black belt

This is what I found out today. Shilpa Shetty is a black belt in karate...
http://www.channel4.com/bigbrother/housemates/housemate_news.jsp?id=9

what a waste of talent :):)

I've been watching big brother more than ever now. thanks to school and the course i have to take this time. but anyways, i am having second thoughts about my last post. i mean no doubt she was domineering and difficult to deal with. but the part about jade and the other two not being racist. i mean do i even know what is and what is not racist. well, maybe not.
i am thinking!! more later, maybe not.

but a black belt, and still no action. i mean what good are those skills then :):) or was fighint not in the script...



oh, and this is kind of funny:-
**http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2557136,00.html

"I am one of the most well-known film actors in Indian cinema"

Shilpa Shetty is making all the wrong news.. She ended up being in the wrong place, with culturally different people, and the end result, Indians all over are going crazy over what they call "racist attack on Shilpa".. But was it really, racist?

So here are my two cents on this. She tried to play this overly nice girl, and well, that just didn't work. It would've been better to be basically sensible, and sensitive to other cultures... I mean "I want to sleep facing North, it's the whole Hindu thing". Oh thats a good start. Why did she have to go with that extra luggage, carrying her weird beliefs with her.. And just for the record, this is no Hindu thing, or atleast I've never heard of a thing like that.
And not carrying that domineering air of being the bollywood queen that she claimed she is, all the way from Bollywood to the show, would have helped too... I mean this is how she introduces herself: "I am lucky enough to be one of the most well-known film actors in Indian cinema". Really?? Now that's news even to me. Do you also smell what I do!!
And time. Oh the games we Indians play with time. People here (well, most of them), and in Europe (I think) are way more particular about time than we are... So 4 means 4. Not some freakin 2:30. And even worse is when you have told everyone else that we'll eat at 4, and then start eating yourself at 2:30. I mean why do you have to go all out and start cooking yourself. And cook something for 4 people, and cook something that you like. That doesn't sound nice now does it? I don't know. She was just trying to be too nice, but in a bollywood actress kind of way. And at the same time was on the wrong side of the thin line called being bossy... "Being genuine is what Shilpa Shetty has always been known for". I think it was a revelation for her to find out that she was treated as just another person in the house. And not the goddess like treatment she is used to back at home. She said this was all so new and different for her. Oh yes, I bet this was the first time someone complained about the food the big actress herself cooked in 2 hours 15 minutes. But then this is a place where, one, people don't know bollywood, and, two, they could care less if she is big in someting they haven't ever heard about.

That said, I think she had the bad fortune of ending up with a group that was, well, pretty weird. One of them (I think Jackie) seemed like she was on drugs all the time. If I was walking on the street at night and saw someone like Jackie, I'd be scared. And Jade, Danielle and Joe, well, they were not the best of girls you try to be nice to and make friends with:). So it was plain bad luck for her to have been stuck with them. I mean she was a little too refined and educated for the other three. Or so it seemed. And thay all seemed a little jealous. Of Shilpa's beauty, I don't know, or of her immense success, I think so. That combined with "I am lucky enough to be one of the most well-known film actors", and you got a show on. However I still do not think if it's correct to label it as racist. I think the real trigger still was how Shilpa carried herself around. That pissed the three girls, and they were not the kind you would want pissed at you!! She should have left the big-actress back in Bollywood.

But what bothers me the most is that all it is, in essence, is a bunch of girls not getting along too well. And look at the coverage that gets, Indian, English newpapers, news channels. And just about every online videos website on the internet. And then there are these people with nothing better to do than blog about such things :)

first anniversary!!

This is a significant day of sorts for me. I have completed my first year in US. One complete year in a different country, away from my family and friends. And it has been an experience like no other in my life of 24 long years. Lots of new things learned, not just about USA, but surprisingly also about India. Some of the learnings from the last one year :-

