hugs and proposals from the oddest places...this and that..

unique day today..
I got hugs and proposals from the oddest places..
I was walking down town indy to fedex ofice to mail bone marrow drive completed applications with kits..a cute blonde american teenager comes to me with a huge board " hugs for free, Hugs for free"...I give him a shy smile as he comes closer to me and says "common hug me"...I didnot want to make him feel that this indian girl with the longest hair is strange..so I give him my obama fist and hand hug..he smiles and understands my shyness..I converse with him to make up for not giving him a hug telling him it is great he is doing this and spreading love and told him todays world needs a lot of love and hugs..he beams and smiles happily..
then I walk to tacobell to get my 7 layer vegetarian burrito and pick up fire sauce packets and each of those small fire sauce packets have messages on them..some saying "please marry me"..so I got proposed by a tacobell fire sauce packet..
I have to admit this proposal was way better than the proposal I got from a good looking indian man last october with roses , cards which I could not accept as the guy was so full of lies, was so so dishonest and was probably after money or photos and was superficial...my fire taco sauce had more honesty and fire than those guys who proposed to me before...
oddest places where I get hugs and proposals..
My weekend was great..
saturday was all fun and relaxing..
sunday was all volunteering running a bone marrow drive, which went so so well..we got almost 30 people registered. Considering that it takes almost 20 minutes with each person and I had only 3hrs or so to run the drive and I had just one volunteer helping me I have to say instead of doing 3-4 people for hour we did 10 people perhour which was amazing. My volunteer was newly trained volunteer but he did an excellent job..we had at every point 5-6 people to handle but we made no mistakes and got all registered on time .Finally this evening I fedexed all the completed forms.Finally this year second bone marrow drive I chaired went well. I have one more coming August 16th and one more sep 8th...hopefully leukemia patients find matches and get cured..
what else..
I saw Love story 2050 and Jaane tu na jaane hum this weekend.
I have to say I liked love story 2050 better than Jaane tu.. Probably love story 2050 is my kinda love story..the guy acted like hrithik roshan but my kinda guy would be like that outgoing who expresses love easily than the quiet ones who dont talk much..
genelia is definetely better than priyanka..
Imran khan is better than herman..
but love story 2050 is a better story than Jaane tu..in terms of rating them as love stories...2050 was more romantic than jaane tu..
I also read Rushdies enchantress a lil bit..
long week at work..business as usual..back to my scientist job..
Iam glad I do something totally different on weekends so that I forget Iam a scientist..temple, volunteering,cooking, hanging out with friends, reading,biking etc., takes me to different worlds, I forget my day job and my scientist life..
I cooked too this weekend..
felt like eating upma, dont know why I was craving for upma..
recipe: Heat oil, add chana, urad, mustard seeds, green chillies, karipatta, carrots, green peas, cut beans etc., fry for sometime, then add water, let water boil, then add fried suji, ghee,a lil bit of ginger powder..ginger and karipatta make upma get that special flovor..
what else..
week looks busy..
have no plans for weekend as yet..
may be just reading and writing finally and a movie or two..
for tonite just a simple elachi chai, a good book like rushdies enchantress or kunzrus my revolutions , TV serials two and half men and adventures of old christine will do , a couple of cross word puzzles will do..

A near perfect day....

Indianapolis canal and cornfields at the temple...
I had a near perfect day today...only thing I missed was having cute soulmate around holding my hands..
After weeks and weeks of volunteering and getting involved in organizing picnic this and that, I finally had a day..a whole day for myself..
A near perfect day..
A beautiful spiritual morning at the temple, then a nice indian homely lunch at the temple, then shopping with a girlfriend and buying lots of indian movies and spicy grocery, then watching this movie "Jaane tum Jaane ne" which I wanted to watch for sometime, then biking around the canal which I was wanting to do for sometime, biking so refreshing for body and soul, biking watching canal waters dance to setting sun, then sitting under sunny skies with a caramel macchiono at starbucks and reading Salman Rushdies "Enchantress"...
near perfect day..
I just wished a cute guy was there with me and I could put my arms around his shoulder and chat chat chat about books..that would have made this day perfect..
hopefully someday..
what else..
tomorrow whole day from 9am to 3pm I will be busy running a bone marrow drive for south asians..so sunday is gone in volunteering as usual..
Books Iam reading right now..
Salman Rushdies " Enchantress"..not as good as other Rushdies novels..first 100 pages were history lecture with no magical realism..finally middle 100 pages , u can feel Rushdies unique characters and magical realism and Rushdies signature which makes me happy but still the novel is not that great..characters just float in history lessons..there is no sequence , story has so many breaks, it gets confusing..I admit though characters are unique as usual typical Rushdies style and very interesting..on the whole I have to read every Rushdies novel so I am going to finish it gracefully..
Iam also reading
Harikunzrus " My revolutions". I like his novels. Iam glad there is a next generation of writers like kunzru, zadie smith who can replace naipaul and rushdie..I like his my revolutions better than transmission and not as good as his first novel the impressionist..on the whole another good novel from this writer..he is consistanly good, comes up with unique stories with little romance..and I love that..I like manly novels with little romance..
saw movie Jaane tu na Janee..it was ok..not great..Aamirkhan produced it, it is good like timepass romance movie but nothing unique or great..If u watched telugu movie "Nuvve kavali" which is about 2 best friends who fight all the time and dont realise they love each other , u wont like Jaane tu na tu Janee..nuvve kavali is so so better..so aamir did not come with a novel story..admitted... Genelia and Irfan khan or Imran khan are ok..but Genelia did not look that great in this movie..she acted better and was more natural in telugu movies, she seems inhibited in this movie..but ok time pass cute movie...not memorable like quayamat se quayamat thak or maine pyar kiya or kaho na pyar hi..all these three movies are movies I want to watch with the man I fall in love with just for cute puppy romance..but definetely not jaane tu..
Understanding love is hard, recognising love is hard too..Iam a fool too that way..I dont know what true love is as yet..I hope I can recognise love when he comes to me or I hope he guy realises he is in love with me and makes me realise that...falling in love is hard..And finding true love is even harder I think..I pray I find my true love or recognise my true love soon..
what else..
Indian blasts made me very sad..I prayed for India and US safety too at the temple..I hope people stop fighting and make it a safe place for little kids..
Obama 200,000 crowd and speech in Germany impressed me..the man has charisma and he is moving the world too..good for him..
what else..
bone marrow drive tomorrow..busy weekend..
nite is still young..so hope to read, write, do crosswords..

