tagging spree....!!!!

off late I have been hearing a lot about this tagging thingie.....I seriously had no clue what this was all about until arpita told me all about this.......and thanks to her this gives me a chance to speak about the books that I have read so far......I was never into the habit of reading books until I was almost done with my under graduation.....I was always fascinated with these mystery kind of books....esp. Agatha Christie's......always loved reading them.....!!!!

It's hard to pick which books I like among all those I have read so far....but lemme choose the best.... :)

1)Kane and Abel.....what a book....what a narration.....simply mind blowing...!!!!! I am literally a Jeffrey Archer fan now after I read this book.....he is the best....!!!! The story is about two men born worlds apart and the only thing they have in common is the date of birth (April 18, 1906)....How they rise in their lives and the failures they face forms the plot of the book.....!!!! The two protagonist's in this book are William Kane and Abel Rosnovski. I couldn't help admiring the two men's confidence and zeal to achieve something in their lives...especially Abel Rosnovski. A book for which I would give a 9.5/10.

2)The Da Vinci Code..........
This is an amazing book......it provoked some interest in the Holy Grail and the role of Mary Magdalene in the history of Christianity....lots of amazing terms, like the Priory of Scion.....This book was made as a movie and this movie created lots of controversies among the Christianity.....lots of revealing puzzles though it is a fiction....wish it were not a fiction....
3)The Finishing School.....

This novel by Michelle Martinez was one of the best mystery novels that I have read so far......brilliant, amazing, stupendous....there are many other synonyms that can be used to describe this book.....It's a story about a detective who comes to investigate the death of two high school girls.....both of whom are from the high strata of the society......how she unravels the mystery forms the plot of the story.....

I still remember one funny incident that happened to me when I was engrossed reading kane and Abel....that was a very funny incident.....still cannot hold my laughter whenever I recollect this incident......I was on my way back from my uncle's place in Washington DC when I had to change planes in NY....I was waiting near my terminal gate in NY airport engrossed reading Kane and Abel that I didn't see that they had changed my terminal gate and suddenly when I looked up at the gate I found it to be closed.....I got nervous and without thinking ran towards the terminal gate and opened it....and as soon as I did that....there was a huge sound....lol.....there went the alarm and everyone started looking at me.....The lady at the opposite terminal gate called me up and gave me a warning saying that if I did this again she would put me behind the bars....!!!!!!! :):)....lol I couldn't control my laughter thinking about that incident even now.....

now let me tag my dear buddy batman....oops...sry did I tell that...Balaji.R.Sharma...... :):)

Nostalgia

Now why did I write nostalgia?? What exactly does nostalgia mean?? Well Nostalgia refers to "the pain a sick person feels because he wishes to return to his native land and fears he would never see it again" This is the perfect translation and pick from the wikipedia. Thanks to Vinton G. Cerf( founding father of Internet) one click on the net and here I get what nostalgia exactly means.....but the best and funniest part was I seriously had no idea who the founder of internet was and one click on the net and there pops out his name....[:P].....

Now why am I talking about nostalgia all of a sudden!!!!! Yeah come the summer time and I always wanna spend hours together in my home sweet home back in India pestering my mom to take a day off from her office....(of course this happens everyday though I never managed to succeed).....those days back in India were fun...waking up at around 9 in the morning, dropping my mom in the bus stop(sometimes chasing the bus also... :P), those awesome breakfasts prepared by my granny, and those lovely afternoon siestas which eventually becomes a whole 6-7 hours of sleep...[:P]....waiting in the balcony for my parents to come back home, going on a drive with my dad, having those yummy chats and pani puris with my mom....(not to forget the fruit salad)....and then those lovely gossips with mom and dad sitting in that very small kitchen in our lovely palace...[:)]....then watching movies along with mom and dad sleeping on their laps....taking major for a walk when dad isn't there....how I wish I could get those days back[:(]......how I wish I could be pampered by my parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts.....Not to forget about some get together's with my schoolmates....(still remember those holidays where we met at coffee day, Hyderabad house and our own eat street...[:)]..)...and those drives to movie theaters with my cousin on my one and only scooty...[:P]......ahhh miss that scooty....my lovely gift....!!! and also miss my mom's comments whenever I drive....[:)].....Ohhhhh I just want all these back immediately though I know I still have to wait for 6 months.....how I wish I were in India forever.....Never did I imagine that I would have to stay away from my family for more than 15 days.....I still do remember that my dad and grandparents had a tough time convincing me when my mom left me back home and went for my cousin's engagement for just 3 days......!!!!! Miss those days soooooooooooooo muchhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!![:(]......Longing to get back home atleast somewhere in the next 6 months.....!!!!! Miss u all............!!!!!

major miss u a lot.....!!!!!! :( :(

I have been thinking of penning some lines down for the past few days but this grad life is sucking most of my time off.....[:(].......my friends would laugh at me if I ever mention this or atleast they would get irritated when I tell them this because I am supposed to be the only person who seems to be free most of the time.......or atleast I tend to behave that I am free......!!!!!![:P].....