-99.99% americans do not like their president.
-americans we see on tv in our world are quite different in real life.
-beer is very popular, and teenagers like some weird beer-based games.
-lots of babies around, yet population is not a problem?? lots of space here, hardly any place you'd call congested.
-no, american food is not bland. people here LIKE spices too.
-general social sense of an average american is way better than an average indian. like keeping their day-to-day commitments (making it on time, doing what they said they would, following the rules). literacy may be a reson. but i feel it goes beyond that, it's just that they (most I came across atleast do) think more about others than we do.
-sometimes teeagers shout at you from inside their cars. they are mostly just having fun.
-people like to live alone, with their stuff, and oh yes, their animals. a family of 4 might be spread across 4 houses (im not kidding).
-you will find some of the weirdest people in buses. not fun.
-roads and driving rules are awesome, though i hear autobahn is even better. though i wonder what could be better than this???
-people do all their stuff themselves. no maids, no sweepers, no garbage guy, and im still to talk to someone who has a servant.
-i can not talk to more than half the indians cause we speak different languages. i can talk to all americans. very strange.
-african americans and white americans still do not mix too much, atleast not in Minnesota. they are just as divided as different religions probably hindus and muslims back home.
-african americans make awesome rap music. usher is my current favorite.
-50% marriages here end in a divorce.
-americans are on an average louder in public.
-the way i pronounced "antenna" for the first time almost caused a friend to jump out of the school building
-number of tech support calls going to india is surprisingly high. but i didn't see that many call centers back home! and americans are not wrong in complaining about the accent of support-reps. we have like a no good asian accent with words twisted at will just so that we can pronounce them easily (who started that?)
-everything, and i mean everyting here in usa is MADE IN CHINA. from a needle to a vacuum cleaner to a laptop. funny thing a friend points out, americans produce their cotton, ship it all the way to the other side of the globe, and then ship back the finished garments.
-nobody ever complains about all these non-software jobs gone to china??
-for the first time in my life i bought something that was made in pakistan:). my conforter is Made in Pakistan. and its quite good for the record.
-americans from time to time like to confirm if you now get a feel of how crazy they are!!
-weather service in minnesota is out of this world. these guys are never wrong.
-you can get arrested if you overtake a school bus that is flasing its lights
- bicyclists have to wear helmets too:)
-gas is cheaper here. not fair.
-ipod is cheaper even though its made in china. grossly unfair.
-you get like a 100 times more junk emails here.
-people complain about pollution here too. but where is it:)
-credit card machines are different everywhere. its such a hassle.
- you have to put gas yourself in your vehicle. thats not too convenient. i like the handing of the key to the person who would do it for you, and they'd also wipe your windshield while the tank fills up.
-people who are not americans but try stupidly hard to look like one only end up looking silly. and i hate indians who try doing that.
-its not easy to explain them cricket.
-american football is a horribly slow game. all they do is jump on top of each other. the cheerleaders on the sides are more fun:)
-traffic here is almost non-existant (yes) yet i have had two of the scariest road adventures here- one, while i spun 180 degress in a friend's car on a rainy day right next to lake superior, and two, when a friend's mother almost ran into another vehicle. the other vehicle was actually supposed to stop, so it wasn't her fault.
-so many people here do not know about what exists outside US.
-its not so easy to get a credit card for an international student. back home it was a pain to keep the card companies from bugging you day in and out.
-people really do not know their neighbors. i never believed that when i heard that back home.
-toilet communication: teenagers write messages on the toilet tiles, and other reply to them. i enjoy reading them:). one of them that started with someone saying "i suck at life" had some 5 replies to it.
-called up china cafe to order food and it took like 5 minutes to explain the lady that i was saying 1st street and not 4th street. eventually "street one" worked.


And some quotes:-
-"Do they eat Pizza's in India??" :). a curious lady, when she offered me a slice of pizza.
-"Is India the country that Pakistan has some trouble with on their border". a girl in one of my classes I TA'ed for.
-"Are we caught up" My professor who I TA'ed for in the second semester. He asked me this in the middle of the class and I was like what the heck, who is catching what:)
-"can i keep you on ho fow a why sa"?? i had to ask this lady to repeat this like 3 times before i understood that she was trying to say "can i keep you on hold for a while sir". she was actually singing.
-if i still do not understand something when someone has already repeated it, i usually answer "yeah". it mostly works.
-a student emails me this and asks me to fix it:) -: "This profesor does not know how to teach and he should not really be doing this anymore. I do not understand anything he teaches us and i think that would be the opinion of most students in my class. Please consider this Vikram while you grade my project"
-"how goes it". who suck out all the grammar out of that.
-"do they have internet in india". don't know who but someone asked that too.
-"can you also go home by ship". yeah, but that would only take an year. that was another student.
-"are you allowed to date in india". haha.
- "are their cars in india?" nope, we ride camels:)

majestic

Delhi is gearing up for the commonwealth games 2010.. yup, thats the next big thing for us, really big one at that.. the first time we've been considered worthy and responsible enough for hosting a global sporting event of this magnitude. i was driving up the clover leaf that takes you onto that long flyover towards noida (noida mor), and up there somewhere is just the perfect spot to overlook the proposed commonwealth site. this place would have lots of top hotels, world class stadiums, metro connectivity and good public transport in about 4 years. and it felt great to see that work has already started.. they are digging up the place, so they must be doing something. TOI infact carried an article today which stated that the CWG federation chief is happy with the progress Delhi has made so far for the games.