Americanidol live concert, shammi kapoor movie janwar..

Photos of American idol live concert I attended yesterday...it was terrible sound system..instrumental music was so so loud that I could not hear David archeleta or cooks voice..sayesha was good.. on the whole I walked out of the concert with a headache..

Interesting live concert experience..

Last few days have been so crazy for me..

I probably saw 150,000 or 200,000 numbers in the last 4 days..so many drug screens data to look at , I felt like puking and felt like not wanting to see any more data...every cmpd could be a potential cure for disease so you need to look at every number carefully..on top of that this new drug screen I am developing has no proper software to analyse data..so I ended by analysing data twice with old software and after I got the new software...so much so much that I kept reading blogs and any words I could get hand on while looking at data..I needed a break every 2hrs..man crazy days...

On top of all that yesterday I had a formal company dinner with an amazing lady, who is one of the top50 most influential women in USA. It was an amazing experience having intimate dinner with her...we talked so much about India and culture..it was wonderful...and after that I went for american idol concert..so u can imagine how long my day was..I slept with a headache last nite..

man what a week..

I cant wait for friday to come..

what else interested me..

obamas foreign trip.

Good job with Afghanistan..and his statement that we should have concentrated on afghanistan instead of iraq

Iraq- Ok Job,not so sure if his troop withdrawal will work.

Isreal- His statements on keeping jeruselum as capital no matter what doesnot help palestinians..His abc interview was kind of not too clear and a lil confusing and vague...have to wait and see.

what else..

books Iam reading...Rushdie's novel Enchantress is slowly getting into me..strangely Iam liking it a lil bit after the first 100 pages...but its not as good as any of his previous novels for sure..

what else.. Movies I watched...

shammi kapoors Janwar- so so cute..rajashree shammi kapoor , Iam all phida for this song of shammi kapoor tumse acha kaun hi, mere mohabbat jawan rahegi..so so super cute..man, my heart is so so phida for shammi kapoor...he makes me all romantic..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p43FcbI1O-s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uo1IGrPPrd8

what else, I have a bonemarrow drive to run this sunday..

saturday afternoon lunch and shopping with girlfriends..

Rushdies enchantress to read..

may be make some idli, dosa, dal makhani, batura at home..Iam all booked and relaxed..life is all about simple pleasures..

Is Rushdies enchantress enchanting? genocide in sudan , new cancer cure, movie sangam..

