Antara Echoes

Am actually tired of seeing dozen's of such wannabe's seeking their 30-secs of fame by raking up some controversy or the other. But off late, worldover, the easiest route to fame seems to be to attack India and Indians. Seems like we are an easy target. Look at this one - India's Healthcare is Cheaper than America's! - Fox News Investigation - Glenn Beck Reports Glen Beck seems surprised that India could have better healthcare infrastructure and sniggers & pokes fun. Should we take offense? Should we demand an apology? I dont know. I think he hardly merits any importance for his shoddy reporting based on half baked 'research'. But it is really sad that Fox News could allow some irresponsible reporting like this get aired.

Last few days have been quite eventful. Lots of discussion, pondering over questions and seeking an answer everywhere but no decisions arrived at. Its funny how we strategize, antagonize and think we are making things happen while none of it is in our control. And what is even more strange is how perspectives alter in a matter of minutes. Actually we are no different from little children, despite our pretenses of having all grown up and matured. Am sure none of this is making sense and it might seem like I have lost it. Its actually like this - last few months we have been on a rigorous house hunting spree and despite walking through several of them, we took a liking to none of them. Then one fine day we saw this beautiful duplex, spacious, airy, never before occupied and with a private terrace to boot. The apartment complex is also wonderfully serene with little children dotting the play area and making a pretty pretty scene. We had zeroed in on our dream home! Of cours...

Indian television seems to be going from bad to worse. Reality shows centering around dance & music was one thing but then the progressive decline into finding the perfect (sic) bride is completely another matter. Do the majority of Indian audience really enjoy these kind of shows? Why isn't there a single Quiz show or a science program like Turning Point in any of the popular channels? Even a Travel Show taking the audience through lesser known places would do wonders than the steady junk serials they are being fed. Star Plus one of the most popular TV channels seems to have mastered the game and comes up with one mind-numbing story after another. Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai tells the story of a marwari family who arranges the marriage of their daughter with the scion of another marwari family. The serial shows the girl sacrificing her dreams of furthering her education, giving up any ideas of a career for the role of a subserviant wife. In the name of tradition it portrays ...

Its few hours since I have completed reading the book and am still reeling under the after-effects of it. Its not about being overwhelmed by the book but every book I read usually lingers in the mind for some time, like how the taste of coffee (good or bad) remains. So I will try and be as objective as possible about it. With Dan Brown for an author, the book is more or less expected to be a racy, entertaining best seller. ' The Lost Symbol ' is definitely a nail-biting thriller and am sure is already topping the best-seller charts yet somehow it fails to impress the way the Da Vinci Code (DVC) did. One reason could be that Dan Brown seems to try too hard to meet up to it. The novel seems to follow the same plotline as DVC: Robert Langdon travels within the first few pages to a prominent location, faces a grotesque situation, is forced to run , gets lectured and lectures a lot on symbology & solve clues to save lives of many involved. While DVC was all about the Priory of...

I still remember the first time I got a letter from my school friend whom I had left behind when we moved cities. I fondly recollect the adrenaline rush of seeing the blue envelope unable to contain myself till I read through the contents and simply wanting to reply back query-to-query asap. Slowly the joy of writing letters waned out to sending seasonal greeting cards. Emails brought its own share of excitement and I can even now recollect the time we huddled around to register our first (hotmail) ids. The fun we had in coming up with the whackiest mail id's and then the rush to exchange ids. Then there used to be this constant urge to login and check for new mails. Letter, greeting cards had long given way to emails and e-greetings. Blue Mountain, Flash greetings, Archies and Hallmark went laughing to their banks probably because of us. Soon when chat was discovered, emails were used to just communicate the timings when to catch one another online and forward jokes. Yes...

Its just October yet here is Top 5 list of my favourite songs from Bollywood movies. It has not been a very tough list to come up with considering the crop of movies released this year. #1 Tum Mile - Emraan Hashmi invariably ends up with a great song to his name. A very lucky guy indeed. This melodious number sung by Neeraj Sridhar has me completely mesmerised. Not a song that can boast of great lyrics but it will sure run all through the day in your mind. #2 Mere Sang - Maybe I have an ear for only mellifluous songs but I wonder if there will be a single list this year without this song in it. Absolutely wonderful. Am sure Sunidhi Chauhan will be nominated for this one in all the upcoming award functions. #3 Masakali - An exception to soft numbers I love this song for its lyrics and sheer fun it emits. Sung by Mohit Chauhan, this one peps up the mood like no other. #4 Tu Muskura - from Yuvvraj and sung by Alka Yagnik is spellbinding. Really wonderful use of cello and percussion. A...

