2009 Nobel Peace Prize

United States President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday (Oct-09-2009) for his, "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

I request you not to ask me what has been done in the last 9 months for him to deserve this peace prize. I am deeply troubled and confused by the decision of the Noble Prize committee (The Norwegian Nobel Institute). With two wars running, 9 months into the administration, how is Obama the most deserving candidate?

While the intention seems more like a slap to Mr. Bush than honoring the President, if that were the intention, shouldn’t the committee have waited for a longer term, at least 1 full term before they honored the President? I cannot help but wonder, if one deserves a prize like “Nobel Peace Prize” for just talk, talk and talk, then every minister in India too deserve this! Why, every political leader around the world deserves this, for they give hope to their people. Living up to it is another story altogether.

Ah, not to forget the beauty queens in all the pageants yearning, hoping for world peace, surely they also deserve this prize.

So, whom shall we criticize today? The President or the Prize Committee? Well, I can only say, now that Mr. President has got the award (deserved or otherwise), its time to live up to the expectations. Apparently he had done so much for the World Peace. Its time he does something for United States as well…apart from giving hope.

Also, I was under the impression that the Nobel Prize nominations happen around February every year (correct me if I am wrong). So, the committee had nominated Obama within the first month him being the President? Or they have decided that even if he is not the President, they would give him the prize for the inspirational Presidential Campaign?

Mohandas K Gandhi wasn’t deserving enough but Obama is, for quoting Gandhi. Wah wah, kya baat hein (Translates to sarcastic Bravo). On a serious note, I wonder if Obama can stand up shoulder to shoulder with people like Mother Theresa (1979), Dalai Lama (14th, 1989), Martin Luther King (jr)(1964), Nelson Mandela (1993), Doctors Without Borders (1999) etc. Well, lets “HOPE”.

Okay, how do you like the below? Tell me if you think the President fits well amongst these people.

Any resemblance at all? Life time achievements, years of dedication, passion, selfless love with zero boundaries, bringing Democracy where people were being treated worst than slaves...and then finally the Prize goes to Mr. President. Anyway, a toast to Mr. President.

Small vacation, Turtle Bay

Turtle Bay, Karnataka, India:

It all started with a small thought of going on a vacation with two of my good friends, Hema and Parul. Initial proposal was to go to Goa (I had never been to Goa). I suggested that we stay in a nice hotel, which was promptly refused by my other two friends. They said, “If we are going to Goa, we are staying in a small shack and get drunk every single day…that’s the real fun”. And I promptly refused…is it safe? After arguing for days we decided to go to a small resort called Turtle Bay near Mangalore, India.

As soon as we boarded the plane, Hema, being an ex-flight attendant in Air India, promptly started giving us a running commentary about the propeller plane we took from Bangalore to Mangalore. Nothing could stop her from her commentary, which rather took a technical turn, not even that cute co-pilot.

From Mangalore we took a pre-arranged car, which neither had a rear view or the side mirrors. After holding our hearts in our hands we arrived in another small town called Udipi. You know the famous Udipi hotels....we had a hearty early dinner and arrived in Turtle Bay only at 8:00 PM. The rooms were spacious.
Since we were tired we retired to bed early.



I woke up to the chirpy birds singing at 5:00 AM. While I woke up early, my friends were still pretty much snoring. After having capi (coffee) I set out to explore my home-for-3-days. To my delight, Turtle Bay was one of most beautiful beaches I had ever been to! It’s neither a pebble beach nor a clear water beach. Something about its seclusion has appealed so much to me. The reluctant sun slowly started rising from the Arabian Sea. Since we went there on weekdays, there was not a soul outside, at the beach.

Kariya, a small black cat, abandoned me as soon as it sensed that I would go towards the waves. If you call nature as God, sure I had seen God at that moment. I sat by the shore and I was totally lost in its beauty. I couldn’t take my eyes off the waves, relentlessly kissing the shore all day and night. That moment I wished in my next birth I should be born as a drop of water in this Arabian Sea (ok, don’t ask me how is it possible) just to experience the serenity of being one with the ocean.
Private cottages, beautiful coconut trees, abandoned boats…wow. I really would go back there again and most importantly, the seclusion! Perfect place for meditation and yoga and some light reading and romance.