Last few weekends were busy with volunteer work organizing picnics , running bone marrow drive etc.,
I was missing my best friends...books and reading..
so this weekend I made a decision not to do much this weekend and just spend the entire weekend reading the book I was waiting to read for sometime now..
I decided not to do anything saturday evening and sunday whole day, just read read and read...
One of my fav. writer Rushdies novel " Enchantress of Florence"
Was Rushdies enchantres enchanting?
so far 85 pages read, I didnot find enchantress that enchanting. I kept sleeping every 2hrs for atleast 15 minutes before I would wake up and start reading again..I dont know why I was sleeping ( may be my cramps or tiredness)..was enchantress that boring or is it my tired body whatever it is enchantress did not keep me that excited or active..It was like a history lesson I was getting from Rushdie in this new novel..I was loosing track of this characters and story in these history lessons. Cant figure out whether his character are real historical characters or did Rushdie imagine and create his characters..
surprisingly in those 85 pages I found 5 -10 pages having unique Rushdies style, that unique creativity, sly wit, creativity, some kinda magical realism..rest 70 pages dont even carry any of Rushdies style of writing.
Story based in florence and India...Akbar, this birbal and his team ( some familiar stories I read in amar chitra kahani), the whores of that generation, the imaginative queen jodha (cant even believe how can one believe in an imaginative wife), palaces etc., it was a unique assembly yet not that charming..
Iam bent upon finishing his novel, so Iam going to try hard to finish it, but I have to admit I was disappointed.. I keep waiting for Rushdies new arrivals but readings MVs review at ultrabrown I postponed reading this novel and may be I did it a good thing not buying it and postponing it till today..
I liked Rushdies last book "shalimar the clown" a lot. I liked most other Rushdies novels than his new one..
what else interested me..
abc news had a dialogue on why american cars are not coming up with solutions to oil price increase, they are but electric battery operated cars cost 100,000 dollars too bad and will release in 2010 or 4 years from now..too bad..thats why they all need to read alvin tofflers books and prepare for future way ahead..
Obama is in afghanistan, he says we should have focused on afghanistan and iraq at all..he is right..he is visiting iraq this week, Iam looking forward to what he will say about pulling out troups..without visiting the place his withdrawal plans always made me wonder..now that he is visiting for the first time, it would be interesting to see iraq through obamas eyes..
60 minutes had a very sad program on genocide in darfur,sudan..so so sad..happenign still in todays generation..US foreign policy so dual here, they need sudan govt support to track extremists and so are alleys yet cant support the govts. genocide and voilence and want to fight against it..delicate balance..tough foreign policy..see here for more on this..
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/20/60minutes/main2111909.shtml
Also on 60 minutes new way to cure for cancer by a cancer patient..amazing story..
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/10/60minutes/main4006951.shtml
Thats why I like watching 60 minute, I always learn a lot..
what else..
Iam a lil tired..so Iam resting most of the weekend..
I went to temple yesterday to thank God..my family got 10 years visitors visa to come to US, I sponsored and prepared all paper work..it is so so hard to be away from family last 13yrs living in US, so atleast now they have an option to visit me whenever they can...Being a scientist and contributing good to the community here in Indianapolis is one thing, but the cost I pay for it is also priceless..13years of lonely working girls life with no family, no hubby, no children,empty personal life being so far away from home India I wonder sometimes if it is all worth it..good for science, good for community but may be not that good for me..Hopefully I will find a soulmate soon here in US and fill that gap...wishful thinking..
what else..
next weekend Iam running bone marrow drive again for south asians saturday 10am to 3pm..
I am running two more bone marrow drives august 16th and sep8th...
then august volunteer event at temple etc.,
october I have this 10,000 dollar cultural event I have to organize..I need to organize the event fromvenue to food to cultural show and entertainment to seminars so much to organize..
so rest of the year and weekends look busy..Hopefully an India trip inbetween all this in August end..
life goes on...busy single working girls life...no time to even search or runafter a soulmate or do other things in life..
wish life was simpler... a perfect soulmate comes before me without having to search for him, settle soon in a simple marriage and then adopt a whole bunch of orphan children and live happily ever after..
Tonite I saw this old hindi movie "sangam"..Raj kapoor, vaijayanthimala and Rajendra kumar...
man I have to say the movie freaked me out a lil bit..it was intense..2 people in love with the same girl..Most new movies also have the same story..but sangam was more intense than the new movies..Reasons it is not only the acting but also may the old world morals of that generation..friends sacrificing love for each other, girls just adjusting and compromising and shifting love, one person dies at the end..man I pray Iam never in such a love story experience ever in my life..I hope I fall in love with a guy who loves me only sincerely and hope I get married to a guy where we two love each other only and no one else...that is why when I dont like someone I dont delay, I just tell them Iam not their type...Iam glad I broke my engagement because I didnot feel like I could love that man who demanded dowry...Dont marry unless u are 100% sure u love ur man or woman 100%...otherwise it is dangerous..marriages wont work..
sangam movie freaked me out..I like to see happy endings, just two love birds...cheating husbands, wives, 3-4 people involved in love, cassanovas, flirts freak me out..
people who dont write email replies or express what they think freely, who dont call or have emotional depth but still want to marry looking at just photos, people who dont express feelings and hide their feelings freak me out..
some of my friends are always in and out of relationships because they cannot stay single..they break their hearts and someone elses hearts too..Iam glad Iam not in love and single for a long time , it is better to be away from everything than break someones heart. I would rather wait years for the right person than fall for wrong person or keep breaking peoples heart..lessons learnt..
nite is still young..
back to Rushdies enchantress tonite again..

this and that..

Everyone loved my dress at the picnic and jewellary...here it is the famous green dress..and the lovely necklace..i got 2 orders of the necklace already...

