ROFL

And I did vote!

:)

Earth Day

Wear green to celebrate Earth Day on 22nd April.
I had somehow missed this poster in office. But coincedently I was wearing green. :)
Greens Caterers had organised 'Organic lunch' in office to mark the day. Seems organic fever is catching in India too now!

One more vote to count!

I got rid of the guilt feeling I was carrying since couple of days!

Karnataka goes to poll on 23rd and surprisingly companies (including mine) announed holiday. And our announcement came with a message - 'Casting a Vote is our obligation both to strengthen the democratic process, as well as to exercise our right as citizens. So let us make this opportunity count!'
I never casted vote in the ealier elections, niether was I listed in the voter's list nor I have an election card. It was lack of motivation, no interest in politics, ignorance towards our rights, and bit laziness. There was also a thought - what difference will my single vote make? All the politicians are corrupt, the rowdi-est of them will win by hook or crook. So I was convinced my vote does not count!

This time my attitude was different, I wanted to participate. Agressive 2008 election in US and Obama coming into power, was a motivating factor. There are lot of initiatives by different organisations for social awakening - Times of India, Jagore being one of them. I did take an initiative to register on their site and got the form filled, but by the time my lazy bones could go and submit the form to the local constituency the last date had passed. And then came the holiday announcement in office which made me go into a guilt trip - I am not eligible for this holiday, I should come to office. I should have shown little more enthu this time. I will not be able to vote till next election.

But yesterday things changed, our neighbour walked in late evening with a small strip of print-out having names of our family members, who were registered in the voter list. He read aloud the names... Nalini... Harish?... I was still doubtful is it really me and Harsha or he picked up the wrong list? He handed over the paper - written in kannada 'ನಳಿನಿ ಶ್ರೀಹರ್ಷ' (Nalini Sriharsha) is all I could read, which was enough to brighten my face!
Later I got to know my in-laws had added our names when the Election comission representatives had visited the area to upate the list.
Now one task remaining is being little more responsible and finding out the right contestant from our area. I won't let my vote go waste.

I can enjoy the holiday tomorrow - after dedicating an hour for The Cause. :)

Gaarva~

ऊन जरा जास्त आहे, दर वर्षी वाटतं
भर ऊनात पाउस घेवून आभाळ मानत दाटतं
घामा शिवाय शरीरामध्ये कुणीच बोलत नाही
तितक्यात कुठून एक ढग सूर्य समोर येतो
उन्हा मधला काही भाग पखांन खाली घेतो
वारा, उन्नाड मूला सारखा सैरावैरा पळत राहतो
पानां , फुलां, झाढांवरती, छपरांवरती, चढून पाहतो
दुपारटळून संध्याळाचा सुरु होतो पुन्हा खेळ
उन्हामागून चालत येते गार गार कातरवेळ
चक्क डोळ्यां समोर रुतु कोस बदलून घेतो
पावसा आदि ढगांमधून कुठून गरवा येतो ?

Two rupee soul

I was having my usual morning tea-break in office, standing by the gallery on the canteen first floor. Suddenly, one of the two rupee coins I was holding in my hands, slipped and before I could react, the gravity was pulling it down, and it graciously went flipping its sides. The next moment I saw a security gaurd running across, unaware that coin might land on his head! [It was a mathematical puzzle - the coin falling on the ground from hieght x and a man 5.7" tall started running from a distance of y meter at a speed of z km/hr. Will the coin hit him? this is v complex problem for me!] Whatever the answer to the puzzle, he had just missed the coin and it alighted on the granite floor with a metallic melody. The securty fellow halted, turned back, saw the coin and looked up at me. I gave him a hand signal to say 'Its ok, I will pick it'. But he walked back 4/5 steps, picked the coin and started running again. I thought he is such a good-hearted, modest person - coming up all the way to give me a sada two rupee ka coin. I was all ready with a 'Thank You' note and started moving towards the staircase. One minute gone and I din't see him coming up. I had not seen his face clearly, he might have seen me, I thought. Another minute gone and still nobody, by this time I had finished sipping tea and I also realised he had ran away with my coin!!! (No regrets though, just surprised)

Was I too quick in judging that person? Is the world not all that good?

