This day sucks!!

I read about Ismeet Singh's death and felt sad, depressed, unhappy.....That is one tragic story!!
But as tragic as it is I frankly do not understand why he is getting a state funeral?
"The state government has also arranged a chartered plane to bring Ishmeet's body to Ludhiana from New Delhi, Bains said adding that cremation would take place with full state honours on Thursday"

Why does the state have to spend lakhs on this? I don't understand. I mean his family is capable of handling the funeral (I even wonder if the chief minister checked with his family before deciding to do it himself? I mean what if they want their privacy?)Why can't this same money be spent on some underprivileged kids? Are'nt there any state laws as to who does and who does not get a state funeral?



I read this story about how the indian intelligence is groping in the dark after the recent bombings. They have no leads. Their whole inefficiency angers me!! Its outrageous!
"The real bane of Indian intelligence is that it is largely run by police officials, most of whom serve on deputation from states and are floating in and out of the IB and other federal intelligence wings. They lack both the commitment and the expertise," says retired IB official Ashok Debbarma.
"None of the world's best intelligence agencies are run by policemen. They are all run by career intelligence officers. It is only in India that the Indian Police Service (IPS) monopolises most senior intelligence positions," Mr Debbarma said.

This makes no sense to me. In a country like India that is so prone to terrorist attacks, why would the Government not train and recruit the best intelligence officers to combat this issue. I mean this is basic commonsense. What is preventing them from doing this??

This article from the Wall Street Journal made me seethe with anger.
"In recent years few countries have changed their public image as dramatically as India. But though pictures of starving peasants and rutted roads have given way to those of svelte supermodels and bustling call centers, in at least one respect India remains more a basketcase than a potential great power. As Friday's bomb blasts in India's software capital, Bangalore, and Saturday's in the industrial city of Ahmedabad show, India is singularly ill-equipped to deal with the scourge of terrorism"

How many more wake up calls does this government need to DO something???

Weekend Update

So I attended yet another potluck recently and met more boring Indian people. I went there in spite of knowing about all the boring people who were going to grace that occasion but I went nonetheless because the hosts are very interesting people …..who just happen to hang out with boring people. So anyway, I meet with the same Indian bunch there and this woman tells me the same things she has been telling me for the last 7 years. I have truly reached a point where I have to tell her to stop as I cannot take it anymore from her! She is so utterly boring and inarticulate that it’s hard to make any sense of her. Women like her pretty much make up about 75% of Indian women in America! They are nice and homely who work in IT and wear mom pants and talk about their kids schools and about stupid stuff and lack confidence to say or do anything out of the box and their idea of entertainment is limited only to potlucks and they pretty much do all those things that makes up for the Indian stereotype in America!
My only advice, RUN AWAY FROM THEM!

On a happy note, Apple is all of 4 years old now and wants to use “big” words in her vocabulary only that she is mixing up a few words!! Mommy u go to your office and then accidentally call the doctor and make an appointment or I was playing and I immediately slipped and fell down…….You see how cute it is when they mix up their accidentallys and immediatelys!!! She is absolutely becoming a big girl and certainly looking like me!!

Saturday night a couple of us decided to do some bar hopping with the kids in tow as this was a last minute thing and we didn’t have any sitters. We started off at goodberrys icecream shop and loaded the kids with some sugar. Then moved to an Irish pub where others loaded up on beer and I drank irish coffee. Am I the only beer hater?? Then we were off to a outdoor sports deck where some more beer and margaritas were consumed. Since everyone in the group has an MBA or is pursuing an MBA, there was a heated discussion going on about corporate culture, bull market, bear market, FDA, CEO’s, hedge funds, teamwork blah blah. It was about 2 in the morning when I began hugging the waitress and some random people. The party was then to move to our house when one of the girls remembered that she has a 5 mth old baby at home with the in-laws and needs to go! I told her to forget the damn baby but she did’nt listen……no wonder she was just drinking virgin coladas the whole time! Babies are such party haters sometimes!

So anyway Sunday I woke up at 11 with a bad headache. Went for my jog to clear my head and get back to reality. Dropped Apple for her playdate and rolled up on the couch instructing hubby to load the dishwasher….then the washing machine.... and then on how to scrub the bathroom floor.

All in all a good weekend though.

Shortage at the pump

SHORTAGE AT THE PUMP-NOT OF GAS BUT OF 4's

All said at one press conference

At the most recent press conference President Bush made the following statements. No kiddin.....