I got a nice south indian silk saree mom gifted me , asked the tailor here to stitch the pallu as front part of a chudidaar and got a punjabi dress made out of saree..I wore no make up..just a nice dress and good jewallary..all u need is that..everything very real..no artificial stuff to make u look good...

here are more picnic fun pictures.

women bet men in tug of rope

3 year old kids in trash bags racing

50 year olds participating in water baloon tossing or baloon balancing game..

memorable picnic and its pictures..

what else..

week so far has been extremely busy..

lots of new drug screens, training people with new drug screen Iam developing at work, busy with writing proposals for the big 10,000 dollar event Iam organizing for the indian group, working on planning all that. venue, type of event, food, huge cultural show, business part, name of event, price of tickets, making it a charity fun event helping causes I believe in..all by october end..

inviting american and indian employees...

Iam going to have my friends choreograph dances for it..Iam going to choreograph and dance in one..so I spent sometime watching songs I want employees to dance..some are from 45 years old to 25 years old most of us with no dance skills..

so I nailed on..

devdas song of aiswarya first song with lamps....all female dance..

bombay song kehna hi kya..all female dance

morini bagame song from lamhe movie I think - a desert rajasthani song with chudi..

and a mixed song of ballet and indian dance to this hariharan lewis colonial cousins song with english words "krishna, come back as jesus, come back as rama" which is a perfect unity song for all the american employees coming for the event to understand the message..

so here Iam doing the impossible, attempting the impossible..that is me..hope me and my friends can pull it off...here is the song..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG9Sbg_gkxA

so I will be busy next two months until october with all that..

I havent danced in ages, learnt bharatnatyam long time back so have to see how it goes..

my american friends are all so excited to learn indian dance and create a fusion..where there is a will I believe there is a way...

what else..

I loved this video on obama, mccain..supercute funny video on jibjab..

http://sendables.jibjab.com/

VP buzz on two Indiana senators for obama..interesting, good for indiana...

so you think u can dance great performance from one excellent padida routine by katee again..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q3MZxARZbE

books Iam reading..nothing much..I dont get time to read any more..so it is a totally dry spell..except doing cross words or a page here and there..

so I decided to make up for it..

this weekend Iam going to get Rushdie enchantress and do nothing but read and finish his novel..just Rushdies book and me..and lot of spicy indian food..

I might go for a concert and a movie too if I can this weekend..

tomorrow it is bowling time with 7 girlfriends which I am organizing as I realised last few weeks I was working too hard and I needed bowling to unwind..

so it is the enchantress, bowling and spicy indian food for me this weekend..

picnic pictures

Picnic I organanized was a great success. 100 people or so came..here are some of the photos..

u know ur picnic went well when kids come and tell you..one 8 year old cutie boy told me this is the best picnic he ever had in his life..one more five year old asked me my name and asked me where I live, she wants to come for all fun events I organize..

A friend of mine had a bet with me saying that organized schedule will not work in picnic and adults wont participate in the games including he and his wife..He admitted at the end that he had great one and he and his friends and all the women jumped on for every game I organized saying I want to participate, I want to participate..it was so much fun to see adults behaving like kids and playing games..

A sardarji who must be 60 also played games and was sucha sporty uncle , he sang a punjabi song and his son also sang a bhagra song and moved his hands..everyone who came told me it was so much fun..
They said food was great..I did not even get time to eat as I was organizing everything..

too bad..

my bone marrow drive went ok..

best part is girls bet men in tug of war rope..I mean women bet men in two tug of rope games..men just fell like pack of cards..women power..

Iam exhausted by so happy my first big picnic event was fun..

In october Iam going to organize a 10,000 dollar event..hope it will be fun too..

cant believe me a serious scientist organizing events..

it was fun..

all the ladies loved my chudidar and jewellary that they wanted me to get them something like that from India..

Everyone showered so much praise and said they had a blast at picnic that Iam happy..wish I had a soulmate, he was there too to see that..today I missed having a soulmate around me and my parents around to see and have fun..

what else..

sunday sixty minutes was interesting..

week looks busy with drug screeens and scientist job..

I cant wait to crash on my bed soon today..

picnic organizing experience.this and that..

Tomorrow Iam organizing a picnic for 125 people...
Every year 25 people turn up, my luck 125 people are turning up..It is like organizing a big party but you have to entertain 125 strangers...
It was fun organizing a picnic...yesterday I went and bought 125 plates, bowls, 125 glasses..and I was finding myself all confused foam plates or recycled plates, plates with partition or plates without partition, foam glasses or plastic glasses , will 125 glasses do or people need more, will they want to eat with fork or spoon, how many paper towels each person would need..endless questions for a libran girl like who takes time to make decisions..there are too many choices in US for everything..
then what games..
finally I zereoed on trashbag race, water baloon race, baloon balancing race, tug of rope, antyakhshari, cricket,bingo, chits with funny messages which people have to do.. now what funny things can I make people do with the chits..so I thought and thought and came up with this list..
Do your happy dance, you sad dance, your funny face, say yerralorry 10 times fast,fav. film dialogue,sing an indian song, define India in one word, some filmi dialogue, your fav.joke,makeup a funny name ..
hope this will be funny when people try to do it..
there will be face painting for kids...
with so many people organizing events is hard..so divide them into groups, let them race, winners get prizes as groups..
I even got 2 first aid kids incase someone gets hurt.
ordered food from restaurant, pitch in is also there..
food, entertainment, keeping them busy making sure they are having fun is the key..
Iam so glad my whole team is helping me out...everyone is doing a lil bit of everything..assigning people responsibilities is key..
Iam also running a bone marrow drive, so I had to train my volunteers, get kits and everything..
two goals in one event..funpicnic and bone marrow drive...
I am looking forward to playing cricket myself tomorrow, hope the guys let me play cricket...
I have to see how it goes tomorrow.. Iam gone from 9am to 5pm to make arrangements , get the picnic going and clean up after picnic..the whole day is gone..
but on the whole it was a wonderful experience though it took some of my spare time away and Iam a lil exhausted..
cant wait to get it done..
what else
went to temple this morning with friend..they made spicy telugu khana at the temple..I met a lot of friends at temple, so caught up with everyone. sometimes temple makes me feel less home sick..it feels like home at the temple..
nite looks relaxing..I have to make yogurt rice for the picnic as my pitch in...but after I should be free.
so looking forward to reading, writing, crosswords, may be watch an odd movie and have fun..

