hour or 45 minutes. even when Madhu tells me to relax, forget all the work pending, n sleep, I am not able to. Thoughts of pending work keep dogging me at the back of my mind.
So, the conclusion being, I have become more responsible in taking care of things. And possibly, an insomniac. !!!!!
Secondly, Frisky!!!!of course, how can I not mention the little bundle of joy, on four legs. He has brought Madhu and me so much happiness,and taken away our tensions and worries. Thanks to him, we are getting trained in parenting, in many ways...For example, when in the cold mornings, I want to snuggle back under the covers, after switching my alarm clock off, I am reminded of Frisky, how he would be waiting for us to take him out for a walk, so that he can "do his business"...If we don't wake up and take him out, he would come and lick our hands, or jump to the edge of the bed,and try to wake us up, if he is in great urgency...Once or twice, our laziness, or lack of understanding, resulted in Frisky doing it inside itself ....But to his credit, he knows when he has done something bad, something he is not supposed to...he would go and hide under the office table, or under the bed, and not come out. Other dogs are not like that, from what we have heard from the dog owners we meet.
Again,As I hacve mentioned earlier in my posts, Frisky ios scared of the vacuum cleaner sound...be it the large one we have,m or the small hand vacuum. Similarly, mixie sounds. So when I am vacuuming the house( its susally me..."designated Evil Vacuum Lady") and Frisky would go scampering off to find some safe spot to hide from the vacuum. If I am alone at home, he is tied to his leash in the patio. Otherwise, I plop him down next to Madhu. Madhu keeps a protective arm around him, and soothingly talks to him while I am vacuuming. { For those among myfamily/ in-laws reading this, believe me, 90% of the time, its Madhu telling Frisky" Don't worry. the Evil Vacuum lady won't come near you. I am there da kutty". And if by chance I am in the same room, he tells Frisky, "Don't worry, its only Mommy....":) :)
However, Frisky lying on Madhu's arm, on the sofa, is the cutest picture...Hai, meri hi nazar na lag jaaye.!!!!!!Madhu has been showering Frisky with toys, n a nice comfy little bed of his own, one in the car, and one in the home.
For my part, Frisky never used to listen to me that much, even though Madhu and I said the same commands.Amnd I used to complain to Madhu about it. For the past 2 weeks, since winetr chill started, I have been taking Frisky out day n night. So he apparently got more attached to me. When Madhu and I both enter the house after having been away, or having left him and gone, he runs and greets me much more thsn he greets Madhu. He jumps up, wags his tail, puts his paws up to my knees,and generally shows his happiness seeing me back. And in case, Madhu is inside the house,and I am still outside (picking up grocery bags or something), Frisky will come outside, and wait for me to step inside..And then he will follow me in. :) :)
Isn't that positively Sweeeet of him???/ Madhu is already plotting revenge. Come summertime, he is going to take Frisky out on walks, not me, he says.
Another thing I have done is, prepared food on trips we have been on. My mother used to cook everytime we travelled via train to chennai, or pudukkottai. So in my mind, it was always amma who would do such things, not me. Now the time came for me to do them, and it was a learning experience.
Our California trip was such that all the women coming along said, they weren't going to waste time and money in eating in restaurants. So we all agreed on who would make what, and generally shared the burden of cooking for lunch n dinner. Each person cooked enough for 10 people, so we had a variety of food to eat. Similarly, on our Vegas trip too, I cooked chole, and pav bhaji and took it along. Though this time there were bitter argumnets with Madhu about this, I realsied how this was a very good idea on reaching Vegas.
Prices there are so high...Petrol itself was 25 cents higher than Phoeniz prices per gallon. And the menu in any restaurant had nothing to offer for vegetarians...Since Madhu also didn't eat non veg or egg or Saturdays, we were saved the expense of having to spend on burgers for breakfast lunch and dinner... and had chole n pav bhaji instead. Those hotels didn't even have a coffee machine in the room, and I was deprived of early morning coffee in the sanctuary of the bedroom. They want to extract as much money as they can out of you, I guess.
So in this way, I guess I have become like other housewives, learning to save on unnecessary expense in hotels etc.
I know some of my friends wouldn' t agree with me. But my school friend who is also vegetarian, told me there is nothing for vegetarians to eat unless you go to an Indian restaurant. There, in spite of paying dearly, you end up getting a frozen-heated samosa on your plate....I am inclined to sympathise with her, as she is a home science student,and knows her stuff.
Telephone conversations with my college friends, during navaratri, and Diwali, centered around exchanging recipes, and sharing ideas on what to do with leftovers, what new dish had someone tried out, etc. Online chats with my mother consisted of asking her the rates of Sona rice in Chennai, as in Phoenix, they had increased by $4.00 for a 10 pound bag. This led to my sister teasing my mom, "what, you are now discussing grocery prices over chat with ur daughter in USA?"
I also find myself eager to dispel doubts of my American friends/acquaintences, about India, and Indians in general. Many of them have seen, heard, or been acquainted with North Indians, and hence find my surname astonishingly long. At Red cross, when they were trying to make my ID, they designated me as " the girl with the long name"..Clearly, they do not know Indians specialise in having long names, esp South Indians. Our names can be tongue twisters for the Americans. To their credit, they try to pronounce it correctly as much as possible. It does sounds funny however, when you hear your name being pronounced in a sing song way....However, when recently someone asked me about this long surname, I countered them with a joke about Polish names .
Many people are eager to know about Indian cuisine. So I made vegetable pulav one day,and distributed it to those who had expressed an interest. Another day, I made kesari,and gave it to them. Both these dishes were much appreciated. I have been questioned in detail about arranged marriages, wearing of the thaali, sarees, mehendi, kumkum pottu, to name a few. I try my best to explain it to them. However, as one American girl pointed out, " If i were getting married, the only person I would want arranging it is ME!!!!. "
Similarly, some peopel think that Indians also speak "Indian"...like Chinese speak Chinese, British and Americans speak English...I have told them that though Hindi is the national language, many states have their own regional langauge. India has many langauges, with dialects,and sub dialects. So there are many people in India who still do not know Hindi. One person actually though that Telugu was some tribal langauge, that's why I was referring to it as my mother tongue!!!!! :)
Again here tehre are two sides of the coin. I see and hear people ask me questions like this. On the other side, when Madhu and I watch Cash Cab,on Discovery, we see people here know many amazing facts that both of us had no clue about. We are left speechless when we see peope answer such difficult, obscure questions about contemporary world events, or Greek / Roman history....As in, a former President of US made the Latin phrase meaning "something in return for something" very famous? what is the phrase? Madhu and i were searching our minds for answers, coming up with vice versa, vis a vis...when the answer turned out to be "quid pro quo"...We both were berating ourselves the minute we heard it.,...
OOOOOOOOOOOH... i have just seen the clock, and its 8:20 p.m....I have been on a roll ...typing away since 6:45 p.m....Well, stomach rumbles, and grumbles...so gotta go. tata. Ciao...Those of u reading this...u must have spent atleast 15 minutes in reading this....Better make it worth my while, n respond back, ASAP.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Cousins and Kudos
Here, I would like to mention my cousin Bharathi, who is at presnt in Delaware, on an on site assignment. Both of us haven't interacted much in childhood, with me having grown up in Delhi,
and she being in Madras(Chennai). The only contact was in the summer vacation, when we used to come to chennai/pudukkottai to visit all our family members for a month.
Though she knew I wrote poems,and had won prizes in school for my creative writing, she had never actually seen any of my writing. The other source who told her I wrote was my sister Gayathri, whom I helped with her English school work, and assignments. ...dictating formal letters to her on the way to school/college, editing her articles, writing opening speeches for her college functions etc..
Hence it came as a pleasant surprise to me when , talking to Bharathi the other day, she told me she had read my blog,and liked what I wrote, and my writing style. She said, "You write as if you are talking to the other person..as if the person was right in front of you, not some reader in some remote place..., .its not as formal as a report or anything...I can really visualise what you are writng."....
Not to mention, I am really happy......It feels nice to know there's one other person interested in reading what you write, what you share via your medium of expression.
Bharathi, I hope you read this too..otherwise it would defeat the whole purpose of this post!!!!
and she being in Madras(Chennai). The only contact was in the summer vacation, when we used to come to chennai/pudukkottai to visit all our family members for a month.
Though she knew I wrote poems,and had won prizes in school for my creative writing, she had never actually seen any of my writing. The other source who told her I wrote was my sister Gayathri, whom I helped with her English school work, and assignments. ...dictating formal letters to her on the way to school/college, editing her articles, writing opening speeches for her college functions etc..
Hence it came as a pleasant surprise to me when , talking to Bharathi the other day, she told me she had read my blog,and liked what I wrote, and my writing style. She said, "You write as if you are talking to the other person..as if the person was right in front of you, not some reader in some remote place..., .its not as formal as a report or anything...I can really visualise what you are writng."....
Not to mention, I am really happy......It feels nice to know there's one other person interested in reading what you write, what you share via your medium of expression.
Bharathi, I hope you read this too..otherwise it would defeat the whole purpose of this post!!!!
Parties,Madhu, and Dumb C!!!!
Well, HEELOOOOOOO friends and family,
I really appreciate those of you who take time to read my blog,and also let me know your comments.....There has been a lot going on recently, all of which I am bursting to share with you. However, I will commence by sharing the most recent happy incidents.....
Firstly, last weekend, we had a dinner invitation, pot luck, at my cousin's place. We met two new couples there...one of whom Madhu already knew from Salt Lake City, Utah.(Vijay and Meena). The other couple were my cousin's friends from the Sai Bhajan group.(Senthil and Lakshmi).. new to everybody else.
So dinner got over, and we all agreed to play Dumb Charades, movie names. Those who had been present at the Diwali party hosted by us, knew about Madhu's fantastic ability to figure out English movie names. So this time, it was decided to have Tamil. Since I am not that familiar with tamil movie names, I wasn't able to participate much. However, we had a blast. Girls vs. boys...and I should tell you..Balaji, a friend of ours, proved to be too good at guessing the correct tamil movie, and also managed to give the girls team some tough ones to crack.
With Madhu acting, and Balaji guessing, the guys were all about whooping war cries, shouts of victory,and hugging each other in every turn they got.
In the end, one of the ladies present, (I don't remember who...got lost in the general excitement), declared, "Next time, we play Dumb C, both Madhu and Balaji, should be excluded...They know too much!!!!!"
So, wasn't that a good game, worth pulling up my collar for??? :) :)
Then yesterday, Dec 21st, we all met again for Sruthi's birthday party..daughter of Muthu and Bala. It was a thoughtfully arranged pizza party, plus sodas,and some pasta ravioli. Turn American when you don't have time to cook up Indian fare!!!!!And with one baby to look after,putting up all decorations, balloons, cleaning, arranging, Bala certainly had her hands full. .
So anyway, the same group, this time, more comfortable around each other, more leg pulling, and stories got passed around. We found out Senthil's family was based in Pudukkottai. To top it off, Senthil's dad had been a manager in various branches of Indian Bank.( untill recently) So my connection, pudukkottai, Madhu's connection, Indian Bank.
So after the kids playing a round of pin-the tail- on -the -donkey, (in which Madhu also participated...he claims he is a BIG little kid), general confusion,and consensus decided that this time, Dumb C, would be a mixed group, girls and boys mixed teams, and similarly, both English and tamil movie names would be given. All odd numbers were in one team, all even numbers in another. Coincidentally, Madhu and I were in one team,having drawn odd numbers, and so were Uma and Balu anna, both having even numbers. Madhu was the only guy in our team....The team was like this,...Madhu, me, Anusha, Meena, and Lakshmi. The other side was, Senthil, Balu anna, Uma, Bala, and Muthu(again a couple).
Anusha's and Meena's husbands, Balaji and Vijay,resp, arrived a bit late. On being apprised of the situation, Balaji said, "I am on the team opposite to my wife's". When he found out that Madhu and Anusha were on the same team, he promptly declared, "I am on Madhu's team". So vijay was on the other team. This time, Madhu and I cracked movie names together..with Anusha and Balaji guessing correctly...like Apocalypto, Bridge on the River Kwai, and One who flew over the Cuckoo's nest. ...in a matter of seconds.
So again vociferous protests ensued, and the opposite team demaded that Madhu and I be seperated. So Vijay and I switched places.
This time, too, we did a good job. I was able to crack a couple of movie names, or atleast guess correctly, though we didn't get the name on time. Of course, it was Madhu giving the names most of the time.
One particularly difficult name had come to us, and all of us were trying to guess what was being acted out....Uma, standing next to me, got so excited, that she began to hit my elbow, urging me, "Nithya, do you know this, do you know this?"..when I was trying hard to guess. I mean, it was that much fun. Ultimately it turns out to be a tongue twister of a movie name, and Madhu claimed he and I had seen it together here in USA.
The thing with me is, I see movies, and I forget them soon after, unlike Madhu, who remembers the names, actors, dialogues et al. be it Tamil, English, or Hindi. He knows the lyrics of Hindi songs I have all but forgotten. Meena was astounded at Madhu's retention power....
Reminiscing about the whole thing, Madhu and I realised we wouldn't have been able to meet so many people, so frequently, in India. Balu Anna met another of his school classmates yesterday at the birthday party, Satish Jayaraman, who happens to be Madhu'and Muthu's colleague at office. So I told Balu anna, "Sitting in Maine, would you have thought you would be meeting your old classmates in Phoenix?"Anyway, Satish didn't stay long. So back to topic. All people in IT industry are working hard Monday to Saturday, coming home late at nights, with no time for socialisation. Here, thanks to the "weekends off" policy followed by companies, people are able to meet often,travel, and the friends circle keeps growing.
Well, I am having a good time.!!!!!
I really appreciate those of you who take time to read my blog,and also let me know your comments.....There has been a lot going on recently, all of which I am bursting to share with you. However, I will commence by sharing the most recent happy incidents.....
