the one about restrooms

It makes me uncomfortable when people talk across cubicles in restrooms. I don't know if men do this as well. I know some women at my office who are "restroom buddies". They enter the restrooms chatting away about something and continue their conversations from the stalls as they do their business. No matter that they might not even be in adjacent stalls! For someone caught in the crossfire of this talk, it is totally awkward. Can't they wait until after they've left the restrooms to talk?

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Indian restaurants in the US continue the glorious Indian tradition of having dirty restrooms. The restaurant will be all posh looking with low lights, soft music and tasteful wall decor. But the restrooms will be stinky, dirty and out of supplies. Why this neglect?!?!?! What in our culture promotes this restroom abuse? I really can't imagine. If anyone has any answers, I'd love to hear them..

Vices and People..

Some of the most entertaining and likeable people I know smoke and drink. Interestingly, all of them are men. They belong to different generations and some of them have quite a number of other vices as well -- women, gambling etc.. But they're charming rascals all the same! A lot of my strait-laced friends are quite interesting in their own way. But they lack that dare-devil, happy-go-lucky, crowd-pleasing charm of the former category.

Do entertaining/interesting people have vices because they're very open to new experiences and sometimes, these new experiences turn out to be addictive? Or does having vices generally gives you a certain perspective about human life that you become extremely tolerant and well-loved by other people?

Sunshine State, Weather Gods, Cabin Fever & "42"

* Made a trip down to Orlando last week. Stayed at the Walt Disney Swan. Wherever you go, its Disneyland. Disney owns the place! But I liked it. Of course, I bought a bunch of Disney stuff -- most of them silly but what the heck!

* When I left Lexington, I was gloating over the fact that I was going to warm, sunny, tropical Florida. Lexington was freezing. Ah, freedom for a week! Alas, I didn't pray to the Weather Gods. The temperatures in Orlando were in the mid-twenties for most of my stay there. Sigh. So much for escaping freezing weather. Nonetheless, it didn't deter a bunch of us from going to Universal Studios one very cold evening. "The Simpsons" ride was easily the highlight of the trip!

* The minute I landed in Orlando, my cell phone died. No life. Zilch. Zip. Nada. I tried many different avenues of getting it to work. Finally, I abandoned it and decided to have fun without it. It wasn't that difficult to manage without a cell phone. I actually enjoyed the freedom conferred on me.

* When I got back to Lex, of course, the wrath of the weather gods pursued me. We had an ice-snow storm two days back. Driveways were iced up and the roads were slick. We couldn't get out of the house. Our satellite dish couldn't pick up any signals. No TV. No cell phone. Sitting at home for three days without seeing anyone else other than S gave me cabin fever.

* Which brings me to my last point -- "42". The combination of not being able to venture out + no TV + no cell phone gave me tons of time to do some reading. I've been devouring "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy"! And I am becoming a cult fan! Currently reading the fourth book of the series -- "So Long, and Thanks for all the Fish!". If you want to know what "42" means, go read the book.

On Monarchy Vs Democracy

I've often heard my grandfather lament,

"வெள்ளைக்காரன் ஆட்சில எவ்வளவோ சுகமா இருந்தது நம்ம ஊரு !"

To which, my grandmother would retort,

"அரம்பிசுட்டேளா, உங்க வெள்ளைக்காரன் புராணத்த! சாயங்கால நேரமும் அதுவுமா ! வாயை மூடுங்கோ!"

And they would get into a rip-roaring fight that provided great amusement to all by-standers. Sometimes I've old-timers say the same about "Raja kaalathu" reigns. And they would point to all the great temples and works of art that were executed under monarchs and ask, "What has democracy done?"

Monarchy affords high-handed rule. If the lucky draw happens to be good, a nation gets a good monarch and uses high-handedness to do good things. Eg. Akbar, Chandragupta Maurya, Narasimha Pallavan, Raja Raja Cholan, Queen Eizabeth. On the other hand, if the Royal brood is a bunch of maniacs, God save the poor nation! However useless, this latter category definitely yields more interesting characters -- Louis XIV of France who reveled in his courtiers watching him use the toilet, Aurangzeb who was a nut-case etc...

I think no matter what the merits of monarchy are, Democracy is the greatest gift to the people of this world. If 10000 fools vote to elect one fool, we, the fools, know that we brought it on ourselves. Besides, the one fool that got elected is a fool of our own making. We get a chance to try again later.

All this brings me to another question I've been pondering awhile: Does the 'Karma theory' apply to nations? If the ruling class brings misery because of actions they take on behalf of their country, where does this 'paavam' go? To the individual who committed those actions? Or the populace that elected him?