Hindu mythology & folklore says there are 7 people around the world who lookalike. Some say its a myth and many others beleive in it. While this is a very tough thing to prove we all surely might have come across someone who looks very similar though. Last week I was watching 'Maid in Manhattan' and I felt I had seen the character of Jerry Seigal somewhere. Few days later I was seeing the movie Fashion and there I had the answer! A few searches and I came to know that Jerry Seigal was played by Stanley Tucci and he seemed to have an uncanny resemblance to Ashwin Mushran who played the part of an agent called Rohit in the movie. Strikingly similar isn't it? Later I caught the song - Jiya Dhadak, Dhadak from the movie Kalyug playing in one of the channels and it struck me that Kunal Khemu resembles the young Heath Ledger from '10 Things I Hate About You ' soo much. Don't believe me? Check this out - The funny thing is Kunal Khemu sports the same ponytail ...

I saw this mail mentioning 'baby food' and instantly my alertness quotient skyrocketd. This was the message it contained: Nestle food products (including baby food) are fairly popular in India, but I just found out something about their policy for the products they sell in India, and it's shocking. Nestle has actually admitted it would use genetically-contaminated products in the food it sells in this country. But what's more shocking is that this is the same Nestle that dare not sell genetically-tainted food in EU, Russia or Brazil. Are Indian people less human? Are we guinea pigs and lab rats? Are we less deserving of safe food than citizens of other countries? This has got to change, and it has to change now! That's just why I've told Nestle Chairman Antonio Waszyk to come clean on the products his company sells in my country. Just click here to join me in demanding safe, GM- Free food from Nestle. And thanks for your support! Thanks again, *****************...

I am not sure but it seems like our threshold of tolerance specially for swear words keeps raising with each passing year. Earlier when I was in school words like - bloody, bitch, rascal (oh yeah!) etc was unmentionable. And girls who used to utter them within the pristine convent environment were shunned as the bad lot. Sounds hilarious now, but true. Later once we entered our teens it became cool to drop in a 'bitch' or a 'bloody', once in a while just to emphasize our strong feelings, yet it was once again the unruly who swore using the F & C words which was completely unladylike. But that was early 90's. Now I hear my neighbours son swear a 'F%$*' when he fell of his cycle and no shocking looks passed. His friend offers his hand in disdain and says calmly - "Dude, here give me your bloody hand"! So two hoots to Bloody Cool [V]. You guys have arrived!

One more Ganesh Chathurthi has come and gone. My earliest recollections of Ganesh puja was when I was about 8-10 years. Awoken by 5:30 a.m we used to accompany dad to mwm market to bring home our very own Ganesha idol. It used to be a ritual by itself with me & my sister enjoying every minute of it. Since mwm market used to be a stone's throw away appa used to take a brisk walk and we used to prance behind him in our pattu pavadai's holding the brass plate in which the coveted idol would rest. I recollect vividly how the colorful marketplace with glittering idols, the paper crowns swishing in the cool morning breeze and the smell of fresh roses & jasmine in the air would usher in the festive mood. Sis & me used to always have this major grouse as appa used to always insist on purchasing a clay idol of Ganesha against the colourful ones stacked in different alluring poses. We used to secretly think appa was stingy and used to try a number of tricks to veer him toward...

We as a country don't think too much of Identity cards and information security, is known for a fact but I did not think these things are treated with so much alacrity out here. Someone I know of and who is quite well-educated threw away her passport just because she never used it and it got expired! Another lady who is a teacher in a reputed school in Bangalore tore away her SSLC marks sheet as it had got a worn out and yet another person has two Electoral cards - one was issued in his popular nickname by how he was addressed by his friends and then he got another issued in his official legal name. These are real people who are well-educated and are holding respected positions in the society. Wonder how worse things could get if we go further into the hinterlands. There are so many who hardly feel the need to apply & get a PAN card or even understand the importance of these legal identity proofs. And to prove my point, this was taken from one of the suburbs in Bangalore - So m...

