Asha - Surabhi function

Raag Pilu - Amol, AyonDeep, Davey

Nahi Samne - Harsha

Sajde Mein - Harsha, Jui, Sayli

Rimjhim Ghire Sawan - Tapan

Khwaja - Alankar, Harsha, Tapan

Aashayein - Alankar, Harsha, Tapan

Medley - All

Wandering mind...

A friends blog made me think...We live in present continuous and hence change is constant. Mind has an ability to twist facts of past and blow up the future good/bad to enormity. The things that you plan for future in the present, when truly become present might not even be anything of what you imagined and your reactions might be so different. So when you plan in your present for future, you actually are making your present an experience worth experiencing with feelings, emotions and passion. It basically makes you. Its just that it is so fast, that it cannot be time bound in a frame like past or future. Its the only real thing. Agreed the surreal unpredictable vision of future makes it worth living. Nature knows no past or future but it still thrives happily, but we relate to reality as if it were a finished event or an inevitable future, since we are so quick to judge outcomes. We live to attain happiness in future - happiness by success, social work, fame, money whatever it is. So basically we generate synthetic happiness and hope, the ingredients required to live in present. Future supports our realistic present.

Farmville to Fishing

Well it would be an injustice not to write about this game. I really thought social networking sites were very hyped and highly misused and still think sometimes its a waste of time. But this recent application really made me feel good in limits about this newest facebook craze: farmville.
The young generation taking so keen an interest in farming is a wonderful thing to see. Yes, the lingo is definitely surprising when someone says over the phone, "Give me 10 minutes, I need to cut the strawberries and harvest a new crop before I come." Lol...
This is a perfect use of gaming I mean as far as I can see. Its a constructive game as compared to those violent games. Still by far Mario and NFS are the best :) Before this people would get all info from books, but since new generation is techie, Farmville provides really good source for information. Not only does it give a better understanding of farming related things, its really good in the sense that it develops a sense of planning,responsibility and having fun at the same time progressing through it. Also at no cost of harming anyone or losing anything. Yes, people do go overboard with it once a while by buying each others farms and playing it on a full screen projectors etc ;) It also provides information on energy conservation. Its a complete ecosystem in itself. Quite an impressive game and kudos to the person who changed the shape of gaming on FB.

It's like using "Alice" to learn a programming language.

I would be interested in other such games. Recently I made friends with some new grads at UAB, who stumbled across a fish tank when they went to get some furniture from a family in UAB who was moving out. They have been since a semester now setting up the fish tank, buying fishes online, breeding them, and selling the new ones or exchanging with someone elses fishes. They even exchange snail for moss and food for fish and fish frys (young ones of fish) for some aquarium plants :) It works like barter system :) The most interesting I thought was the way we could buy fishes online and they actually are sent by post. It was scary, even I waited liked 3 days eagerly wanting to see how they arrive. But it was all quite well shipped. It has been an interesting semester of knowing how fish keeping works. Its not as simple as it looks and fishes are not quite boring either :P..We actually did track the variations of behaviour, color, response to light, dark etc. You just can't get enough of it.
I wish for such friends of mine, they would have an application too. Maybe I should ask my friends to actually suggest that app on facebook or make one..wats say Gau-Jui?
It would be wonderful to get a feel of such things before you go into it since it might get overwhelming. So good job with the apps!

Adios, Ciao, good bye :)

Yet another time in month of August to say goodbye to a friend. This has been an year of changes, with 3 of my roomies leaving BHM in August this year. I don't think we (me and Richa) have any more roomies left in BHM at all. It was quite a week with Meens Ritu and Goldi all leaving around the same time, all talking about how much they would miss BHM and remembering the old student days 4 years back over some evenings of tea was nostalgic. We made quite a sweet family with everyone having their own distinctive traits but similar interests and varied passions.

