It's been awhile since my last post. To say that I was busy would be incorrect, but during this time many things have happened. Got married, my wife got transferred to Mumbai and we got ourselves an apartment on Marine Drive. I travel by train and auto to office, and my wife takes the taxi to reach office and come by bus when returning home.

Presently getting accustomed to having a person at home constantly, who calls me when I am in the midst of a meeting at office and constantly needs my attention. I realize that sometimes it irks me no end….but sometimes it feels nice to have someone worried about you all the time.  The question that begs a huge answer is whether life will be like this for a while or will change as all things must change after sometime. Then maybe I should just chill and let things happen or life unfold on its own pace.

She needs a kid instantly, and while I realize that it is a necessity, yet I have not been able to convince her that such things take time and effort. Yet she doesn’t seem convinced… and keeps pointing at various reasons amongst which is to either blame herself or blame me. I mean … I don’t know whether this is something that women do in such situations or is it just her. Well…. There are those days when she seems convinced and stays convinced for sometime and then something happens/ or she snaps and the old blame game begin. Anyway… I need to be able to deal with this. Plus ensure that it doesn’t get out off hand. Plus need to start financial planning. That is the next task at hand…

Well that's all for now...

All through the year we use so much technology to do our everyday work that we sometimes don’t stop to think of the cool gizmos that we use to make our liveable. There are more an more people who are being converted to technological geeks than we would like…but its for sure that technology is here to stay. With every passing year the trends of technology will change and more new gizmos will try to take over our daily chores. How much we appreciate it…kind of depends from person to person and how much geekdom he/she has attained. For example, my mom leaned to operate the mobile phone while my dad relationship with the mobile phone is non-existent except maybe to remind us if the mobile phone rings. When my mom was learning to operate a mobile phone, she would tell us all about it, and now she thinks she is quite proficient at it.

Well, anyway, such is life. But the main point of this blog is to explore some of the cool gizmos that are available, and which are to my mind belong to the “Cool Sphere”. The key word here is “my mind”, because I am sure that there will be many more that people in blogland won’t agree mainly because either I don’t know about them or didn’t think of it as I am writing this blog. People are more than welcome to input their thoughts about the latest gizmos in the comments page, since knowledge is infinite.

Anyway, here it goes… well at least 10 of them…..

1. Internet – What would we do without it, Right from shopping to emails and business, its probably one of the most used gizmos used in the world.
2. Mobile Phones – Need to say anymore. With India adding about 80 + million mobiles per year, mobile phones seem to have become a part of our daily lives. Some of the mobile phones are so advanced that it seems that the mobile phone part was only an after thought, since it operates like a small mini computer, with a OS, GPS, camera, PDA, video and many more.
3. iChat – This is a gizmo from Apple, that is on your computer with a video camera. One can talk to your loved ones using this gizmo. Very useful when you have small kids and they need to be comforted when the man/woman is out of town/ home.
4. Computers – Of course. There isn’t much to write about. But the fact matter is that computers have definitely taken over our lives especially in the workplace.
5. Google Earth – Being a geographer and in the GIS business, I find google earth to be handy tool that allows viewing of different places without going there. The spatial resolutions of the images are so good it is possible to pinpoint your house on Google Earth. Recently one friend of mine showed me how he used google earth images on his XDA to move about in Mumbai. All he needed was GPRS and Bluetooth for connection. It seemed amazing.
6. Digital Kiosks  - These are kiosks that are put common places like the railway stations, governments buildings, banks, etc that provide either information or allow people to make appointments, train reservations, etc. In fact, there are GIS companies that have enabled villagers in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and some other states where it is possible for the landowners to pay revenue taxes. A map based information system has been developed to help the landowners.  Even in some municipalities with the help of the Internet, citizens will be able to pay their taxes, bills and other things using these digital kiosks.
7. Nano Cameras – Very small cameras that can be taken as a pill is being used to reconstruct the insides of a human body. This has helped doctors diagnose diseases, and other ailments with lot more confidence that before.
8. Set of Wheels – Keeps us mobile. Possibly the best amongst all gizmos. Newer set of wheels whether 2/ 4/ or innumerable is the desired gizmo for almost all types of people, rich or poor, thin or fat, tall or short, in the air, underwater, over water or on land.
9. Packaged Music/ Video – Well… some may not agree with me…but I find this to be one of the greatest miracles. Listening to music that soothe our souls, or watch old home movies, or watch a great picture ….nothing like packaged music or video. There are so many forms of this, CD, DVD, TV, radio, and many more in the future that are yet to be discovered.
10.  Household gizmos – need I say more…Washing machines, dryers, microwave, grinder, etc are some of the very few things that come to mind, that have become very important gizmos that in fact manage our lives.

