Instructions to make Maggi noodles...

Amusing forward I recieved after the India-Pak test series:

Instructions behind Maggi 2 minutes noodles pack:
Step 1: Boil one cup of water.
Step 2: As soon as Ganguly goes for batting, put the noodles in the boiled water and add the tastemaker.
Step 3: Stir till Ganguly is on the field.
Step 4: As soon as Ganguly is back in pavilion, your noodles are ready to eat.

Since we are on the subject of Ganguly, while most of the media and the nation is baying for his blood, there is an interesting article in TOI today that made me sympathize with him.

Driving & sun signs??

Came across a really interesting article classifying driving abilities based on sun signs. Turns out you are only as good a driver as your sun sign character traits let you be...

So while careless Geminis are the worst drivers and responsible and patient Capricorns are the best ones. There is also a ranking, here, that lists all sun signs from worst to best based on driving abilities. I, for one, am gonna completely agree with the findings of this article. That I am a Capricorn is purely co-incidental ;-)

"Zara hatke"

From the language to technologies to driving on the other side...why is everything a little different in the USA as opposed to the rest of the world.

Just think about it....the country was founded by a bunch of people from England with English as the spoken language. Maybe the language could have just evolved into the American English, but there had to be a conscious effort to try to do everything else different from the rest of the world - would be interesting to know the history behind each of those things.

On a related side note I think as the world gets smaller and smaller it is going to get more generic and standardized everywhere - much like how almost the entire world has adapted to a single technology for wireless and yes even the USA has had to change to make its primary cellphone technology GSM!

Wonder what it is...?

I havent a clue whats wrong...
there is somehow a new excitement in the air tonight, in this otherwise boring town.

It may be the cold wave after a few days of scorching heat.
It may be my hopeful cricketing heart that senses that India will kick Pakistan's butt in the game today.
It may be the fact that I found the DVD of my all time favorite TV show online.
It may be that Condaleeza Rice is strengthening Indo-US ties in India today.
Or it may be that I am about to go pick someone up from the airport tonight.

I wonder what...

Love-shove

Movies completely romanticize life...especially Indian movies. But real life is of course a far cry from the movies. Take for example love...a grossly overused and glamorized term.

Personally I feel you can be 'in love' only after you lose all the glamor around it. Beyond the first few dates and the candlelit dinners...when you learn about the little things that annoy you, eccentricities you never expected your 'ideal partner' to have. And then you learn to live with them...happily.

Same Shit....different country!

Everyone has an impression of India as being divided by castes and religion. I met a guy last week who asked me....rather told me that he knew since I was Indian I would only get married with someone from my caste. He was a conservative southern guy (american) who of course thought that everything besides his country was 'third world'. Combined with ignorance his thoughts were pretty annoying.

That conversation got me thinking - having spent considerable time in both countries, I tried to rationally think about how different things are between India and the USA. Yes India has a prevalent caste system in the smaller towns and rural regions and maybe marrying someone outside your caste is a taboo there. But in the metros and even the bigger cities I think it is fairly normal to date and marry whoever you wish to. Having spent a lot of time travelling across the US, I have to say there is a similarity here...think interracial dating and marriages. Theres the east coast and west coast - a small chunk of the more liberal population lives here and they are the few ones okay with it. But as you go towards the interior or 'red' states, majority of people do not seem to approve dating or marrying interracially. Not much different from the caste system in India.

Of course this is entirely my viewpoint and based on personal experiences and the people I have met and not on any sort of numbers. But I somehow expected the most 'progressive' country in the world to be whole lot better.

Vegetarianism 101

I have been vegetarian the entire quarter of a century of my existence, but I never did think it was a big deal till the last few years in this country. It is pretty tough to find vegetarian food when eating outside in this country. And as a consultant I am always on the road and eating out. But that is not so much a problem as is the attitude of people. Most of the members of the meat eating fraternity react in different ways to my being a vegetarian.

A good number of them immediately feel sorry for me giving me pitiful looks as if I was suffering from a terminal disease. Others are more thoughtful and try to counter argue their case versus mine (even when I have made no argument); saying things like 'you do eat plants and they are living creatures too'. Still others are just plain ignorant to the fact that there exist people in this world who can survive without eating meat. Their reaction is usually raised eyebrows followed by a barrage of stupid questions.

There are certain things to be understood. I am not forced to be a vegetarian by religion (I dont think Hinduism forces people for anything). Sure it was a habit inculcated while growing up but so many of my friends who grew up vegetarian started eating meat as soon as they were in college. I could have too but to be honest meat grosses me out - always has. I am 25 and living all by myself today so I believe I am a vegetarian out of choice; please treat me the same as you would treat someone who chose not to eat say tomatoes (hint hint!). I can't possibly explain this to every person who shares a lunch table with me. I just smile as I tell them I am a vegetarian and wait for their reaction!

Here are some of the interesting comments/questions I have heard from people on hearing that I am vegetarian...

"So what do you eat?"
"You do know that the meat sandwich is the same price" (concerned cashier before charging me for a veggie sandwich)
"Will you eat the rice if I take out the meat pieces?" (BTW the answer is 'No,I'll order my own')
"So where do you get your proteins from?"
"Does that mean no chicken/pepperoni/sausage/....?" (Yea, genius)
"I bet your ancestors were poor hunters" ("No smartass, they actually just hunted your ancestors for sport!")
"So do you kiss people who eat meat?" (depends on what they look like)
"Now why would you do that to yourself?" (masochism maybe!?)
"Have you ever tried Butter Chicken?"
"So what would you eat if you were on Survivor?"