Girl friends are forever is really a fact. I think women are the most passionate of beings in this world. I cannot imagine a world without them. Darn! so boring it did be not to know the difference between peach and pink, not the know what sparkle meant ;), not to know what louis vuitton meant over sonama, not to know why it is so important to call each of your friends every weekend, not to know how it is to share each others stuff and dreams and support with kind words and take their side even if they might be wrong sometimes, not to know what it is to find a GF with a same shoe size (I and richa do have that same :D), not to know how it feels to get to one size smaller than you already are :), not to know why writing emails are so important than just mere dialogue, not to know why getting the best deal over books/food/dresses and sharing the sale info is important, not to know why it is fun to make silly mistakes purposelly, not to know to diet to get to eat that one piece of chocolate cake craved for, not to know what it is to be bad drivers :D, not to know how it is to laugh and cry at the same time and still be the strength, not to know why it is important to have a Daisy than a daffodil, why paper cutting is so much fun, why taking photos in a studio is important, why scrapbooking to preserve memories is important, why spilling milk over the burner forgetting it while talking and listening to it fall and sharing a laugh always feels the same way...Lol... The list is endless. I think this is becoming just too much and I should stop, before I start to spill out the actual crazy fun incidences .....:P

The sanity, strength and determination is fathomless.
For all my girlfriends for the heart of gold and strenght of a woman ;)
Its been a rocking stay! and since Ritu and Meenakshi stay nearby to each other and Richa and Me are still in BHM we have made plans to meet up each year and for Goldi we will have to plan out sometrip to the west coat :)
Till then follow the blog! Lots to share, rock on! and add to it.

Chicken soup for teachers soul

Following My Footsteps

‘The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book.’

About fifteen years back, I taught in a public school. The students belonged to various parts of the country and were from all levels of society.

I was the 4th grade teacher for science and maths. They were such a lovely set of children to be with. They were curious, asked endless questions and were eager to learn, which made teaching an absolute joy. I loved our lively discussions; they always made the lessons more interesting.

One of the girls in the class, Sapna, came from a poor family and I remember her as being a very hardworking and diligent child; eager to please, eager to learn.

She also happened to be handicapped. She had lost her fingers in a domestic accident while helping with daily chores.

One day, I happened to finish my class just before the lunch hour. I decided to stay back to go through my notes before heading to the staff-room. Suddenly, the solitary figure of Sapna caught my eye....

I watched her struggle with her lunch-box. When she finally managed to open it, she sat there, all alone at her bench, and ate. None of the other students approached her to give her company or to share their lunch. It was as if they didn’t notice her presence in their midst at all.

I realised that they were all probably apprehensive about her deformity and did not know how to deal with it. They thought she was different and didn’t know how to approach her.

I realised that a lecture would not shake my students out of their apathy, no matter how innocent or misplaced. It would be of no use explaining to them the error of their actions, but at the same time, I didn’t want them to shun the little girl, a fellow classmate, just because of her misfortune. But what could I do?

Then it came to me ... what if I taught by example?

As soon as this thought entered my head, I took my lunch-box, went and sat down next to Sapna and shared it with her. As I spoke to her and ate out of her box and offered her mine, the rest of the children in class, curious to know why the teacher was being especially friendly to this particular student, slowly inched forward. I called them all by name and shared my lunch as well as Sapna’s. They all seemed to visibly relax and open up to her. They started to chat with her and within minutes, became more comfortable and friendly with her. She reciprocated happily and won over her fellow classmates in no time at all.

They probably never truly understood why they should not treat her differently, but the important thing that day was that they accepted her as she was.

I don’t know what kind of impact I had on those children, but it was one of those moments which stirred me greatly and made me thank God yet again, for giving me the opportunity to be in such a wonderful profession that allowed me to mould hundreds of beautiful, young, impressionable minds. And then to watch those minds bloom, blossom and spread their fragrance of joy, innocence and exuberance.

Sayli Deshmukh

Julie and Julia and my cooking stunt....

