What's in a name??!

Well!! I'd say a lot....people either smile or smirk when they hear a name (ofcourse, that is based on the person's character)....Raj, Rahul, Vijay...naam tho suna hoga...ok ok...enough of filmi dialogues, let me get to the point without digressing...

Few months ago, we had a training session which was all about how to improve our communication skills...the instructor started asking for our names....She repeated all the names and even managed to pronounce some of the Indian names correctly...then she came to me..."Niharika", I said...**Silence**...after she recovered from the shock, she went.."Oh My God!! I'm so sorry I did not get it correctly...can you say it again?"..."Niharika", I repeated..."Umm.. I will try to remember that", she said and moved on to the next person :/

To get us all involved in the lecture, she started including our names in the conversation...every time she tried to say my name, she would pause for a few seconds and would instead use my neighbor's name.In the break, she came up to me and asked me to say my name so that she could write down the pronunciation ..."Nee-ha-ree-ka", she carefully wrote down on a piece of paper..."you can call me Niha", I said politely.."But your name is so good...I want to say it all...I like the second part..its so beautiful", she said...And then the unimaginable thing happened...she was talking about some topic..and said, " So if Nyharicky is working in a team...", I looked around and found my colleagues trying hard to control their laughter...Nyharicky??? Seriously!!! Lady, I thought you said you liked the last part of my name!!! and mind you its definitely not "RICKY" :/

Good Ol' Days

Today, all of a sudden, I started feeling very nostalgic about the ads and shows on TV I used to watch as a kid (yeah, of all the things!!)....the reason for this nostalgia is "borolene" I found in my apartment...yes..the khushbudaar antiseptic cream borolene....the sing-song tag lines just remain etched in our memories for ever...Some of the ads and shows from the Doordarshan era, that I would never forget-

1. Jungle book - The ever famous mogli and his jungle friends...Jungle jungle pata chala hai chaddi pehan ke phool kila hai...
2. Dekh bhai dekh- every character is so funny and sweet...can watch it over and over again...


3. Tehkikaat - The super suspense thriller....


4. Malgudi days - the music was amazing...the show brilliant...

5. Washing powder Nirma -Washing powder Nirma..Doodh si safedi Nirma se aayi Rangeen kapde bhi khil khil jaaye...Sab ki pasand hai nirma...lolz

6. And ofcourse..the ad that would play in all the theaters before a movie started...
Vicco Turmeric- vicco turmeric nahin cosmetic...vicco turmeric ayurvedic cream...

Though it seems ridiculous now, we used to love these ads and the way these models(??) sang and danced around in these ads...

The Sunday morning memories are still strong and vivid as if it was only yesterday...the roads would practically be deserted...and the entire family would huddle in front of the television to watch all the favorite shows - Jungle Book, Chandrakanta, Mahabharat etc...We had no cellphones, cars, desktops ( forget laptops!!) not even a cable connection...yet we were so happy and content...I know its now difficult to go back and relive those moments...frankly, I don't think I'd be able to survive without my phone and laptop...but I am glad at least its a part of my memories which I'd cherish forever....