--If you're a depositor, you're protected by the federal government

--"The president doesn't have a magic wand. You can't just say, 'Low gas.'

--"They're smart enough to figure out whether they're going to drive less or not ... The marketplace works."

--"If they're not in their homes, they ought not to keep the air conditioning running. There's a lot they can do,"

--"I'm not an economist, but I do believe we're growing," he said. "I'm an optimist. I believe there's a lot of positive things for the economy."

"It's not growing as it should."

Jaane tu ya jaane na film review-BAD MOVIE-TO BE AVOIDED AT ALL COST

I saw the promos of Love story2050 and I knew its going to be a flop. So I never checked out the movie.
I saw the promos of JTYJN and I was intrigued . So I checked it out and I thought harry baweja was right! Somewhere after the relese of lovestory when it was getting all bad reviews and JTYJN being praised to the core…..Harry said that someone is trying to sabotage his movie- intentionally. I agree. Love story may be a bad film but Jaane is not a good movie either……….

Let me begin with the name. Its ridiculously long and I don’t see what’s the connection with the story. Its even difficult to say it every time you are mentioning this movie to someone for example hey I am going to watch jaane tu ya jaane na tomorrow , I watched JTYJN the other day etc. Chuha billi or When rats meets meow or some cowboy related theme would have been just fine!!

The Friends- Rotlu, jiggy, shaleen and bombs all look like dumb kids. I cannot say anything about these characters because I just don’t know anything about them except for the fact that they are stupid kids who like to hang around their goodlooking male friend and rich female friend. Oh and they are all ugly! Some of the close-ups of rotlu, jiggy and jiggy’s girlfriend are horrible. I actually had to look away from the screen. Shaleen looks decent and rough……but other than that I have no idea about her and why this bunch of friends have no identity or self respect (they have to listen to their rich frinds commands-you cannot call him rats!!)or any work of their own and why they just go about following goodlooking friends. Oh and their whole chat at the airport and throughout the film in general is so boring that I really wished I could forward it. I can’t believe Abbas bhai did not have a single witty dialogue for any of them!!!

Imran and genelia- They both look good. Genelia tries very hard to be spunky. In some situations she is OTT. I find it disgusting that a spunky, independent, smart, bratty, gutsy girl like her stays with that stupid boyfriend of hers and then silently takes his slap on the face like a bechari bahu from the 60’s. Plain stupidity here!!! Also her jealousy towards imran’s girlfriend is so tacky…..and obvious. I don’t know why anyone would put up with it. Imran is okay but comes off stupid….especially in jail with his two cowboy brothers. I never felt anything from Imran....never felt like he was genelia's best friend as the movie claims, never felt that he was in love with meghna.....basically I could not share his emotions at all.

Cowboys- DISGUSTING. I had to constantly look away from the screen so as to avoid looking at arbaaz and sohail’s rough, pimply skin and their ugly noses and their middle aged fat body. Again no charming, witty lines, actions for them so as to make them bearable. No wonder they are both flop as actors and must have come in at a cheap price for abbas to cast them the way he did!

Nasser and ratna- The only bearable and interesting couple in this movie. Infact if the whole movie was shot around ratna and imran with naseer speaking from that frame and paresh rawal and some money spent on a hilarious writer like jaideep sahni or someone, this would have been a good movie

Paresh rawal: He is superb as usual but everytime he opened his mouth, I was waiting for him to say something funny and witty and he never did!! He kept saying things that I knew someone in that situation would say!!

Genelia’s brother-so unimaginative and boring and regular….yawn*yawn. You see one like him in every rich household. How come they are all painters/artists?? Seriously?? Its like a bollywood formula, if you are reclusive/different then you have to be an artist. Remember akshay khanna in dil chahta hai??

Realistic?? What crap?? – How is this realistic? Who would go running around the airport these days the way imran did without getting killed and he did not even go to jail?? Cowboys are realistic?? In mumbai? Riding on horses? Ranjhore ke rathod and 3 promises blah blah…crap is realistic?