this and that...

me in Indian skirts,my summer wardrobe..everyone says my skirts are very unique..they all are indian skirts..I think if u want colorful skirts, odd colors, great unique designs buy indian skirts they cost 3 to 4 dollars in india and they look lovely...

I get lot of compliments for my jewellary too..Indian jewellary is lovely..

I dont put any makeup not even kajal or powder or cream..just wash my face with soap and thats it.. today the lady in the cafetaria who is blonde american lady told me looking at my coconut water can said " I wish I had skin like u, u glow all the time, is coconut water ur secret". I was shocked..specially hearing from an american woman with pinkish white skin telling me my yellowish brown or my fair skin is pretty was kind of what..then I told her no not coconut water, zero makeup is my secret, not going to beauty parlors or applying any creams is my secret.

I realised over years u can look great without beauty parlors keeping ur skin naturally glowing by not applying anything..simplicity is the best. Just good clothes and nice jewellary will make up for all artificial stuff ..

what else..

Life is busy as usual..

work keeps me so busy so many projects in hand, it has been almost like 2 new projects every month..

Iam busy with other stuff too..every year when other people organized picnic 20 people showed up...so this year when Iam organizing it everyone told me dont expect more than 30 people or so..so I was cool..planned with less budget, booked a shelter , games for a small group, food for a small group, events for a small group..picnic is sunday..today when I looked at how many people RSVPed, it turned out to be 90 people..cant believe this..everything I organize always is a success and I pull more crowd than normal but this time it is a lot more..Now I needed more budget, more food, better games..so u can imagine Iam so busy changing my strategy and replanning again..Now everyone is scared that 50 or 100 more people will sign up now that madhavis name is on board..so more work for me..Hope it goes well..This evening talked to a local restaurant and arranged for more food, tomorrow more new games, more new volunteers and newer assignments for them..so much to do..And Iam running a bone marrow drive at the picnic too, so so much to do..

I still have to plan and do four more events for this day..looks like this year is going to be one of the busiest years of my life..that means no time for looking for a guy, no time for marriage, no time for personal stuff unless I work less..my boss is not ready to let me work for 30hrs a week..he says he needs me to work 40 hrs a day and cannot afford to letme go even for an hour..so there goes my life..India trip postponed..life goes on..

Hope my family can visit me again from India, hope my dream guy will look for me and come to me as I have no time to look, hope things fall in place while I slog hard at work and spend the rest of days this year volunteering and helping community..

what else..

last nite I spend some time reading Kabul beauty school about a UN peace keeper who lands up in kabul with no skills , ends up opening a beauty parlor, helps make people lives bright..it is about afghan culture, their arranged marriages and lives of their women pretty interesting novel

Iam also reading Punjabi century as a part of research for my novel Iam writing and trying to finish

obama audacity of hope occasional reading..Did anyone see obamas kids talking to access hollywood..now obama says he regrets letting his kids talk..its ok man, it shows u are a nice family man with small cute kids who like ice cream its ok..

movies I watched..

boys- siddarth genelia movie pretty cute movie.

music I listened to maine hava ke parron pe likha hi and jaane hi...from mere baap pahle aap which has beautiful kerala scenaries and dances..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqqsoAuCNu4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWRHA_jU46g&feature=related

things that interested me

G8 climateplan with no solutions , india china refusing to comply..no one really cares about pollution or global warming until it is too late..world never agrees on even important issues..so so sad..

what else..

weekend looks busy with picnic

next week looks busy with volunteer activity I need to organize after I get done with picnic stuff.

A week after it will be huge multicultural event for 200 to 300 people including CEOs of the company I need to organize.

someone told me I have excellent organization skills why dont I become a manager. I told them I love science a lot and like my job as a scientist..finding cures for leukemia and diseases like that means a lot to me as much all other interests in life..

what can I say..management skills is just a part of me..my responsibilities to my family, my dads schools and colleges as vicepresident in India, my volunteer organization activities, my writing group, my own novel to finish, and my scientist job..so many places I need to be there..everything demands attention..multitasking is a way of life for me...cant even imagine when I marry how it will be..hubby, inlaws, kids will add to this list too..hope I get a hubby who is also up for all these..sharing jobs, sharing responsibilities and making a difference evrywhere is what I want to do..

life is a gods gift , we need to use it productively..

weekend wisdom...