After spending 2 peaceful hours at the shore, finally the sleepy heads arrived with more freshly brewed capi and swim suits. We went for along swim…actually playing-in-water is more appropriate than the word swimming.

Before we realized it was 11:00 AM. That day we had roti with egg burji. Lunch never tasted better. From 12:30 till dusk we just sat by the tree and talked and talked and talked. Ah the joy of spending time with girl friends!
A fire pit was setup and we opened a bottle of wine and Parul had started telling us both some horror stories. That evening we had egg burji again!

The next day was…interesting. We went out to a small island in the sea, sans life jackets in a super small boat. I was pretty freaked out but my friends were enjoying like they were merely taking a stroll in a park. While I was reliving the nightmare of drowning and dying in water, I should secretly confess that I would have enjoyed it very much in other circumstances; circumstances where I had at least a life jacket on. Sea urchins, mussels could be found every where, much to my dismay and much to my friends delight!

At last we came back to the shore and had egg burji for lunch. In the afternoon we went out for shopping in Udipi. All we could manage to buy were a few apples and attracted a lot of stares. What do people usually buy in towns?

We returned to our resort later that evening and enjoyed calm breeze with lots of wine and egg burji.

The next day afternoon we set out to Bangalore again not eventless! Our flight was delayed for 6 hours (no kidding). On the whole a wonderful trip.

The Zero size…

The Zero size…


My friend the other day commented about Kareena Kapoor (an Indian Actress). He says that he loves looking at Ms. Kapoor because she is zero size. I asked my other older uncle and they said, “Oh she is so anorexic”. I tend to agree with my uncle. I am not too sure if I felt a twinge of jealousy towards Ms. Kapoor or I truly believe that she is anorexic.

What is this new craze about looking like a stick? Well, agreed that you can wear whatever you want if you are a stick, but at what cost? And there is this colleague of mine who is forever on a diet. Like living on fruits and veggies. Sometimes I wonder is it really worth living like a rabbit when you feel like a lion inside?

Before I got married my parents used to look in The Hindu (Indian National News Paper) matrimonial section every Sunday. Believe it or not, every single ad would start with, “looking for a bride; fair, slim, beautiful, clean habits (don’t even ask what this means)…”
Out of curiosity one day I went to Dr. Ambedkar’s University in Hyderabad to see the news paper archrivals if the standard ad’s are always this way about 2 decades ago. Not so surprising is the fact that they were not! In fact, no where in the ad did they mention about fair, slim, bla, bla, bla…..

I was looking at the news from India where the recent Air India episode was being discussed in full blow. Apparently the flight attendant was assaulted by the Captain in the flight deck and another male colleague of hers has come to her rescue.
(http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/mid-air_scuffle_air_hostess_was_assaulted_says_report.php).

One of the participants in another forum started saying, “Waise Air Hostess jyada Maal nahin thi”. Meaning why go to her rescue when she isn’t worth fighting for and not beautiful enough? When has beauty taken over Indian men completely? Can I safely generalize it to the World?

Rs. 315 Crore Memorial to YSR, Andhra Pradesh ex-Chief Minister

Really, I am not kidding and I am still in my senses. You don’t believe me, do you? Read this below link.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/ap-to-build-rs-300-cr-memorial-for-ysr-at-crash-site/102185-37.html

Now don’t get me wrong but why does YSR need such an expensive memorial? What magic’s has he performed that a memorial of that magnitude is being proposed?

Also, who is going to pay for it? Of course not his blue eyed baby Jaganmohan Reddy. It’s the stupid tax payer’s money going to drain! And I stress ‘DRAIN’.

According to 2001 census Andhra Pradesh has literacy rate of only 60.5% (male: 70.3% and female ONLY 50.4%). How about opening new government schools for kids in villages with that Rs. 315 crores?

http://www.aponline.gov.in/apportal/HomePageLinks/Population.htm

How about creating more employment opportunities and fulfil few of the promises made?

http://www.aponline.gov.in/Apportal/HumanDevelopmentReport2007/APHDR_2007_Chapter5.pdf

Pay close attention to Fiscal performance. It has been deteriorating since 1991. Not to forget the poverty line: 20.9% (Rural) and 8.5% (Urban).