Every time someone talks about babies and the tough parenting involved they are quick to talk about changing umpteen nappies and of sleepless nights. But what is actually more excruciatingly tough and which nobody seems to talk about is - about feeding them. Almost right from the time they are born, be it breastfeeding or formula and then progressing to the next stage of baby food and then slowly graduate them to adultfood is no small matter at all. Believe me. Each stage comes with its own set of problems that one would hardly have ever foreseen. You thought babies will cry when they are hungry? Yes, they will apart from wailing for a host of other things. You thought they will open their cute little mouths and ask to be fed? A Big NO! Babies love to test your patience. Stock it well. As they grow their feeding habits gets to be even more adventurous. Most parenting books say - strap them on to their high chairs and give them finger food to play around and slowly spoonfeed them. This...

The other day I was pondering over the vagaries of life, as my lil son snuggled next to me for his morning nap. My trail of thoughts (its usually a long trail) took me on a self-discovery trip and I realized that I am quite quirky by nature. Now, now every man has his own share of quirks & twists, its just that the sudden realization of them made me quite unnerved. Is it like am afflicted with something or are there more like me out there? Well here am adventourously compiling a few - #1 I Count - I mean, when I am in a room I sub-consciously count. It could be the number of rings on the curtain rod or the number of door panels or the squares in the carpet design. I don't know why I do it but I simply like to keep a count. #2 Creaseless Bedspread - I necessarily require the bedspread stretched and lengthend to its limit. Always. I hate to see a crumpled bedsheet or a bunch of dirty clothes on them. Hubby dearest by now knows the twitching of my eyebrow and would never le...

Most tambrams will need no introduction to what I'm saying out here, but to the others "Bhagavat Sevai" is a very special annual puja conducted for Goddess Bhagavati, seeking her blessings for the health, wealth and prosperity for the entire family. Though it is one among the numerous puja's that are conducted annually, the bhagavat sevai has its own routines and elaborate rituals. The house gets cleaned, loads and loads of flowers of all variety are bought. The 'Aravana Payasam' or "Nei Payasam" gets prepared in the "uruli" and there is generally a festive atmosphere. Evening the vadhyar comes home, bathes and chastely draws a special kolam (rangoli) and the traditional kerala lamp is decorated with flowers. Then the prayers, melodious incantations and chants begin. The elaborate pooja ends with the priest chanting mantra's & naming each family member along with his or her Rasi & Nakshatram and seeking the Devi blessings. The ...

Am not a well-versed cook as I have hardly spent any time in the kitchen. Yet here is a snack that I am quite adept at making and would like to share it with all out there. Crispy Bread Rolls is the ideal snack for a raining evening as its quite easy to make and most of the ingredients are usually available at home. Crispy Bread Rolls Ingredients - Sandwich Bread - 6 slices Baked Potato - 2 Chopped Onion - 1 Green chilli's - 2 Oil & Seasonings Method of Preparation - Add a teaspoon of oil into a frying pan and then slowly add the chopped onions. When it turns golden, mash the baked potato's and add them along with the finely cut green chilli's. Add seasonings like finely chopped curry leaves, appropriate quantity of salt, turmeric and mix it well for a medium flame. The filling that goes into the bread pakoda is ready. Cut the sides of the bread slice. Slightly damp the bread with a little water but ensure it does not turn soggy or to...

Recently I saw a couple of Tinkle comics on a coffee table that caught my attention and brought back lots of happy childhood memories. Shikari Shambu, Suppandi and the rest used to be our favourite characters. I still remember how mom used to hold up the comics with a condition to finish our evening tiffin and homework. She could have blackmailed us to jump of the roof and we would have easily done that too. This reminded me how my parents had inculcated the habit of reading in us. I clearly remember the newspaperwala supplying us with a regular dose of tamil magazines, comics & other general magazines along with the newspaper. My dad used to always encourage us to spend at least 10 minutes sifting through the morning paper and that has become such a habit that my morning cuppa coffee is not completely enjoyed without the newspaper. As we grew the comics gave way CSR (Competition Success Reviews) and then slowly to Readers Digest, which I yet enjoy immensely. Am not sure how many ...