I learnt a lot this long weekend...
yesterday I went bowling for the first time in my life...First 4 times I just couldnt bowl at all..my ball was going sideways if I threw it with one hand, the ball was too heavy for my delicate hands..Then I tried bowling just using both my hands without holding the ball with my fingers..and then it started working...
it was wonderful to play games..
I grew up in a small village/town with no opportunities, I studied under trees or in huts, that is where our classrooms were..we never played any games..I kinda got into debating, quiz, essay writing competitions all intellectual stuff and did nothing physical to challenge my body..last few years here in US Iwas too busy working that never played any games much but for an occasional baseball game with folks at work which was a thrilling adventure for me..I realised that it is so so important and so much fun to play sports, games..I want my children to play sports, games..
cant even believe I got up this morning with my hands aching from my yesterdays bowling..that is how delicate I am..too bad..
I want to play cricket, basketball, tennis and hope I can do all that in this life..
playing sports is fun and is important..weekend wisdom..
what else
Most girlfriends I met this weekend all talked about their boyfriends or boys they are meeting except me..They all ask my advice and they all say I give great despite despite my lack of inexperience of having never dated a guy or never had any boyfriends ever in my life..
Some complained about mamas boys, some about irresponsible guys, some about guys who dont talk or are emotionally incapable of opening or talking..since some of my friends are american and some are indian, I realised one big thing this weekend after all those conversations on relationships..
Doesnot matter if the boy is american or indian problems are kinda the same..They all have same problems..
My advice to my girlfriend If ur boyfriend is a mamas boy, dont worry that much..if he loves his parents he will love u too, that shows he is capable of loving someone dearly...but make sure he respects and gives u importance too and listens to you. Guys dont realise the girl is leaving her family and comes into ur life to spend the rest of her life with you..so you need to give her importance as much or more than your mom or dad because she will do the same for you and will give you more importance than her mom or dad..
To me our parents are very important, I would give up my life for them..but I would also give up my life for the man I love..so it is like two eyes both are important, you cannot function without either..
our moms and dads are very important and we all need to take care of them and do our duties as good sons and daughters but it is also important that we need to fulfill our duties are husband or wife and built a new life together..moms and dads lived their life and their dreams, they need to give space for kids to live their life and their dreams..To all those interfering in laws, remember if u love ur daughter in law like ur daughter, she will give u ten times that love and take care of you..spread love..
my weekend wisdom to my friends..
One more friend talked about how guys dont call , they dont write emails, they dont respond emotionally..I think I experienced that too..I had guys who barely talked to me , barely wrote emails but wanted to marry me...I understand why my indian girlfriends are frustrated with indian guys..are they emotionally not that intelligent though most of them are very smart professionally..probably...
But I think we girls go with the intention that we want to marry, have kids ( yap like all my friends even I want that, cant wait to have kids) while I think boys dont want the same..I dont looking at my experiences I feel like indian boys look for chemistry and they think if they find a good looking girl or girl that is attractive to them, has a nice job and is a nice girl whom they feel will cook and take care of them they want to marry but they dont care to emotionally connect to them, they dont care to talk or build a relationship or write emails or make calls..
My advice to my friend if a guy has no time to write emails or call, dont give him that much importance, my philosophy is if u dont have time to spare or even write an email to me you wont have time for me even after marriage..If u dont call or make time to know me before marriage, u will never do that after marriage and u are only looking at superficial things about me. May be we girls should also learn to be cool like boys..be unattached, not return calls, not write emails back until the boys write I dont know there are no true solutions to that I guess.. I can never marry a guy with whom I dont have emotional connection, can never marry a guy who doesnot write emails to me often or cal me, can never marry a guy who does not have an emotional depth to him and does not open out to me and tell me all his problems or feelings the way I do..no way..so I couldnot tell my friend to ignore all that marry a guy who says yes even though he doesnot call or write..
Also since I went through two men who wanted dowry or money, it is hard to figure out what the true intentions of guys..I hope it is more than horoscopes, dowry,money, job or looking at me as a girl who has takes care of parents and would cook and clean for me too..yap I had that, the first guy I came close to marrying when my dad was dying told me he fell in love withme because he never a met a girl who does so much for her family unselfishly like me..but ofcourse in addition to that he wanted diamonds, rolex watches and money..
When I was young I thought marriages are so easy looking at all my elder cousins marry meeting guy for ten minutes..all arranged marriages..Living in america and having come close to marriage twice through arranged marriages and not choosing either to marry now I dont think todays marriages are easy specially for girls specially for indian girls living in US for a long time..
I dont what the solutions are..but all I pray I meet someone who is a nice never married person my age or a lil younger to me is also ok and reads crazily books like me and is a strict vegetarian and lived in US for a long long time and can laugh at seinfeld jokes and gets them..someone whom I cannot live without, as simple as that someone without whom I cannot live anymore..and I hope the man I marry also feels the same way..
anyways...
weekend wisdom, I get to know so much about relationships without really experiencing them..having girlfriends who are in and out of relationships helps understand boys and their ways better.
what else..
Iam busy with new projects at work.more new drug screens for more diseases...more and more work..
Iam busy being chair of lot of other stuff..like chairing picnic Iam planning for all Indians at work this sunday which Iam looking forward to,Iam running a bone marrow drive too there so hopefully it will go good... Iam also busy with other stuff...like chairing volunteer activities and organizing them.. going to be busy with a diwali event we are planning for ceos and all indians at work,big big event organization which is such a unlikely job for a scientist but since everyone thinks I have great organization skills Iam chairing it again...I think seeing my dad manage 500 employees somewhere down the way me and my sis picked up a lot of leadership skills...we both can manage 500 employees, we can address big crowds, inspire people, spread energy around..thanks to my dads genes and moms down to earth realistic outlook we both sisters got great ideals, values and skills...Iam glad my parents were very strict..
so my life looks all busy with my scientist job and all the other event organizing stuff..
as usual my personal life ofcourse suffers..no love..no marriage..no kids or boyfriends..life goes on..hopefully it will change someday..I guess the guy has to come looking for me, cant look anymore, god seems to be keeping me too busy with other stuff.
my personal life and love ,my novel to finish, my writing group work everything waits for some good inspired lucky day...God knows when that day will come..
I listened to this fav. kishore da after so long..probably the song carries some of my spirit..
yeh shaam mastani madhosh kiye jaa..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sZg4EUB3IM
what else..
I watched a cute vijay genelia tamil movie sachen..
I like genelia, she is an excellent actress with a fresh face..she is so much like me in this movie bommarillu..her character is so much like me super talkitive girl..
iam looking forward to seeing jaane tuna...imrankhan and genelia aamir khan movie, cant wait to see it..
books Iam reading..rather barely getting to read
punjabi century, audacity of hope,my revolutions..
news that interested ..
nothing in specific..sometimes I need more excting news to interest me..most of the news I read these days is expected.
week looks hectic with work...weekend looks hectic with picnic and all that jazz I need to organize and do..life goes on...

