Calamus

The trip didn't start exactly as we planned. Our 5.00 p.m. flight to Salt Lake City(SLC), Utah was delayed by 4 hours. If you have a two year-old at hand, you know what that means. So Miss Cranky-pants makes good of the extra time and decides to drain all of her energy at the Seattle Int'l Airport play area for kids, and then by what would have been her bed time she boards the flight and lets herself be heard by every single passenger on-board for about an hour before reluctantly drifting off to sleep, in my arms. We were already debating on weather it would still be wise to drive to Moab tonight from SLC as we had originally planned. We knew of the snow prediction for the night, but we were supposed to be safe in a cozy Moab hotel room by then. As Delta Airlines had a different plan for us it was time to review our itinerary and make alternate arrangements. Driving unfamiliar mountainous roads in unfamiliar cars in snow-storms with a toddler in the back-seat  are exactly what 

The U.S mid-term elections were just over. It was a tight race between the Democrats and the Republicans in many states. Though the Republicans took over the House, Democrats had the Senate. Patty Murray (D)and Dave Reichert(R) won the elections from Washington State. Personally it did not matter to me who won. I am not a U.S. citizen, so i didnt vote. I am only relieved that there wont be any more negative campaigning to watch on TV. The ads were vicious and negative, not to mention depressing. Starting from a couple of months before, up until the day of the elections(including election day), the ads were aired and every now and then. There was no escaping them, they were on all channels. The opponents were seen spitting venom at each other while highlighting all the good things that they had done. It was a little unsettling for me watch all these ads simply because I was not used to watching election campaign ads on tv especially negative ones and that too so frequently.  TV campaig

People say that a dog is Man's best friend - I say a book is. Books are truly Man's best friends. Nothing compares to the pleasure of sitting down and curling up with a good book. And when I do, I can anticipate the good times we are going to have together even though I may not have read the book before. The summary at the back gives a sneak-peak to spike up the anticipation and to decide if I want to go ahead. If it feels ok I decide to take the next step. Time is a precious commodity so its not a bad idea to read only popular books or award-winners. A bad book is a waste of precious time, that cant ever be regained. Although its a bonus to find a book with a captive cover, truly the cover of a book doesnt matter. I know that one must not judge a book by its cover, its whats inside it that truly counts and the only way to find out whats inside is to read it. But thats not to say that the cover needn't feel good. A nice sturdy hard paperback is undoubtedly the coveted luxur

I tried Parasailing last Saturday and loved it. My husband and I were thinking of doing something different for our anniversary this time. So between going off on a short trip for the Labour Day long-weekend and parasailing, the latter was the more attractive option. It was getting cooler and rainier in Seattle by the day as Summer was paving way for Fall, so if I didnt do it now I'll have to wait for another year. And there was no way I could wait that long with out my aniticipation blowing out of proportion. After all its not every day that one gets to indulge in adventure sports. So I fixed appointments at Pier 66 at Seattle Downtown. The prices were reasonable and it was fairly closer to where we lived. The only time my heart skipped a beat was during lift off. Until that moment I had no idea how its done, so I guess I was just caught by surprise, even though I was excited about the whole event. But after the initial few seconds I was fully at ease and that helped me enjoy t

This one is a little out of phase, it should have come a couple of months ago. Nevertheless, timing is not important here. I have to pay my tribute to one of the greatest entertainers that ever graced the earth. Its hard to believe that its been more than a year since the legendary Michael Jackson left us. I felt deeply saddened by the news. The first thoughts that came to my mind were that its not possible, its too soon. But the sun had set on the most controversial human life ever and the King of Pop is now a sad memory. I was first introduced to Michael Jackson's music when I was 8 or 9 years old. I dont remember my Dad buying the cassette, but one day I saw the album "Bad" lying on the table and played it, and I was hooked. Although I was familiar with American Pop music through Boney-M and Abba(Thanks Dad, once again), this was something else altogather. I used to play it over and over again till my mom had to force me to stop. The cover had a picture of Michael, d

Ok so let me hit the iron while its still hot. Just saw Raavanan yesterday and wanted to review it. The movie was a good watch. Afterall it was a Mani Ratnam movie and so was not a complete disappointment. Its true that there were no rivetting scenes that take your breath away despite Santosh Sivan, but its still unfair to call it a bad movie. The pluses were the concept, the cast, and their performances. All of the main characters were portrayed well and the actors did a good job too. Karthik in particular was at his comic best. The most commendable was ofcourse the protagonist - Vikram. If Mani Ratnam wanted to make the viewers love Raavanan the villian-hero, he surely got what he wanted. Raavanan was quirkily charming and chivalrous. Aishwarya on the other had was convincing as a damsel in distress. Her kathak was graceful as she enticed Prithvi Raj with her fluid movements, which brings us to the one person who had every thing to gain with this venture despite a weak portayal of

"Out of millions only one emerges as a winner. And that winner is each and every one of us." - Anonymous. When a sperm outlasts millions of others to race forward and fertilize the egg, it is the chosen one to create another life. Thus each and every one of us is a winner, chosen from among millions. If we realise this, we can better accept the truth that we are meant to be exactly the way we are created and that our efforts to change who we are is to say the least, laughable. There are a number of moments in everyday life when we complain about trivial things. We wish we had better looking hair, thicker perhaps, or straighter or more manageable. But then we say - "I dont like this nose either, its so long it could make Pinocchio's look like a small stubble in comparison. That combined with the unflattering jaw-line makes me look like a bad cross of Supandi with Jay Leno. No wait, its these beady eyes that are the real problem. You can hardly see them if I smile, w

Anyone who grew up in India during the 80s and 90s, wont forget the patriotic bit of National Integration song/video "Mile sur mera tumhara". Doordharshan used to telecast it time and again to promote unity in a nation whose one unique identity is its vibrant diversity. I revisited the nostalgic years when I chanced upon the song on youtube one day. It brought me more than a smile when old memories returned. I reminisced of the celebrated great talents of our nation, the masteros of sitars, tablas, vocal chords and perfect graceful movements. The gems of our country were duly represented as also were the varied cultures, languages and natives. There were a couple of appearances of movie stars to add glamour. I particularly loved the ending. Hundreds of little children dressed in the symbolic colours orange, white and green, formed the tricolor national flag. I always thought that it was very creative and symbolic of children being the future of our nation. I was surprised

Its probably the biggest writer's block ever. What kind of a blogger visits her own blog once in 2 years? One post in two years, is not a blog. Even though I have been meaning to get back to writing for a while now, I haven't got around to actually doing it. Been procrastinating it for some reason I am not sure I should even bother to explore. Nevertheless I guess that having a one year old, who, recently has discovered the new-found freedom of cruising around the house on her own, doesn't leave time for much else. Leave alone sparing a quite moment for my musings/writings, its a wonder I ever find time to do any thing at all other than to follow my indefatigable little cruiser around in her explorations and express joy in her new findings/achievements or prevent potential misadventures. All mothers who have found themselves in this situation shall empathise with me. A one year old is quite a handful. Its reassuring to know that I have company though. So I guess I can be ex