Calamus

Vishal ettan is a big man. Tall, broad shoulders and heavier bone structure. He has a few extra pounds on him, has always had them ever since he can remember. I could make out from his old pictures that he had been plump as a boy. We married in September 2007 and nearly two years in to matrimony both of us grew bigger. When we went to India in 2009, it was all every one could talk about. Another two years go by and my husband gets bigger. In December 2011, we schedule an appointment with the doctor for our 2-year routine check up. After regular tests, the doctor suggested that a meeting with the nutritionist Dr. Maria would be a good thing. So we scheduled appointments with Maria and met her regularly for the next 3 months. Thus started Vishal Ettan's journey towards better health. I say better health because this is not and has never been a weight-loss process. It started as an initiative toward healthier living and weight-loss was just a natural part of it. Maria's sugges

I loved every minute of reading The Help. Loved the plot, characters and the style of writing. I like it for the simplicity of language that makes it so easy to glide from one page to another. Before you know it you've finished reading the book. While dealing with a hightly sensitive topic, the author has managed to sprinkle generaous amounts of humor that is both tounge-in-cheek and laugh-out-loud at the same time.  Humor is brilliantly interweaved in to the story making it much more interesing to read. Due to the sensitive nature of the topic, the humor prevents it from being bitter. The Help most certainly is funny but its also sensitive and deep on many levels. Its hard not to love the three unforgettable characters in the book and I even have a favourite! Missus Stein from the book & I have the same favourite - Minny, and just like her I too have the same thing to say about Minny - " I adore her". Aibileen is my second favourite. After knowing Aibileen I wish I

We were returning from a visit to the doctor's office, through one of the inner roads in the city. The speed limit was 30 mph and it was an up-hill road too. Incidentally we were pulled over by a cop and according to him we we driving at a speed of 44 mph... Naturally both of us were shocked cos there is no way we were driving uphill on an inner road at 44 mph. My husband was driving and he is a careful driver. Anyways the cop flashed us the radar and it was showing 44 mph to our bewilderment. We didnt argue with him and he gave us the ticket. But instead of giving a ticket for driving 14 mph above limit, he said he has us down for only 5 mph, cos thats cheaper ($113!! wonder whats the fine for 14 mph above the limit!!?) Anyways, on the rest of the way we were wondering if we should actually pay the fine or contest it at court cos in either case, this was going in to our driving history so we figured we might as well go down fighting.  This is our very first speeding ticket after

Getting closer to God should make people more open-minded. But in some cases the exact opposite happens when people blindly follow religious teachings. Infact in most cases religious teachings are not to blame, its the way Man interprets them. Knowing God opens one's mind to the universe. It is by letting God in to our minds that we learn to be compassionate towards fellow beings, tolerance for one another, patience, understanding and love. The relationship between Man and God is not complicated. Man complicates it by introducing religion in to the equation. Religion is man-made, and so is liable to imperfections that any man-made thing contains. God's or Nature's creations are all perfect. They are perfect in itself and in their interactions with the universe. Man is constantly intermixing the two concepts of religion & God. In the name of getting closer to God, Man promotes man-made religious ideologies and thoughts that some times have nothing to do with understandi