I see flashes of you smiling benevolently at me when I made a mistake, smile indulgently at my office banters, shaking in good mirth when I lost to you at a game and smile sheepishly when you were wrong & I was right. I remember those rainy afternoons when the four of us played "Rummy" and when we two used to gesture each other on the sly & cheat you. I remember the time when you made masala dosa for us and left mom fuming over a terribly messy kitchen. I remember the umpteen arguments we have had and the number of silly fights we have fought. I remember you waiting for me at the gate for my return, with an expectant look like that of a child. I remember the customary once-a-month dinner outings and how we used to argue on how much to tip. I remember those old anecdotes & stories of your childhood that you would narrate so hilariously. I remember you telling the history behind those antique silverware or the story behind the winding alarm clock. I remember you ta...

Here's a business idea which makes me feel shucks-why-didn't-I-think-of-that! So this company offers comic/ illustrated books wherein the storyline, characters all are personalized by you. So you can have a storybook for your child which goes soemthing like - "Niya goes on a treasure hunt..." Wonderful way to lure children back to the world of books and create a healthy habit of reading in them. Brilliant guyz. IandMYStory.com - Imagine a book where your child becomes the star of the story, making reading enjoyable. The story comes to life with the child's name, age, hometown, family, friends and uncles & aunts all being part of the adventure. Not entirely original but fantastic adoption of concept. Hoochymail uses a similar concept to create personalized erotic fiction. Just wondering how feasible its going to be to customize & print each & every book. But then my knowledge of the printing & publishing industry is minimal.

Having a baby inadverently means changing diapers umpteen times a day. It's also among the most important things one shops for & for quite some time to come. Having tried almost all the available brands in Bangalore for my son, here is a list mothers-to-be might appreciate. #1. Pigeon Diapers - The best that I have seen till date. Soft, cloth-like-feel and a little more pricey than the rest, but totally worth it. Available at Apple-of-my-i, The Junction, Urbanite and other select outlets only. Japanese make. #2 Nice Baby - The first diaper that my son used. Amazing fit, very comfy and never gave any kind of rash to my baby. We used to travel all the way to Mallya hospital to get our monthly stock since it used to be available at Mallya Hospital's Pharmacy alone. However it has been discontinued for some time now since they took up Pampers distribution. Made in Canada & imported here, I don't think its available anywhere else. #3 Bella Baby Happy - Not a bad choice c...

Last weekend we took a road trip to Bijapur - an ancient city that still seems to hold on fast to its historic relics and yet where modernisation is fast catching up. One might wonder why Bijapur, when the sun specially scorches down in all its fury, while better counterparts such as Ooty, Thekkady & Munnar are available. Well, let me hope that it suffices to say that we had our reasons. We took the sleeper a/c coach from VRL which seemed a little claustrophobic at the begining but turned out to be quite comfortable once we got used to it. Here are a few places we got to visit - Torvi Narasimha Swamy Temple - It was here that Kumara Valmiki is said to have composed the famous Thoravi Ramayana in Kannada. The deity idol is placed way down below in a cave and though the pathway has been tiled & modified it yet gives one a queer feeling. We were fortunate as it was supposed to be the week of Narasimha Mahotsav. Since our visit was on a Saturday we offered coconut, sugarcubes and...

This post is completely dedicated to my darling baby who is right now giving me such a hard time by crawling under my chair & trying to push the main switch of the CPU. He is just about a year old now and he already has his favourites. My sonny boy digs on this song by Jump5 and its a must-watch for him, atleast once a day! Needless to say I have this song on my cell. Honestly speaking, I had not even heard of this band nor this song. It so happened that this song was part of the promotional CD we received along with our HP Laptop and one day he happened to see this playing. He waves his hand & head bangs when he see's this song and I have started liking this song too. His Favourite Food - Gerber Juice treats and Gerber Graduate Finger Foods These are the only two things he eats without fussing. His Favourite Toy - Yep..He loves to go and hide under his tiny pool and play peek-a-boo. And once his interest wavers he would want to deflate it by pulling out the stopper! Give ...