Firstly, last weekend, we had a dinner invitation, pot luck, at my cousin's place. We met two new couples there...one of whom Madhu already knew from Salt Lake City, Utah.(Vijay and Meena). The other couple were my cousin's friends from the Sai Bhajan group.(Senthil and Lakshmi).. new to everybody else.
So dinner got over, and we all agreed to play Dumb Charades, movie names. Those who had been present at the Diwali party hosted by us, knew about Madhu's fantastic ability to figure out English movie names. So this time, it was decided to have Tamil. Since I am not that familiar with tamil movie names, I wasn't able to participate much. However, we had a blast. Girls vs. boys...and I should tell you..Balaji, a friend of ours, proved to be too good at guessing the correct tamil movie, and also managed to give the girls team some tough ones to crack.
With Madhu acting, and Balaji guessing, the guys were all about whooping war cries, shouts of victory,and hugging each other in every turn they got.
In the end, one of the ladies present, (I don't remember who...got lost in the general excitement), declared, "Next time, we play Dumb C, both Madhu and Balaji, should be excluded...They know too much!!!!!"
So, wasn't that a good game, worth pulling up my collar for??? :) :)
Then yesterday, Dec 21st, we all met again for Sruthi's birthday party..daughter of Muthu and Bala. It was a thoughtfully arranged pizza party, plus sodas,and some pasta ravioli. Turn American when you don't have time to cook up Indian fare!!!!!And with one baby to look after,putting up all decorations, balloons, cleaning, arranging, Bala certainly had her hands full. .
So anyway, the same group, this time, more comfortable around each other, more leg pulling, and stories got passed around. We found out Senthil's family was based in Pudukkottai. To top it off, Senthil's dad had been a manager in various branches of Indian Bank.( untill recently) So my connection, pudukkottai, Madhu's connection, Indian Bank.
So after the kids playing a round of pin-the tail- on -the -donkey, (in which Madhu also participated...he claims he is a BIG little kid), general confusion,and consensus decided that this time, Dumb C, would be a mixed group, girls and boys mixed teams, and similarly, both English and tamil movie names would be given. All odd numbers were in one team, all even numbers in another. Coincidentally, Madhu and I were in one team,having drawn odd numbers, and so were Uma and Balu anna, both having even numbers. Madhu was the only guy in our team....The team was like this,...Madhu, me, Anusha, Meena, and Lakshmi. The other side was, Senthil, Balu anna, Uma, Bala, and Muthu(again a couple).
Anusha's and Meena's husbands, Balaji and Vijay,resp, arrived a bit late. On being apprised of the situation, Balaji said, "I am on the team opposite to my wife's". When he found out that Madhu and Anusha were on the same team, he promptly declared, "I am on Madhu's team". So vijay was on the other team. This time, Madhu and I cracked movie names together..with Anusha and Balaji guessing correctly...like Apocalypto, Bridge on the River Kwai, and One who flew over the Cuckoo's nest. ...in a matter of seconds.
So again vociferous protests ensued, and the opposite team demaded that Madhu and I be seperated. So Vijay and I switched places.
This time, too, we did a good job. I was able to crack a couple of movie names, or atleast guess correctly, though we didn't get the name on time. Of course, it was Madhu giving the names most of the time.
One particularly difficult name had come to us, and all of us were trying to guess what was being acted out....Uma, standing next to me, got so excited, that she began to hit my elbow, urging me, "Nithya, do you know this, do you know this?"..when I was trying hard to guess. I mean, it was that much fun. Ultimately it turns out to be a tongue twister of a movie name, and Madhu claimed he and I had seen it together here in USA.
The thing with me is, I see movies, and I forget them soon after, unlike Madhu, who remembers the names, actors, dialogues et al. be it Tamil, English, or Hindi. He knows the lyrics of Hindi songs I have all but forgotten. Meena was astounded at Madhu's retention power....
Reminiscing about the whole thing, Madhu and I realised we wouldn't have been able to meet so many people, so frequently, in India. Balu Anna met another of his school classmates yesterday at the birthday party, Satish Jayaraman, who happens to be Madhu'and Muthu's colleague at office. So I told Balu anna, "Sitting in Maine, would you have thought you would be meeting your old classmates in Phoenix?"Anyway, Satish didn't stay long. So back to topic. All people in IT industry are working hard Monday to Saturday, coming home late at nights, with no time for socialisation. Here, thanks to the "weekends off" policy followed by companies, people are able to meet often,travel, and the friends circle keeps growing.
Well, I am having a good time.!!!!!
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Some places in US with Spanish names
Spanish Place Names
Hispanic heritage from coast to coast
by Holly Hartman
Alcatraz Island, now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, draws over a million visitors each yearThe Spanish were among the first Europeans to explore what is now the United States, and the first to found a permanent settlement here (St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565). From Alaska's Madre de Dios Island to Mexico, Maine, the United States is dotted with Spanish place names. Here are a few.
Alamo: "poplar." This tall softwood tree gave its name to a number of U.S. places, including the memorable chapel-fort in Texas and the town of Los Alamos in New Mexico, where atomic bombs were produced.
Alcatraz Island (California): from "álcatraces," pelican. A sizable pelican population once lived on this rocky island in the San Francisco Bay.
Boca Raton (Florida): from "boca de ratónes," a Spanish term applied to nearby inlets. It translates as "mouth of the mouse" (not "rat," which is "rata") and may refer to the jagged rocks at these inlets. It has also been suggested that "ratónes" was a term used for the pirates who might hide in such a place.
California: The state was named for a mythical land described in a popular Spanish novel from around 1500, Las sergas de Esplandián (The exploits of Esplandián) by Garcia Ordóñez de Montalvo.
Cape Canaveral (Florida): from "cañaveral," canebrake. The promontory NASA made famous takes its name from the thickets of cane that grow in sandy areas.
Colorado: "reddish." The state is named for the reddish color of mud found in the Colorado River.
In 1846, during the Mexican War, Commodore John Sloat captured the Mexican village of Yerba Buena and renamed it San Francisco.
El Paso (Texas): "passage." The border city of El Paso lies at a small gap between the Rockies and the Juarez Mountains of Mexico. This narrow passage has made the city a hub for both north-south and east-west travel.
Florida: "Flowery." Some say that Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon named the land for the Spanish term for Easter, Pascua de Florida (Flowery Feast), because he first saw the land during the Easter season. Others believe he named it for the area's lush flowers.
Fresno (California): "ash tree." The central Californian city and county are named for their abundant ash trees. La Brea (California): "tar." The tar pits in this famous part of Los Angeles have yielded amazing fossils for more than 100 years.
Las Cruces (New Mexico): "crosses." The city is named for the burial ground of some 40 travelers who were killed by Apaches in 1830.
RELATED LINKS
Where Spanish is SpokenSpanish LanguageOrigin of State Names
Las Vegas (Nevada): "meadows." Before casinos and neon lights defined Las Vegas, the area was noteworthy as a desert oasis with artesian springs.
Los Angeles (California): "angels." In 1781 Spanish settlers founded El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciúncula (The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciúncula). It became known as La Ciudad de los Angeles (City of Angels), and then just as Los Angeles.
Los Gatos (California): "cats." At the time this western California city was founded, many wildcats roamed the area.
Montana: from "montaña," mountain. Representative James M. Ashley of Ohio suggested using the Spanish word in honor of the territory's mountainous western part.
Nevada: "snow-covered." The mountains in this western state are often capped with snow.
San Antonio (Texas): "Saint Anthony" (of Padua). On the feast day of St. Anthony in 1691, Spanish explorers found and named the eponymous river. Later the name was given to the city, which was founded in 1718.
San Francisco (California): "Saint Francis" (of Assisi). The city by the bay was once a Mexican village named Yerba Buena (Good Grass). In 1846, during the Mexican War, Commodore John Sloat captured and renamed the settlement for its San Francisco de AsÃs mission (better known as Mission Dolores), which was founded in 1776.
Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Colorado and New Mexico): "blood of Christ." This mountain range was named for the red glow cast on it by the setting sun.
Santa Fe (New Mexico): "holy faith." Spanish settlers founded this oldest U.S. capital nearly 400 years ago, as La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de AsÃs (The Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis).
More Hispanic Heritage Month features!
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Hispanic heritage from coast to coast
by Holly Hartman
Alcatraz Island, now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, draws over a million visitors each yearThe Spanish were among the first Europeans to explore what is now the United States, and the first to found a permanent settlement here (St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565). From Alaska's Madre de Dios Island to Mexico, Maine, the United States is dotted with Spanish place names. Here are a few.
Alamo: "poplar." This tall softwood tree gave its name to a number of U.S. places, including the memorable chapel-fort in Texas and the town of Los Alamos in New Mexico, where atomic bombs were produced.
Alcatraz Island (California): from "álcatraces," pelican. A sizable pelican population once lived on this rocky island in the San Francisco Bay.
Boca Raton (Florida): from "boca de ratónes," a Spanish term applied to nearby inlets. It translates as "mouth of the mouse" (not "rat," which is "rata") and may refer to the jagged rocks at these inlets. It has also been suggested that "ratónes" was a term used for the pirates who might hide in such a place.
California: The state was named for a mythical land described in a popular Spanish novel from around 1500, Las sergas de Esplandián (The exploits of Esplandián) by Garcia Ordóñez de Montalvo.
Cape Canaveral (Florida): from "cañaveral," canebrake. The promontory NASA made famous takes its name from the thickets of cane that grow in sandy areas.
Colorado: "reddish." The state is named for the reddish color of mud found in the Colorado River.
In 1846, during the Mexican War, Commodore John Sloat captured the Mexican village of Yerba Buena and renamed it San Francisco.
El Paso (Texas): "passage." The border city of El Paso lies at a small gap between the Rockies and the Juarez Mountains of Mexico. This narrow passage has made the city a hub for both north-south and east-west travel.
Florida: "Flowery." Some say that Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon named the land for the Spanish term for Easter, Pascua de Florida (Flowery Feast), because he first saw the land during the Easter season. Others believe he named it for the area's lush flowers.
Fresno (California): "ash tree." The central Californian city and county are named for their abundant ash trees. La Brea (California): "tar." The tar pits in this famous part of Los Angeles have yielded amazing fossils for more than 100 years.
Las Cruces (New Mexico): "crosses." The city is named for the burial ground of some 40 travelers who were killed by Apaches in 1830.
RELATED LINKS
Where Spanish is SpokenSpanish LanguageOrigin of State Names
Las Vegas (Nevada): "meadows." Before casinos and neon lights defined Las Vegas, the area was noteworthy as a desert oasis with artesian springs.
Los Angeles (California): "angels." In 1781 Spanish settlers founded El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciúncula (The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels of Porciúncula). It became known as La Ciudad de los Angeles (City of Angels), and then just as Los Angeles.
Los Gatos (California): "cats." At the time this western California city was founded, many wildcats roamed the area.
Montana: from "montaña," mountain. Representative James M. Ashley of Ohio suggested using the Spanish word in honor of the territory's mountainous western part.
Nevada: "snow-covered." The mountains in this western state are often capped with snow.
San Antonio (Texas): "Saint Anthony" (of Padua). On the feast day of St. Anthony in 1691, Spanish explorers found and named the eponymous river. Later the name was given to the city, which was founded in 1718.
San Francisco (California): "Saint Francis" (of Assisi). The city by the bay was once a Mexican village named Yerba Buena (Good Grass). In 1846, during the Mexican War, Commodore John Sloat captured and renamed the settlement for its San Francisco de AsÃs mission (better known as Mission Dolores), which was founded in 1776.
Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Colorado and New Mexico): "blood of Christ." This mountain range was named for the red glow cast on it by the setting sun.
Santa Fe (New Mexico): "holy faith." Spanish settlers founded this oldest U.S. capital nearly 400 years ago, as La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de AsÃs (The Royal City of the Holy Faith of Saint Francis).
More Hispanic Heritage Month features!
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Info on Vegas I didnt know earlier
Las Vegas
A tourist economy and federal largesse made Las Vegas, Nevada, the only American metropolitan area founded in the twentieth century to reach one million in population. Yet its past and present are more complex and connected than its "sin city" image suggests.
Before the Neon
Native Americans lived in southern Nevada for thousands of years. Southern Paiutes were the only residents when Rafael Rivera, scouting for Mexican traders, became the first non-Native visitor in January 1830. In May 1844, John Frémont's mapmaking expedition named the area "Las Vegas," Spanish for "the Meadows," for its water and grass.
Aware of Frémont's description, the Mormon leader Brigham Young chose Las Vegas for a mission. Arriving on 14 June 1855, missionaries built a fort, part of which still stands. They left within three years. The miner Octavius Gass started buying land in 1865 and eventually owned nearly 1,000 acres, until old debts cost him his holdings. After the new owner, Archibald Stewart, died in a gunfight in 1884, his widow, Helen, ran the ranch until 1902, selling all but 160 acres to Senator William Clark, a Montana copper baron planning a Los Angeles-to-Salt Lake railroad. When the Union Pacific threatened to compete, they became partners.
After Clark auctioned land on 15 May 1905, Las Vegas became a railroad town, serving passengers and servicing trains. A railroad subsidiary, the Las Vegas Land and Water Company, controlled municipal improvements while limiting growth. Named Clark County seat in 1909 and incorporated as a city in 1911, Las Vegas catered to sin with the red-light district known as Block 16, which offered drinking, gambling, and prostitution despite laws to the contrary.
The Prewar and Postwar Boom
Hoover Dam construction, begun in March 1931, changed Las Vegas forever. Depression victims poured in, seeking jobs. The federal government built Boulder City to house workers, whose trips downtown boosted the economy—as did the dam's visitors, prompting Las Vegas to market itself as a tourist venue with the annual Helldorado, with parade and rodeo. The New Deal promoted growth: Nevada led the nation in per capita federal spending, and Las Vegas received such projects as a school and parks.
