Ganesh Chaturti

Its that time of the year again, festivals one after another starting with the most major one of all! Above is my very first Ganesh idol at home:) It was an immensely exciting day for me yesterday with all the delicacies (below) and rituals.




This was the first time I tried Modak and I was pretty amazed that it came out decently. Thanx to my mom for letting me make all those trial modaks as a kid. :D I will miss the typical hullaballo for visajan but atleast being part of the festival here feels good. Thanx to the tonnes of India stpres in the bay area which carry Ganesh idols. Another good reason to never move:)

Bombay Blasts

For anyone who needs help tracking their friends/family and are not able to get in touch, try here http://mumbaihelp.blogspot.com/

Back from vacation!

I am back from a vacation on the east coast (first time there) and feel rejuvenated! The east coast felt so different - weather (humid and hot), people (not as friendly), food (hardly and vegetarians or veggie food).... I love where I live and I love what I do.....I am so used to having such great weather (yeah rite! You should have heard me crib a few months ago when it was pouring) and all the indians and indian food around with the right blend of everything that I don't think I will ever want to move out of here.....Of course there are things that I liked there like the wide roads, the open spaces, the huge houses and most of all the fact that I could get into the water in the lake where we camped without freezing!!!! I would vacation there anytime but not sure about living there. There is something about the Silicon Valley that keeps people here. :D

I have a huge backlog of mvies to catch up on - Superman, X-Men3, Over the Hedge, Krrish, Corporate.....I hope to catch up on a cpl over the wkend......And then there is the dreaded Soccer Finals coming up and I dont expect to be heard by my hubby the entire day......Oh well! Theres tonnes of things that I can catch up on :)

Music - The Universal Language!

The only time I ever feel like getting to this blog section of mine is when I have something to say about he music that I am listening to. I am wondering if I should rename the blog in keeping with the rest of my blog titles. Here's a nice quote

"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."
-Red Auerbach

Firstly I need to rave about the tracks of "Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna"...Its such a welcome break from Himesh Reshammiya music....Not that I don't like his music but I have had too mkuch of it recently.....I have been listening to this new album non-stop and I simply love the "Farewell Trance". The "Where's the party tonight" sounds like a lift off from some pop number but I can't be sure. And then I stumbled upon the fusion section on musicindiaonline.com which is just amazing.....I have been meaning to get my hands on music like they have there and this is just perfect.........I listened to the album Global Village by Karunesh and its awesome. I usually listen to music the most when I am fervently coding at work. It maximizes my productivity and keeps me going. :) Anyone else into fusion music? Suggestions welcome!

05/18/2006 - First posting

A fellow blogger/friend insisted that it was very satisfying to write personal blogs which shared your life and experiences. I took up his advise and here I am blogging and telling everyone what I am upto everyday/week (as if I don't do enough of it already). Another reason for starting this blog is to improve my writing skills which leave much to be desired.

To get started, I am re-reading The Da Vinci Code (illustrated version) and its wonderful to have the painiting in front of you for reference. My first reading was on a copy borrowed from the Eugene Public Library during the good old days of student life. I am almost done now and looking forward to watching the movie tomorrow.

I have been listening to this indipop album called "Kailasa" by Kailash Kher a lot lately. It has the "Allah ke bande" song which was popular a while ago and it has good lyrics. Besides that I think it has a sufi touch to it and I am beginning to get into Sufi music ecently. I read someplace that a new Sufi private album with the best Sufi tracks is coming out soon and I am looking forward to listening to that one when musicindiaonline has it. I happened to listen to the disgusting "Mallika I hate you album". Can't understand who gets paid for making music like that.

I haven't had much time to experiment in the kitchen recently. I do plan to try my hand at something new this weekend if I have some time to spare. Besides that I am wondering what I could start reading next. Hmm.....Maybe somehting light that won't require me to use my brains much. Can't think of anything else to share. So, goodbye untill somehtign exciting enough to blog happens in my life!