Well that's the movie I saw with one of my old friends. The movie was special because it was a wonderful girl time out which started with a bit of shopping and coffee at bookstore, movie and ending with dinner. Dinner was not a part of the plan but just came about as an inspiration from the movie, inspiration for eating good and exotic food.
This is a movie based on life of Julia Child (played by Meryl Streep) and Julie (by Amy Adams) who experiences Julia's life through her cooking and recipes and tv shows. As we entered the theater half knowing what to expect and started watching the promos, we saw the crowd coming in for movie..All middle aged women, 40-60. I guess they were all Julia Child's fans. She had a strong influence on that age group certainly. Suddenly a thought crossed our mind. Since no one of Julie's age came in we weren't sure if we had picked up a right movie. Soon enough the theater was full and the exceptions were 3 husbands again in age group 50-60 and 3-4 girls our age. Anyhow we were still excited since it was movie related to food. And nothing related to food could be half bad.

And that is what it exactly turned out to be. The passion for eating and cooking depicted so well in the movie in a very comedy way kept us hooked. Never was there a boring moment in the movie. The passion, drive for her to follow the thing she loved - eating and cooking in all tiny ways and at the same time a showcase of how well she led a beautiful life with her husband really touched everyone's heart there. The subtleties of relation of the married couples of both generations was well blended and as the movie shifted between generations I realize it only now that how hard the blending of stories form both generations might have been. Since I never realized it during the movie at all :)

The movie rubbed off on both of us and we decided to treat ourselves with a triple cheese dish and tiramisu. I was so moved by that passion that the very next day I decided to invite my friends over and cook something non-Indian for a change. I had tried Sheperd's pie once before and decided on it as a safe dish. To go along with a coconut Thai soup. I had planned to get the Thai soup available at store, since the Shepherd's pie was going to be handful. As luck might have it the store ran out of Thai soup. Awesome! On yet another day I would have swiftly changed from Thai soup to maybe minestrone or tomato soup. But I remembered Julia Child and I was not going to give up just then. Something told me to go for making it from the scratch. Having tasted it at Thai restaurants before I knew how it was supposed to taste, but had absolutely no idea how to make it, except the main ingredient coconut milk. But the Julia and Julie both characters were still going pretty strong. I tried to remember what I saw int he soups in restaurant generally. OK, so mushroom and spring onion. I decided to replace spring onion by Tofu..without a clue of again!

I first started with making cubed tofu and heating then in olive oil till they turned a little brown. Next sliced mushroom in very thin slices and sauted them a bit too. I knew the soup to be bland and did not add any spices to it. Next added the coconut milk and a little salt. Took a good bit of it on spoon to taste it. Yikes..it had the bitter taste of coconut. I again put on the thinking cap, what else..the online recipe did not say ginger, but somehow I remembered tasting ginger in it one time. SO I took the bold step of adding ginger to it. As I tasted and added ginger till it got a good strong flavour. But still though good it was bitter. i scavenged through a couple of more recipes online and as I read lime juice, it made it taste good instantly in my mind. Again I took yet another bold step of adding it one t-spoon at a time. In sometime, I found the soup turning to the taste I was expecting.
The Shepherd's pie turned out well and my friends definitely loved the soup though a little different. I was proud on myself for making the attempt. The only thing I might add next time might be spring onion, but otherwise it could all be the same. It tasted good. I had a great satisfaction. I did not know that cooking could provide that kind of satisfaction. Someones passion can really help discover your abilities. Well I would not go further to call myself an expert cook, but whatever I did I did with all the effort and zeal and it made me happy...Well my cooking graph did stay that way for a week, after which I was too tired, but I would definitely want to keep a copy of this movie and watch it while I cook next time over :D...

Short stories: Teachers Tales (as narrated by Mom)

Tale 1:
About 15 years back, I was a teacher at a public school in India. It was run at subsidized fees. It was a cosmopolitan school from students from everywhere over the country and from all standards of society.
I was a science and Math teacher for 4th graders. They were a lovely set of children to be with. I loved to answer all the questions they had and by far they always had a lot. There was in particular this handicapped girl, lets call her Swapna in my class who was also hardworking student. She came from a poor family and had lost her fingers in some home accident.
Once as I finished my class just before the lunch hour, I decided to sit back a bit to look through my notes before heading to the office. I noticed that Swapna first went through a struggle to open up her lunch box and then sat alone at her seat eating it. None of the students noticed her or even approached her to give company or share their lunch. I realized they all took the deformity due to accident very seriously and thought her to be different. It was no use explaining the students, so in a act of giving her some company I went ahead and opened up my lunch and shared it with her. As I spoke to her and ate out of her box and offered mine, the rest of the children in class, curious to know why the teacher was especially friendly to this student came forward. As I called in to them one by one and shared my and swapna's lunch with the rest they became more comfortable and friendly with Swapna. She reciprocated in a happy way and struck a good chord with other students. They probably din't understand then why they should not treat her differently, but definitely they accepted her as is and hence atleast for then they had learnt a good lesson of importance of acceptance.
This was one of those few times which stirred me and made me thank God for such a wonderful profession and opportunity where I could mold hundreds of beautiful, young, impressionable minds.