Dil Chahta hai was also about a bunch of rich kids but it was thoroughly entertaining. I have watched the movie countless number of times and can still watch it again for the fun, carefree, aspect of it. But JTYJN has nothing.....My test for good movie is that I don't want it to end. I am curious to see the next frame even though I know the story, I am curious to hear the next meaningful, funny, witty, sad, emotional dialogue. While watching Jaane tu I did'nt feel like this at all....I could have just walked out of the theater after half an hour and not felt bad about leaving in the middle (which I do if I am watching a good movie)
Save your money, people!! YOU CANNOT WATCH AN ENTIRE BAD MOVIE FOR ONE (not so) WITTY LINE I.E phone pe beta phone pe!!

Tags: Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na Film Review, JTYJN Review

Tags: Genelia, Lovestory 2050 Review

Love

Tuesday July 9, 2008. The only thing I say to hubby during the whole day is, when are you picking apple from school?

The only thing hubby says to me during the whole day is, what's for dinner?

There is no time or reason for anything else.

What do you see

Difference in the same

Its the same place in different seasons!!

I got this as a forward in my mailbox.....Just what I needed for today! Its strange....god sending messages to me (via someone) by email!!!

So here's the motivational message...........

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall. When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen. The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise. The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment. The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life. He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up. If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest. Don't judge life by one difficult season.

HMMMM....................

Color Nirvana

I am happy to tell ya that I have attained color nirvana! Yes I have. I have found the OPI India collection of nail color and have gone into spiritual bliss. You know whenever I feel like the great american materialistic girl, I look at my elephantastic nail color and find inner peace coz India is, you know, so full of elephants and curry and ohh karma. Seriously, if you ask a typical american high school student to close his eyes and tell us ten things they can come up with about India, what would it be?
1. Elephants
2. Snake Charmers
3. Curry
4. Monsoon
5. Bombay
6. Karma
7. Taj
8. Yoga (kinda tricy coz many people don't know yoga originated in India)
9. Delhi
10. Raja
Omg talk about OPI's extremely intelligent high school going creative team and talk about direct (annoying) stereotyping!!

Weekend Plans

Thursday Evening: Did I tell you we have new neighbors? This particular house next to us has seen 3 owners in the past 5 years. First we had the very snobbish canadians who kinda had the layman view of India and Indians. Then we had the Chinese PHD couple who were so intellingent that they would not understand easy simple day to day stuff. Yeah, this is the same couple who would dig holes in their backyard to collect rain water to save on water bill. They kinda got the plain simple logic when many other people including us told them (I threatened them actually) that there are kids who play near here and they might fall into these "water holes". Neway finally we have FABULOUS neighbors who have moved all the way from Germany. They are intelligent, friendly, helpful and just plain NICE. They just had their second baby girl and tonight we are having dinner with them to welcome this beautiful baby. I hope these guys never move!

Friday Evening: POTLUCK at a friends house! If you live in America you already know by now that every party is a potluck! Nobody wants to cook all day for 3-4 families. I have a simple mantra: 1 family= Cook dinner myself; 2 families= Invite for high tea and snacks; 4 or more families= Potluck; 10 or more families= Catering.
Some families take the potluck thingy a bit too far. For example one of my friends invited me to her "sangeet potluck". I was like yeah thank you that is great.
I did not go. The next day I told her I was too sick to come. What the hell! You are getting married, its your sangeet and you want me to cook 1 dish for 30 people. No thank you. Get lost.
What's next"potluck wedding"?. Fortunately she did have a good wedding and catered food from some indian restaurant.

Saturday evening: We will be going to our Mahrashtra mandal Holi program. Our little Apple is singing her favourite song, "lakdi ki kathi" on stage and I hope it goes well. Actually these events are very boring filled with kids cultural programs. And I honestly don't mind watching a well rehearsed, well choreographed kids show but please don't put your kids on stage just for the heck of it if they are simply going to go and stand there and move one hand every 5 mins. Digest the truth that your kid is not going to be a performer and instead focus your attention on maths or science. (I wish I could say that on stage....lol)

So thats about it.

Newyork...Newyork!

***New york governor Elliott Spitzer resigns and leaves the office in disgrace because he has been using campaign money on prostitutes!
***David Paterson is sworn in as the first black Governor of NY.
***Less than 24 hours after he was sworn in Gov. David Paterson admitted that he had had relationships with women other than his wife, including one who is on the state payroll!!!!!
***Mr. Paterson made the disclosure at a news conference at the State Capitol, accompanied by his wife, Michelle, (ofcourse…wife’s have to be by their side when telling the whole world, I slept with prostitutes! I am gay! Blah blah) who Mr. Paterson said had also been unfaithful!!!