Ok So that’s it folks. Keep the comments coming.

This is really touching and every now and then we need to be reminded about crossing the limit. This is about a short story that was sent to me by a good friend. Thought I'd share this with you all.

Sanjay, a rich guy, loved fast cars and he did have a few in his possession. He loved to speed and could not be bothered about breaking speed limits. Many a times he was caught by the cops and speed radars, fined, but still he never bothered until.

One day as he was driving at a very high speed as usual, he saw a cop following him. The cop overtook him finally and asked him to stop and checked his license. He then took out his pad and started Writing, and then handed over the sheet of paper to Sanjay.

How much was this one going to cost?!!!

Wait a minute.

What was this????

Some kind of joke? Certainly not a ticket.

Sanjay began to read:  

"Dear Sanjay,

Once upon a time I had a lovely daughter. She was six when killed by a car. You guessed  it - a speeding driver's car. A fine and three months in jail, and the man was free. Free to hug his three daughters. I only had one, and I'm going to have to wait until Heaven, before I can ever hug her again. A thousand times I've tried to forgive that man. A  thousand times I thought I had. Maybe I did, but I need to do it again. Even now. Pray for me.. And be careful, Sanjay, my son is all I have left."

Sanjay turned around in time to see the cop's car pull away and head down the road. He watched until it disappeared. A full 15 minutes later, he too, pulled away and drove  slowly home, praying for forgiveness and hugging a surprised wife and kids when he arrived."

Life is precious. Handle it with care.

Well the marriage thing is almost there... While I am happy that I am getting married to this lady, yet there seems to be a little reluctance... Mainly worries... will I be able to be a good husband in all spheres.. will I be able to do stuff for her that will make her happy... what if i screw up... and such worries. Well... not that I am overtly worried....but the nagging worry still remains. Hopefully things will work out.

Few days back I received an comment on my guestbook from a very old friend. Marta Therese Henriksen. During my stay in the US, we got to know each other quite well... and even we decided to get married so that I could apply for a US Working permit. Well... sometimes things don't always pan out the way we all want it and suffice to say that we had to part ways. For the past 5-6 years we had lost contact and it was very nice to hear from her again.

I want to introduce this woman who has always been a inspiration to me. She doesn't have much in the way of worldly possessions but she has the best thing that anyone person can have... have a heart.

We became friends, I dont know why ... maybe we were very similar, but I am fortunate that I did, because I would have lost a lifetime if I hadnt. Very passionate about her pets I hear that she recently has about 7 cats and three dogs, two of which I had seen them when they were born. One day... out off the blue, she came home and said to me Amit we have a dog as a pet. And that was it. We named her Ruby , possibly because that's what her name tag said. Ruby stayed on my bed more than I did. ... because Marta was allergic to dogs, though that did not lessen her enthusiasm for the dog. When Ruby gave birth there were nine of them puppies... and it was with great sadness that we had to give away about six-seven of them. The best moment I remember was the moment when the ninth puppy was born... almost dead... no breathing, and she just wouldnt give up. She blew air for a long time when at last the puppy was able to breathe on his own. I never seen a person so dedicated. We moved to a new and bigger place with all our kids ... the cats and the dogs.... and it was a good time.