Democratic control of the presidency and Congress aided Las Vegas. Nevada Senator Pat McCarran, elected in 1932, used his seniority and power to obtain federal projects, thereby infusing payroll and attracting new residents. An Army Air Corps gunnery school opened in 1941 and became Nellis Air Force Base, still a key source of jobs and spending. To the southeast, the Basic Magnesium plant refined manganese for the war; the surrounding town, Henderson, housed southern Nevada's only heavy industry as the plant moved into chemical production and research. Northwest of town, the Nevada Test Site opened in 1951 and began conducting aboveground (later underground) atomic tests; while testing was discontinued, the site still supported research at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Las Vegas increasingly relied on gambling, which the state legalized in 1931. The downtown area benefited, especially in the late 1930s, and many illegal gamblers driven out of California relocated to Las Vegas. During World War II, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, representing gangster Meyer Lansky, invested in downtown casinos and took over construction of the Flamingo on the nascent "strip." The El Rancho Vegas became the Las Vegas Strip's first resort in 1941, followed in 1942 by the Hotel Last Frontier—both were ranch-style. The Flamingo, Las Vegas's first luxury resort, opened late in 1946, but proved unprofitable. Its turnaround came too late for Siegel, who was killed in July 1947.
The Flamingo's profits inspired more organized crime investment, while for their part gamblers relished practicing their trade legally. A spate of hotel-casinos opened in the 1950s and 1960s, often with loans from the Teamsters and the Bank of Las Vegas, the first bank to loan to casinos; most lenders disdained gambling and feared that mobsters would refuse to repay loans. A disproportionate number of casino owners were Jewish, expanding an already thriving Jewish community.
Las Vegas's image suffered not only for its criminal connections but also for its reputation as the "Mississippi of the West." Banned from patronizing resorts where they performed, black entertainers stayed in segregated West Las Vegas until the late 1950s. While a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter formed in the late 1920s, it was not until the 1950s and 1960s—by which time the black population had grown larger and had gained an organized, educated leadership—that discrimination was overcome. Thus, Las Vegas reflected the national civil rights movement, complete with unrest and lawsuits.
The Age of Legitimacy?
The last third of the century brought corporatization to Las Vegas and casinos to new jurisdictions. State laws passed in 1967 and 1969 enabled publicly traded companies to buy casinos; previously, every stockholder would have been licensed. Thus, Kirk Kerkorian built the International, bought the Flamingo, and sold both to Hilton; he subsequently built the MGM Grand. Steve Wynn parlayed a Bank of Las Vegas loan and a small piece of Strip property into ownership of the Golden Nugget. Aided by junk bond trader Michael Milken, Wynn built the Mirage, Treasure Island, and Bellagio, and owned other properties outside Las Vegas, before Kerkorian took over his Mirage Resorts in 2000. Local operators such as the Boyd Group, Station Casinos, and Harrah's became publicly traded, invested elsewhere, or teamed with Indian reservations operating casinos.
Las Vegas also reinvented itself. "Theming" went back to the 1930s, when operators patterned casinos on the Old West; Caesars Palace's Roman statuary restored the idea in the 1960s. Megaresort builders in the 1990s imploded old resorts, often replaced by replicas—the Luxor (Egypt), Excalibur (medieval castles), Paris, and New York, New York—and enormous properties that were almost cities unto themselves, such as the 5,000-plus-room MGM Grand and the Venetian. By 2001, Las Vegas boasted more than 120,000 hotel rooms, filled annually by millions of tourists.
The city fueled and benefited from this growth. Each census revealed Las Vegas as one of the fastest-growing American cities, if not the fastest, with the population doubling or nearly doubling every decade. The once physically small city expanded as the Howard Hughes Corporation developed Summerlin to the northwest. Green Valley helped Henderson evolve from an industrial city into a suburb. Three Sun City communities attracted "snowbirds" escaping cold winters or retirees seeking an active lifestyle and moderate cost of living. Latinos grew in influence and topped 20 percent of the population in the 2000 census. That same census showed Las Vegas to be home to 1,375,765 of Nevada's 1,998,257 residents, and more ethnically diverse than the rest of the state.
Understandably, problems accompanied growth. Growing suburban communities prompted white flight from the inner city. Schools were overcrowded. Newcomers understandably lacked a sense of community and history, prompting apathy about local affairs and difficulties in developing a cultural community—no performing arts center and classical music companies beset by financial troubles. Downtown declined and redevelopment proved difficult, while the county government controlled prime land, including the Strip. Gaming and other businesses sometimes clashed over economic diversification, yet shared ample political power. Las Vegas enjoyed a large majority in the state legislature, but its delegation voted more by party than region.
While obtaining water from Arizona's allotment from the Colorado River appeared to ease concern over Las Vegas's ability to maintain an adequate water supply, debates still raged over air quality, education, traffic, the tax structure, and concentrated political power. Neither Las Vegas's success, nor its troubles, seemed likely to abate as the twenty-first century began.
Bibliography
Denton, Sally, and Roger Morris. The Money and the Power: The Making of Las Vegas and Its Hold on America, 1947–2000. New York: Knopf, 2001.
A tourist economy and federal largesse made Las Vegas, Nevada, the only American metropolitan area founded in the twentieth century to reach one million in population. Yet its past and present are more complex and connected than its "sin city" image suggests.
Before the Neon
Native Americans lived in southern Nevada for thousands of years. Southern Paiutes were the only residents when Rafael Rivera, scouting for Mexican traders, became the first non-Native visitor in January 1830. In May 1844, John Frémont's mapmaking expedition named the area "Las Vegas," Spanish for "the Meadows," for its water and grass.
Aware of Frémont's description, the Mormon leader Brigham Young chose Las Vegas for a mission. Arriving on 14 June 1855, missionaries built a fort, part of which still stands. They left within three years. The miner Octavius Gass started buying land in 1865 and eventually owned nearly 1,000 acres, until old debts cost him his holdings. After the new owner, Archibald Stewart, died in a gunfight in 1884, his widow, Helen, ran the ranch until 1902, selling all but 160 acres to Senator William Clark, a Montana copper baron planning a Los Angeles-to-Salt Lake railroad. When the Union Pacific threatened to compete, they became partners.
After Clark auctioned land on 15 May 1905, Las Vegas became a railroad town, serving passengers and servicing trains. A railroad subsidiary, the Las Vegas Land and Water Company, controlled municipal improvements while limiting growth. Named Clark County seat in 1909 and incorporated as a city in 1911, Las Vegas catered to sin with the red-light district known as Block 16, which offered drinking, gambling, and prostitution despite laws to the contrary.
The Prewar and Postwar Boom
Hoover Dam construction, begun in March 1931, changed Las Vegas forever. Depression victims poured in, seeking jobs. The federal government built Boulder City to house workers, whose trips downtown boosted the economy—as did the dam's visitors, prompting Las Vegas to market itself as a tourist venue with the annual Helldorado, with parade and rodeo. The New Deal promoted growth: Nevada led the nation in per capita federal spending, and Las Vegas received such projects as a school and parks.
Democratic control of the presidency and Congress aided Las Vegas. Nevada Senator Pat McCarran, elected in 1932, used his seniority and power to obtain federal projects, thereby infusing payroll and attracting new residents. An Army Air Corps gunnery school opened in 1941 and became Nellis Air Force Base, still a key source of jobs and spending. To the southeast, the Basic Magnesium plant refined manganese for the war; the surrounding town, Henderson, housed southern Nevada's only heavy industry as the plant moved into chemical production and research. Northwest of town, the Nevada Test Site opened in 1951 and began conducting aboveground (later underground) atomic tests; while testing was discontinued, the site still supported research at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Las Vegas increasingly relied on gambling, which the state legalized in 1931. The downtown area benefited, especially in the late 1930s, and many illegal gamblers driven out of California relocated to Las Vegas. During World War II, Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, representing gangster Meyer Lansky, invested in downtown casinos and took over construction of the Flamingo on the nascent "strip." The El Rancho Vegas became the Las Vegas Strip's first resort in 1941, followed in 1942 by the Hotel Last Frontier—both were ranch-style. The Flamingo, Las Vegas's first luxury resort, opened late in 1946, but proved unprofitable. Its turnaround came too late for Siegel, who was killed in July 1947.
The Flamingo's profits inspired more organized crime investment, while for their part gamblers relished practicing their trade legally. A spate of hotel-casinos opened in the 1950s and 1960s, often with loans from the Teamsters and the Bank of Las Vegas, the first bank to loan to casinos; most lenders disdained gambling and feared that mobsters would refuse to repay loans. A disproportionate number of casino owners were Jewish, expanding an already thriving Jewish community.
Las Vegas's image suffered not only for its criminal connections but also for its reputation as the "Mississippi of the West." Banned from patronizing resorts where they performed, black entertainers stayed in segregated West Las Vegas until the late 1950s. While a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter formed in the late 1920s, it was not until the 1950s and 1960s—by which time the black population had grown larger and had gained an organized, educated leadership—that discrimination was overcome. Thus, Las Vegas reflected the national civil rights movement, complete with unrest and lawsuits.
The Age of Legitimacy?
The last third of the century brought corporatization to Las Vegas and casinos to new jurisdictions. State laws passed in 1967 and 1969 enabled publicly traded companies to buy casinos; previously, every stockholder would have been licensed. Thus, Kirk Kerkorian built the International, bought the Flamingo, and sold both to Hilton; he subsequently built the MGM Grand. Steve Wynn parlayed a Bank of Las Vegas loan and a small piece of Strip property into ownership of the Golden Nugget. Aided by junk bond trader Michael Milken, Wynn built the Mirage, Treasure Island, and Bellagio, and owned other properties outside Las Vegas, before Kerkorian took over his Mirage Resorts in 2000. Local operators such as the Boyd Group, Station Casinos, and Harrah's became publicly traded, invested elsewhere, or teamed with Indian reservations operating casinos.
Las Vegas also reinvented itself. "Theming" went back to the 1930s, when operators patterned casinos on the Old West; Caesars Palace's Roman statuary restored the idea in the 1960s. Megaresort builders in the 1990s imploded old resorts, often replaced by replicas—the Luxor (Egypt), Excalibur (medieval castles), Paris, and New York, New York—and enormous properties that were almost cities unto themselves, such as the 5,000-plus-room MGM Grand and the Venetian. By 2001, Las Vegas boasted more than 120,000 hotel rooms, filled annually by millions of tourists.
The city fueled and benefited from this growth. Each census revealed Las Vegas as one of the fastest-growing American cities, if not the fastest, with the population doubling or nearly doubling every decade. The once physically small city expanded as the Howard Hughes Corporation developed Summerlin to the northwest. Green Valley helped Henderson evolve from an industrial city into a suburb. Three Sun City communities attracted "snowbirds" escaping cold winters or retirees seeking an active lifestyle and moderate cost of living. Latinos grew in influence and topped 20 percent of the population in the 2000 census. That same census showed Las Vegas to be home to 1,375,765 of Nevada's 1,998,257 residents, and more ethnically diverse than the rest of the state.
Understandably, problems accompanied growth. Growing suburban communities prompted white flight from the inner city. Schools were overcrowded. Newcomers understandably lacked a sense of community and history, prompting apathy about local affairs and difficulties in developing a cultural community—no performing arts center and classical music companies beset by financial troubles. Downtown declined and redevelopment proved difficult, while the county government controlled prime land, including the Strip. Gaming and other businesses sometimes clashed over economic diversification, yet shared ample political power. Las Vegas enjoyed a large majority in the state legislature, but its delegation voted more by party than region.
While obtaining water from Arizona's allotment from the Colorado River appeared to ease concern over Las Vegas's ability to maintain an adequate water supply, debates still raged over air quality, education, traffic, the tax structure, and concentrated political power. Neither Las Vegas's success, nor its troubles, seemed likely to abate as the twenty-first century began.
Bibliography
Denton, Sally, and Roger Morris. The Money and the Power: The Making of Las Vegas and Its Hold on America, 1947–2000. New York: Knopf, 2001.
Our first wedding Anniversary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had sent the following as a mail to many ppl. Reproducing it here again.
Madhu and I are back to Phoenix, after a fun filled week long trip to Las Vegas, celebrating our first wedding Anniversary. :) :) We left on Nov. 30th afternoon, driving for 5 hrs, braving the rains that chose the very day to pour down on the parched Arizona earth. !!!Reached hotel by 8:30 p.m., ate dinner, n just slipped into slumber.
Saturday morning was spent in exploring our hotel itself, casinos et al, Madhu had booked a show ticket for both of us for the evening, being held in our hotel, the Stratosphere. Its called American Superstars, and look a-likes of famous stars like Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Along with Tim McGraw, a country music star here in US, perform on stage.After this we were whisked up 107 floors in a matter of 36 seconds, to the Top of the World restaurant, located in our hotel itself,and had a candle light dinner there.As usual, vegetarian choices were limited, but what ever I ate, was quite filling, so much that I had to skip my fav part of any meal...the dessert!!!!And they were simply delicious looking chocolate cakes, an ice cream designed as the stratosphere tower..and much more. .Aaaah. By the time we got back, it was 11:30p.m., and tht was the end of a lovely anniversary day for us.
Sunday, was spent in exploring Hoover Dam....named after Herbert Hoover, the Secretary of State in the early decades of the 20th century, who proposed the construction of this dam, to tame the mighty Colorado river. .
Lil Bit of intersting Info....This dam was earlier named Boulder Dam, for Boulder city, Nevada, the place where it is actually built. The artificial lake created by this dam is called Lake Mead, and they have a boat cruise on Lake Mead too. .Interestingly, the Hoover dam cuts across the border lines of Arizona and Nevada( where Las Vegas is located)If one walks across the dam, they have two different clocks showing...u guessed it...two different timings...Nevada is one hour behind Arizona time. .And unlike India, they actually opened the dam to visitors and tourists. This was a very interesting tour,and we spent almost half a day there.
On our way back, we decided to see Red Rock Casino, which had been highly praised by another dinner guest seated next to us on Saturday evening. It was a long drive, but definitely worth it. The casino and hotel is so beautifully decorated...we were speechless.