There goes this saying "A dog is man's best friend"....now people might be wondering why am I talking about dogs all of a sudden.....this post in my blog is dedicated to Major my best friend and my bro.....for those who know me well might be thinking where on earth did I get a brother all of a sudden....no I am not talking about a human....!!! I am talking about my dog....ooops!!!!! now did I utter that word....!!!! I hate people calling major a dog not major in general but "I hate people calling dogs as dogs"......Now the reason why I am putting up this post is that I want to remember major at least for the entire day today.....because it has been exactly 7 months since he died of heart attack...[:(].....and I couldn't even have a last glimpse of him because I was away from home doing my master's in the US of A....and the fact that was agonizing was though I loved him so much I couldn't even bid him goodbye when I was leaving India.....because of lot's of relatives in my place at that time.....and poor thing I could always hear him barking out my name whenever I used to call my parents back home...[:)]....and exactly a month after I left it died on our terrace out of a massive heart attack....and my dad and me who loved him a lot couldn't get a glimpse of him...[:(]......and the most agonizing part was I got to know that he passed away only 3 months after he left this world....[:(]......it was shocking!!!!....I still remember that one day when I was at my job, I called my grandparents and my grandmother accidentally let out the fact that he died which my parents were hiding it from me because they don't want me to get more emotionally upset(which I already was at that time).......!!!!!!

I still remember those lovely days when me, dad and major used to play cricket and mind u he was an awesome fielder....!!!!! need at least one of his kind in the Indian cricket team[:)].....Miss u a lot major and luv u a lot....May you rest in peace wherever you are....You are forever in my heart!!!!

the new year dish!!!!!

Today being Tamil new year's day I wanted to wake up early in the morning and cook something special and I did wake up after 3 of my alarms finally stopped ringing.....(I know my roommate might be cursing me bcoz this is the way I wake up everyday with 3 of my alarms ringing for a span of every 15 mins. :)) !!!!).....got up at 8:30 with a zeal to do something different today so that my family back in India would be proud especially my mom.....!!!!!! First I went and had a nice cup of tea(ahhh!!!! that tea made my day...:P...I finally had a chance to have some good tea after many months....) and then went and had my head bath....which I used to hate a lot when I was in India but here surprisingly.....[:P] then went ahead calling my relatives in India and also here in US wishing them a happy new year....made it a point that I wish them all in Tamil(supposed to be my mother tongue) and wished them saying "inniyai puthandu nall vazhthugal"(now that's happy new year in tamil for people who are still trying to figure out what it exactly means...)....now comes the biiiiiiiigggggg thing....:P I got into the act of making gulab jamuns(this is an Indian sweet dish).....it had a disastrous start where I ended up pouring more amount of water than required to the mix I purchased a day earlier exclusively for this occasion......(it was when I realized why people tell water is useful, don't waste it...:P).....I took my laptop to the kitchen, had my mother come online and give me instructions as to how to proceed further to avoid any further complications....luckily 2.5 hours of my hard work finally paid off and here lies the gulab jamun that u can see in the pic. :)......then took a few snaps and sent it to my mom to have an expert's opinion... :P) She was very elated seeing my effort and at the same time felt bad that she couldn't taste it....!!!! I told her "mom, u don't worry I would cook for u when I come down to India during my break"......... Hope I do that at least for one day during the break when I get back to India.... :P!!!!!

patriotism at stake!!!!

My fellow country men here in Cincinnati have been giving varied opinion about the life back in India right from the day I landed in the Uncle Sam's place!!!! U feel delighted when people praise ur motherland....u would have a sense of patriotism injected in u......what u call as "josh" in Hindi(my home country's national language) but today I was damn pissed off by this Indian prof. who was taking my Non linear dynamics class(might sound greek & latin to a few but this is what I read here :P). He had migrated here some 30 odd years ago and he feels that he was born here in this place and it means everything to him....agreed that this place is providing food & shelter to him but that doesn't mean he has to speak ill of the country that molded him during his teenage years and was responsible for providing him with the basic education that helped him reach to this great height.....!!!!!! He was making a mockery of India.......and me and my friend were the only Indian students in the class among a class of 20 odd students......Just imagine what those American classmates of mine must have thought of us....!!!!!! Generally these Americans have tendency of speaking great about their country even in cases when there isn't anything to speak about but why do we people fail to do that!!!!!! This prof. was talking about how dirty India is and how underdeveloped it is.....!!!!! That wasn't good on his part especially from a man of his stature!!!!! Way back home I was thinking is this how most of us are behaving......??? Is this how we are going to be after a few years of our stay here......Just see how this place is influencing people.....if this is the case then we would be hardly left with people to support our own nation....!!!!! There was this speech by our president A.P.J Abdul Kalam where he says why do our people always find fault with the government and the country saying that the country hasn't done anything for us!!!!! He quoted an example saying that our own countrymen maintain discipline by not throwing stuff on the streets and roads when they go abroad.....but the moment they land in India they start throwing and spitting right from the airport premises itself.....when u do such things u obviously don't have any right to complain.....!!!! There was this incident when my uncle had come down from USA to India along with his kids......and during his visit when we went out for some shopping he happened to throw some waste on the road when his son questioned him "dad, you said that you shouldn't be throwing stuff on the roads then why are you throwing it?" At first he was baffled by such a question and that too from a young kid but he convinced him saying that since everyone throws waste on the road here I also did the same thing.......I felt ashamed the way my uncle was convincing his son and justifying himself.....this was least expected from him.......!!! Seeing all this I made up my mind that under any circumstances that I shouldn't succumb and follow the path that others have followed.....instead this generation should be a trend setter for everyone......!!!! People should get inspired from us......and hope that Prof. of mine also gets a chance to read this and change his notion about his motherland atleast for once in his lifetime......!!!!!