In Andhra

Total Population: 76 Million approximately

Rural Poverty: 21%

Urban Poverty: 8.5%

People below poverty line: 15, 960,000+ 6,460,000= 22,420,000.

http://www.aponline.gov.in/Apportal/HumanDevelopmentReport2007/APHDR_2007_Chapter7.pdf

A WHOPPING 22.5 Million people are under the poverty line, official figures alone!!!! Is there anything at all this Rs. 315 crore’s can do to help them? The answer is simple right?

How about doing something good for women, children and their health care?

On top of everything I quoted above, what kind of an environmental damage are we looking at? Interested? See below.

http://forest.ap.nic.in/Facts%20and%20Figures/Chapter-1.pdf

This will give you a fair idea of the destruction which would be caused to the ‘protected’ forests.

Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy, please! Consider this. Enough of being selfish. Daddy got you whatever you wanted now, isn’t it? Else, why would you even be dreaming about such kind of a memorial? Have pity on your homeland. Give-up these selfish endeavours. If you really are interested in keeping your Dad’s ‘image’ amidst Andhra people, then do something useful.

When will we learn our priorities, especially when a mass of population is concerned?

Note: All sources are accurate, at least that's what the government website claims. Open the links I attached for more information.

Back to Basics

Last week when I was sorting the garbage for the pick-up, I noticed that I had to distribute the garbage in to 4 categories before I set it out.
(Note: Friends in India, in North America, the city comes to pickup the garbage on a designated day in a week. They started doing this in Bangalore as well)

One for recyclables, one for kitchen waste, one for yard waste (like grass, plants etc), one for garbage. (Not to mention the monthly disposal of furniture etc).
This made me wonder and go back in time, to my grand mom’s kitchen, to her parent’s world.
I was reminiscing about this with my husband also as to how we used to go to ‘market’ in olden days (say more than a decade ago). And we recalled how we used to carry a bag along with us to the Sunday markets. We didn’t have any plastic bags to separate the veggies nor did we have to pay extra 5 cents to get a bag, if need be.

Hubby also reminded me the olden way of eating in a banana leaf. It’s fresh, pure and most of all cows in a backyard would feast on the leaves after you finish your dinner! And I don’t have to worry about me dropping it down like I do now with my fine china.
No waste and no excess…my tummy is happy and so is my cow!

Also didn’t we used to get new utensils if we sell recyclables? Jeee, we have everything in India since a long time. We just didn’t name it. And not to forget the kitchen waste like onion skins, egg shells being used as manure!!! We were organic all along!!!!

Now after all these years these Western countries have started this funda in a full swing! Lol!!! And we in India try and imitate their culture, as if it were the way to go.

The Western countries, after all these years, started embracing yoga, Aurveda, The Gita and the Indian way of so many things. And yet, we tend to feel little intimidated by the same people. What are we missing?

Coffee, Tea or Me?

No, you cannot have me :) I was kidding! I can get you coffee or tea though but black. No milk or cream at home.

About a couple of years ago I had to go to the Municipal office in my home town in India for my birth certificate. As unusual as it sounds, even though my birth was registered in the hospital, somehow my parents never got the certificate. Over the years, I also let it go for I didn’t really need birth certificate as a mandatory document until I had to apply for my PR to Canada.

Then the problem began. According to the Municipal office, if we apply and pay the fees of Rs.250, they should be able to re-issue the certificate in 2 working days. Needless to say, I didn’t get the certificate even after 3 weeks. Finally I got the hint and paid Rs.5000. And guess what, I had the certificate in my hand the same evening.

This brings us to an interesting juncture. While I crib and cry that India is filled with corruption, I also encouraged this (shall we say) disease (called corruption/bribe) at one point because I was running short of time. How many of us had done this at point or another? Sometimes in train stations, sometimes at the passport offices, sometimes at the hospitals and many times at a job consultancy?