Imagine...

Imagination can take you anywhere....A book I was reading recently was more heartfelt than the video I saw for the same book. The reason, well the way its written and the ability of mind to imagine and paint - paint universities, paint campus, paint houses, paint people, paint memories on the large canvas...Anything is possible. Mind is a wonderful as well as a dangerous thing. It can give you the power of positive imagination as well as the negative to make problems seem bigger than they are. You can only solve problem made big by ur imagination, by your positive imagination and your heart.

Just painting these pictures once a while...brings a new meaning, a happy state of mind. The gift of imagination and love are the two greatest gifts to mankind. We actually fail to realize how important these 2 factors are more often.
I think I am entering the harry potter mode since it released yesterday. Millions of children actually live in this imagination and live it like reality. It is so well painted. I actually want to meet the true harry potter charachter and visit 9 and 3/4 its that real. I wish....

I still remember the movie "wizard of Oz" (1939), saw it when I was in 5th grade. It was a film which starts in eastman color and then comes to color as the girl comes into fairy land. I confess its the most colorful transition and I must have seen it nearly 10 times. It feels childish to watch it now, but I still could if left on my own... :)
The girl is singing this song dreaming when she actually is transported to that place:
Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high.
There's a land that I heard of Once in a lullaby.
Somewhere, over the rainbow, skies are blue.
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.
Someday I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops, Away above the chimney tops.
That's where you'll find me.
Somewhere, over the rainbow, bluebirds fly. Birds fly over the rainbow,
Why then - oh, why can't I?
If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow,
Why, oh, why can't I?

sighhhhh....It definitely transports you to the neverland...

Similar are my attachments to "baker street", Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson and the joy of much cheered Dr. Watson is equally shared with the comeback of sherlock holmes after his fake death....
The famous five's treasure island, smugglers top, kirrin island and sea are the places that really exist and which I did really visit every summer vacation. Chilling with the my dog on the beach. When I was young I still wanted to go to UK to actually see if the picture in my mind really did match anything up there...
The lilac inn and the Nancy drew from River Heights....are real people and places created after years of following her through her growing age and solving mysteries with her dad every other month and driving down to every mysterious cottage with her cousins george and bess...
The girls school Malory tower was the best girls school I really wanted to be in definitely after Hogwarts...
"Alice in wonderland" is by far the most random instance imagination I have ever seen. It is a book correctly made for children keeping in mind their attention span and hence the events in the book happen quickly and randomly. I am amazed at the skill of the author to capture such randomness in one small book.
"The little prince" is a book which does total justice to the word " a child's imagination". Its published in 180 languages across the world. That tells how many more children could visualize their dreams...

I have over the years come to respect writers a lot and by lot I mean so much that I wish I could be one someday. Its like music which has always been a part of my life. Writers have the extraordinary knack of capturing the mind and putting it on paper and then with the same ability to again free the mind so that others can see.
I cannot imagine seeing a movie or listening to an audio book if the book expecailly is not real world and requires a lot of imagination. The computer tapes and Ipods do not do justice to it.

I would so much prefer to have the crisp sound of the pages, the scent of a new book, the details of the cover, the beauty of heartfelt acknowledgements, the random page of the book written as preface and the book itself. I do not wish to miss out on any of it..
I remember when I used to have tons of enid blytons and nancy drew and I would scribble my name on 15 page of every book, so even if I find it with someone else or loose it, I did be able to just tell my book apart when I get it back...
I even maintained a register for that..Yes you can call this freakishness or a desire to treasure the childhood in which I have already visited other places on earth and also father away across the rainbow :) I got a childhood full of sweet memories because of these great writers and I got memories which were shared by so many more children that I still instantly bond with anybody who had followed Enid blyton, Carolene keen or Aurthur Conan Doyle.

