Peanuts, peanuts - two rupees peanuts

This news was given to me by my cousin (who I must say took great pleasure in relating it).

The whole incident seemed to have started when my mom's colleague's son got married quite unexpectedly it seems. My mom was talking about this to her sister - one among the half dozen siblings she has, not too surprising as people at that time did not seem to have much faith in everyone surviving to adulthood.

Anyways getting back to the story, the hapless mother of the groom had an unexpected (quite possibly unapproved as well) marriage thrust upon her, sooo unexpected that she did not have gold to bestow on her new daughter-in-law. Quite a nice excuse to save on a bit of money after all gold is a man/woman's best friend (or did I get that wrong).

So my mom and my aunt (another aunt joined in the whole conversation pretty soon - stoking the flames more likely) were discussing the possibilities of how such a grave misfortune may fall upon them as well. Now my mom suddenly remembered (I'm pretty sure she never forgot it) that I had carried a few things back to chicago for a friend here on my last trip to India. Now in their mind, since I'm doing so much for this gujrati girl (in her defence she is not even close to being gujrati, she'll be hard pressed to pass off as an Indian in the first place ... anyways), I must have something going on with her. Oh the joy of leading such a simple life when all thought and reasonings are so straight forward.

My other aunt hence suggested that my mom should "buy some gold" just in case, I decide to surprise them with some good (or bad) news.

So in the end, some jeweller in some corner of India is going to be very happy, just because my mom's colleague's son is getting married. For those not exposed to Indian families, trust me you are not missing much of an experience, just surround yourselves with crackpots !!

hell and back

Ran and finished my first (and probably my last) marathon. You get a tremendous sense of achievement - though my legs probably dont agree with it right now.

Felt pretty great by mile 15. Was actually dreaming about possibly iron man triathlon in the future. I had heard about how difficult it gets after miles 18 or 19. How true it was !

I certainly didn't feel that I was closer to GOD, but I sure felt what the proverbial hell must be like. The dreams of a triathlon quickly evaporated as I started having motivational talks with my legs and kept trying to remind them that the brain was boss. I guess my speeches weren't motivational enough.

In the end finishing the complete 26.2 miles required every bit of energy I had and some more, but the joy of finishing a marathon is pretty much unparalled.

africa on my mind

There is a current news item about how a group of africans are risking their lives (some have already paid the price) by trying to cross over from morocco to spain.

It's a sad state that humanity has forsaken the continent where probably the genesis of human beings may have occurred. The western world seems to be ignoring the plight of most africans who are faced with a future of dying of aids, hunger or wars.

The 5 nations (us,uk,france,russia and china), permanent members of the security council are the world's worst arms proliferators, who for their greeds have reset the clock of civilization on an entire continent.

Maybe once the source of blood diamonds is exhausted, will this exploitation end.

I wanna play tag tag

A mysterious friend just tagged me and challenged me to write a poem or a limerick or a story based on any word which comes to your head. Well instead of a word, I was thinking about a sentence so made a short poem based on it. Not a very refined effort nor one for high praise, but nonetheless one which has given me a fair bit of joy. So here it is


Big Dreams and lot of plans
Having fun and no sadness
Got to go, getting late for class
Indian men don't really get married due to lack of sex or loneliness


College fun and canteen lunch
Cutting class and studying less
No girl friend but what the heck
Do Indian men get married due to lack of sex or loneliness


Flying out on the first flight at dawn
Going to the land of milk and honeyness (a lil bit of poetic license)
Exploring things and making friends
No time for Indian men who get married due to lack of sex or loneliness


Graduated and looking for jobs
Friends moved on, searching for happiness
Roomie's getting married, what a shock
Maybe Indian men get married due to lack of sex or loneliness


Working hard, no time for fun
Meeting girls is so cumbersome
Yoga or salsa may do the trick
Am I one of those Indian men who get married due to lack of sex or loneliness


Nagging wife and crying kids
No money in my pockets but get a lot of kicks
If I only I was more august in my approach
Why did I become one of those Indian men who get married due to lack of sex or loneliness