It can’t get better than that!Oh my! That is too much excitement for the NY governor’s office. Promise me god, you will stop now! I have been grinning so much, my jaw hurts. Ouch.

Abhijit and Eve

UNC suspect involved in Duke Killing

This news totally caught my attention because of two things. Duke is my alma mater and I know the whole school/its culture/area very well. Secondly, an Indian student, Abhijit Mahato who was doing his post graduate studies at Duke was recently found shot to death in his apartment. Just a random killing of sorts.....

It was in the local news and all for a day or two and then the news died down. A few arrests were made. The guy charged in Abhijit's murder was involved in 17 different robberies in and around Duke and Durham. I find it hard to believe that this guy was not caught before!! The police had to wait until he killed someone to really spring into action.
But thats not all! Another UNC student body president, Eve Carson was killed a few weeks after and it became national headlines (for obvious reasons!) I am not angry that it became big news but what completely blew my mind was the fact that the guy who is charged in Eve's murder has confessed to killing Abhijit Mahato!! What? Then what about the guy who was already charged with Abhijit's murder?? Police said that both these guys were involved. Yeah?? Then why was'nt this information made available to the public before?? What we knew was that one guy was charged with Abhijit's death and thats all!! Police never said that they were looking for another suspect.....because they were not!! Had Eve Carson not been killed, Abhijit's real killer would have never been found. Is'nt that sad!! Now a few details are coming out everyday in the local news. Police had a lot of evidence to connect that Abhijit's real killer was not the guy they charged....(abhijit's stolen cell phone records) but they were just not investigating it as aggressively as they were investigating Eve Carson's murder!!
Both these killers were 17 and 19 year old teenagers. Both were on parol. One of these guys was scheduled to appear in court just a few days before Eve's murder, and he did come to court but his file was sent to the wrong courtroom and hence his case was scheduled for another day. He got out of ocurt and 2 days later killed Eve Carson.
Abhijit Mahato was shot right in between his eyes for $200!!!! That is all they stole from him.
It is a sad world we are living in. Both these students were extremely intelligent, extremely nice human beings......Both these students are dead and we are left with 2 guy who are cold blooded killers who would do anything for a small amount of money. Its very sad!.

Weekend Plans

Friday Evening: We are having dinner at our house with a friend and her teenage daughter. My friend wants my husband and I to "ADVISE" her daughter about our respective fields i.e. LAW and MANAGEMENT/FINANCE so she can make a better career choice and choose the right college courses.
We have officially reached the "UNCLE" and "AUNTY" status- coz we have started giving out free advice! Hubby has warned me to behave myself in front of the teenager and stick to my "aunty" status. I can't promise anything!

Saturday Morning: We are attending a NETWORKING birthday party lunch at Duke Gardens. Apple is excited about the birthday party. Hubby and I are excited about (career) networking with some well connected parents.

Sunday Morning: I am scheduled to attend a buddhist meeting. Yeah. A close friend has been inviting me to join her buddhist group for over a year. I cannot deny anymore. I guess she knows how much I am in need of MEDITATION. Om Shanti OM.........

So thats about it. Rest of the time hubby and I will be in bed. (Sleeping!)

Happy Friday everyone.

BTW, Today is Amir Khan's Birthday and Kiran wanted to have a "shaving party" for him but they are keeping it low key. Only a billion people know about this. So shhhhh. And Kiran and Amir are having Kheema pav, Kababs, mutton biryani for dinner tonight. I think I will pass on this party......I don't eat all that!

Recession

Article for all of us: How to Grow Your Career in a Recession
Article for George W. Bush: How to create a Recession in your career!
God Bless America.

Interesting read

WHAT'S HOLDING INDIA BACK?

I am busy nursing Apple's flu which she caught at the recent IndiaFest. She has had a high fever for the last two days and since both her parents work for the two biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world, they are afraid to give her any medicine. Such irony...I tell ya!
Other then that I have found out that my friend's friend is running for the state senate and I am planning to organize a fundraiser for him at my house sometime next month. I love REAL politics!
Gas prices in the US are rising everyday. I just filled gas for $3.50/gallon. Its bad! The other day I saw a news conference where a reporter asked President Bush that economists are predicting that gas prices are going to be $4/gallon in the next few months and Bush said"Interesting"! Thats all he had to say! I don't believe this!!!!