Marta was big and taller than me.... wellnot by much but she was a little taller. We went to all places we could imagine. She had a Ford and we went to the mountains, did tons of camping, went places that I wouldnt have seen if not for Marta. 

We tolerated each other that's for sure... went to all the eating joints in Albuquerque... knew all the places where we could get all you can eat,,, enjoyed putt putt golf....made the silliest of jokes and she always used to laugh at my jokes. She was the first person who welcomed me to her parents house... and many many more. Little things big things... It was a good time ... if not for her my time would have been a drag.

Since then I have had friends and very good ones I might add. But none like her. Possibly because she was the only one woman friend that I ever had with whom I could be me. No pretensions...no nothing.

Sometimes I wonder about friendships. Like they say about love that it happens when it does ... I guess friendships too happen when it does. Defining a true friendship ....might sound very cliched...so I wouldnt even go into that realm. All I can say... that there are always people who you meet along in your lifes journey who you cherish more that others... when you spend time with them... when you are with them in the good times and bad... when you enjoy their company no matter what others have to say about them... when their decisions influence your decisions ... bottom line ... when the time spend with them will always be worth your time no matter how discourteous people are to you. I believe that's what friends are.

Mainly inspired by Indigo Iris, there is another song that I like ... the lyrics are very neat.

Eyes of the World ... Robert Hunter

Right outside this lazy summer home
you don't have time to call your soul a critic, no
Right outside the lazy gate of winter's summer home
wondering where the nuthatch winters
Wings a mile long just carried the bird away

Wake up to find out
that you are the eyes of the World
but the heart has its beaches
its homeland and thoughts of its own
Wake now, discover that you
are the song that the morning brings
but the heart has its seasons
its evenings and songs of its own

There comes a redeemer
and he slowly too fades away
There follows a wagon behind him
that's loaded with clay
and the seeds that were silent
all burst into bloom and decay
The night comes so quiet
and it's close on the heels of the day

Wake up to find out
that you are the eyes of the world
but the heart has its beaches
its homeland and thoughts of its own
Wake now, discover that you
are the song that the morning brings
but the heart has its seasons
its evenings and songs of its own

Sometimes we live no
particular way but our own
Sometimes we visit your country
and live in your home
Sometimes we ride on your horses
Sometimes we walk alone
Sometimes the songs that we hear
are just songs of our own

Wake up to find out
that you are the eyes of the world
but the heart has its beaches
its homeland and thoughts of its own
Wake now, discover that you
are the song that the morning brings
but the heart has its seasons
its evenings and songs of its own

Also check out http://www.eyesoftheworld.us/. It is a site which has been doing poineering research in eyecare. They provide eyecare for both human as well as animals.

It’s been quite awhile since the last post. Been a little busy. Got engaged to a person who I think is the right person, and hopefully life will be more exciting from now on. Apart from the engagement, we have been having a tumultuous coming to terms with the prospect of getting married and many promises from both sides are being committed… and it feels very funny sometimes. Anyway, we argue about everything under the sun… we accuse each other of many things … rules are being set along with boundaries … but the one good thing that I can say about her is that she is consistent with everything that she has told me. Plus my parents and sister and brother … who matter the most … are quite happy with the way things have developed. The to-be is a Major in the Military Nursing Services (MNS) and has come from a village somewhere in Midnapore. They are a family of farmers but I do see and realise the determination with which she has come up in this world from a very ordinary village background. Somehow, to me, she feels right. What is in store for me in future, well I shall leave it up for speculation and enjoy my moments with her as much as I can. 

