As a Math Major in College, I am sometimes asked to provide Math Help to my friends children. If the kids are younger, then its a pretty easy proposition, but if they are in the senior grades, then I seem to have forgotten some of my old mathematical concepts in the race with Management Concepts.
Hence I am then forced to relearn and re read mathematical concepts that I don't use on a daily basis in my current job, to teach someone else's kid. How poetic is that!
Fortunately with the advent of Online Math Tutoring, my time is now not being encroached upon. Sites have become more sophisticated and offer 24*7 Online Math Help.
So, advise to parents trying to get their kids to understand math, is to spare yourself, your friends and your kids the torture of trying to tutor them and rely on help from Online math tutors, who are more current in their knowledge and hence better able to help your child.
Showing posts with label Diary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Diary. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
The Indian Fascination for fans
As an Indian who grew up in a simple Middle Class family, Air Conditioning was a luxury that no one that I knew could afford. Even if someone had an AC installed, they would barely run it once a year because of the high electricity costs associated with it.
We all survived with Ceiling Fans to keep us cool. Some lucky classmates had Tablefans
on their study tables to keep them cool during the sweltering heat. This too was a luxury in the hot and humid South.
In the dry heat of the North of India, an Air Cooler
was de rigueur. Unless movable, it would be installed in the central hall, so everyone could sleep in the same room and save on electricity bills (completely different concept from saving electricity) It operated on the concept of a huge fan blowing fine mists of water over the humans crowding around it. Sometimes the wtaer added to the cooler, was given a touch of fragrance like Khus or Rose with a little essence added to the water. But this was an indulgence reserved for occasions when there were "guests" visiting and the like.
Having grown up with these fans, they have become a necessity in our lives. I have friends who have moved to the US (pioneer in central heating/cooling systems) at least a decade ago and they have bought mini portable fans to lull themselves to sleep. It is something to do with the motion of the breeze or the hum of the fan, that helps us sleep more peacefully. Familiar sounds and sensations from childhood perhaps.
Personally, while we were in Egypt, we used a tall floor fan in front of the Air conditioning during summer, to disperse the cool air further and during winter to disperse the hot air around the room and provide some air circulation in an otherwise still room.
In Dubai, even with the central airconditioning, fans were among the first of our electronic purchases and I use them more regularly and constantly, than the airconditioners even in the peak of Summer right now.
A common complaint about fans is that they do not fit or match or belnd into the decor. But with the modern ranges and designs available, this is no longer a valid complaint.
Consider, craftmade ceiling fans like
or 
You can even go Futuristic with brands like Fanimation, which produce such gems as:
, 
and 
.
If you are looking for exclusivity, then brands like Hunter Fans produce Limited editions like the
1886 Series Limited Edition Model 18865 Ceiling Fan
Fans are a sensible choice. They can be decorative and add so much more character to your room, than just a drab white airconditioning unit or concealed central airconditioning. Its low electricity usage is good for both your wallet and the environment. So do give the fan a chance.
We all survived with Ceiling Fans to keep us cool. Some lucky classmates had Tablefans
on their study tables to keep them cool during the sweltering heat. This too was a luxury in the hot and humid South.In the dry heat of the North of India, an Air Cooler
was de rigueur. Unless movable, it would be installed in the central hall, so everyone could sleep in the same room and save on electricity bills (completely different concept from saving electricity) It operated on the concept of a huge fan blowing fine mists of water over the humans crowding around it. Sometimes the wtaer added to the cooler, was given a touch of fragrance like Khus or Rose with a little essence added to the water. But this was an indulgence reserved for occasions when there were "guests" visiting and the like.Having grown up with these fans, they have become a necessity in our lives. I have friends who have moved to the US (pioneer in central heating/cooling systems) at least a decade ago and they have bought mini portable fans to lull themselves to sleep. It is something to do with the motion of the breeze or the hum of the fan, that helps us sleep more peacefully. Familiar sounds and sensations from childhood perhaps.
Personally, while we were in Egypt, we used a tall floor fan in front of the Air conditioning during summer, to disperse the cool air further and during winter to disperse the hot air around the room and provide some air circulation in an otherwise still room.
In Dubai, even with the central airconditioning, fans were among the first of our electronic purchases and I use them more regularly and constantly, than the airconditioners even in the peak of Summer right now.