The present global recession that began around the third quarter of 2008 has been termed as unusually severe with the recovery very slow and sluggish. The reason being, this time the recession is synchronized with deep financial crisis previously unprecedented. According to a journal recently published , the bubble of derivatives, leveraging, hedging and other interlocking ponzi schemes that began the crisis to begin are still out there unpopped. Top Banks in US that received the Federal funding (they refuse to use the terminology of "Nationalisation") have been asked to undergo the "stress test" but to remain keep quiet meaning not to publish about their performance. So much for accountability and so much for transparency and disclosure. Here are the results as published by a network which look very scary. Here's the report published on Turner Radio Network's blog , - an Online organization, which advertises itself as “Free speech; no matter who doesn’t lik...

Here is a presentation on a new technology called Sixth Sense developed by Pranav Mistry & Pattie Maes. Awesome view of what the future holds for us. Check it out. Sixth Sense by Pranav Mistry & Pattie Maes This demo -- from Pattie Maes' lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry -- was the buzz of TED. It's a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Pranav Mistry is the genius behind Sixth Sense, a wearable device that enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data. Jai Ho!

His sobs interrupted her dream. She woke all of a sudden and turned to see that he had his eyes tightly shut. He was crying in his sleep. “Maybe a nightmare”, she thought as she checked the bedtime clock by her side - 3:45 a.m. She got up and walked softly out of the room and turned the latch as quietly as possible. “Click” it sounded like someone had rubbed steel over an iron grate. “Gawd!” she muttered to herself as instantaneously her little toddler started his wailing. “Akash!, Akash..wakeup. Sumer is crying. Hold him close & rock him please while I get his milk warmed. Aakaaash” “Whaat..? Oh ok ok” he stuttered and tried to clumsily hold the crying baby. “For heaven sakes! Don’t switch on the light, Akash. He will lose his sleep” she fiercely whispered on her way out to the kitchen. She heard some angry mutterings but there was no time to retort. By the time the baby was fed & put to sleep again it was close 5:00 a.m. Akash had long turned his back and his snoring was ba...

I don't know how I seem to manage it, but this is my 3rd consecutive book that I have read in the last month. Now this is no mean feat if you have a 10 month old toddler to take care of too. Bah! you say? Sample this - My typical day goes something like this: My little darling is an early riser and but that I mean somewhere around 4:30-5:00 a.m and by rising early he doesn't simply wakes up and smiles around. He wails. Now I got to rush down, get some warm milk (at the exact temp, else there goes some precious minutes in trying to cool it) and then sleepy feed him. Care as to be taken so he remains calm yet doesnt get too entertained that he loses his sleep and I dont want to get into telling about a grumpy baby! From then on its baby breakfast time (cereal first, appropriate fruit and then a little warm water), baby bath time (get his little pool ready, baby oil, clothes, shampoo) baby medicine time (gripe water, iron/vitamin drops) and then he is ready for a short nap before ...

What in the name of the good lord do you think are these? - Laptop , Novel, Kangaroo, Flash, Rock'n Roll, Chocolate..No its not some guessing game devised for my toddler but some actual film names from the malayalam industry! "What's in a name? A Rose Is a Rose is a Rose is a Rose" said the famous bard and our film makers decided to take it utmost seriously I suppose. For where else would you find such ridiculous names for movies. Now sample these Kannada film titles - 35 out of 100, Jolly Days, Bombaat, 10th class A sec, PUC, Satya in Love Hahahah While am not asking for something very profound such as the "Quantum of Solace" but even it can be something as simple yet meaningful as "Kill Bill" please. Now don't think Tamil & Hindi movies fare any better. Its just that I am unable to make myself to even come to list the ones in other languages. So do we call this lack of creativity or taking creativity to its extreme? I dunno but I wish a l...

Books, it has been said, enlighten lives like no other. They often conjure up a differnt world of vivid color & images that not even movies can surpass. A world where one can see through the eyes of the protogonist and live through a thousand situations which one would not even have dreamed of. Atleast books have this magical effect on me. The last book I read was Wicked Women of the Raj by Coralie Younger. Here is an apt summary from Indiaclub : An unputdownable factual account of the zenana world of the rajas and sultans of India, concentrating on the firangi bahus and begums of this veiled world of myths and folklores. This book gives us the stories of twenty different European women who broke society’s rules to marry the heathen Indian princes. Who were these women? Were they gold-diggers, or hopeless romantics hoping to enact their own Cinderella fairy-tale? Did they live happily ever after? Set against the backdrop of India’s independence struggle, the book has a delicious a...