I did like to finish up with an apt quote from "the little prince"
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye"

Texting competition

Texting competition: prize 50000 dollars...

http://www.lgtexter.com/

Again on my 90.3 today listening to a piece of news made me go off road on car for a second
I was kind of surprised. Here I am tired with work day,..trying to get one line of code through review, bored to do even another key stroke, come back home tired and crash on bed..
and this girl wins a prize of 50000 dollars texting during her classes , gym, swim, talking etc and about 500 messages per day.

What happened to sanity?? and who just gave away that much money??


Indeed, according to CNN, the forlorn girl who came in fourth, Jordan Rowe, failed to accurately text
"which wicked witch wished which more wicked witch in the well?" while having to listen to an actor dressed as an emoticon talk trash about her sister.
How did the emoticon even know she had a sister? Why would an emoticon talk trash? Why would an emoticon talk at all? ...Bad round really bad round..
Is it a texting competition or a phsychological research subject we are talking of?

Well, it all came down to a tiebreaker in the best of three final.
And the two girls in the final round had to text: "Zippity Dooo Dahh Zippity Ayy...MY oh MY, what a wonderful day!
Plenty of sunshine Comin' my way....Zippitty Do Dah Zippity Aay! WondeRful Feeling Wonderful day!" They had to do this while crossing hurdles like running on treadmill. doing pushups using the stepper etc. It was a hurdles texting round. What an innovation!!!!!!!!!!

Well and they had to get their spellings of Zippitty Do Dah Zippity right!

Hey, how about I can look at the cell phone, drink tea, listen to radio and drive car all at the same time? Is there a prize for using all 5 of your senses efficiently together?..How about I actually watch HGTV for 5 hours every 2 days and know all programs on it? How about I get an email, I call a friend to convey message, the friend pings another one on messenger and that friends leaves a message on faceobok for another and he sms's up the final person who was supposed to receive the message. Do I get a prize for being technologically so sound? How about sitting in theatre hall watching 3 movies back to back..
Cmon we can come up with anything for that prize money...How people just don't know how to utilize things for better purposes than mere publicity :(
Someone please tell me what is the point of this competition...and I dont have unlimited texting on my cell so please write to me ;)

Five points something....

This is the picture of the "Five Points" at southside. Well the name is definitely not "5 points someone" and am not trying to copy Chetan Bhagat's title. A snowy sunday morning in my sall little town makes me fall once again in love with it. It shows me love is not a feeling brought about by presence of someone, but definitely "something".. A place which sees you through different days studying at starbucks, catching up with friends, celebrating birthdays, reading a book or having breakfast on a snowy morning. A place which everytime reminds you in your heart of home. Everytime my cousin comes to birmingham he calls it "home". And I guess we all know why, the support of the place to keep us safe through are important journeys make it so. And that is the reason why sometime places carry so much more importance than people.
My parents have lived at a place for 15 years and so have many of my friends parents and my grandparents. Why do I still go back to see how big is my college building or whats the new color of my school building.
I experienced the first snowfall today, a first something again got attached to this place and it became an experience of a lifetime.
The white sheets of snow as far as I could see, the snow flurries hitting the face in zeal, the numb sensation of hands after the snowfight but the want to still not let off a picture perfect sight on camera, the taste of flakes melting in the mouth, the intense need to cover your ears tight, the thrill of sliding on snow, the appreciation of a slight color peeking through the white show, the gloominess of the weather done away by the strong smell of coffee and breakfast, the wishful thinking of a little warmth of sunlight but hoping it did not hit to melt away the ice,thinking why the red nose snowman in any shape still looks like he smiles, the plethora of footsteps marked in snow across the coffee house, the frozen water fountain across the church from the house, the snow covered cars driven on the road, why the only creatures without coats are the dogs and the birds,...(incomplete)