A common complaint about fans is that they do not fit or match or belnd into the decor. But with the modern ranges and designs available, this is no longer a valid complaint.
Consider, craftmade ceiling fans like
or You can even go Futuristic with brands like Fanimation, which produce such gems as:
, and .If you are looking for exclusivity, then brands like Hunter Fans produce Limited editions like the
1886 Series Limited Edition Model 18865 Ceiling Fan Fans are a sensible choice. They can be decorative and add so much more character to your room, than just a drab white airconditioning unit or concealed central airconditioning. Its low electricity usage is good for both your wallet and the environment. So do give the fan a chance.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Attacks on Churches and Christians in India
Section 144 has just been clamped on Mangalore city.
Police resorted to lathi charge and throwing tear gas grenades at peaceful protesters where a number of nuns and women were injured and had to be taken to hospital.
What the hell is wrong with our country and its people? (I would not normally use such strong language in print, but it doesn't even begin to demonstrate how strongly I feel)
Today morning between 9am and 10am, Bajrang Dal activists attacked and destroyed 4 churches in Mangalore City.
Why? Because New Life members distributed pamphlets which said "Do not Worship Hindu Gods"
While I admit that this could be an incendiary statement, does this justify attacking people and churches who do not even agree with the methods used by the New Life preachers?
Does this justify attacking members of a church, who have not had anything to do with conversions or preaching and just listen?
Lets look at the issues here:
1. The Bajrang Dal resorts to violence because of something that is printed that they do not agree with.
2. When the Bajrang Dal says that conversions are illegal, (and all the other things they do with tis as their cause) aren't they infact enforcing that "you cannot worship any God other than a Hindu God"
3. The New Life Church is a relative newcomer, known to be more hardline than most other churches which distance themselves from them. Shouldn't the Bajrang Dal have at least distinguished that?
4. Even if they did not agree with what was printed by the New Life church in India, couldn't they try having a dialog with them first, before resorting to violence.
Looks like the hooligans behind these attacks are only interested in breaking bones and getting their adrenaline pumping rather than really trying to sort out any kinds of problems or misunderstandings.
The ruffians broke all the religious statues in the Sisters of Poor Clare's Adoration Monastery. They threw the Holy Eucharist on the ground and desecrated it.
Is this OK, just because it is being done against Catholics/Christians in India who have historically been as non-violent as the Jains and buddhists (other minorities) in India?
Concerned members of the churches gathered in the church grounds during and after evening mass in a peaceful way to seek assurance and guidance from the priests and other religious. Wasn't this a peaceful gahtering compared to mobs rampaging and torching buses because of some mud smeared on Meenatai's statue? or The countrywide riots following a desecration of an Ambedkar statue in Kanpur? The second incident was also of smeared mud. Both the desecrations happened on public roads. This does not make it right, but compare this to religious statues being broken on private property, the Holy Eucharist (which Christians believe is the body of Christ once it is blessed) thrown on the ground. Do not Christians have a right to congregate to discuss their fears following such incidents.
Remember the Christians were gathering in peace outside their place of worship (since the insides of the church were full) not going out and torching buses or hurting other innocent people.
To add fuel to the fire, the police arrived. No issues with their arriving where crowds had gathered, but they started lathi charging the gathered people and seriously injured nuns and women among the crowd and threw tear bombs inside the church where Sunday evening mass was being held. A religious ceremony, a peaceful ceremony, held everyday inside these churches.
Was this responsible on the part of the police to use force and violence against unarmed, peaceful members of the public?
People present at the scene said that the police themselves were pelting stones at the crowd and caning them, hurting both people and damaging property in the vicinity.
The news channels started to broadcast about this and then completely hushed up. I turned on my India feed of NDTV which promised for 15 minutes to show an update and news about Mangalore city and suddenly it stopped showing those banners without showing any news about what had happened. Looks like someone high in the political chain, got to them and yanked the news off the air.
Now take 2-3 other incidents into perspective.
On 29th August over 40,000 Christian Educational Institutions across India stayed closed to register a peaceful protest against the continuing violence against Christians in Orissa which has now spread to 13 out of 30 districts.
On the same day, the government of Karnataka announced its decision to take action against Christian schools in the state for closing without prior permission.
This same government has yet to take action against the Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishat and RSS workers, who had launched violent protests when the JD (S) failed to hand over the state reins to the BJP last year.