Independence day, shopping, recipes, this and that..

independence day celebrations at the canal..some soft jazz some fast songs it was fun to watch adults and kids dance to the songs at the canal. then watched lovely fireworks with friends..

And then Independence day sales and shopping.. I generally dont like shopping unlike most girls..But today I did find some cool trendy clothes and bought clothes which are not my usual style..

green top with puffy hands

A puffy red top( which reminded me of seinfelds puffy T shirt)..but me and my best friend A both bought the same red color same design top so that we can wear them together..thats what happens when two girls and best friends shop together..

And surprise of all is I bought a cute body hugging salsa dress short slightly low neck silky smooth dress..not my style but my best friend who is an all american girl insisted every girl should have one such a short cute salsa dress , so I bought and wore it..and it was on sale I got it for less than 15 dollars..good sale right..

My Independence day weekend did not go as expected..

No boston, No maimi beach nothing..

Just staying in Indy and hung out with girlfriends..

went for a concert and watched fireworks on friday with girlfriends.

went for a nice indian lunch with a girlfriend and went shopping with another girlfriend after that..

tomorrow bowling and games with a whole bunch of girlfriends and a nice dinner..

Books Iam reading:

"Punjabi century" by Tandon which is an amazing account of punjabi culture life in 1850s , a unique learning experience for me. Iam thoroughly enjoying reading this historical book. It is so much fun to learn abut how our ancestors lived..unique family values..such a vibrant culture.

Iam also reading " My revolutions" by Hari Kunzru..this novel is not as good as The Impressionist but it is better than his second novel...Its about a man who hides his past and how his past comes back to him..Its about struggles of idealistic youth..Iam enjoying reading it.

Iam also reading slowly obamas "audacity of hope". It is another good obamas book. The man knows how to write, no wonder he is powerful speaker..How he sees america, his thoughts on various issues, his experiences volunteering at poor neighbourhood, his family life..It is amazing how honest this man is,how much he respects his wife, his struggles as a father..on the whole a honest book worth reading for those of you who can vote, but I liked his first book better "Dreams from my father"

Movies I watched

Some tamil movie of surya and trisha

and lot of TV, so you think u can dance..I love that show..If u are a fan of dancing, specially creative dancing mixing styles you need to watch this show so u think u can dance on fox.

Good food I ate

Bombay thali...my fav. paneer masala..

And home made dosa which I made at home with spicy groundnut chutney I made and idli chutney

Recipe :

dosa: soak two cups of rice and one cup of urad daal and half cup of flattened rice..grind them. add a lil bit of milk before making dosa..take oil and mix it with a lil bit of ghee..add it to the heated pan and then just make dosa..tastes like dosa at udipi or dosa in a indian restaurant in india.