All in all I have spend about 10K in phone bills and every time we decide to cut down on our phone bills, we end up talking for more than an hour. Another good thing is that she has decided to move to Mumbai after marriage and hopefully we will get accommodation in Colaba Base Hospital. It should be a good change of pace for me, living with someone as different as she is. I mean she is extremely the opposite of me… I like reading books and she hates it… she dislikes going to movies and I mostly do so every weekend… she is a good cook, can make womanly things like rangoli and other such stuff quite well.. and I am not even close on those things. Anyway… I do hope that things work out in the best possible way.

There is this song by Frank Sinatra

Love & Marriage

I borrowed this from http://soloman.rediffiland.com without asking the person. I hope you don’t mind. But I liked the joke very much.

Chinese laundry:

A woman was unhappy with the way her laundry was done at the local Chinese laundry, so she wrote a note and put it in the bag with the next collection of soiled clothes: "USE MORE SOAP ON PANTIES!" She got the clean laundry back, and was still dissatisfied with the results, so the following week she enclosed another note: "USE MORE SOAP ON PANTIES!" The Chinese laundryman became very annoyed, and then her clean laundry was delivered, it contained a note from him: "I USE PLENTY SOAP ON PANTIES!" ..... USE MORE PAPER ON ASS!!"

Well apart from the panty fiasco, I am reading a book by Amitava Ghosh “The Hungry Tide”. It’s a fiction based in the Sunderbans. Its about two people who have lived their cosmopolitan lives in India and America. It also about the people who inhabit the tiny islands that make up Sunderbans. It provides an insight about their lives, their poverty and many such stuff like the forest gods and how their lives are influenced by the rising tide. So far its been a good read. Will tell more later.

The other thing that I wanted to write was about how we as humans sometimes do not give much importance to wild like around us. For example, a mouse or a rat, street dogs, cats etc. While there are many poems and prose written on such things, there is this song that truly defines an English man’s (well more precisely a scots’ man) ode to a mouse. The song goes likes this:

One Brown Mouse – Jethro Tull

Smile your little smile --- take some tea with me awhile.
Brush away that black cloud from your shoulder.
Twitch your whiskers. Feel that you're really real.
Another tea-time --- another day older.

Puff warm breath on your tiny hands.
You wish you were a man
who every day can turn another page.
Behind your glass you sit and look
at my ever-open book ---
One brown mouse sitting in a cage.

Do you wonder if I really care for you ---
Am I just the company you keep ---
Which one of us exercises on the old treadmill ---
Who hides his head, pretending to sleep?

Smile your little smile --- take some tea with me awhile.
And every day we'll turn another page.
Behind our glass we'll sit and look
at our ever-open book ---
One brown mouse sitting in a cage

There have been many such parables written and even spoken in Hindi movies. Who can forget that song sung in the movie by Amitabh Bacchan… where the chuha drinks a bottle of whisky and akar ke bola “kaha hai billi”. Then there is Stuart Little, which by the way was an excellent movie, though I think that the second one was better than the first. But I hope that they don't go in for the next edition, ST 3.

Then there those times when I used to live in an Bharat Seva Ashram in Delhi where one night I was going for dinner and saw this scene: on the parapet wall, a large cat was sitting and staring at a godown rat which was maybe as large as the cat, and maybe rueing the fact that possibly this is not the right night to hunt. Man, you guys should see these rats, they are not only as big as a cat, but their bite … geez man… it hurts. When I first came to Mumbai it was during the start of the rains and the place that I was putting up at was close to an open drain that got flooded during the rains. Two very handsome and beautiful couple – whom I named Bunty and Babli – would roam around in the backyard near the open drain. They were so big that the dogs in the locality would be quite taken back when the rats would charge them. They were big… I mean really big.

Rats are actually being worshipped. The town of Deshnoke, 30 kilometers south of Bikaner, is home to world's only temple where rats are the main creature of devotion. About 20,000 rats are fed, protected and worshiped. The Karni Mata temple is one of the more curious places in all of Rajasthan. The site has been a place of worship for the last 500 years and the current Karni Mata temple was founded by the Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner at the turn of the century. To see the temple rats in their full splendor one has to come late at night or before sunrise. Then the temple floor is covered with rats running at full speed in all directions. The hungry creatures are trying to get feed for the rest of the day. If you are rat lover or mouse lover this is definitely the right place to be in.