Is it any surprise that both Karnataka and Orissa currently have the BJP in power?
The VHP held violent protests in Madhya Pradesh and other places asking why the Christians had killed Saraswati? (by shutting educational institutions for a day) What about all the occasions when the BJP/VHP/Bajrang Dal/Shiv Sena and other Hindu organisations force schools, colleges and business to shut shutter for their own bundhs which destroy all normalcy in the cities?
Why are these double standards in play? Why are Christians being given the short end of the stick? Religious Christian institutions have a large role to play in education, medicine, caring for the orphans, abandoned, old and dying in India. Christians have been one of the most tolerant minorities in India (imagine what would have happened by now if by chance the Bajrang Dal hooligans had desecrated a mosque this morning) who have contributed immensely to the growth of the country. Why this treatment? Do they deserve it?
Do they deserve a government that is apathetic to their religious sensibilities being trampled upon?
Christians have always believed in being peace loving, patient and tolerant. Will the Christian youth of today continue to be as tolerant when they see the atrocities being committed against their brethren in Orissa and the North East?
Why are these atrocities against Christians being downplayed in the media? (Try googling for the attack against Christians in India and see how many Indian media links pop up) Why aren't they being given coverage? Is it because the powers-that-be know that they aren't doing a thing to control, controllable situations and the miscreants in their party? Is it because the powers-that-be know that the Christians haven't ever retaliated with violence? How long will the Christians community be able to react with tolerance and peace? (2 values that a lot of Indians in the news seem to have completely forgotten about)
Final note of irony: Union minister of labour and employment Oscar Fernandes (a Christian) was in Mangalore today to inaugurate the opening of a (Hindu) temple.
And so we debate endlessly in the media about terrorism coming in from across the border while we burn our own own citizens in their homes and places of worship.
Also Published on desicritics.org
Police resorted to lathi charge and throwing tear gas grenades at peaceful protesters where a number of nuns and women were injured and had to be taken to hospital.
What the hell is wrong with our country and its people? (I would not normally use such strong language in print, but it doesn't even begin to demonstrate how strongly I feel)
Today morning between 9am and 10am, Bajrang Dal activists attacked and destroyed 4 churches in Mangalore City.
Why? Because New Life members distributed pamphlets which said "Do not Worship Hindu Gods"
While I admit that this could be an incendiary statement, does this justify attacking people and churches who do not even agree with the methods used by the New Life preachers?
Does this justify attacking members of a church, who have not had anything to do with conversions or preaching and just listen?
Lets look at the issues here:
1. The Bajrang Dal resorts to violence because of something that is printed that they do not agree with.
2. When the Bajrang Dal says that conversions are illegal, (and all the other things they do with tis as their cause) aren't they infact enforcing that "you cannot worship any God other than a Hindu God"
3. The New Life Church is a relative newcomer, known to be more hardline than most other churches which distance themselves from them. Shouldn't the Bajrang Dal have at least distinguished that?
4. Even if they did not agree with what was printed by the New Life church in India, couldn't they try having a dialog with them first, before resorting to violence.
Looks like the hooligans behind these attacks are only interested in breaking bones and getting their adrenaline pumping rather than really trying to sort out any kinds of problems or misunderstandings.
The ruffians broke all the religious statues in the Sisters of Poor Clare's Adoration Monastery. They threw the Holy Eucharist on the ground and desecrated it.
Is this OK, just because it is being done against Catholics/Christians in India who have historically been as non-violent as the Jains and buddhists (other minorities) in India?
Concerned members of the churches gathered in the church grounds during and after evening mass in a peaceful way to seek assurance and guidance from the priests and other religious. Wasn't this a peaceful gahtering compared to mobs rampaging and torching buses because of some mud smeared on Meenatai's statue? or The countrywide riots following a desecration of an Ambedkar statue in Kanpur? The second incident was also of smeared mud. Both the desecrations happened on public roads. This does not make it right, but compare this to religious statues being broken on private property, the Holy Eucharist (which Christians believe is the body of Christ once it is blessed) thrown on the ground. Do not Christians have a right to congregate to discuss their fears following such incidents.
Remember the Christians were gathering in peace outside their place of worship (since the insides of the church were full) not going out and torching buses or hurting other innocent people.