Chutneys:

groundnut chutney: fry onions and lil bit of green chillies to light brown, fry groundnuts a lil bit and remove the peel. I would put equal amount of onions and groundnut 1:1 ratio...Then grind them together with green chillies, a pinch of tamarind, a lil bit of salt..this makes the chutney one spicy chutney..key is to add lil salt, a lil bit of tamarind..

Idli chutney: take chana daal, take deep frozen fresh grated coconut, a lil bit of dahi and green chillies and salt , grin them..then add kari patta, mustardseed choka..sour and spicy chutney..

what else..

news that interested me

obamas political campaigning..looks like he is touring republican states..may be he will turn them democratic..interesting campaigning strategy..he is also trying to support religious faith based people by giving more religious talks..he wants to win and he wants to pull everyone together it shows..

music I listened to on you tube

ke sara sara madhuri dixit song which carries my essential romantic outlook, sensual beta madhuri dixit song, atifs race song pahle nazar which is a haunting song..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svYvqgViXXE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEI2QAFE7rE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-yk-xXo6pY&feature=related

nite looks young..

all I want to do is watch a nice hindi movie and read a book, sleep late, wake up late and laze around...Iam so looking forward to bowling with a whole bunch of my girlfriends tomorrow evening..my kinda perfect vacation...

finally long weekend...

best fire works I saw..orlando florida..I love watching fire works july 4th weekend too.

Me in trendy Jeans with Anderson cooper (yap named my big teddy bear my friends parents gifted me as Anderson cooper)..today as soon as I went for work all the girls were complimenting on how cute I looked today..I had oiled my hair, zero makeup as usual not even kajal, so there was no way I would look that cute but for these cute trendy blue Jeans and a pink top on it..so here they are Jeans that make u look all cute..

Iam so so glad finally weekend is here..

what a week...busy week at work with lots of drug screens and me training someone on a drug screen I developed..

In addition to that I had to organize a picnic for our indian group which is July 12th weekend, I plan to run a bone marrow drive too then..Specially when you work with people with no management skills it is so much work.. I also chair the volunteer activity group in addition to being picnic chair..there is always so much to, so much to organize..Everyone tells me I am a high energy person but what they dont realise is physically Iam not that strong, I think it is my will power to do good that pushes me..probably Iam the weakest and most busiest of all people..my health and my personal life suffers..no wonder I dont have time for boyfriends or to look for marriage for myself..

life goes on..

so much to do as usual...

I was supposed to go to boston or Maimi beach this weekend..but not going to either places..Instead Iam campaigning for obama tomorrow morning, then lunch with one of my friends parents, dinner and fireworks at canal with a couple of girlfriends, then driving with girlfriends to indiana dunes on saturday and then to indiana/michigan beaches..and spend sunday bowling with girlfriends if everything goes as planned..

Iam all homesick and I cry often...

But my India trip is getting postponed as I cannot get business deals in place.. 2weeks and so many business deals to work on when I go to India..I will be basically working on my vacation as usual..trying to get done and catch up with my india responsibilities I miss all through out the year..relatives ask me when Iam going to find a groom and get married..man that thought itself scares me..finding a groom, fixing my own marriage, making arrangements for my own marriage by myself since dad is no more seems like so much work I have no energy..

life goes on...

books Iam reading right now

these days Iam crazily doing cross words, I spend an hour every evening trying cross words..

same books..punjabi century, audacity of hope, my revolutions...

movies I saw
salman khans marigold..I find salman khan attractive , have a mini crush like I have on anderson cooper but marigold was bad though it has a american actress in the movie..wonder why they make such films..

saw Abhishek bachchans run with bhoomika..I like bhoomika chawlas movies..but abhishek was bad in this movie..both abhishek and aiswarya cannot act...made for each other couple..

I saw Mahesh babus telugu cowboy movie Takkari Donga with Lisa ray..it was cute movie..Mahesh babu can act..yap I have a small crush on him too...

good food I ate

Punjabi khana a lady makes and sells near work...kya khana hi..I love her food..

craving for dosa so might make dosa this weekend

made bhelpuri as snack..my fav. evening snack spicy bhelpuri with elachi chai...

what else

news that interested me

obama softening to evangelicals and talking about God , faith...Obama seems to soften his approach..is he changing sides about iraq war? his VP search with kennedys..interesting..

economy news really sad...

liked the story of cambodia where they fooled the captors who were captured five years back and released american prisoners ,gave them freedom right on independence day...how cool is that..

Music I listened to jodha akbar hrithik song, mahesh babu song,shammi kapoor junglee song yahoo,this soft nagarjuna song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TwGQ7qfbvc&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNHCFTC-nN0&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piKXrYaHZFg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2G0SYhVxNQ&feature=related

what else..

finally long weekend is here

cant wait to sleep until late tomorrow morning..sometimes all I want to do is read a book until late in the nite, sleeep until late under a comforter, wake up to a nice MS subbalakshmi suprabhatam and a nice cup of elachi chai or coffee..

simple pleasures in life...