If the population that elected him gets all the bad karma of the elected representatives, that would explain why Indians suffer so much! :) What do you think?

Brain dump..

The people in the house behind ours put up a fence yesterday. Our next door neighbor did the same 2 months back. Our house had a fence when we bought it. I feel boxed-in when I see a bunch of fences around me instead of a clear view. Besides, the neighborhood children were playing in the backyards this summer. They were using the undivided space between the houses to play softball and to run around screaming. I guess now they're confined to limited space which must suck! Bah!

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I watched three movies this weekend. 'Thedi Vandha Mappillai' starring MGR, Jayalalitha has to be the worst movie made in that era. Horrendous dialogues and acting. Jayalalitha looked very pretty though! 'Enga Veetu Ramayanam' was a laugh riot. S.Ve. Shekar cracked me up. 'Jab We Met' was alright. Shahid Kapoor looked really cute! It was a feel-good movie but I thought the "crazy, simple girl does whatever her heart tells her to" routine is getting old these days. Recently, Genelia did that in 'Santosh Subramaniam' and now, it is Kareena. Honestly, I've not met one girl like that in all these years. So not sure whether to believe such people exist..:-)

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Belated Independence Day Wishes! This blog has been in draft mode for two days. I've not managed to publish it.

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One of my college friends sent me a link to Amitabh Bachchan's blog -- http://blogs.bigadda.com/ab/ . It is interesting in its own way. I am surprised he finds the time to post regularly (and he insists it is he that's writing, not some ghostwriter) despite his busy schedule. It is quite nauseating to read the comments section of his posts --- all fawning, servile and irrelevant. I wonder if Indians have lost all sensibility. If someone is pouring his heart out about his mother, the only thing someone can find to say is, "You are awesome!" or something like it?? What's wrong with people!

Who has the charisma?

I've been following the US Presidential race. I've been interested in the race just because of two people -- Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Hillary, if she wins the Democractic nomination, will be the first female candidate for presidence. Obama, if he wins, will be the first colored presidential candidate. Barack Obama won the Iowa caucuses last week in a major setback to Mrs. Clinton. Now she's on the aggressive determined to win New Hampshire this week.

I favor Obama because he also has that indefinable charisma that Bill Clinton effortlessly exudes. When Obama talks, you feel that he's speaking to you personally straight from his heart. There's a very tantalizing honesty to his body language too. I think that being more aggressive, Hillary will reinforce the legend of the cold, calculating, ruthless woman bent on limitless power. As much as I am a supporter of feminist ideals, I do feel the coldness in Hillary's demeanour when she meets people. It's like she's somehow holding back a part of her; Like she's talking to people because she has to but not because she enjoys it.

Anyways, I tip Obama to win the ticket and I like him too! We'll see what happens in New Hampshire.

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On the topic of New Year celebrations...

We threw a huge party for my brother's first birthday. I really cannot include myself in the "we" as in "We threw the party" because I was only 5 years old back then. My parents did most of the work. All I had to do was flaunt my baby brother to everyone and smile for pictures. I have a very misty recollection about it but I do think it was a grand bash. We were in Bhubaneshwar then and all the kids in Acharya Vihar were invited. We even had gifts for all my friends like crayons, pencils, pencil cases, balloons etc...I used to love pencil boxes back then! My mom used to get me one with various Disney characters each time we went to the local superstore.

Of course, people tell me that my first birthday party was an even grander affair because I was the first child and all and Dad had invited all his office colleagues. Fancy that. I hope all of them got me nice presents but since I can't remember any of it, I am willing to forgive them even if they didn't.

Anyways, that is the only party I can recall that our family threw for a birthday. We were never a party family, you know. No cake-cutting or shouts of "Surprise" at midnight or gifts wrapped with shiny silver paper or parents fawning over how wonderful we were or any of those things. In fact, my dad hates to blow out candles on birthdays. He thinks that it should be a day when we light candles, not snuff them out. I agree with him on that point. Birthdays meant that Mom would cook an awesome meal and make nice payasam or some other exotic sweet (This year, when I happened to be in India for my birthday, she made badam cake and pakoras). We would wear our new clothes, go to a nearby temple and perform archanai. And that was that.