To add fuel to the fire, the police arrived. No issues with their arriving where crowds had gathered, but they started lathi charging the gathered people and seriously injured nuns and women among the crowd and threw tear bombs inside the church where Sunday evening mass was being held. A religious ceremony, a peaceful ceremony, held everyday inside these churches.
Was this responsible on the part of the police to use force and violence against unarmed, peaceful members of the public?
People present at the scene said that the police themselves were pelting stones at the crowd and caning them, hurting both people and damaging property in the vicinity.
The news channels started to broadcast about this and then completely hushed up. I turned on my India feed of NDTV which promised for 15 minutes to show an update and news about Mangalore city and suddenly it stopped showing those banners without showing any news about what had happened. Looks like someone high in the political chain, got to them and yanked the news off the air.
Now take 2-3 other incidents into perspective.
On 29th August over 40,000 Christian Educational Institutions across India stayed closed to register a peaceful protest against the continuing violence against Christians in Orissa which has now spread to 13 out of 30 districts.
On the same day, the government of Karnataka announced its decision to take action against Christian schools in the state for closing without prior permission.
This same government has yet to take action against the Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishat and RSS workers, who had launched violent protests when the JD (S) failed to hand over the state reins to the BJP last year.
Is it any surprise that both Karnataka and Orissa currently have the BJP in power?
The VHP held violent protests in Madhya Pradesh and other places asking why the Christians had killed Saraswati? (by shutting educational institutions for a day) What about all the occasions when the BJP/VHP/Bajrang Dal/Shiv Sena and other Hindu organisations force schools, colleges and business to shut shutter for their own bundhs which destroy all normalcy in the cities?
Why are these double standards in play? Why are Christians being given the short end of the stick? Religious Christian institutions have a large role to play in education, medicine, caring for the orphans, abandoned, old and dying in India. Christians have been one of the most tolerant minorities in India (imagine what would have happened by now if by chance the Bajrang Dal hooligans had desecrated a mosque this morning) who have contributed immensely to the growth of the country. Why this treatment? Do they deserve it?
Do they deserve a government that is apathetic to their religious sensibilities being trampled upon?
Christians have always believed in being peace loving, patient and tolerant. Will the Christian youth of today continue to be as tolerant when they see the atrocities being committed against their brethren in Orissa and the North East?
Why are these atrocities against Christians being downplayed in the media? (Try googling for the attack against Christians in India and see how many Indian media links pop up) Why aren't they being given coverage? Is it because the powers-that-be know that they aren't doing a thing to control, controllable situations and the miscreants in their party? Is it because the powers-that-be know that the Christians haven't ever retaliated with violence? How long will the Christians community be able to react with tolerance and peace? (2 values that a lot of Indians in the news seem to have completely forgotten about)
Final note of irony: Union minister of labour and employment Oscar Fernandes (a Christian) was in Mangalore today to inaugurate the opening of a (Hindu) temple.
And so we debate endlessly in the media about terrorism coming in from across the border while we burn our own own citizens in their homes and places of worship.
Also Published on desicritics.org
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Hyderabad Times Party
Attended the Hyderabad Times (HT) Party at ITC Kakatiya on 16th,
Saturday.
Hmmmm, what can I say.
Having attended Bangalore Times parties, I have to say, Hyderabad was
nowhere near the mark of Bangalore, forget Bombay and Delhi.
Other than Azhar and Sangeetha, for a non-telugu movie watcher there
were no celebrities at all. Tollywood supposedly turned up in force
judging by the coverage in Hyderabad Times (HT)today but none of them
were recognisable to our group of 10.
There were the occasional designers and the rest of them, but for the
most it was compised of the Hyderabadi Reddy's whose names are dropped
so often in the same HT. We normally get to meet more celebrities at
each visit to Preetam Reddy's "Touch" than the whole of the HT party.
The entertainment was restricted to a couple of dancers from the Bombay
dance bars, 3 Russian women who danced what the MC called the Can-Can
but from my limited knowledge of music and dance it seemed more of a
Flamenco oriented, Spanish-Gypsy music and dance number. Except that
they did kick their legs up high which could be reminiscent of the
can-can I guess. Then there were these 2 males from bombay who were
supposed to be strippers, but they didnÂ’t take off anything other than
their shirts. And they were wearing jeans so totally unfair
entertainment policy I should say, given that the female dancers were
wearing the barest minimum of fabric.
