Way to Go!

Congratulations to PR and PJ for landing up jobs right before graduation. Both in the same company. Things are still not too concrete so lets keep it to ourselvs - ok? They will be leaving soon - (sob) (the bastards). Now, I suppose is a good time to tell that my roommates (A, PR, PJ) are the best ever, and that we had a lot of fun together. You rock guys!! Life is gonna be so different from now on.

The shunners.

Yazad asks To Vote or not To Vote?.

While he focuses on a few points for either viewpoint .. lets look at a few instances where people choose not to vote. Have you sensed this in the young generation? The reluctance to vote? Yes, there are always those who have just turned 18 the year before and are absolutely excited about exercising their right to vote. They know that its just a drop in the ocean, but they also believe that every vote counts. They feel it's their moral duty as a responsible citizen to vote. Obviously I am not talking about these young people. I am not even talking about the ones who are past that, the ones who feel its useless, that its just choosing the lesser evil and whoever they vote for is gonna fleece the country bare.

I am talking about those who just don't give a damn, whose peers think its 'cool' to not vote; who know whatever happens, they are safe. They just don't care who comes to power. Sort of like the swollen babus our bureaucracy is chock-full of. Because 'Its the poor and the middle-classes who should care'. As children, they have seen their parents do the same. And its pretty understandable. After all .. who will engage in something that has no consequence for them? Thats why traditionally the voter turnout has been higher for the middle classes who have much to gain - or lose out out of the elections.

But thats where the wrong assumption is made. We are fast reaching a stage where governments make increasingly responsible decisions that influence the breadth of our economy. Election promises are changing for the better (it remains another matter if they are implemented as promised). It would not heed well to remain lax and continue this pooh-poohing. It is time to participate.

Home made Jalebis

Yesterday, I had the privilege of eating home made jalebis. Never knew anyone who made them at home .. but as necessity is the mother of invention ... R made them .. right here .. in Duluth!! She tried her hand at them over the weekend .. and was not quite what we will call successful (we may be deprived of outside indian food, but we keep our standards high) . Undaunted, unafraid of stinging critisism and floppy jalebis we were subjected to another batch .. and .. voila! The jalebis were crisp, tangy, .. perfect. Hats off Ms. R ... (hope this post extracts more benevolence from her)

Ready, set ..

The Indian General Elections are less than a week away. Though I am sitting here half a world across, the excitement still grabs me as it would have had I been back home. Lets hope the electronic voting machines do their job well, with minimum glitches. If theres anything I hate abt our elections, it's the sundry re-elections that take place later due to various technicalities. That apart, it's gonna be fun.Heres a link to get you into the spirit.

The other LOC

For most of us LOC means Line of Control, and for me it conjures up a vision of the India-Pakistan border, with trenches and barbed wire and soldiers manning their posts. And rightly so .. because thats probably the only LOC any of us have heard about.
There is however another LOC .. which does not conjure up images of strife. The US Library of Congress is among the largest libraries in the world, was established over 200 years ago and contains more than a 100 million items, 19 million of which are books..

19 million books!! Thats an eyepopping figure. It has items in more than 450 languages. Many articles on the Library boast that it's acquisition office obtains items from all over the world. More browsing tells us that the library maintains offices overseas to acquire, catalog, preserve, and distribute library and research materials from countries where such materials are essentially unavailable through conventional acquisitions methods. Looking it up .. really surprised me. I came across this page. If I recall correctly Mandar had emailed the link around an year back. The South Asian Literary Recordings Project has captured the readings of prominent South Asian novelists, poets and playwrights in over 20 languages. (Sanskrit, Urdu, Hindi, Gujrathi, Marathi, Kashmiri.. and many more).

The marathi section is decent .. but essentially dissapointed me with total absence of any readings from notable novelist, poet and playwright P L Deshpande. Particularly because he had the knack of narration, and his works spanned such a wide range. I immediately made a request for the same.

Anyways .. if I do visit DC this summer.. will surely try to go and have a look at the LOC.

WTF?

21 Killed in Sari Stampede.
Links to articles inThe Times of India, CNN, NYTimes.
I fail to understand this mob mentality. It happens disturbingly frequently in India. People rush to get ahead and not notice that they are trampling children underneath? How can you do that? Not just one person, but thousands of them .. stepping on, ignoring the muffled cries .. its sickening. I am not even up to the usual polit-bashing for the politicians who were distributing free saris just before the elections.

Mooning the world

Yesterday night, as we sat having dinner .. we were spellbound by the moon .. hovering just over Lake Superior .. with a brilliant reflection. You can catch a view here, captured through PR's new Minolta Z1. Though I don't have a pic with the reflection right now .. maybe next time.

Looks like Pooja, half a world away .. also saw it the way it should be seen.

GudiPadwa

Heres a photu of what we had made for dinner on GudiPadwa. (clockwise) Poori, bhaat, green chutney, batata bhaaji, shrikhand, kurdai, lassi

It was the best dinner ever! Classic case of many cooks coordinating and not spoiling anything. Seriously me thinks we should open up a restaurant here in the US .. the food will definitely be better than some of the places I've been to.

Alas the days in Duluth are numbered .. and cooking such meals with friends (and later finishing the same and reflecting on the meal for days to come) will soon be a thing of the past. (Or will it?).

Don't worry fellow roommates..(and almost roommates) (and friends- (now everyones covered)) I'll cook for u guys when u come over to my place then! (Ha! that'll keep them away).