the first thing however that would make your head turn as you drive by this place, with banners saying Common Wealth Site, is the Akshardham Temple. its simply astounding. i remember seeing it when driving to office everyday while it was still under construction. could never even have imagined that something this beautiful is what those workers were after with those drilling machines type things and big boulders all around. kudos to the craftsmen/women who built it. its like they put life in those stones. magicians. though critics still believe that 100 acres and about 2 billion rupees is way too extravagant for a temple within the already cramped city. but in india, if its got any religious connection, it works. and this then was a temple, so nobody would dare raise their voice. but its worth every penny and all the sweat expended. you have to be at the place to even get close to imagining the complexity of the sculptures and the skill and effort that it would have required. dexterous, and genius.. without a doubt, those majdoors and kaarigars... i wonder if they were paid anything other that their usual wage for this marvelous job.
here is what im talking about:
daytime: http://www.akshardham.com/photogallery/monument/photo/akshardham03f.jpg
twilight: http://www.akshardham.com/photogallery/monument/photo/mood07f.jpg

change of perspective..

im back home these days. back in delhi. back to the warm summer and delicious food. it feels great to be back in my hemisphere of the planet after almost an year. but strange as it may sound, some day to day things seem so weird now. things that im guilty of indulging in myself a year back, seem to drive me nuts now. here are the toppers:
-no concept of a cue when waiting to buy your token at a shop
-malls have arrived, trolley etiquettes haven't (a gentleman, and i mean a real one at that dressed in a suit) leaves his trolley in the alley and talks on his phone, an alley that seems to have been designed on purpose to be only as wide as one trolley)
-people brush against you for no reason at all
-called up tata broadband cust service. your connection will be restored quickly within
24 hours sir
-honking
-more honking
-even more honking

at peace with duluth

this is a great day, absolutely wonderful. I had a long todo list as the day began, and im through with everything i anticipated doing today. and that included cleaning my room!!

and the summer has finally arrived, things are getting back their colors now. from the spotless white to like the most pleasing shades right out of a seasoned artists' palette.

Duluth is actually funny in its own way. I mean I arrived here and that was about at the onset of winter. the trees start to shed everything, yes, every damn thing. its like the place is not happy with you or something. the grass is all gone after the first snowfall. and then the temperatures dip. from 40 blistering degrees of delhi, to the piercing negative 40 of duluth. and this place has weather. it indeed does. like in delhi, if say its 20 above zero today, it will be 20ish for the rest of the week, right? but duluth can go from 30F today to -20F tomorrow. thats weather!! and thats the lake effect. The Lake Superior. The largest freshwater lake in the world, staring right at me for the last one year through my living room window!! Ok, back to Duluth. So I was talking -40F. now this is what -40 feels like. imagine needles frozen to the tip, now imagine someone relentlessly piercing you with them. thats how even the frailest of breeze feels on any exposed part of body when its 40 below and you have to wait for the damn bus that is never late, but for some reason is today. I never covered my face, just not a big fan of those silly looking face masks or wrapping my face in muffler like the filling of a burrito. and duluth took this as a flagrant disrespect. and comes at me with a 30 mile breeze one morning. replace needles with swords. thats how it felt. and since then, i never left without 2 mufflers to wrap my face. double burrito.
But then when you start to think all is lost, you see a ray of hope. temperatures start to rise, the wind feels pleasant, and its like duluth has come to peace with you. it showers you with a faint rain for days, and then things start to blossom. the grass, those yellow flowers and those beautiful leaves. and then you see a big whole bunch of seagulls all around you. and these birds can really shout. but it all blends in to make you feel like now you are indeed welcome!! "Duluth is larger than life," thats the im status message of a friend on my yahoo buddy list. It indeed is..