Monday we spent in exploring the usual tourist attractions along the famous Las Vegas Strip...a 5 mile stretch where all the big hotels are located,along with not so well known ones. The biggies include, the Bellagio, The Venetian, the Luxor, Caesars Palace( where Celine Dion has been doing a show for 3 yrs continuously) The Paris, the New York, MGM Grand....
On this one stretch of land, u can have a world tour itself. The Venetian with its hotel built and decorated as Venice, Caesars Palace, with its Roman looks,n decor, the Paris, has an Eiffel tower right outside, the New York similarly, has a Statue of Liberty, the Luxor has the Pharaoh. Since this took up the whole day, we dragged our weary feet upto our room,and the next day, Tuesday,we left Las Vegas with happy memories of a wonderful vacation.
FOR ALL THOSE WHO PATIENTLY READ THROUGH THIS LONG MAIL....MANY THANKS.
FRISKY ON THE OTHER HAND, didn't do so well. He was feeling lonely,n missing us probably. The pet sitter told us he had neither eaten well, nor drank water. And he hadn't done his loo business for four days...That's why, on seeing us, he was so happy we were back, that he pooped every 4 feet on his way to the park.!!!! He had been saving it all up for us.!!!!Our "Welcome Back" present from Frisky.:)
FOR MORE INFO, PLS VISIT:
www.stratospherehotel.com
www.vegas.com/hooverdam
Madhu and I are back to Phoenix, after a fun filled week long trip to Las Vegas, celebrating our first wedding Anniversary. :) :) We left on Nov. 30th afternoon, driving for 5 hrs, braving the rains that chose the very day to pour down on the parched Arizona earth. !!!Reached hotel by 8:30 p.m., ate dinner, n just slipped into slumber.
Saturday morning was spent in exploring our hotel itself, casinos et al, Madhu had booked a show ticket for both of us for the evening, being held in our hotel, the Stratosphere. Its called American Superstars, and look a-likes of famous stars like Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Along with Tim McGraw, a country music star here in US, perform on stage.After this we were whisked up 107 floors in a matter of 36 seconds, to the Top of the World restaurant, located in our hotel itself,and had a candle light dinner there.As usual, vegetarian choices were limited, but what ever I ate, was quite filling, so much that I had to skip my fav part of any meal...the dessert!!!!And they were simply delicious looking chocolate cakes, an ice cream designed as the stratosphere tower..and much more. .Aaaah. By the time we got back, it was 11:30p.m., and tht was the end of a lovely anniversary day for us.
Sunday, was spent in exploring Hoover Dam....named after Herbert Hoover, the Secretary of State in the early decades of the 20th century, who proposed the construction of this dam, to tame the mighty Colorado river. .
Lil Bit of intersting Info....This dam was earlier named Boulder Dam, for Boulder city, Nevada, the place where it is actually built. The artificial lake created by this dam is called Lake Mead, and they have a boat cruise on Lake Mead too. .Interestingly, the Hoover dam cuts across the border lines of Arizona and Nevada( where Las Vegas is located)If one walks across the dam, they have two different clocks showing...u guessed it...two different timings...Nevada is one hour behind Arizona time. .And unlike India, they actually opened the dam to visitors and tourists. This was a very interesting tour,and we spent almost half a day there.
On our way back, we decided to see Red Rock Casino, which had been highly praised by another dinner guest seated next to us on Saturday evening. It was a long drive, but definitely worth it. The casino and hotel is so beautifully decorated...we were speechless.
Monday we spent in exploring the usual tourist attractions along the famous Las Vegas Strip...a 5 mile stretch where all the big hotels are located,along with not so well known ones. The biggies include, the Bellagio, The Venetian, the Luxor, Caesars Palace( where Celine Dion has been doing a show for 3 yrs continuously) The Paris, the New York, MGM Grand....
On this one stretch of land, u can have a world tour itself. The Venetian with its hotel built and decorated as Venice, Caesars Palace, with its Roman looks,n decor, the Paris, has an Eiffel tower right outside, the New York similarly, has a Statue of Liberty, the Luxor has the Pharaoh. Since this took up the whole day, we dragged our weary feet upto our room,and the next day, Tuesday,we left Las Vegas with happy memories of a wonderful vacation.
FOR ALL THOSE WHO PATIENTLY READ THROUGH THIS LONG MAIL....MANY THANKS.
FRISKY ON THE OTHER HAND, didn't do so well. He was feeling lonely,n missing us probably. The pet sitter told us he had neither eaten well, nor drank water. And he hadn't done his loo business for four days...That's why, on seeing us, he was so happy we were back, that he pooped every 4 feet on his way to the park.!!!! He had been saving it all up for us.!!!!Our "Welcome Back" present from Frisky.:)
FOR MORE INFO, PLS VISIT:
www.stratospherehotel.com
www.vegas.com/hooverdam
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Frisky is getting to be a big boy
As the title of this post suggests, Frisky is getting to be a big boy.Come Nov. 29, he will be completing two months with us,and will be 8 months old. He has become taller , naughtier, chirpier, and friskier day by day(not to mention heavier!!!). He knows how to get me to take him for a walk,and that's usually, by looking at me in a very sad way, immediately after i finish my morning prayers. Of late, he has begun to put on his "take-me-out-on -a -walk" look, inside the pooja room itself, so that I feel even more guilty, if i keep him in.
Anyway, I am digressing from the main reason for which I have visited my blog page again. This is to celebrate the fact that this morning, Frisky, while running around the house following Madhu, actually hopped, skipped,and jumped to land comfortably on the bed. !!!!!!
This means he can do great leaps now,and is able to reach heights....This has made Madhu and me very happy, as his earlier attempts to reach the bed were limited to putting up his front paws to the edge,and looking at us, in order to be picked up.
At this great achievement today, we cuddled Frisky, and celebrated his new leap.....Frisky IS getting to be a big boy!!!!!!!
Anyway, I am digressing from the main reason for which I have visited my blog page again. This is to celebrate the fact that this morning, Frisky, while running around the house following Madhu, actually hopped, skipped,and jumped to land comfortably on the bed. !!!!!!
This means he can do great leaps now,and is able to reach heights....This has made Madhu and me very happy, as his earlier attempts to reach the bed were limited to putting up his front paws to the edge,and looking at us, in order to be picked up.
At this great achievement today, we cuddled Frisky, and celebrated his new leap.....Frisky IS getting to be a big boy!!!!!!!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Iron chef Madhu
Madhu bought a portable grill this weekend,and yesterday we broke it in.
It had been his fond desire to buy a grill and cook chicken on it. All these days, he was using the oven. Our apartment rules prohibited him from investing in a huge one, so he went in for a portable.
So evening came, Madhu marinated the chicken, and then set about getting the grill fired up. After that, it was a 45 minute process of constant monitoring, and flipping them over and over to prevent burning. Frisky and I kindly consented to give Madhu company in this first venture, so it turned out to be a family affair. :) :)
The result:
All my friends that know Madhu cooks excellent non -veg. The aroma was lovely,and the exulted smile on Madhu's face, as he ate the grilled chicken, was evidence that the chicken was delicious. Frisky's wolfing down his piece of chicken( given by Madhu) was proof enough. !!!!!!
It had been his fond desire to buy a grill and cook chicken on it. All these days, he was using the oven. Our apartment rules prohibited him from investing in a huge one, so he went in for a portable.
So evening came, Madhu marinated the chicken, and then set about getting the grill fired up. After that, it was a 45 minute process of constant monitoring, and flipping them over and over to prevent burning. Frisky and I kindly consented to give Madhu company in this first venture, so it turned out to be a family affair. :) :)
The result:
All my friends that know Madhu cooks excellent non -veg. The aroma was lovely,and the exulted smile on Madhu's face, as he ate the grilled chicken, was evidence that the chicken was delicious. Frisky's wolfing down his piece of chicken( given by Madhu) was proof enough. !!!!!!
Monday, October 29, 2007
This morning, I took Frisky for a walk on a lane near our apartments...a row of independent homes, with two and three car garages. There was a home, which had Halloween decorations on its lawn. A scarecrow kind of thing, with an ugly face,a couple of skulls under an arm,a pumpkin and a black cat near its feet. The cat was positioned such that it looked ready to pounce.
I was admiring it, when Frisky noticed the cat and thought it to be a real one,and began to growl and bark..He was really upset on seeing the cat, and didn't realise it wasn't moving...But he still continued to bark at it. Just for fun, on our way back home, I took Frisky past the same house . . Again, he saw the cat,and made deep growling sounds, and perked up his ears. It was soooo cute!!!!!
I was a bit upset with Frisky later on , as he had run away to the bushes that are lined in the far end of our compound wall, just as Madhu was leaving for office. He usually stays near the garage to say his good bye,and despite Madhu and I calling out to him many times, he never came. So Madhu left, leaving me to take care of Frisky.
I went and picked up Frisky where he was still nosing around, and gave him a little spank, for not listening to us. On the way back, I was speaking severely to him, and did not allow him to lick me. So we entered our home, and I sat down to have my cup of tea. Frisky went to his bed, picked up one of his favourite toys, and came and dropped it at my feet. Then he went and sat a little distance away,as if it was a "I am sorry" kind of gift for me.
U can guess what happened next. I looked into his sad eyes, and my heart melted!!!!! :) :)
I was admiring it, when Frisky noticed the cat and thought it to be a real one,and began to growl and bark..He was really upset on seeing the cat, and didn't realise it wasn't moving...But he still continued to bark at it. Just for fun, on our way back home, I took Frisky past the same house . . Again, he saw the cat,and made deep growling sounds, and perked up his ears. It was soooo cute!!!!!
I was a bit upset with Frisky later on , as he had run away to the bushes that are lined in the far end of our compound wall, just as Madhu was leaving for office. He usually stays near the garage to say his good bye,and despite Madhu and I calling out to him many times, he never came. So Madhu left, leaving me to take care of Frisky.
I went and picked up Frisky where he was still nosing around, and gave him a little spank, for not listening to us. On the way back, I was speaking severely to him, and did not allow him to lick me. So we entered our home, and I sat down to have my cup of tea. Frisky went to his bed, picked up one of his favourite toys, and came and dropped it at my feet. Then he went and sat a little distance away,as if it was a "I am sorry" kind of gift for me.
U can guess what happened next. I looked into his sad eyes, and my heart melted!!!!! :) :)
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
WAT- (A)-ER WEDNESDAY!!!!
This morning, I was busy preparing lunch for Madhu, and suddenly i heard Frisky bark. I thought it must be because of the tadka I had just put. I knew he felt frightened when he heard the tadka spluttering, so didn't pay any attention. He continued to bark for about 2 minutes. Then Madhu came to the kitchen, having had his bath,and tells me the following story.
Background note:
Frisky usually follows Madhu around in the mornings, because he knows he is about to leave for work.
Story:
In the same way, when Madhu went in to have his bath, Frisky followed him in. Just seeing the water fill the bathtub apparently scared him. He began to bark...short, angry barks. Thinking that Frisky was remembering his ordeal of Sunday, Madhu lifted him and put him outside and closed the door. At this, he felt angrier, and this led to the incessant barking that I had heard.
Madhu was so amused. First, Frisky gets scared of the running water, and then feels indignant at being unceremoniously picked up and dropped outside the bathroom...and voices his protest by angry barking.
We are thinking...what next??????? :) :)
Background note:
Frisky usually follows Madhu around in the mornings, because he knows he is about to leave for work.
Story:
In the same way, when Madhu went in to have his bath, Frisky followed him in. Just seeing the water fill the bathtub apparently scared him. He began to bark...short, angry barks. Thinking that Frisky was remembering his ordeal of Sunday, Madhu lifted him and put him outside and closed the door. At this, he felt angrier, and this led to the incessant barking that I had heard.
Madhu was so amused. First, Frisky gets scared of the running water, and then feels indignant at being unceremoniously picked up and dropped outside the bathroom...and voices his protest by angry barking.
We are thinking...what next??????? :) :)
Monday, October 22, 2007
An addendum
For Saraswati puja, I had made sundal, with garbanzo peas( vella kadalai), that received appreciation, Sugaya( sooyam in Tamil), and bajjis of potato,and plaintain, for the evening.
While cleaning on Friday, I realised that Frisky was terribly scared of the vacuum cleaner. He scampered off the minute I rolled the big drum into the house from our tool room, and rushed from the hall to each room, in order to escape it. !!!!! :)
On Sunday, Vijaya dasami day, Frisky was given his first bath by us. Since we got him, he had cold and cough,and the vet told us to refrain from bathing him till he got better. As he had overcome the ailments, received his second round of vaccinations on Friday, and had begun to stink terribly , we decided to celebrate Vijayadasami by giving him a bath. !!!!
And was he terrified.!!!! Poor puppy, first drenched in warm water, then shampooed vigorously by two crazy humans,holding him down, and prevented from jumping out of the bath tub by them....Aaaaaah...torture!!!!He was trembling, too scared to even voice his protest by whimpering.!!!
It was so funny, the minute we took him out of the tub,and put him on the mat to rub him dry, he put up with us for all of two minutes. The second the door of the bathroom was opened, he shot off. Madhu and I followed, and saw him shake himself dry in the hall. The minute he saw us, he ran off again, this time into the office room,and hid under the table in his favourite spot. It took a lot of coaxing and cajoling from us to get him out from the table, and we towelled him dry.
But a few minutes later, he was playful again. ..his usual cheery spirit back. :) :)
While cleaning on Friday, I realised that Frisky was terribly scared of the vacuum cleaner. He scampered off the minute I rolled the big drum into the house from our tool room, and rushed from the hall to each room, in order to escape it. !!!!! :)
On Sunday, Vijaya dasami day, Frisky was given his first bath by us. Since we got him, he had cold and cough,and the vet told us to refrain from bathing him till he got better. As he had overcome the ailments, received his second round of vaccinations on Friday, and had begun to stink terribly , we decided to celebrate Vijayadasami by giving him a bath. !!!!