Samosa Story

Recently we treated ourselves to some awesome mouth-watering samosas...Living in a small town like Clemson where people have to travel for about 45 minutes to get to the nearest Indian grocery shop, samosas are a rarity...Gosh!! I miss those days in India where samosas were just across the street and there was an ample choice for an evening snack...But now, evening snack is either a plain croissant, a veggie pattie sandwich or even an apple pie...that don't even come anywhere close to our jalebi's, samosas,pakora :(
So coming back to the samosas...that was how we celebrated our Ugadi...(yeah not with all the sweets and special dishes but a samosa...and it did make up for everything else :D) And the guy who got them got all our blessings :P After finishing our allotted share of two samosas per head, everyone started eyeing the two samosas that were saved for another person...But after a while, we could not resist anymore....So our plan was to eat another one and just save one samosa for the missing guy....and no one would tell him that we all had two each...we all agreed to the "plan" and finished it leaving just one samosa...But human greed has no limits...so now the only samosa left was targeted and all the brains started working as to how we should get hold of that one last samosa...But humanity is still alive in this world...so we decided we'd leave that one samosa for the poor guy....and then an idea struck the two most brilliant (read greedy) people in the group..."what if the guy himself gave up the samosa"..that way they can have it and at the same time not feel guilty about it....So they went ahead and called MG(missing guy)...This was the conversation they had:
Y: Hey MG...when are you planning to come home?
MG: Hmm...I guess it'll be really late..why?
Y: well we saved a samosa for you here...and wanted to know if you would have it
MG: Yeah...I will have it after coming back...
Y: But you will be really late right...and its not good to have such spicy food at night...
MG: hmm...I'll have it in the morning then...
Y(trying all means to give him the hint): But it will lose its flavour by tomorrow...and it might spoil by then...what do you think we should do with it??(sounding as innocent as possible)
MG(Not taking the hint): Well..in that case, I'll come home early...will start now...seeya soon
Y(cursing under his breath): Yeah..seeya

As promised. MG came back home and finished his share of the samosa...while the (two) others resisted their temptation of snatching it from his hand :P

Yeh Jo Desh Hai Mera

Last weekend as we all were just lazing about and discussing the fate of Slumdog Millionaire at the Oscars, when we got to talking about the best Indian movie according to each of us. Surprisingly, we all agreed on one common movie and that is Swades. As we went about discussing the best scenes of the movie, its music etc..G mentioned that he hasn't watched the movie yet...**Silence** We all gave him this "you don't deserve to live" look and then decided that we all should watch the movie (should make him watch the movie)....Meanwhile, each of us had a little round of questionnaire for G that ranged from " How could you miss a movie like that??" " Weren't you told how good the movie was?" to " Don't you watch patriotic movies" etc etc....
Finally we started watching the movie...I enjoyed it more this time than I did before....I think its one of the best patriotic movies made so far....
Though I don't like Shahrukh's acting much, I feel this was one of his best performances(the other being Chak De)...Every scene is so simple and meaningful....We all became very nostalgic and drifted back to those wonderful days in India...I feel they should make more such movies...and yeah G loved the movie!!!

Will the real "shadys" please get lost!!!

Well another crisis in India. This was the worst of all. “How can a city be held hostage??” was our first reaction when we heard about it. All we could do was get news about the attack from friends and family back in India or read it in the papers. But what were the politicians back home doing? I bet they were not doing anything different. I feel in India a politician’s main aim is to get the post, the power. That’s it. Once he/she gets it, their struggle is over. Their "responsiblity" ends there.They just don’t have to bother about anything else. If there is any crisis in the country, they stay calm for a little while, and after the crisis is over, come forward to express their “grief” over such an incident. Does democracy mean electing a bunch of selfish people who cannot think beyond money?
The -------- who attacked the place just wanted to spread terror. They were successful in their mission. All the “investigations” to establish the identity of the terrorists is bullshit. It’s time to think beyond the democratic and non violent principles- If you can’t ignore them, just destroy them.

Diwaleen

Happy Diwali...
Today is the festival of lights and surely some lights did show up on a couple of balconies in my block.....For a change, we celebrated Diwali and Halloween together....my roommates who came just three months back were all keen and enthusiastic to adapt to the US culture....As a resut, we did not just light the diya, but instead carved an entire pumpkin to put it in....But it resulted in a whole lot of fun...I decorated the house with the lights while my roomies were busy carving the pumpkin and cooking dinner...After we all finished our respective jobs, we invited a few friends over for the aarti, that was played on youtube, followed by our prayers...I "tasted" three types of kheers, had amazing dinner and finally went and caught up with our pals....this was indeed different from what we usually do on festivals...yeah yeah I'm talking about lazing around like its just another day :)