If I have able to generate an interest in rats so far, you could check out this site http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bclee/rats.html, and maybe write to rathelp@yahoogroups.com
ratinfo@yahoogroups.com. Else forget it.

RATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

There was this guy, who was mostly lonely and tried to keep a cheerful face when interacting with all kinds of people. As years went by with two failed marriages and umpteenth number of mistakes along the way, there seems no hope. Yes, his mother and father were very worried, advertising on the newspaper for a suitable match. Even there were some responses, and the guy went to see them too... Somehow it didn't gel, something or the other was wrong... the mind and the heart just didn't match... or there were something that didn’t seem right. The elderly parents were worried all the time and his mother would always rue the fact that because of their mistakes their son is in such a precarious situation. He should have been happily married a family of his own and yet... there was nothing that the guy or his parents could do.

One day, his mom calls him up... tell him that there is a girl who have answered an ad, and she would want to speak to him on a Sunday. With his usual nonchalant attitude... he said ok as he would do for the umpteenth time. The same day at night when he went home another girl called him up and said that his mom had responded to an ad and would the guy and this girl meet at some place. A venue was decided and the guy invited this girl out for lunch. Anyway, the week went by uneventful ... the guy busy with work and keeping a cheerful face with all that he met.

Saturday things started to happen. The girl that he invited to lunch said that she couldn't make it to lunch because of some work that has come up…so she would have lunch some other day. The guy also didn’t give it much thought, and said sure… and even added that since it was raining all day the past week, it would be better to postpone the meeting. Later he was thinking to himself ... what a pitiful response.

Sunday comes, and the guy is his usual Sunday self. Gets up late, listen to Jethro Tull, watches a movie, chats with the maid who came early. Breakfast, discussion about the monthly groceries, and other chit chat….the phone rings. On the other side a girl/woman introduces her and we get chatting. She is a major in the army and is a practicing nurse. They talk in English and exchange ideas about marriage and what is expected of each other should they decide to get married. So he calls her later and chats some more. All the time she tells him that she has met my parents and seen the picture and all that stuff and she likes what she sees. But the guy is kind of distant…very afraid and ..... there are so many things that he wants to tell her about himself but is reluctant simply because she might end the conversation which he desperately didn’t want. In her broken English, Hindi and Bengali she tells him that she comes from a village deep within Middnapore district, and have a large house with ponds and stuff. He didn’t know when he really started to like her, but he was still afraid to open up and kept insisting that he will make plans to go to Kolkata and after he has met her, a decision will be reached. He was afraid of his past and wanted to tell her that he was married not once but twice. While both ended in a divorce, he wasn’t very sure whether revealing this would end the conversation and that would be it. Well… he was quite worried. All things he was expecting a wife to have were there but there was still loads of doubts on his mind.

What if she comes to know about the double divorce? What if she isnt what she says she is? Why is she not married ? What was there in her past that she is trying to hide? He was very confused.

So one day he picks up the courage and tells her all about his past with much trepidation. His marriage with the girl in US, about other things that he hasn’t told anyone else, except maybe his younger sister or his very close friends. Well… there was a stunned silence….. and he thought, that it. Love toh kya jo tha khatam. But she told him that she is quite stunned by this marriage thing, and she is herself not being married once. The best thing would be to not tell anyone in her family… and about the other stuff… it didn’t matter, it was passed. Ah, man a sigh of relief and it was she who started cheering up the guy, cracking jokes, masquerading as Shah Rukh Khan, who happens to be her favorite actor. After that the frequency of phone calls increased, and both started making plans… At this point in time, they are still making plans with both hoping that it works out. 