And was he terrified.!!!! Poor puppy, first drenched in warm water, then shampooed vigorously by two crazy humans,holding him down, and prevented from jumping out of the bath tub by them....Aaaaaah...torture!!!!He was trembling, too scared to even voice his protest by whimpering.!!!
It was so funny, the minute we took him out of the tub,and put him on the mat to rub him dry, he put up with us for all of two minutes. The second the door of the bathroom was opened, he shot off. Madhu and I followed, and saw him shake himself dry in the hall. The minute he saw us, he ran off again, this time into the office room,and hid under the table in his favourite spot. It took a lot of coaxing and cajoling from us to get him out from the table, and we towelled him dry.
But a few minutes later, he was playful again. ..his usual cheery spirit back. :) :)
Saraswati puja get together
Navaratri has come and gone. Though I didn't keep kolu, I had a good time. I was invited to my friends homes for taambulam, and I invited them over for the same on Saturday evening. My friends from our previous apartments also came. So in all, it was a big group of 10 adults , excluding Madhu and me, and four kids, who practically pounced on Frisky to pet him. !!!!
Poor thing, he was scared,and just lay down with his tail in b/w his legs.
Some how, it became 9:00 p.m., and we asked them to stay for dinner. Thankfully, I had dosa maavu ready on hand, and we poured one batch of idlis, and the rest dosas. (My friends had already left for garba, so it was 8 adults and two kids now. )
We had a nice time, all talking, laughing, pulling each others legs,with only one small incident, when one kid got her hand in b/w the wall and grill gate, and the other kid closed the door on her hand...ouch!!!!A quick ice pack, and a lot of hugs from her mother made her smile again. By the time everyone left, it was 10:30-11:00 p.m. Then Madhu and I took Frisky out for his nightly walk, and it was 11:30 p.m. when we came back.
In all, it was that evening when it actually felt like Navaratri to me, and I truly appreciated why Madhu had bought so many plates,and cutlery sets. Planning another get together for diwali...this time, pot luck. !!!!!
Poor thing, he was scared,and just lay down with his tail in b/w his legs.
Some how, it became 9:00 p.m., and we asked them to stay for dinner. Thankfully, I had dosa maavu ready on hand, and we poured one batch of idlis, and the rest dosas. (My friends had already left for garba, so it was 8 adults and two kids now. )
We had a nice time, all talking, laughing, pulling each others legs,with only one small incident, when one kid got her hand in b/w the wall and grill gate, and the other kid closed the door on her hand...ouch!!!!A quick ice pack, and a lot of hugs from her mother made her smile again. By the time everyone left, it was 10:30-11:00 p.m. Then Madhu and I took Frisky out for his nightly walk, and it was 11:30 p.m. when we came back.
In all, it was that evening when it actually felt like Navaratri to me, and I truly appreciated why Madhu had bought so many plates,and cutlery sets. Planning another get together for diwali...this time, pot luck. !!!!!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Bits and bites
Life is always sweet and sour- a mix of both. Yesterday, having known that one of the clothing outlets here was having its Fall sale, I wanted to go. My friend Srividhya had given me a gift card for the same store for my birthday, that I had been holding on to for 2 months now.
So this seemed to be a very good opportunity. Since Frisky had come I hadn't had a chance to go out anywhere. Madhu obliged me by watching over Frisky, and by dropping me off at the mall. I had a lovely time shopping, and bought a lot of stuff.
So this is the sweet part. The sour part is that, since Madhu had to drop me off, we put Frisky into his doggie crate, which we had bought at Walmart the previous weekend. Once he got back home, Madhu discovered that Frisky had been so anxious to get out of the crate, that he had scratched the sides , and bitten a hole through the nylon-polyester fibre cover of the crate.Frisky had made a hole big enough for his head to go through. When Madhu opened the door and came to look in on Frisky's unusual silence, he found him struggling to put his whole body through the little hole.!!!!!!!!!
This six month old puppy doesn't like to be left in the crate,and this couldn't be prevailed upon us more clearly than this incident. So Madhu called me up, and apprised me of the situation. Thanks to Walmart return policy of 30 days, we were able to get the cloth one exchanged for a powder coated steel cage, with two doors,and plenty of open space to look out from. Hope to get him accustomed to this one soon.
For those of you thinking why leave him alone at all, and not carry him along, there are few places that allow pets here. Supermarkets/grocery stores have rules that forbade them from allowing any animal inside if they stock/display any food items. Even the local video store doesn't allow pets inside. That poses a problem when we have to do our weekly grocery shopping.
But we found an amicable solution too. Madhu goes into Walmart/COSTCO etc,and buys whatever he wants/ pleases him ,without me nagging or questioning. I take Frisky for a walk around the mall in this period. And I am able to do my grocery shopping in peace, without Madhu hurrying me up-while he takes Frisky for another walk. !!!!
Its a win-win situation, and Frisky enjoys it too. :) :)
So this seemed to be a very good opportunity. Since Frisky had come I hadn't had a chance to go out anywhere. Madhu obliged me by watching over Frisky, and by dropping me off at the mall. I had a lovely time shopping, and bought a lot of stuff.
So this is the sweet part. The sour part is that, since Madhu had to drop me off, we put Frisky into his doggie crate, which we had bought at Walmart the previous weekend. Once he got back home, Madhu discovered that Frisky had been so anxious to get out of the crate, that he had scratched the sides , and bitten a hole through the nylon-polyester fibre cover of the crate.Frisky had made a hole big enough for his head to go through. When Madhu opened the door and came to look in on Frisky's unusual silence, he found him struggling to put his whole body through the little hole.!!!!!!!!!
This six month old puppy doesn't like to be left in the crate,and this couldn't be prevailed upon us more clearly than this incident. So Madhu called me up, and apprised me of the situation. Thanks to Walmart return policy of 30 days, we were able to get the cloth one exchanged for a powder coated steel cage, with two doors,and plenty of open space to look out from. Hope to get him accustomed to this one soon.
For those of you thinking why leave him alone at all, and not carry him along, there are few places that allow pets here. Supermarkets/grocery stores have rules that forbade them from allowing any animal inside if they stock/display any food items. Even the local video store doesn't allow pets inside. That poses a problem when we have to do our weekly grocery shopping.
But we found an amicable solution too. Madhu goes into Walmart/COSTCO etc,and buys whatever he wants/ pleases him ,without me nagging or questioning. I take Frisky for a walk around the mall in this period. And I am able to do my grocery shopping in peace, without Madhu hurrying me up-while he takes Frisky for another walk. !!!!
Its a win-win situation, and Frisky enjoys it too. :) :)
Saturday, October 13, 2007
more on Frisky
Last Saturday, we had been walking Frisky, when we saw an old lady walking her dog. As usual, Frisky was ready to make friends with the dog, and that dog too, seemed quite friendly. As we talked, we came to know that the old lady had got the dog two days back from her daughter, who lives nearby. The dog had followed the old lady's grand daughter home, from the road, and her daughter didn't have the heart to let it wander on the streets again. Since she was a busy working mother, she had left it with her mother, our neighbour. So we suggested she could contact the Humane Society, and check if the dog was micro chipped , so that he could be returned to his owners.
We felt sorry for the old lady, and Madhu offered to do it for her, and we brought the dog home. the first ten minutes or so, the dog was scared,a dn ran about the whole house, trying to find an escape[e route. Frisky wanted to play,and was excited at seeing another dog at home, so he took a dominant role. The other dog, whom the lady had named Surprise, was much bigger than frisky in size, and he had a voracious appetite. Madhu gave him dog treats which he gobbled up. Seeing that he was eating, Frisky, who had not condescended to eat any of his treats, ate too. Hmm..healthy competition. !!!!
We checked up if the Humane society was open,and we went there. The 20 minutes journey in the car was another drama. Suffice to say that, Frisky subsided, and Surprise was hyper. Frisky actually seemed to think that our affections had shifted to the other dog.
So we finally reached the Humane Society. A scan showed that Surprise was micro-chipped, which means that he could be returned to his owners. So we turned him in, and came back home with Frisky, and played with him for a long time to make sure that he knew we loved him. We went and informed our neighbour, and she gratefully thanked us, saying that she was too old to be able to take care of a dog at home.
We have photos of Surprise and Frisky playing, because we thought, even for the half an hour he is with us, let us capture the moments of their play.
We felt sorry for the old lady, and Madhu offered to do it for her, and we brought the dog home. the first ten minutes or so, the dog was scared,a dn ran about the whole house, trying to find an escape[e route. Frisky wanted to play,and was excited at seeing another dog at home, so he took a dominant role. The other dog, whom the lady had named Surprise, was much bigger than frisky in size, and he had a voracious appetite. Madhu gave him dog treats which he gobbled up. Seeing that he was eating, Frisky, who had not condescended to eat any of his treats, ate too. Hmm..healthy competition. !!!!
We checked up if the Humane society was open,and we went there. The 20 minutes journey in the car was another drama. Suffice to say that, Frisky subsided, and Surprise was hyper. Frisky actually seemed to think that our affections had shifted to the other dog.
So we finally reached the Humane Society. A scan showed that Surprise was micro-chipped, which means that he could be returned to his owners. So we turned him in, and came back home with Frisky, and played with him for a long time to make sure that he knew we loved him. We went and informed our neighbour, and she gratefully thanked us, saying that she was too old to be able to take care of a dog at home.
We have photos of Surprise and Frisky playing, because we thought, even for the half an hour he is with us, let us capture the moments of their play.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
mis-under-standing
Its amazing how many people can misread a simple job advertisement. I had posted an ad looking for free lance assignments for proof reading, without the words, "I AM". The ad started off with saying, "Looking for part time opportunities in proof reading, admin etc" areas....
By the end of the same day, I had 6 people who sent me their resumes saying they were interested in working in such fields, and asked me how much they were going to be paid. And all of them IT qualified. !!!!!
Its incredible how they completely misread the advt, and don't see that there is no indication of "looking for employees, or qualified personnel" or terminology of that sort in the ad.
I got one this morning too, before i posted this blog entry. I got so tired of replying politely to their mails, that i went and edited my advt...adding the words, I AM..looking for ....
Let's hope I don't get any more resume attached mails.
By the end of the same day, I had 6 people who sent me their resumes saying they were interested in working in such fields, and asked me how much they were going to be paid. And all of them IT qualified. !!!!!
Its incredible how they completely misread the advt, and don't see that there is no indication of "looking for employees, or qualified personnel" or terminology of that sort in the ad.
I got one this morning too, before i posted this blog entry. I got so tired of replying politely to their mails, that i went and edited my advt...adding the words, I AM..looking for ....
Let's hope I don't get any more resume attached mails.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
my new favourite stand up comedians
Hey people,
I just wanted to let you know. I have been introduced to stand up comedies, consequently, comedians, thanks to Madhu. In India, we have Johnny Lever, and Vivek(in Tamil cinema) who could make me laugh.
Here, we have a number of people who are stand- up comedians, and who do pretty well for themselves in this line. Lewis Black,( a Yale Univ. graduate), Lisa Lampenelli, Robin Williams( yup, the Hollywood actor has done a show on Broadway), and now my two current favourites are, Eddie Izzard,and Jeff Dunham.
Eddie Izzard, is a British comedian, whose show was aired on BBC America, for 6 hours straight,on July 4th 2007. He is a transvestite, and he is hilarious. In all those 6 hours, he never once repeated a joke, but was able to connect his starting joke to his ending one. Both Madhu and I have become such fans, that we bought his whole DVD collection. We quote Eddie Izzard, whenever we see Frisky do something, that he has mentioned in his piece on cats and dogs.
Our new guy on the block, is ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. He is amazing, and unbelievably funny. He has a number of puppets,and I feel each represents a side of us humans. There's Walter, the grumpy old guy, Ahmed, the suicide bomber, Sweet Daddy D, his new manager, Melvin, the super hero, and our favourites, Peanut and Jose Jalapeno ( pronounced Ho-say Halapeno...Spanish).
The latter two are incredible, which is to say, Jeff Dunham's quips and jokes involving these two characters are INCREDIBLE. We were so impressed, we ordered his other show, Burst of Insanity, from the local video store,and watched it twice. !!!! :)
Thanks to You Tube, we came to know that this guy's show, Arguing with Myself, went double platinum.
All those reading this blog entry, please do go onto You Tube,and check out Jeff Dunham's and Eddie Izzard's clips.
I just wanted to let you know. I have been introduced to stand up comedies, consequently, comedians, thanks to Madhu. In India, we have Johnny Lever, and Vivek(in Tamil cinema) who could make me laugh.
Here, we have a number of people who are stand- up comedians, and who do pretty well for themselves in this line. Lewis Black,( a Yale Univ. graduate), Lisa Lampenelli, Robin Williams( yup, the Hollywood actor has done a show on Broadway), and now my two current favourites are, Eddie Izzard,and Jeff Dunham.
Eddie Izzard, is a British comedian, whose show was aired on BBC America, for 6 hours straight,on July 4th 2007. He is a transvestite, and he is hilarious. In all those 6 hours, he never once repeated a joke, but was able to connect his starting joke to his ending one. Both Madhu and I have become such fans, that we bought his whole DVD collection. We quote Eddie Izzard, whenever we see Frisky do something, that he has mentioned in his piece on cats and dogs.
Our new guy on the block, is ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. He is amazing, and unbelievably funny. He has a number of puppets,and I feel each represents a side of us humans. There's Walter, the grumpy old guy, Ahmed, the suicide bomber, Sweet Daddy D, his new manager, Melvin, the super hero, and our favourites, Peanut and Jose Jalapeno ( pronounced Ho-say Halapeno...Spanish).
The latter two are incredible, which is to say, Jeff Dunham's quips and jokes involving these two characters are INCREDIBLE. We were so impressed, we ordered his other show, Burst of Insanity, from the local video store,and watched it twice. !!!! :)
Thanks to You Tube, we came to know that this guy's show, Arguing with Myself, went double platinum.