The MC did an absolutely lousy job of it. She kept repeating "so is this
party going to rock" as if willing it to rock just by her constant
repetition. Sad fact being that the attendees were usually, actually
having a good time until she came on stage to ask her rocking question.
The MC then conducted a so called "Spot Prize" distribution and called
out names of tolly wood stars to receive gift vouchers worth Rs.3000/-
each. Neither the distributor or the distributees could be located for
quite awhile. Finally the distributor n his wife were duly located, but
only 2 of the distributees were to be found. Allu arjun for most
eligible bachelor and some other guy who couldnÂ’t speak English too well
for dressing Bollywood style. Guess he was going for the Sallu look
since he had most of his buttons open.
The Band "Tidal Waves" from Goa was great. Their English numbers were
quite good, but with the theme being Bollywood remixed, they were
compelled to play such numbers too which werent up to the mark.
DJ Ryan Beck was brought in to play some music post 2AM and that was
pretty decent too.
The bar tender who did some juggling with flaming bottles did a good job
but he was more interested in pouring shooters down the throats of the
PYT's around.
Having cribbed about all this, the brightest spot which overshone
everything else was the FOOD. Kakataiya's food in Hyderabad has to rank
among the best.
There were buffet tables for salad, Haleem(veg option on offer too),
Hyderabadi cuisine, Oriental cuisine, Lebanese cuisine, Frontier &
Awadhi cuisine, an Indian Grill section apart from the desserts.
Check out My pub & restaurant
review blog for a Detailed Review of the Food
Dublin rocked for a while too. But after the amazing meal, and the
flowing Chivas Reagal, sleep was the only interesting option. Totally
agree with
we have reached the Uncle/Aunty phase in life.
Saturday.
Hmmmm, what can I say.
Having attended Bangalore Times parties, I have to say, Hyderabad was
nowhere near the mark of Bangalore, forget Bombay and Delhi.
Other than Azhar and Sangeetha, for a non-telugu movie watcher there
were no celebrities at all. Tollywood supposedly turned up in force
judging by the coverage in Hyderabad Times (HT)today but none of them
were recognisable to our group of 10.
There were the occasional designers and the rest of them, but for the
most it was compised of the Hyderabadi Reddy's whose names are dropped
so often in the same HT. We normally get to meet more celebrities at
each visit to Preetam Reddy's "Touch" than the whole of the HT party.
The entertainment was restricted to a couple of dancers from the Bombay
dance bars, 3 Russian women who danced what the MC called the Can-Can
but from my limited knowledge of music and dance it seemed more of a
Flamenco oriented, Spanish-Gypsy music and dance number. Except that
they did kick their legs up high which could be reminiscent of the
can-can I guess. Then there were these 2 males from bombay who were
supposed to be strippers, but they didnÂ’t take off anything other than
their shirts. And they were wearing jeans so totally unfair
entertainment policy I should say, given that the female dancers were
wearing the barest minimum of fabric.
The MC did an absolutely lousy job of it. She kept repeating "so is this
party going to rock" as if willing it to rock just by her constant
repetition. Sad fact being that the attendees were usually, actually
having a good time until she came on stage to ask her rocking question.
The MC then conducted a so called "Spot Prize" distribution and called
out names of tolly wood stars to receive gift vouchers worth Rs.3000/-
each. Neither the distributor or the distributees could be located for
quite awhile. Finally the distributor n his wife were duly located, but
only 2 of the distributees were to be found. Allu arjun for most
eligible bachelor and some other guy who couldnÂ’t speak English too well
for dressing Bollywood style. Guess he was going for the Sallu look
since he had most of his buttons open.
The Band "Tidal Waves" from Goa was great. Their English numbers were
quite good, but with the theme being Bollywood remixed, they were
compelled to play such numbers too which werent up to the mark.
DJ Ryan Beck was brought in to play some music post 2AM and that was
pretty decent too.
The bar tender who did some juggling with flaming bottles did a good job
but he was more interested in pouring shooters down the throats of the
PYT's around.
Having cribbed about all this, the brightest spot which overshone
everything else was the FOOD. Kakataiya's food in Hyderabad has to rank
among the best.
There were buffet tables for salad, Haleem(veg option on offer too),
Hyderabadi cuisine, Oriental cuisine, Lebanese cuisine, Frontier &
Awadhi cuisine, an Indian Grill section apart from the desserts.