The logic extended to New Year also. As kids, I don't think my brother and I were ever awake till midnight on New Year's eve. It was just like any other day. But we'd visit family and friends, watch some special programs on TV, go to a fair or a movie and maybe eat out. But nothing compared to the hoopla we see these days about the "New Year". S & I spent the last moments of 2007 at a friend's place. We played "Sequence" until midnight, broke the bubbly, wished each other with lots of hand pumping et al, ate amazing home-made layered chocolate cake and posed for funny pictures. It was good fun because hanging out with friends is fun. But I wouldn't ascribe any of my joyfulness or levity to the fact that it was New Year's eve. I sometimes don't know what all the fuss is about.

Do people party on New Year's eve because they are celebrating the end of a strenuous year? Or are they celebrating a psychological watershed and decide to grow as a person in the coming year? Or is New Year's just an empty excuse to party? It really does make me wonder because I get these calls on January 1st and everyone asks me, "Soooooooo what did you do yesterday?Please don't tell me you spent it at someone's home? Come on, girl, didn't you hit the clubs?" Personally, I think that it is great to spend New Year's at home or at a friend's place celebrating the things that are important -- companionship, friends and of course, good food..:) I don't think its my cup of tea to go clubbing on New Year's eve with the mad, mad crowds and dance to wild music. I might try it once in a while but certainly not every year.

All that said, Happy New Year to all of you! Hope this year turns out to be a great year for all of you. As far as this blog goes, I think I have to make two solemn promises for this year:

1. I'll try to post more frequently.
2. I'll reply to all comments..:) I know I've been a laggard as far as this goes. I'll promise to be a good girl. There.

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Pick of the week

Prakash Raj's "...Solladhadhum Unmai" series in this week's Ananda Vikatan impressed me. I like the way he has handled "faith" and "belief".

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A few random observations -

- VFS' website - the website India goes to book its US visa appointments - doesn't work on Firefox. After entering a few details like name, date of birth etc.., I hit the "Submit" button. A "Date Format Exception" stared me in the face. I thought that perhaps the word verification had gone wrong. But alas, it took me a whole 1 hour to figure out that the website wasn't designed to work with Firefox. Duh. Some careless developer has broken the cardinal rule of them all: Always Handle Exceptions.

- I felt sorry for Saddam as I watched his final moments. Being taunted by other men before dying is not a pleasant sensation. And to make his humiliation public is even worse. No matter what his deeds were, he deserved a quiet, peaceful death...:(

-I think its time for me to stand up for a few, good movies. "Thiruvilayadal Arambam" (Dhanush, Shriya, Prakashraj) is not a great movie. Yet it is a super-duper hit. "Sivapathigaram" is a sensible, watchable movie. Yet it fails at the box-office. I really don't understand the taste of our junta anymore. I also liked Vettaiyadu Vilayadu and Jillunu or Kadhal. But they're failures at the B.O? What in the world is happening? Don't decent movies have a chance anymore in TN?

- Two recent cases shocked me to the core: the child murders of Noida and the Saligramam murder of a young boy by three other teenagers. Somehow, child murders in India have more shock value for me than hearing about those in the US. Talk about prejudice! How can men live with murdering children? Is their sexual appetite so insatiable that kids are not exempt? Why is it that men are so much more infinitely capable of cruelty than women? Or am I just being biased? From the rapes of Darfur to these murders in India, men seem to occupy centerstage when it comes to violating the dignity of human life..:( I am saddened.

- I have no New Year's resolutions! :) Yipppeeee!

- And I am going to be home for Pongal which makes me infinitely happy! :) Back to the festive colors, the rangolis, the sumptuous food and the comfort of parents....sigh! :)

American Morning

Does anyone of you out there watch American Morning on CNN? The first thing I do when I wake up is switch on CNN and watch out for Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien on American Morning. It is my way of getting news with hot coffee in the morning- a substitute (albeit a poor one) for reading The Hindu with hot filter coffee in India.  Unfortunately, Soledad O'Brien is on maternity leave and for the past week Heidi Collins has been taking her place. U know how sometimes you can take a totally irrational dislike to some people? Well, Heidi Collins has my vote. She doesn't fit in like an old shoe. Somehow, she seems to be rather snooty and uptight in contrast to the casual style of Soledad. I am sure all this is just my imagination but nonetheless, I don't like Heidi Collins' style.
Oh, and Jack Cafferty! That guy has a dry, sarcastic wit that is very appealing and his dour, skeptic screen persona certainly fits him. His one-liners are pretty amusing. By the way, it is a darn good way to start the morning. Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien certainly do a great job. I guess I'll stop before I start sounding like an ad for CNN.
And news this morning: certainly not good. The head of the beheaded American Paul Johnson has been found in Saudi Arabia.