All those reading this blog entry, please do go onto You Tube,and check out Jeff Dunham's and Eddie Izzard's clips.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Frisky's antics
Madhu and I knew that taking on a pup was a big responsibillity, and this morning was a very good reminder of that.
In the past 4 days, he has been getting accustomed to us, and the house. Yesterday, he whined when we left him, tied to his leash, (near the chair) to bring the things from the car. And this morning, Afetr he came back from his mornig walk, he was very active, jumping here and there, running about. So madhu played with him for some time,as I cooked. And even after all that activity, his energy level was still up.
He came fro the hall to the office room, with one of his toys in his mouth. The next minute when I looked in to see if he was playing with his toy, It turns out he has found my hat, on top of my bag,and is chewing on the brim of the hat. I admonished Frisky, and rescued my hat,and took him to the living room.
Madhu had a hearty laugh...The next time I checked, he was nowhere in the hall. I found him in the bedroom, chewing on the connecting pin of our speakers wire. Madhu rescued the wire from Frisky, before he chewed the whole pin off, and scolded him, and Frisky subsided.This time I laughed.!!!!!
(serves him right to have laughed at Frisky chewing on my hat...Now its his speakers wire in trouble. )
Frisky came away from the bedroom, apparently angry at having the wire taken away from him,and plopped himself down in the office room rug, near my bag, and hat. I thought it was over, and he would be still. But I was proven wrong once again.
The next time I checked in on Frisky, he was busily chewing something near my hat. I wondered what it was he had found now,and went in to see. Lo and behold,this imp had managed to take out my whole pack of Wrigley's chewing gum, from a small pouch in my bag,(regrettably left open by me yesterday), and was chewing on the gum!!!!!!!!!
I mean, what more could he want to chew???!!!!!He accomplished his task...he chewed off the first 10% of three or four sticks of gum in that packet, before I managed to take it away. I had to throw away a couple, and salvaged those in which the wrapper hadn't been torn off by him.
He has taken to nipping Madhu and me now, a graduation from licking us. But he knows us,and doesn't put any pressure on our fingers or toes, just a testing of Bone density in each of our fingers!!!!!!:) :)
Frisky has also taken to chewing anything metallic in the past two days...that's why the wire, and he nibbled on my toe rings ( metti) yesterday, making me squeal, because it was so ticklish!!!!!:) :)
However, these antics make him so adorable, I don't know how I would be able to leave him alone and get back to Red Cross.
In the past 4 days, he has been getting accustomed to us, and the house. Yesterday, he whined when we left him, tied to his leash, (near the chair) to bring the things from the car. And this morning, Afetr he came back from his mornig walk, he was very active, jumping here and there, running about. So madhu played with him for some time,as I cooked. And even after all that activity, his energy level was still up.
He came fro the hall to the office room, with one of his toys in his mouth. The next minute when I looked in to see if he was playing with his toy, It turns out he has found my hat, on top of my bag,and is chewing on the brim of the hat. I admonished Frisky, and rescued my hat,and took him to the living room.
Madhu had a hearty laugh...The next time I checked, he was nowhere in the hall. I found him in the bedroom, chewing on the connecting pin of our speakers wire. Madhu rescued the wire from Frisky, before he chewed the whole pin off, and scolded him, and Frisky subsided.This time I laughed.!!!!!
(serves him right to have laughed at Frisky chewing on my hat...Now its his speakers wire in trouble. )
Frisky came away from the bedroom, apparently angry at having the wire taken away from him,and plopped himself down in the office room rug, near my bag, and hat. I thought it was over, and he would be still. But I was proven wrong once again.
The next time I checked in on Frisky, he was busily chewing something near my hat. I wondered what it was he had found now,and went in to see. Lo and behold,this imp had managed to take out my whole pack of Wrigley's chewing gum, from a small pouch in my bag,(regrettably left open by me yesterday), and was chewing on the gum!!!!!!!!!
I mean, what more could he want to chew???!!!!!He accomplished his task...he chewed off the first 10% of three or four sticks of gum in that packet, before I managed to take it away. I had to throw away a couple, and salvaged those in which the wrapper hadn't been torn off by him.
He has taken to nipping Madhu and me now, a graduation from licking us. But he knows us,and doesn't put any pressure on our fingers or toes, just a testing of Bone density in each of our fingers!!!!!!:) :)
Frisky has also taken to chewing anything metallic in the past two days...that's why the wire, and he nibbled on my toe rings ( metti) yesterday, making me squeal, because it was so ticklish!!!!!:) :)
However, these antics make him so adorable, I don't know how I would be able to leave him alone and get back to Red Cross.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Sunday, September 30, 2007
WARM WELCOME TO FRISKY!!!
hi all,
ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE A NEW MEMBER OF OUR FAMILY...
FRISKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As seen in the photos, Frisky is a 6 month old, male, Welsh corgi pup. who became part of our family on Saturday, September 29, 2007.
BACKGROUND:
On Saturday morning, I was online, checking the local newspaper, when one of its articles said Arizona Humane society is having its pet adoption week. Since Madhu likes cats, we decided to go and see if we liked one, or just pet some animals for sometime, and then come back.
REALITY:
However, reality turned out to be quite different. We went, we saw,and WE WERE conquered. .......by this puppy, who came to us so excitedly, and started licking our hands, and toes. They had a play enclosure, where the prospective owners could see the pet they liked, and get acquainted with them. .And my, was he an active one there. !!!!!
So, Madhu and I both felt, we had never seen a more playful or active puppy, in all our visits to pet shops so far. AND WE DECIDED TO ADOPT HIM. !!!!!
So Frisky, came home at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. We then took him to Pets Mart, a store that stocks all possible kind of pet supplies there, for dogs, cats, fishes, and critters. And that was when we found out that he gets agitated by seeing big dogs there, and made deep growling sounds. All the time, he was in my arms. He growled at the big dogs inside the grooming parlour too, which he had seen through the glass. We bought him a bed, and lots of chewable toys, which he loves,
Saturday evening,itself, Frisky showed us that he can give us a good run. Madhu accidentally took out the leash, and let Frisky out on our patio, thinking he could smell around, and get acquainted. Within 2 seconds Frisky was off like a bolt, and made Madhu chase him all around the block. Result: a very tired, panting, exhausted, huffing, puffing Madhu.. And Frisky???
Frisky came in excitedly wagging his lil tail to no end. :) :)
Now, as i type this mail, I have seen that Frisky loves to chase laser lights, shown as a green or red circle when focused on the ground. Frisky went nuts trying to chase that little green circle on his evening walk with Madhu.
.
I have decided to take a break from my volunteering at Red Cross for a month, so that Frisky gets comfortable around our home, Madhu, and me., He also needs to get used to eating schedules, and potty training. Most of all, he needs all our love and attention.
Other TECHNICAL DETAILS:
When he was brought to the Humane Society itself, they gave him a rabies vaccine,a first round of vaccinations, for his age, and had him neutered. In addition to letting us play with him, as long as we liked, the Humane Society had people whom they called pet counselors.
These people help the new owners complete the paperwork, like registration etc, and give an information folder, with the puppy's history ( how it came to be there), and medical history ( how old is he, how many vaccinations, any behavioural problems, any preferences, tendencies etc). Our counselor spent an hour with us, answering all our doubts, and giving us advice.
In addition, they also gave us a 5 pound bag of dry dog food, that they feed at the kennels, and recommend to all their customers. They also gave us a list of veterinarians, who would give us a free checkup for the dog, withing the first five days of us adopting him.
So we will share more news about Frisky, as and when there are some new things he does, which is almost every minute of the day, and hope u like his first pictures.
ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE A NEW MEMBER OF OUR FAMILY...
FRISKY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As seen in the photos, Frisky is a 6 month old, male, Welsh corgi pup. who became part of our family on Saturday, September 29, 2007.
BACKGROUND:
On Saturday morning, I was online, checking the local newspaper, when one of its articles said Arizona Humane society is having its pet adoption week. Since Madhu likes cats, we decided to go and see if we liked one, or just pet some animals for sometime, and then come back.
REALITY:
However, reality turned out to be quite different. We went, we saw,and WE WERE conquered. .......by this puppy, who came to us so excitedly, and started licking our hands, and toes. They had a play enclosure, where the prospective owners could see the pet they liked, and get acquainted with them. .And my, was he an active one there. !!!!!
So, Madhu and I both felt, we had never seen a more playful or active puppy, in all our visits to pet shops so far. AND WE DECIDED TO ADOPT HIM. !!!!!
So Frisky, came home at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday. We then took him to Pets Mart, a store that stocks all possible kind of pet supplies there, for dogs, cats, fishes, and critters. And that was when we found out that he gets agitated by seeing big dogs there, and made deep growling sounds. All the time, he was in my arms. He growled at the big dogs inside the grooming parlour too, which he had seen through the glass. We bought him a bed, and lots of chewable toys, which he loves,
Saturday evening,itself, Frisky showed us that he can give us a good run. Madhu accidentally took out the leash, and let Frisky out on our patio, thinking he could smell around, and get acquainted. Within 2 seconds Frisky was off like a bolt, and made Madhu chase him all around the block. Result: a very tired, panting, exhausted, huffing, puffing Madhu.. And Frisky???
Frisky came in excitedly wagging his lil tail to no end. :) :)
Now, as i type this mail, I have seen that Frisky loves to chase laser lights, shown as a green or red circle when focused on the ground. Frisky went nuts trying to chase that little green circle on his evening walk with Madhu.
.
I have decided to take a break from my volunteering at Red Cross for a month, so that Frisky gets comfortable around our home, Madhu, and me., He also needs to get used to eating schedules, and potty training. Most of all, he needs all our love and attention.
Other TECHNICAL DETAILS:
When he was brought to the Humane Society itself, they gave him a rabies vaccine,a first round of vaccinations, for his age, and had him neutered. In addition to letting us play with him, as long as we liked, the Humane Society had people whom they called pet counselors.
These people help the new owners complete the paperwork, like registration etc, and give an information folder, with the puppy's history ( how it came to be there), and medical history ( how old is he, how many vaccinations, any behavioural problems, any preferences, tendencies etc). Our counselor spent an hour with us, answering all our doubts, and giving us advice.
In addition, they also gave us a 5 pound bag of dry dog food, that they feed at the kennels, and recommend to all their customers. They also gave us a list of veterinarians, who would give us a free checkup for the dog, withing the first five days of us adopting him.
So we will share more news about Frisky, as and when there are some new things he does, which is almost every minute of the day, and hope u like his first pictures.
Friday, September 28, 2007
kerela-fonia
listen to this Mallu adaptation of Hotel California....
the lyricist is a genius.....
hilarious!!!!!! Pricelessssss!!!!!!
visit http://peakday.blogspot.com/2007/06/blog-post.html.
this will lead you to a post on the blog, witha link "click here". click on iot, and
that will take you to another website called goear.com.
the lyricist is a genius.....
hilarious!!!!!! Pricelessssss!!!!!!
visit http://peakday.blogspot.com/2007/06/blog-post.html.
this will lead you to a post on the blog, witha link "click here". click on iot, and
that will take you to another website called goear.com.
Getting babies in India.
A couple of years back, while I was in my third year, and doing M.A., medical tourism was getting to be a very hot topic.people coming to Indian hospitals to have surgeries done, because it costs a lot less than USA. This morning, on the news, I heard a new bit of information.
American couples , who are not able to have children, go to India, and approach in vitro fertility clinics. There the clinics have a number of Indian women, who will carry the baby for them. The sperm and egg come from the American couple, and the embryo is carried to its full term in the Indian woman's womb. The American couple come back to India, to take their baby.
In India, this procedure costs them about US $ 6000. That's equivalent to one year's salary for most people...Rs. 2, 50,000. The same procedure in the US would cost them US $ 15,000. However, the Indian doctor interviewed also said that this is the last thing that people resort to, out of desperation to have a baby.
However, there is a lot of potential for this kind of medical tourism. Also,a ground for new kind of controversies to develop.
Any opinions or further inputs?????
American couples , who are not able to have children, go to India, and approach in vitro fertility clinics. There the clinics have a number of Indian women, who will carry the baby for them. The sperm and egg come from the American couple, and the embryo is carried to its full term in the Indian woman's womb. The American couple come back to India, to take their baby.
In India, this procedure costs them about US $ 6000. That's equivalent to one year's salary for most people...Rs. 2, 50,000. The same procedure in the US would cost them US $ 15,000. However, the Indian doctor interviewed also said that this is the last thing that people resort to, out of desperation to have a baby.
However, there is a lot of potential for this kind of medical tourism. Also,a ground for new kind of controversies to develop.
Any opinions or further inputs?????
Thursday, September 27, 2007
AAA AND Us
My last post mentioned about our get together at fountain hills. Well, here is the second part of the story.
We got into our cars,ad n drove out of the parking lot, when suddenly we heard a loud thump from the car. We wondered what was wrong, and i asked Madhu, if he had driven over the pavement or something. Just as we turned left, the car gave a warning signal,and turns out, that our car's left front tire had burst. . We pulled into a side lane and called the others tolet them know. Both Balu anna and Muthu's cars came back to where we were. Madhu, in the meantime, had inspected the damage,and called AAA.( Automobile Association of America), of which he is a member. The call was made at 8: 19 p.m. And they promised to send help to change the tire within one hour. They also gave the name of the company whose truck will be coming.
So we waited. By 8: 50 p.m, the truck came. And the driver changed the tire,advised us not to go beyond 40 mph( since the stepny wasn't an actual Chrysler tire), and promptly left. No requests for tips, no money demanded, nothing.
And withing five minutes of his departure, AAA called up again,and asked if assistance had come,and, if the problem had been solved. Madhu replied in the affirmative, and thanked them.
This was a first time experience for us. Madhu had taken membership of AAA, only for such exigencies, since we were planning for a long trip to California. However, having such prompt service and follow-up, by AAA, and the very remarkable thing of no tips asked...was something that made all of us present there, immediately think of how different things would have been in India, if this had happened there.