Down down down!

The client network is down for about 10 mins now, bringing my work to a standstill. This dragged me to Nashik, with the memories of my first workplace, where power cuts meant… chutti from office! It was a small firm with about 15-20 employees and they did not have UPS backup for more than 20 mins. All of us used to pull our chairs and have long discussion sessions – topics unlimited which usually started form work, technology and then turned towards office gossip (!), shopping, movies et al.
If the power was not restored in 2/3 hrs times or if confirmation was received from the local electricity dept. that power will be out for the whole day, we would get to leave early from office! Ofcourse we would compensate by working on some holiday, but getting unprecedented leave from work was a different fun! How we longed for this free time!! :)

Today, I am in a office where network outage will not last for more than 15 mins, forget getting chutti because of power outage!

Those friends and those days will always have a special place in my memories. Gone are those days!

Sleep syndrome

Returning home from office in the evening, I found my f-i-l tired and stressed out and asleep. He had cataract removed from this eye the day before and was adviced rest. The super-enthu and ever-active person sleeping in the evening time took me by surprise. I had expected with his new vision, he would have drowned himself in the day's newspaper or telling stories about the smart and beautiful doctor ;)
He realised I am home and was asking me to eat something, drink coffee.. all in mumbles though. I was bit worried to see him this way. I never imagined the operation would put him down to such extent. Me, my hubby and m-i-l went 'Yeah he is very tired'... 'He might be in deep pain, he doesn't express though'... 'Its difficult to bear pain with growing age'... 'This is the first time I am seeing him like this'...

Later in the night when I was getting the pills to be given after dinner, my m-i-l said she had already given one of those in the afternoon itself. This particular one was supposed to be given only after dinner - it was for sleep! Instantly I realised the cause for his behaviour through the evening!

We had a good laugh... 'Good Night, nothing to worry'!

Hope to see his usual self tomorrow!

Closed down?

Got to know that 'Gaylord', the Indian restaurant in Sausalito is closed down. I have memories of delicious lunch and dinner there, with a beautiful view of the SFO skyline. This was one place I had thought I will not miss, if I ever got a chance to visit SFO again.

Of the many restaurants in bay area, I liked the food in only 2 of them - 'Gaylord' and 'Passage to India' and one of them is gone.

With my passage to India now, there are options in abundance! :)

Now I need to search for a good place to grab a pizza! ;)

Maggie Mania

Lunch time... scrolled through the lunch menu in canteen and none of the options looked tempting today (maybe I had already decided in back of my mind that I am going to have maggie!) Somehow that word 'Maggieeee' itself brings cheer and shoots up the enthu-level! Its become an obsession. After the amount of maggie packets me and Harsha consumed while in US, I had thought probably time is nearing when I will be sick of maggie. The smile which it brought to my face today, confirmed I am still mad about it!!

I ordered for maggie and he said 10 mins plz. I always wondered on what basis did the manufacturers claim it can be cooked in 2 mins. Even I have never been able to cook 2 mins. While I was waiting all the old memories flashed by. Don't remember exactly when I had maggie for the first time, it was sometime when I might be in high school. The advertisement was very effective, but Amma was always reluctant to buy it, stating its not good for health. But one day she was convinced and it was finally brought to her kitchen. Me and my sis were standing besides her reading the instructions and seeing her cook. We made sure she did not break the noodles, we wanted to scoop the noodles like the kids did in the adv! Finally it was ready, served in plate and when we tasted it, I think it was... different! Taste, which did not match any food w've ever had. Amma disliked it at the first bite itself. So me too followed her and thereafter maggie never came to our house!

Just couple of years ago, I decided to give a try again. I had forgotten the taste long ago, just the conclusion remained - the taste was not good. This time I instantly I liked it! Probably the taste buds had developed!! :) After that there was no looking back. Tried various combinations over the years with different vegetables, dry, soggy, spicy - relished all the versions. One plate of steaming maggie with a (generous ;)) lump of butter has always satisfied my appetitie.