Check out My pub & restaurant
review blog for a Detailed Review of the Food
Dublin rocked for a while too. But after the amazing meal, and the
flowing Chivas Reagal, sleep was the only interesting option. Totally
agree with
we have reached the Uncle/Aunty phase in life.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Grandma's operation successful
Thank you to everyone who prayed for my grandma. She was taken into the
operation theatre finally at 3:00PM IST today. She was brought out at
5:30 PM. The doctor has inserted 3 stents in her heart. The procedure
was successful. They will be removing the tube at midnight today and by
tomorrow, she will be brought to the room. If things move smoothly, we
can bring her home by Friday. There arent too many complications in post
operative in a case like this. So thanks to all ytour prayers, grandma
is doing well.
Thank you once again from everyone in the Aranha family.
operation theatre finally at 3:00PM IST today. She was brought out at
5:30 PM. The doctor has inserted 3 stents in her heart. The procedure
was successful. They will be removing the tube at midnight today and by
tomorrow, she will be brought to the room. If things move smoothly, we
can bring her home by Friday. There arent too many complications in post
operative in a case like this. So thanks to all ytour prayers, grandma
is doing well.
Thank you once again from everyone in the Aranha family.
Hyderabad Times Party
Attended the Hyderabad Times (HT) Party at ITC Kakatiya on 16th,
Saturday.
Hmmmm, what can I say.
Having attended Bangalore Times parties, I have to say, Hyderabad was
nowhere near the mark of Bangalore, forget Bombay and Delhi.
Other than Azhar and Sangeetha, for a non-telugu movie watcher there
were no celebrities at all. Tollywood supposedly turned up in force
judging by the coverage in Hyderabad Times (HT)today but none of them
were recognisable to our group of 10.
There were the occasional designers and the rest of them, but for the
most it was compised of the Hyderabadi Reddy's whose names are dropped
so often in the same HT. We normally get to meet more celebrities at
each visit to Preetam Reddy's "Touch" than the whole of the HT party.
The entertainment was restricted to a couple of dancers from the Bombay
dance bars, 3 Russian women who danced what the MC called the Can-Can
but from my limited knowledge of music and dance it seemed more of a
Flamenco oriented, Spanish-Gypsy music and dance number. Except that
they did kick their legs up high which could be reminiscent of the
can-can I guess. Then there were these 2 males from bombay who were
supposed to be strippers, but they didnÂ’t take off anything other than
their shirts. And they were wearing jeans so totally unfair
entertainment policy I should say, given that the female dancers were
wearing the barest minimum of fabric.
The MC did an absolutely lousy job of it. She kept repeating "so is this
party going to rock" as if willing it to rock just by her constant
repetition. Sad fact being that the attendees were usually, actually
having a good time until she came on stage to ask her rocking question.
The MC then conducted a so called "Spot Prize" distribution and called
out names of tolly wood stars to receive gift vouchers worth Rs.3000/-
each. Neither the distributor or the distributees could be located for
quite awhile. Finally the distributor n his wife were duly located, but
only 2 of the distributees were to be found. Allu arjun for most
eligible bachelor and some other guy who couldnÂ’t speak English too well
for dressing Bollywood style. Guess he was going for the Sallu look
since he had most of his buttons open.
The Band "Tidal Waves" from Goa was great. Their English numbers were
quite good, but with the theme being Bollywood remixed, they were
compelled to play such numbers too which werent up to the mark.
DJ Ryan Beck was brought in to play some music post 2AM and that was
pretty decent too.
The bar tender who did some juggling with flaming bottles did a good job
but he was more interested in pouring shooters down the throats of the
PYT's around.
Having cribbed about all this, the brightest spot which overshone
everything else was the FOOD. Kakataiya's food in Hyderabad has to rank
among the best.
There were buffet tables for salad, Haleem(veg option on offer too),
Hyderabadi cuisine, Oriental cuisine, Lebanese cuisine, Frontier &
Awadhi cuisine, an Indian Grill section apart from the desserts.
Check out My pub & restaurant
review blog for a Detailed Review of the Food
Dublin rocked for a while too. But after the amazing meal, and the
flowing Chivas Reagal, sleep was the only interesting option. Totally
agree with
we have reached the Uncle/Aunty phase in life.
Saturday.
Hmmmm, what can I say.