On Monday, Madhu went back to the place where he had bought his tires from. He asked them to check for defects on any of the other tires, since all four had been changed just a week or so back, after we returned from California. So the guy there asked him to leave his car there, since he didn't have Chrysler tires on hand, and had to order them from another store. By evening, Madhu was able to pick up his car, with the new tire, and paid 30 dollars towards it, which included Phoenix city fees for disposing of old tires, taxes, etc.
Well, so that's one experience for us, where we learnt that all the money we were paying towards AAA, insurance etc, was well spent.
We got into our cars,ad n drove out of the parking lot, when suddenly we heard a loud thump from the car. We wondered what was wrong, and i asked Madhu, if he had driven over the pavement or something. Just as we turned left, the car gave a warning signal,and turns out, that our car's left front tire had burst. . We pulled into a side lane and called the others tolet them know. Both Balu anna and Muthu's cars came back to where we were. Madhu, in the meantime, had inspected the damage,and called AAA.( Automobile Association of America), of which he is a member. The call was made at 8: 19 p.m. And they promised to send help to change the tire within one hour. They also gave the name of the company whose truck will be coming.
So we waited. By 8: 50 p.m, the truck came. And the driver changed the tire,advised us not to go beyond 40 mph( since the stepny wasn't an actual Chrysler tire), and promptly left. No requests for tips, no money demanded, nothing.
And withing five minutes of his departure, AAA called up again,and asked if assistance had come,and, if the problem had been solved. Madhu replied in the affirmative, and thanked them.
This was a first time experience for us. Madhu had taken membership of AAA, only for such exigencies, since we were planning for a long trip to California. However, having such prompt service and follow-up, by AAA, and the very remarkable thing of no tips asked...was something that made all of us present there, immediately think of how different things would have been in India, if this had happened there.
On Monday, Madhu went back to the place where he had bought his tires from. He asked them to check for defects on any of the other tires, since all four had been changed just a week or so back, after we returned from California. So the guy there asked him to leave his car there, since he didn't have Chrysler tires on hand, and had to order them from another store. By evening, Madhu was able to pick up his car, with the new tire, and paid 30 dollars towards it, which included Phoenix city fees for disposing of old tires, taxes, etc.
Well, so that's one experience for us, where we learnt that all the money we were paying towards AAA, insurance etc, was well spent.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Fountain park
yesterday, saturday 22 september, we had planned to have a pot luck with three other families. My cousin's family,and madhu's colleague's family, and another common friend. So we all set out in the evening to the place called Fountain Park, in a small town just outside Phoenix, called Fountain Hills.
The main attraction of the town is this fountain, which is in operation from 1970 on wards. The fountain shoots water upto 330 feet on normal days, and sometimes to its full height, 500 feet.The fountain shoots water up for 15 miniutes, every hour. The fountain had been mentioned in the Guiness Book of World Records for being the tallest fountain in the world. Now possibly there may be fountains higher than this.
So we reached there, and immediately the kids in the group wanted to go play in the splash area. We women were standing a few feet away, watching, taking pictures, when Madhu( whio had come to the splash area to watch) suddnely came, pulled me in, and made sure I was thoroughly drenched. I wasn't about to let him get off easily. I chased him around,and when he again began to push me towards a stream of gushing water, I turned around and made sure he got drenched too. My clothes were already wet, so didnt matter whether I got wetter. :)
So all this frolicking done, the kids were whisked off to be changed, then sent to the play area, where they had their share of fun,riding cars, dinosaurs, aeroplanes, with me acting as observer for all of them, in turns. Madhu also was slobbered with licks from two shi-tsu's that had come to the park with their owner. One of them was very playful, and totally "fida" on Madhu. :) We also petted another huuuge w hite dog, which was a mix of a german shepherd, and a wolf husky. It was as tall as my thigh.
We then sat down to have our dinner. Menu: was puri-chole, pongal-chutney, veg. biryani-raitha, n paniyaram n kesari. Panuiyaram was finished soon after the kids played in the splash area.
After a nice dinner, and a round of discussions on movies, we decided to get back home. As we moved to the parking lot, taking all our stuff, the fountain shot up again,. This time it was to a great height. We were all thinking, that just when we were leaving, its coming to such great heights.
We were then informed that since all evening there had been a strong breeze, the fountain would not be shooting water to its full height. It was going to such great heights now, since night had fallen, and the strong breeze had died down.
So we all got into our cars and left fountain park, with happy memories.
The main attraction of the town is this fountain, which is in operation from 1970 on wards. The fountain shoots water upto 330 feet on normal days, and sometimes to its full height, 500 feet.The fountain shoots water up for 15 miniutes, every hour. The fountain had been mentioned in the Guiness Book of World Records for being the tallest fountain in the world. Now possibly there may be fountains higher than this.
So we reached there, and immediately the kids in the group wanted to go play in the splash area. We women were standing a few feet away, watching, taking pictures, when Madhu( whio had come to the splash area to watch) suddnely came, pulled me in, and made sure I was thoroughly drenched. I wasn't about to let him get off easily. I chased him around,and when he again began to push me towards a stream of gushing water, I turned around and made sure he got drenched too. My clothes were already wet, so didnt matter whether I got wetter. :)
So all this frolicking done, the kids were whisked off to be changed, then sent to the play area, where they had their share of fun,riding cars, dinosaurs, aeroplanes, with me acting as observer for all of them, in turns. Madhu also was slobbered with licks from two shi-tsu's that had come to the park with their owner. One of them was very playful, and totally "fida" on Madhu. :) We also petted another huuuge w hite dog, which was a mix of a german shepherd, and a wolf husky. It was as tall as my thigh.
We then sat down to have our dinner. Menu: was puri-chole, pongal-chutney, veg. biryani-raitha, n paniyaram n kesari. Panuiyaram was finished soon after the kids played in the splash area.
After a nice dinner, and a round of discussions on movies, we decided to get back home. As we moved to the parking lot, taking all our stuff, the fountain shot up again,. This time it was to a great height. We were all thinking, that just when we were leaving, its coming to such great heights.
We were then informed that since all evening there had been a strong breeze, the fountain would not be shooting water to its full height. It was going to such great heights now, since night had fallen, and the strong breeze had died down.
So we all got into our cars and left fountain park, with happy memories.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
bus experience
yesterday, wednesday, sept 19th, on my way to the red cross, i was waiting for the bus...soon, an old man came along with a big bag of soft drink cans... he fished in the trash can for some more cans. then came n sat down next to me ...all the while talking in Spanish...i looked at him, in bewilderment, and told him, "I am sorry. I dont understand Spanish".
He ( in Spanish accent English) :- , You don't know Spanish? Why? You didnt learn it in school?
I :- No.
He :- Why? you do not like spanish language?
I- No, its just that i learnt another language, not spanish.
He then sat down for a couple of minutes, then got up and left with his bag of soft drink cans.
On a previous occasion, i was already on the bus riding to my next stop, and this big tall guy came up to stand near the front of the bus, where i was sitting, posibly in order to get down. Suddenly he turned to me, and asked, Do u know where to get henna, to make tattoos?
Sprung on me like that, it took me two seconds to fully understand what he meant...I said, Its available in powder form, in any Indian Store.
He :- "Do u know how to apply it"?
I :- "Yes. henna is available in either plastic cones, or in powder form in packets. If you buy the cone, u dont need to do anything. Just make the tattoo,and leave it to dry, then rinse it off with cold water. If you buy the powder, soak it in water overnight, then fill in plastic cone, n apply. put a mixture of lemon juice n sugar to make it darker".
He :- "how long does it stay"?.
I :- "Stays for a couple of months, more or less. If you use soap frequently, then it starts fading quickly.
He:- "Thank you. I do a lot of tattooing, and my cousin wanted me to do a henna tattoo for him. Thats is why i asked you where to get the henna. I am glad that you helped me out. "
I :- "No problem".
The bus stopped, and he got off.
I had these very curious experiences on my travels via bus in phoenix.
Any one who has had similar curious experiences???//
He ( in Spanish accent English) :- , You don't know Spanish? Why? You didnt learn it in school?
I :- No.
He :- Why? you do not like spanish language?
I- No, its just that i learnt another language, not spanish.
He then sat down for a couple of minutes, then got up and left with his bag of soft drink cans.
On a previous occasion, i was already on the bus riding to my next stop, and this big tall guy came up to stand near the front of the bus, where i was sitting, posibly in order to get down. Suddenly he turned to me, and asked, Do u know where to get henna, to make tattoos?
Sprung on me like that, it took me two seconds to fully understand what he meant...I said, Its available in powder form, in any Indian Store.
He :- "Do u know how to apply it"?
I :- "Yes. henna is available in either plastic cones, or in powder form in packets. If you buy the cone, u dont need to do anything. Just make the tattoo,and leave it to dry, then rinse it off with cold water. If you buy the powder, soak it in water overnight, then fill in plastic cone, n apply. put a mixture of lemon juice n sugar to make it darker".
He :- "how long does it stay"?.
I :- "Stays for a couple of months, more or less. If you use soap frequently, then it starts fading quickly.
He:- "Thank you. I do a lot of tattooing, and my cousin wanted me to do a henna tattoo for him. Thats is why i asked you where to get the henna. I am glad that you helped me out. "
I :- "No problem".
The bus stopped, and he got off.
I had these very curious experiences on my travels via bus in phoenix.
Any one who has had similar curious experiences???//
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
day at home
well, tuesday today, and i am at home. I just saw Lord of the Rings movies: fellowship of the ring, and return of the king...My god..the latter movie is so long...i never believd. i started watching that at 10:30-ish, and it went on till 2:10 p.m... I never believed it could be so long. On both sides of the DVD. Well, thanks to this movie watching, i never got any of the things done, that i had planned to do. So it must start now , from 3:00 p.m. onwards. Heaven knows, I have wasted half my day today.
well, but the upside is that these two movies were those I had never been able to see properly, and completely. So this marathon was good in that way.
well, but the upside is that these two movies were those I had never been able to see properly, and completely. So this marathon was good in that way.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
well, hello again..sorry for the long silence on my part. I had been a bit busy..back from San Diego n L.A..
Time to bore you all. Well,this week long trip had been my birthday treat. For those who forgot, scold yourself for now,and mark it in your calendars for next year.So let's get back to business.
We left Phoenix on Friday, 31st August, by 2:00 p.m...It was a long drive of approx. 300 miles ( convert it into kms. ppl), with one stop in between. A scenic drive, seeing parts of Arizona we had never seen earlier, combined with lovely songs playing on the cd player..hmmm. Of course, its always hard on the person driving, if a chatter box like me is sitting next to him. :)
SAN DIEGO: We reached San Diego, by 10:30 p.m.Our Holiday Inn hotel rooms beckoned us, and we all checked in, drowsy, but excited to be there,and looking forward to 2 full days of fun, excitement. and of course, weary feet!!:). Dinner consisted of venn pongal, and potato sabzi, courtesy Nithya..idlis and chili powder, courtesy Bala, and curd rice, courtesy Anusha. After a filling meal, we chucked our shoes off,and tucked ourselves in.
For those who did not know, San Diego, is Spanish for Saint James. Lots of American states and cities have either Spanish names, or adapted from them. In fact, Arizona, is adapted from Spanish "arid zonia"... Well well, now that's an interesting bit of info rt there.
Saturday dawned, nice , sunny and bright. I, as usual, the early bird, was up at 5: 45 a.m. itself( force of habit you see:)) and had taken my bath, and had put on the coffee maker, by the time madhu woke up.
We decided to do something different..So we told the other two families that we wanted to see more of San Diego,and , we went to a place in Old town, that offered city bus tours all day.Orange Trolley Rides, it was called. We parked our car and got on.
The buses were equipped with city maps,and other pamphlets of interest to tourists,and little paper fans. like we get in Chennai. . The bus operator was also the guide,and told us interesting facts about San Diego. San Diego, was first discovered in 1542, by a sailor, who named it San Miguel. ( since they used to name new places after saints back then). Since he was sponsored by the Spanish governement. he claimed it for Spain, by placing the Spanish flag there.Then the city was forgotten, when 60 years later,another sailor, "re-discovered" San Diego, when he touched Pt. Loma, and named it San Diego. This time around, the name stuck. .
Land was very cheap in those days. An acre went for 35 cents, and an enterprising man, decided to buy some land in San Diego. He invested 100 dollars,and constructed the first hotel, and then went on to expand into other areas of commerce. Now, this very person, I forgot his name now, is known as one of the three founding fathers of San diego. The people who made San Diego a place worth visiting, by attracting government officials to set up a naval harbor there.
HARBOR: Since we are talking of the harbor area of San Diego, let me transgree from history a little bit and tell you what we saw. We got off the bus at the Harbor, and on making some enquiries, we found out that they had 5 ship museums along the harbor area. These ships used to actually sail until a short time ago, when it was decided that instead of destroying them for scrap / junk, they were to be renovated, maintained,and converted into a museum.Out of the 5 ships I mentioned, one was a black Soviet submarine, named Foxtrot.
Going into the submarine via a narrow ladder,and then travelling the whole length of the submarine, made for some very funny pictures( courtesy Madhu), and "oohs and aaahs". Climbing through the various portholes, going into various sections of the ship, seeing through the periscope...was great fun. I mean, how many people would have a chance to wriggle though the narrow spaces of a submarine???Imagine people living in these subs for months together. !!!!! /
Time to bore you all. Well,this week long trip had been my birthday treat. For those who forgot, scold yourself for now,and mark it in your calendars for next year.So let's get back to business.