And there was my plate ready today, caught hold of an empty table and had first bite with usual eagerness and my phone beeped. It was Amma 'Had lunch?' she enquired. When I told her what was in my plate today, she went 'Ayiooo! its not good for health...... etc etc'. She had still maintained her opinion!

The road less traveled

We get a beautiful view of hills behind our apartment, just few miles away and we were told Calaveras Blvd goes through those mountains and hills. Its Spring time here and you can see greenery all around and trees blooming with different kind of flowers. Saturday evening was time for some adventure and we decided to checkout where Calaveras goes!

And we set out with the GPS fully charged, in case we miss the route! The road goes through heart of Milpitas, all the major stores located on either side. We knew Freeway CA-237 becomes Calaveras Blvd when it reaches Milpitas. Harsha was always eager to know at what points these freeways begin and end. After 2/3 miles driving through the city, to our surprise we saw a board, which read "End CA-237"!! On the other side of the road there should be a board "Start CA-237", we have made it a point to keep an eye for it, next time. Driving past, the city limits ended and it started looking like a laid-back town now. Some lovely ladies came past on horse back!

The view had completely changed, all green meadows, cows grazing, horse stables and very few old houses here and there. The road had become curvy, with huge trees on one side and valley on the other. The car speed had reduced to merely 20mph! We had reached an altitude of about 600/700 ft and it was scary to drive on the edge overlooking the valley below. Reflecting the setting sun rays, hills looked beautiful with deep blue water reservoir (later I found its Calaveras reservoir) in the valley. I was enjoying the senery, but Harsha couldn't keep his eyes off the road! We had driven for almost 30 mins, but we had hardly seen 3-4 cars, and in between couple of people on bicycles and motorbikes. Even I had started wondering how long is this route, and was it a right decision to come during evening time. The GPS was not working in that location and neither our mobiles! Though I was a little bit scared, was encouraging Harsha that its just another couple of miles. The road was still very curvy and was getting a bit dark admist the mountains as sun rays hardly reached there. Perplexed and undecided whether to take a u-turn or continue on this same route, we continued driving ahead, and suddenly I saw my mobile had caught the signal! That was a sign that we are coming out of the ghat section. And in a short while even our (voice enabled) GPS maina started murmuring! The roads had started becoming less curvy, and within a mile, the road was quite straight ahead with 40mph speed limit board! We gave a sigh of relief! Soon enough there was signs for freeway entrance for I-680 N and from here we knew the road back home! We had come around 17 miles away from our house via the less traveled road! Now, I know what lies behind the hills just behind our apartment! :)

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--/ I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference.- Robert Frost

Hi-tech Surprise!

Late afternoon in office today, no work in hand, I lazily got up to grab a cup of coffee. Walking down the aisle just couple of cubicles away I heard that screeching sound again. 5-10 seconds and it was gone. It was the sound I had heard many a times from that cubicle and I knew the person also, but never asked her about the sound. I had just crossed the cubicle and just missed seeing what it was.

To describe in brief about the lady in the cube : quite a sportive person, short and smart looking with long straight hair; very good at interacting with people; keeps visiting different countries often; innovative and brilliant at her work. I have become a secret fan of hers!
I had assumed it might be her hobby to collect toy cars - sports cars, she kept one in her desk drawers and at times she played with it, rubs the wheels against her hands and rotates the wheels, which causes that screeching sound. I also assumed at what point of time she might be doing that - like she just figured a solution (says Eureka! in her mind) and plays with the car!!! or before a meeting (c'on its time to go!!) plays once with it and off!!
Amazing how mind imagines and creates its own picture - just out of one screeching sound!!

Today I decided to cross-verify, if my assumption of source of sound was correct, so stepped back few cubicles and asked her - hey I was wondering for quite sometime now, what was that sound you just made? She started laughing and then she replied Its my pencil-sharpener!!!! And she brought it out to show it to me and started explaining how it worked and why she was not quite happy with it etc. I was dumbfounded for a moment and then laughed out aloud! Its a hi-tech sharpener, insert the pencil in the sharper, a small motor inside automatically starts and rotates inside (making the sound!!!) to sharpen the pencil!
'Gotta meeting, cya later' she said and off she went. She had sharpened the pencil for the meeting!