I was going through this blog about how we as intelligent and progressive human beings look upon other similar brethren with disdain. I mean ... I am talking about how women ... especially elderly women ... precisely mother-in-laws.. look at the birth of a girl child with disdain. I wonder sometimes what happened to the girl that they gave birth to and who is to be married off and can't get a decent husband even after searching for them. The question that comes to my mind is ... is the birth of a girl that bad??? .. Yeah.. yeah. the birth of a son leads to very many advantages... like son earning and looking after parents etc., and in many cases a hefty dowry. But .. come on people ... personally I think the birth of a girl ... is like my grandmom used to say... the birth of laxmi... or prosperity.

I remember when we were very young... my grandmom was very happy that after four grand daughters in her house, finally a son was born. We were very pampered especially after my brother was born a year later, and we were even taken by my grand parents to live with them when we were just about knee high. All that I am trying to say is that, this thing about girls being born in families is really a good thing. If they were not there, there would be never any wife’s or daughters, or mothers, sisters, girlfriends etc, people who give us so much joy and satisfaction. What would life be without a wife or girlfriend.... think of the most common thing that a man usually thinks ... the sex would be restricted to only the hand... and man, that would defintely suck..Life would be so drab... and even if women were around ... they would be serious brawls about who would marry who among men... the progressive lot.

I am not trying to say that I hate men, I cant, because I am one and then I would be hating myself. All I am saying, lets keep what we have ... because if nothing more even two sisters born in a family is probably the best thing that could have happened. Seeing my sister work her way through in her life and the kind of support that she gives us... even if she is the youngest ... and the square headed mind that she has... I personally think that it would be a great loss if I hadn’t known her or if something bad is to happen to her. She bosses around with me... since I am the eldest... and the other brother is married and lives far away... dada dont do this...give up cigarettes.... go to the gym....don’t eat fatty food... eat at home... or giving a piece of her mind to dad and mom... or to the maid that works in my house... or.... many things. Its amazing...Usually, she is on my case most days and if I don’t call her at least once in a week, she gets mad at me. She calls at all hours of the morning or night. I mean she is big pain... but a pain I am more than willing to endure.

Sometimes I guess we don’t see the positive in everything that we do... I believe that negatives are never going to end... and maybe more than the positives. But we just need to chill and favour the positives more than the negatives. I realise that most days with the busy humdrum of life pulling you down, may not put you in the mood to look at the positives ....but every once in a while, it definitely makes me feel good about the things that I have... the struggles that I have gone through to get to wherever I am. It’s always been my driving force to get up every morning and start the day.

Many people when they knew that I was in US for a while ask me why I had come back... and initially it used to irritate me no end. But nowadays, I just say that Mumbai or any place in India is good enough place... because its home. Yes there are riches to be had ... when living in US/UK/Canada/Australia etc, but somehow looking at the people here in Mumbai or even in Delhi (where I spend a considerable amount of my life) gives me the comfort of a home. I just cant explain the feeling ... but its what it is. Mainly because my parents are here and even if I work in Mumbai .. its only a few hours ride to Kolkatta. It would be sad to not help my parents when they need me...not that if people living abroad cant do that but I prefer being close. Moving back home was the best thing that I did, honestly and I am really not looking forward to shift to any other country, unless of course the pay is exceeding handsome, that is the net pay after taxes and monthly expenses is more than 80% of the total net pay packet, there is always a possibility that I move toward that destination like a moth to a flame... but post retirement will definitely be spend in the environs that I call home.

There’s PP, who has a daughter, …. And frankly she is not the greatest…. But when I hear PP talk about his daughter and the things that she has achieved in her little life in school or elsewhere, and the things that he has planned for her … (which usually changes every two three months…), I take consolation in the fact that there are still many people who don’t see having daughters as a bad thing. I mean knowing PP, even he once told me … that given another chance to have a baby… he would definitely opt for a girl. I agree with him… when I do get to marry … if ever… I would insist on having a girl… if a boy is born, doesn’t matter… but a little girl would definitely be something to look forward to.