We left Phoenix on Friday, 31st August, by 2:00 p.m...It was a long drive of approx. 300 miles ( convert it into kms. ppl), with one stop in between. A scenic drive, seeing parts of Arizona we had never seen earlier, combined with lovely songs playing on the cd player..hmmm. Of course, its always hard on the person driving, if a chatter box like me is sitting next to him. :)
SAN DIEGO: We reached San Diego, by 10:30 p.m.Our Holiday Inn hotel rooms beckoned us, and we all checked in, drowsy, but excited to be there,and looking forward to 2 full days of fun, excitement. and of course, weary feet!!:). Dinner consisted of venn pongal, and potato sabzi, courtesy Nithya..idlis and chili powder, courtesy Bala, and curd rice, courtesy Anusha. After a filling meal, we chucked our shoes off,and tucked ourselves in.
For those who did not know, San Diego, is Spanish for Saint James. Lots of American states and cities have either Spanish names, or adapted from them. In fact, Arizona, is adapted from Spanish "arid zonia"... Well well, now that's an interesting bit of info rt there.
Saturday dawned, nice , sunny and bright. I, as usual, the early bird, was up at 5: 45 a.m. itself( force of habit you see:)) and had taken my bath, and had put on the coffee maker, by the time madhu woke up.
We decided to do something different..So we told the other two families that we wanted to see more of San Diego,and , we went to a place in Old town, that offered city bus tours all day.Orange Trolley Rides, it was called. We parked our car and got on.
The buses were equipped with city maps,and other pamphlets of interest to tourists,and little paper fans. like we get in Chennai. . The bus operator was also the guide,and told us interesting facts about San Diego. San Diego, was first discovered in 1542, by a sailor, who named it San Miguel. ( since they used to name new places after saints back then). Since he was sponsored by the Spanish governement. he claimed it for Spain, by placing the Spanish flag there.Then the city was forgotten, when 60 years later,another sailor, "re-discovered" San Diego, when he touched Pt. Loma, and named it San Diego. This time around, the name stuck. .
Land was very cheap in those days. An acre went for 35 cents, and an enterprising man, decided to buy some land in San Diego. He invested 100 dollars,and constructed the first hotel, and then went on to expand into other areas of commerce. Now, this very person, I forgot his name now, is known as one of the three founding fathers of San diego. The people who made San Diego a place worth visiting, by attracting government officials to set up a naval harbor there.
HARBOR: Since we are talking of the harbor area of San Diego, let me transgree from history a little bit and tell you what we saw. We got off the bus at the Harbor, and on making some enquiries, we found out that they had 5 ship museums along the harbor area. These ships used to actually sail until a short time ago, when it was decided that instead of destroying them for scrap / junk, they were to be renovated, maintained,and converted into a museum.Out of the 5 ships I mentioned, one was a black Soviet submarine, named Foxtrot.
Going into the submarine via a narrow ladder,and then travelling the whole length of the submarine, made for some very funny pictures( courtesy Madhu), and "oohs and aaahs". Climbing through the various portholes, going into various sections of the ship, seeing through the periscope...was great fun. I mean, how many people would have a chance to wriggle though the narrow spaces of a submarine???Imagine people living in these subs for months together. !!!!! /
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Friday, September 7, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
My Birthday
Saturday, 25th August , was my birthday. I had expected my husband to do something nice, because even if he forgets his own birthday, he is sure to remember mine. I wasn't disappointed.
I got up pretty early( i am never able to sleep late on my birthday!!!:)}did the "punar puja" for varalakshmi vritam, then had my cup of tea. In the meantime, my husband got up, I made breakfast, and it was ten by the time we had our breakfast. Around 12:30, our friends arrived, holding my birthday cake, a huge vanilla cream-chocolate mousse cake, with balloons, and happy birhtday written on it. In between conversation, Madhu pulled out the two cans of party streamers that we had bought long back. And just as i bent down to blow off my 24 birhtday candles( i was let off by a couple of years:) :) ) he sprayed me with the streamer can...And boy!!! did i blow all my candles out--- with a "huff, n puff, and blow ur house away " type long whoosh!!!!
So, after having cake, we went to eat bread!!!( to re-phrase Marie Antoinette)...i.e. we went to a tandoori restaurant, and had a lovely, hearty, filling meal, of veggie pakoras for starters, naan, vegetable biryani, malai koftas, mutter paneer, dal makhni,and channa masala. With our stomachs full, we went out to get our share of exercise....yup, u guessed it..SHOPPING!!!!!
went to a big mall, bought some shoes and home slippers for Madhu, and one pair for myself...saw a movie, and got back home by 11:00 p.m. So we had a nice, long day out...just as weekends are supposed to be.
I wish my next birthday be as swell, and memorable!!!
Thanks to all my friends who remembered me,and called, mailed, or scrapped.
I got up pretty early( i am never able to sleep late on my birthday!!!:)}did the "punar puja" for varalakshmi vritam, then had my cup of tea. In the meantime, my husband got up, I made breakfast, and it was ten by the time we had our breakfast. Around 12:30, our friends arrived, holding my birthday cake, a huge vanilla cream-chocolate mousse cake, with balloons, and happy birhtday written on it. In between conversation, Madhu pulled out the two cans of party streamers that we had bought long back. And just as i bent down to blow off my 24 birhtday candles( i was let off by a couple of years:) :) ) he sprayed me with the streamer can...And boy!!! did i blow all my candles out--- with a "huff, n puff, and blow ur house away " type long whoosh!!!!
So, after having cake, we went to eat bread!!!( to re-phrase Marie Antoinette)...i.e. we went to a tandoori restaurant, and had a lovely, hearty, filling meal, of veggie pakoras for starters, naan, vegetable biryani, malai koftas, mutter paneer, dal makhni,and channa masala. With our stomachs full, we went out to get our share of exercise....yup, u guessed it..SHOPPING!!!!!
went to a big mall, bought some shoes and home slippers for Madhu, and one pair for myself...saw a movie, and got back home by 11:00 p.m. So we had a nice, long day out...just as weekends are supposed to be.
I wish my next birthday be as swell, and memorable!!!
Thanks to all my friends who remembered me,and called, mailed, or scrapped.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Kudos to my husband
My husband is very supportive...he wants me to do my very best in everything,and thats why, he decided to help me , in his own way, in my plan of cleaning the fridge today.
He made chicken yesterday night, and while keeping it in the fridge, he toppled over the glass of Complan (that he hadn't finished yesterday morning. n kept in the fridge)...i discovered it this morning, while moving his chicken dish to take out the milk can.
So now i have added incentive to get down to cleaning the fridge today...no wriggling out of it today, no sir!!!!!!
So that's why i say, my husband is very supportive of my efforts, and looks to find ways to make his contribution apparent!!!!! :)
He made chicken yesterday night, and while keeping it in the fridge, he toppled over the glass of Complan (that he hadn't finished yesterday morning. n kept in the fridge)...i discovered it this morning, while moving his chicken dish to take out the milk can.
So now i have added incentive to get down to cleaning the fridge today...no wriggling out of it today, no sir!!!!!!
So that's why i say, my husband is very supportive of my efforts, and looks to find ways to make his contribution apparent!!!!! :)
visual feast
I get a daily dose of visually appealing pictures...thanks to my friend shree, who has her own blog now, and has conceptualised it as a photo gallery...Amazing pictures...she really has some pics taht i wud love to see those places with my own eyes.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
check these links out for two abstracts
hi all,
i recently read two stories, and have written their abstracts here. Check these links. And dont frgt to rate them at the end of the page.
thanks
http://www.shvoong.com/books/play/1651640-Pygmalion
http://www.shvoong.com/books/detective-story/1651627-Murder at the Vicarage
i recently read two stories, and have written their abstracts here. Check these links. And dont frgt to rate them at the end of the page.
thanks
http://www.shvoong.com/books/play/1651640-Pygmalion
http://www.shvoong.com/books/detective-story/1651627-Murder at the Vicarage
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
CAT-HO GAYA RAMJI KO PYAARA
unfortunately this time I have another sad incident to put on my blog. I had already mentioned the black cat that had been our visitor. On Monday evening, i.e 13th August, I came out at 6:30 p.m., just checking to see if i could see Madhu's car . However, as i opend the door, what caught my attention was the plaintive mewing that seemed to come from very near, but I couldn't see where. It seemed like the at,a nd i searched around. At one point, I thought it was madhu playing tricks on me. However, something made me look under our patio chairs,a dn sure enough , there was the black cat, mewing its throat out,and its whole body shaking. I was a bit concerned, and went near it. It was shaking, n mewing every 2 seconds, as if telling me, Dont chase me away. I mean, this was afirst of its kind. I was so close to the cat,a n it didnt move,adn it was flopped on its side in an eerie manner. I thought it was thirsty/ hungry, n came back ith some water,a nd biscuits. But still no reaction. I was anxious, but still scared to go too near, cos i was afraid that it might dart out at me. So i took the precaution of calling up Madhu, n telling him the cat is back, n its mewing every second. So he came,a dn with him watching, I slightly lifted the cat to its feet to direct its face towards the water dish. However, it mewed again, and flopped back. It was then I realised there was a trickle of blood from one of its hind legs. I alerted Madhu,a dn we phoned around to get to the emergency services of the Humane Society. In the meantime, we kept stroking it, talking to it,a dn it also became silent after a while. This was again new for us. The cat trusted us so much that when it got hurt, it came straight to our patio, and let us touch it. And didnt show any signs of being scared/ running away. However, the minute the officer from the Humane society came, out darted the cat on its 3 good legs,a dn disappeard into the night.It got scared on seeing him come with hsi uniform, a huge net,a dna plastic box. It smelled an unfamiliar scent, and scooted. By then, it was dark. Madhu, and the officer took flashlights,and looked around the areas where they saw the cat run, but it had vanished into the inky blackness of the night. Again, who said searching for a black cat was easy in the night?
So the officer left, asking us to call back if the cat turned up. And madhu n i kepta regular vigil- to see if the cat felt comfortable enough to return to our patio. Till wse went to sleep, it hadnt come back. Tuesday again we checked in the morning, and i kept an eye out for it in the complex. I waited and prayed for the cat to come back to our patio alive, like the way I used tp pray for it not to kill birds on my patio again. I checked for signs of its return, like the way i used to shoo it away. I even informed some of the management staff of the complex to keep an eye out for an injured, limping black cat.
Wednesday morning. I hope the cat is alive, safe some where, and has teneded to its wound by licking itself etc etc. This was the chain of my thoughts as i set out to go to the gym this morning. Howevewr, at the entrance of the gym, one of the staff memebers told me they had found the black cat yesterday under one of the bushes towards the back of the whole complex. It was dead. And they had the Humane Sciety come and take it away. It was then I felt close to tears. I mean, for all the incidents that we had with the cat, I didnt want it to have bled to death. Probably, if we had ourselves tended to its wounds,with our first aid kit, it would have been alive.
Well, anyway, may its soul rest in peace.
So the officer left, asking us to call back if the cat turned up. And madhu n i kepta regular vigil- to see if the cat felt comfortable enough to return to our patio. Till wse went to sleep, it hadnt come back. Tuesday again we checked in the morning, and i kept an eye out for it in the complex. I waited and prayed for the cat to come back to our patio alive, like the way I used tp pray for it not to kill birds on my patio again. I checked for signs of its return, like the way i used to shoo it away. I even informed some of the management staff of the complex to keep an eye out for an injured, limping black cat.
Wednesday morning. I hope the cat is alive, safe some where, and has teneded to its wound by licking itself etc etc. This was the chain of my thoughts as i set out to go to the gym this morning. Howevewr, at the entrance of the gym, one of the staff memebers told me they had found the black cat yesterday under one of the bushes towards the back of the whole complex. It was dead. And they had the Humane Sciety come and take it away. It was then I felt close to tears. I mean, for all the incidents that we had with the cat, I didnt want it to have bled to death. Probably, if we had ourselves tended to its wounds,with our first aid kit, it would have been alive.
Well, anyway, may its soul rest in peace.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Madhu and Pooja
On Sunday, 12th August, Madhu and Pooja had a rendezvous.
On Sunday, I had to do the Aadi Amavasya pooja. Pooja for the well being of the husband. Got up at 5:15 a.m., went out n picked flowers, n then set abt preparing for the pooja. In the meantime, my husband, Madhu, got up, and said he would help me out by cleaning up the home. And he did. What's more? He actually took a bath, and then performed the Aarti after i finished the pooja.
Why is it so special, and worthy of mention? Sunday is "No Bath" day for Madhu, and he sincerely believes that if he took a bath on Sunday, then God would be displeased...:) :) ..So this was a big thing for him, and i truly, really appreciate it.!!!
As neiveidhyam, I had made venn pongal, sambar, and rava kesari. So, we had a nice lunch, and Madhu liked the kesari so much, that he took most of it, and i got a little for lunch, and then dinner. HE claimed ownership, and complete rights over the dish of kesari. It was like dictatorship..."Its my kesari. I decide who will get how much to eat". And I am like, Hello!! I made it. ...:) :)
But still its a nice feeling to know that ur preparations are being gobbled up, rather than rejected for not being good. So all's well that ends well.
On Sunday, I had to do the Aadi Amavasya pooja. Pooja for the well being of the husband. Got up at 5:15 a.m., went out n picked flowers, n then set abt preparing for the pooja. In the meantime, my husband, Madhu, got up, and said he would help me out by cleaning up the home. And he did. What's more? He actually took a bath, and then performed the Aarti after i finished the pooja.
Why is it so special, and worthy of mention? Sunday is "No Bath" day for Madhu, and he sincerely believes that if he took a bath on Sunday, then God would be displeased...:) :) ..So this was a big thing for him, and i truly, really appreciate it.!!!
As neiveidhyam, I had made venn pongal, sambar, and rava kesari. So, we had a nice lunch, and Madhu liked the kesari so much, that he took most of it, and i got a little for lunch, and then dinner. HE claimed ownership, and complete rights over the dish of kesari. It was like dictatorship..."Its my kesari. I decide who will get how much to eat". And I am like, Hello!! I made it. ...:) :)
But still its a nice feeling to know that ur preparations are being gobbled up, rather than rejected for not being good. So all's well that ends well.
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