Having attended Bangalore Times parties, I have to say, Hyderabad was
nowhere near the mark of Bangalore, forget Bombay and Delhi.
Other than Azhar and Sangeetha, for a non-telugu movie watcher there
were no celebrities at all. Tollywood supposedly turned up in force
judging by the coverage in Hyderabad Times (HT)today but none of them
were recognisable to our group of 10.
There were the occasional designers and the rest of them, but for the
most it was compised of the Hyderabadi Reddy's whose names are dropped
so often in the same HT. We normally get to meet more celebrities at
each visit to Preetam Reddy's "Touch" than the whole of the HT party.
The entertainment was restricted to a couple of dancers from the Bombay
dance bars, 3 Russian women who danced what the MC called the Can-Can
but from my limited knowledge of music and dance it seemed more of a
Flamenco oriented, Spanish-Gypsy music and dance number. Except that
they did kick their legs up high which could be reminiscent of the
can-can I guess. Then there were these 2 males from bombay who were
supposed to be strippers, but they didnÂ’t take off anything other than
their shirts. And they were wearing jeans so totally unfair
entertainment policy I should say, given that the female dancers were
wearing the barest minimum of fabric.
The MC did an absolutely lousy job of it. She kept repeating "so is this
party going to rock" as if willing it to rock just by her constant
repetition. Sad fact being that the attendees were usually, actually
having a good time until she came on stage to ask her rocking question.
The MC then conducted a so called "Spot Prize" distribution and called
out names of tolly wood stars to receive gift vouchers worth Rs.3000/-
each. Neither the distributor or the distributees could be located for
quite awhile. Finally the distributor n his wife were duly located, but
only 2 of the distributees were to be found. Allu arjun for most
eligible bachelor and some other guy who couldnÂ’t speak English too well
for dressing Bollywood style. Guess he was going for the Sallu look
since he had most of his buttons open.
The Band "Tidal Waves" from Goa was great. Their English numbers were
quite good, but with the theme being Bollywood remixed, they were
compelled to play such numbers too which werent up to the mark.
DJ Ryan Beck was brought in to play some music post 2AM and that was
pretty decent too.
The bar tender who did some juggling with flaming bottles did a good job
but he was more interested in pouring shooters down the throats of the
PYT's around.
Having cribbed about all this, the brightest spot which overshone
everything else was the FOOD. Kakataiya's food in Hyderabad has to rank
among the best.
There were buffet tables for salad, Haleem(veg option on offer too),
Hyderabadi cuisine, Oriental cuisine, Lebanese cuisine, Frontier &
Awadhi cuisine, an Indian Grill section apart from the desserts.
Check out My pub & restaurant
review blog for a Detailed Review of the Food
Dublin rocked for a while too. But after the amazing meal, and the
flowing Chivas Reagal, sleep was the only interesting option. Totally
agree with
we have reached the Uncle/Aunty phase in life.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
A little prayer, please
My 82 year old grandmother was supposed to have an angioplasty done yesterday. Something went wrong with the machine and the procedure could not be completed. They left the tubes inside her saying they would complete the procedure today. The part of the machine they replaced worked fine but something else gave trouble.
We dont know when we can get this done next, because she insisted that the tubes (sheath) be taken out of her. So shes now resting peacefully but we have to complete this procedure sometime soon and she may not agree to it after all the pain she has been through.
If you are reading this page, then all we ask for is to say a little prayer for her. It doesnt matter whom you pray to. Just please spare a minute to pray for Maria Magdalene Aranha so that her angioplasty can be performed properly and that the blocks in her heart clear up. She is otherwise quite healthy and has a zest for life. All she needs is as many prayers as she can get.
Thank you
from every member of our family.
We dont know when we can get this done next, because she insisted that the tubes (sheath) be taken out of her. So shes now resting peacefully but we have to complete this procedure sometime soon and she may not agree to it after all the pain she has been through.
If you are reading this page, then all we ask for is to say a little prayer for her. It doesnt matter whom you pray to. Just please spare a minute to pray for Maria Magdalene Aranha so that her angioplasty can be performed properly and that the blocks in her heart clear up. She is otherwise quite healthy and has a zest for life. All she needs is as many prayers as she can get.
Thank you
from every member of our family.
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Skype ? ? ?