Do we then have any right to complain about corruption in India? I guess not.

If anyone who reads this says that they have never indulged/encouraged in this corruption, then my hats off to them. We need more people like you.

I made friends with one constable in Jubilee Hills Police Station, (Hyderabad, India) when I went there to complain about my stolen credit card. I learnt from the constable that he works 7 days a week and is on call even when he at home in the evening. His pay is Rs.6500. Now how is he supposed to feed his family with Rs.6500? (If he does dare to get married with that modest paycheck in a city like Hyderabad). So, he ends up taking Rs.10 here, Rs.20 there to make ends meet. Another point to note is that Jubilee Hills is like Beverly Hills. Not everyone can afford a home there. So the constable has to travel at least 1 hour each way to reach home.

You would hear the same story from hospital compounders(nurse) also. And you give them Rs.50 or more in the hope that he will care for your family member who is hospitalized in ICU….

Whose fault is it now? Is it the fault of the people who are trying to make ends meet that they ask for bribes? Now don’t give me that lecture about integrity. In hungry man’s dictionary, there is no word called, ‘integrity’.

So when we want something to be done, we ask if they want coffee (bribe), Tea (corruption), Me (our souls)? Of course, black only for I am running out of milk/cream (means and willingness to fight for a variety of reasons).

Where are we going wrong? What can we do to make India a better place? Please…I am at lost. You can give me a direction.

Forgotten places in London, England

London is one of the beautiful cities I ever visited/lived. It’s (relatively) small compared to any other popular cities like New York, Shanghai etc.

It was early August when I first landed in Heathrow airport all those years ago. I must say I felt a little overwhelmed. Like in any other international airport, the customs was 45 minutes away from the terminal; but hey it’s good to relax your muscles after a long flight.

I stepped out to a balmy/dizzily sky. Later I discovered that no matter what time of the year it is, you always carry an umbrella when you are in London.

My little town house (I used to share this with 3 more people) was in 4th zone, East London, Wanstead to be specific. I loved my little home and my little room. That little room had seen me cry, smile, work, study, sleep and it had been my companion when I had first seen the snow fall for the first time in my life. And it was in that room that I met another invisible companion…no one believes me with this. But that doesn’t matter. I strongly believe that London is the most haunted cities in the world.

Over the years I had lived in London, I discovered many places which are not traditional-touristic. Well, I guess you really need to live there to find the beauty behind these unknown places.

One such street is the dark alley leading to the Clink Prison Museum in the Clink Street. It is surprising that the most believing of Catholics have had such…such kind of torture prisons which will put Saddam Hussein’s torture prisons to shame. The alley itself makes you feel depressed. Close by is The Monument created in memory of everything which had been destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666. Again, as soon as you pass, you can feel the melancholy.

One of the most beautiful, hidden parks is the Epping Forest (accessible from Sanresbook on East central underground line). Adjacent to this park is a beautiful lake where you can boat. Calm and collected, it offers a peaceful retreat from all other tourist-rush-spots you have come across. Amidst the chirping birds, weeping willows you would end up in a dream land filled with nature, made just for your eyes.

Also don’t forget to visit the Highgate cemetery. Oh my! Why am I quoting such depressing places? But mark my word, you will love this cemetery.
If you're in London on a Sunday morning, Columbia Road flower market in Bethnal Green is worth a trip.

And if you happen to like Indian food, you should try Veeraswamy in the Regent Street. Of course, you need to book in advance but it’s worth the wait and money. I am yet to taste Chicken Tikka Masala as tasty as Veeraswamy’s.

Coming to shopping, if you like designer cloths, I would say walk down the Oxford street and Harrods in Knightsbridge. Really…it’s too expensive there. But don’t miss out on window shopping!!!

Another important thing you shouldn’t miss while in London is its Broadway shows. My favorites are Les Miserable’s, The Sound of Music and Chicago. I also liked Dirty Dancing but I found this show a little dragging.

The best way to travel in London is through London Underground. Buy a pass and you are al set to enjoy the beautiful, yet ancient city.

Enjoy this ancient city with all its glory. Do justice to your trip 