Check out this new tool, has both Windows and Pocket PC versions, and can very easily be used to talk on the internet, audio quality is quite good and works through firewalls (though that may be a security concern)
From: A Mathur
We have been using Skype here for almost a year now....no hassles so far...takes up some bandwidth though.....got ourselves headphones in bulk when we first started using it...freely downloadable...got some other nice features too...try it out!!
From: Abhishek Kumar
As Abhinav said, it’s a great piece of software built for people using broadband. It’s been made by the author of Kazaa, and uses the same basic philosophy of peer to peer. I’ve often used it to talk o my friends in US.
No problems reported yet.
From: GG
Popular Telephony's Peerio technology just might upstage Skype's juggernaut. The company today announced that it has signed a deal with France's Logicom to develop a new line of handsets that use the Peerio serverless peer-to-peer VoIP technology. Unlike Skype which relies on a server to act like god for Skype calls, Peerio is a true peer-to-peer technology.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040928/285450_1.html
GG
From: A Mathur
We have been using Skype here for almost a year now....no hassles so far...takes up some bandwidth though.....got ourselves headphones in bulk when we first started using it...freely downloadable...got some other nice features too...try it out!!
From: Abhishek Kumar
As Abhinav said, it’s a great piece of software built for people using broadband. It’s been made by the author of Kazaa, and uses the same basic philosophy of peer to peer. I’ve often used it to talk o my friends in US.
No problems reported yet.
From: GG
Popular Telephony's Peerio technology just might upstage Skype's juggernaut. The company today announced that it has signed a deal with France's Logicom to develop a new line of handsets that use the Peerio serverless peer-to-peer VoIP technology. Unlike Skype which relies on a server to act like god for Skype calls, Peerio is a true peer-to-peer technology.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040928/285450_1.html
GG
Saturday, September 25, 2004
Love Hua - Once More
Went to watch this play that was performed today in Hyderabad as part of the McDowell 4 city Theatre Fest. It left me with just one question. How do plays like this get corporate sponsorship while really good scripts with good actors dont get any ?
The script of this play was sad to start with. The actors tried to make something of it, but theres just so much an actor can do.
If u want to know the story it consisted of a film script writer -Rajesh Khattar who's wife had died and Rati Agnihotri who had recently divorced her husband and how they fall in love, out of love, and in love again.
Directed by Vandana Sajnani who also played Rajesh's sister and performed an item number somewhere down the line. Naved Aslam provided the only real comic relief as Rati's helpful childhood friend.
Organisers told us we had to pick up our tickets by 6:30 as 6:45 they would close the doors and performance would start on the dot of 7. It started at 8.30 and everything kind of went downhill from there.
Not worth mentioning any more about this play, just decided to skip part 3 of the series which will be here in 15 days.
The script of this play was sad to start with. The actors tried to make something of it, but theres just so much an actor can do.
If u want to know the story it consisted of a film script writer -Rajesh Khattar who's wife had died and Rati Agnihotri who had recently divorced her husband and how they fall in love, out of love, and in love again.
Directed by Vandana Sajnani who also played Rajesh's sister and performed an item number somewhere down the line. Naved Aslam provided the only real comic relief as Rati's helpful childhood friend.
Organisers told us we had to pick up our tickets by 6:30 as 6:45 they would close the doors and performance would start on the dot of 7. It started at 8.30 and everything kind of went downhill from there.
Not worth mentioning any more about this play, just decided to skip part 3 of the series which will be here in 15 days.
Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Intro
Hi,
I love to write. Couple of my articles have been published whether they r reviews of movies, pubs or restaurants. I also love to travel and some of my work has been published. I wanted to put all of this together in one place like a scrap book. So gg (http://stormcoffee.blogspot.com) recommended, I move to the blogspot.
Feeling my way around here. So forgive the initial chaos, but I hope to be able to sort it out soon. Will just take me a little time to figure everything out.
As u can c, I love entertainment and travel and thats what most of my blog is going to be about.
I love to write. Couple of my articles have been published whether they r reviews of movies, pubs or restaurants. I also love to travel and some of my work has been published. I wanted to put all of this together in one place like a scrap book. So gg (http://stormcoffee.blogspot.com) recommended, I move to the blogspot.
Feeling my way around here. So forgive the initial chaos, but I hope to be able to sort it out soon. Will just take me a little time to figure everything out.
As u can c, I love entertainment and travel and thats what most of my blog is going to be about.
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