Once bitten, twice shy, as they say. Been there, done that. Credit card victim, that is. A mile's distance is what I now I keep between them and me. I don't ever hear of any credit card company inform you that if you default on a single payment, one could end up paying around 30% on the overdue amount, on an annualised basis? Poor I may be in math but with these kind of usurious rip-offs, even Richie Rich will be wary.

Thankfully, here's another good reason why I don't have a credit card. If I had, I would have gone crazy with some of the products - books, dvd's, site etc - on offer on this site. If you want some genuine reader reviews, this is one site to check out.

And so, imagine my surprise to know that Amazon.com is now 10 years old. The Amazon.com way book is a fav. of mine. I still have the Time issue where Jeff Bezos was voted Man of the year. I was happy to find them doing this : ' To congratulate our all-time top-selling authors and musicians, and showcase our bestselling DVDs, we are inducting them into our 10th Anniversary Hall of Fame. Click on the links and photos below to read about our Hall of Fame musicians and authors, many of whom have provided exclusive stories, essays, and multimedia clips especially for the occasion.'

Should you be interesting in seeing who are the top 25 authors inducted into their Hall of Fame including guys ( isn't that a unisex word? ) like JK Rowling, Dan Brown, John Grisham, Stephen King, Tom Clancy, click here! Should you trip on Norah Jones, be in awe of Sting, like the way Santana sends tremors down your spine with his guitar playing etc click here!

Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta read what Robert T Kiyosaki has to say on the difference between employees and entrepreneurs.

Heed my words but I'm an entrepreneur just waiting to be born! Its just that I'm waiting for deliverance!

;)

With 9/11, the credo of 'me, mine, myself' took a solid hit. People ( read: guys ) everywhere in the U.S realised the fragility of life and the need for giving as well. Particularly, time to their spouses. Ya! And you know what that all begat. A baby boom.

Perhaps we can now expect one in the UK too. Doesn't one boom follow another? ( Not in India, mate...its been booming continuously, aint it? Ed!) Anyway, one section of people are damn happy, in particular. Pub-owners! Nervous Londoners are reportedly quaffing pints after pints of beer, like there is no tomorrow. And then maintaining their stiff upper lip till they reach home. Pretty understandable...after all, this is how they must have felt when colony after colony in the royal crown cut the umbilical cord. Hmmmph. Perhaps the previous generation was more resilient? The least they had was wave after wave of the Luftwaffe bombing to endure.

The above events have made me a bit circumspect too. I've suddenly become a little ...what do those accountants at Infy call them....hahn....forward looking. Here's my list of things to do tomorrow, if not immediately:

a) Learn a foreign language preferably French (How about learning Tamizh, you dummy? Ed!)
b) Learn to play the guitar
c) Visit Bali, Machu Pichu, Maldives etc
d) Learn the art of wine-tasting
e) Learn calligraphy

My better half too has got into the act as well. Here's a list of things that I better learn to do ( Note: En Vogue's -My Lovin'  is playing in the background ) while at home:

a) Learn to peel onions, chop coriander, make rasam, prepare buttermilk,
b) Mop the house
c) Keep newspapers in their place
d) Drink coffee AFTER brushing teeth
e) Stop snoring
f)  Hang clothes
g) Feed children

All this random writing is making me a bit listless...it is a Sunday after all..so I'll stop for now!

;)

Death and destruction continues its deadly dance. First nature gives us an indication of her awesome fury in Gujarat; now the savage beast in us humans rears its ugly head once again in London.

Peace and harmony is threatened, innocent people are maimed, lives forever lost, families orphaned.

Seemingly at will, terrorists have struck. It was Ayodhya a week back, its London y'day, and tomorrow - Washington? Will we see a repeat at Mumbai? Could it be Bali again?

And so, while Bush dithers on whether to stand up, sit down or just get the hell out, anybody who supported the US led war in Iraq is now a target by the jehadis.

In the midst of all this carnage, is getting 25000 hits on a website a big deal? Methinks not. I’d gladly trade it for those 40 lives now missed in London.

:(

2 days out of India and I wonder if we all get fuzzy-wuzzy in our thinking.

Take my cousin V for instance. She's just landed in Melbourne, finds it "very, very, very clean", "no pollution" and "not much of people!" Also a sample mall that she visited is "...3 times bigger than Forum" of Bangalore and is hardly hyped as much.

Yet, inspite of these initial impressions, she thinks there's no place like home and that India is "better anyday"!

This attitude, in my opinion, is perhaps reflective of the wide Indian diaspora which is comfortably settled abroad, makes lots of greenbacks, demeans the state of our infrastructure but does nothing about it and yet yearns all the time for "home, sweet, home"! This attitude really gets my goat. Over here, given our study/work/stressed out schedules, many of us hardly say hello to relatives except at family occasions/ hardly step out of our homes to befriend neighbours/spend time with friends/do social work etc.

Yet when we go abroad, our attitude changes.

We make tall claims of home being a place where "our culture is that of a strong, well knit community, joint family system a.k.a close family ties, arranged marriages etc" and is superior to anything else that there is! Instead of adapting to the place of our chosen destination, making friends, expanding our ties, understanding culture(s), embracing change whole-heartedly, we adopt an insular attitude and refuse to bond with the community.

Perhaps & only then, we can get over the loneliness - imposed or taken on - and make ourselves felt as truly part of a global community!

Just my 2 cents. I would love to stand corrected & welcome your thoughts on this issue.

:)

"The longest journey a man must take is the eighteen inches from his head to his heart" - Anon

For me, both my head and heart direct me to a place that many of us are familiar - among the holiest of holy shrines in India - Tirumala. It is my pilgrimage destination of choice; a once-in-a-year journey to reaffirm my faith and give my heartfelt thanks. I do it willingly, longingly (Eh? You mean 'lovingly'? Ed!) and uncompromisingly. I'm grateful to my dad for having taken me once during my college days coz that set in motion a habit that continues year after year. Well, almost. *Ravi sheepish here*

But as Bob Dylan sang "...the times, they are a-changin'." Its never more apt than in Tirupati and the roads that lead to it. What used to be uncomfortable rides from Bangalore are smooth ones. Hardly a "NH" type, but from Chennai, a two lane road that takes a better part of 4 hours. Very affordable and a pleasant journey. Towns like Tiruvallur, Tiruttani and Nagari just zip past.

When you arrive, technology takes over. Right at the base town! Tirupati, that is! Bar-coding, biometric scanning and imaging are tools that are used to ensure that the faithful get their darshan in peace and relative comfort.

This time, in atypical fashion, I dispensed with the usual planning/booking/stay that precede my visits. With a leave request complied with, bags were packed in ultra quick time and before you could say 'ABC', I was off.  So much for impulsive behaviour.

Normally this derring-do would be asking for trouble as, with an average of 50,000 visitors every day, accommodation during my 2 day visit would be next to impossible. But large-hearted donors with equally big purses and the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam (TTD) themselves have built spacious, dormitory-type, comfortable 'public amenities complexes' ( see pic below) that enable taking care of your luggage, toilet & bath facilities and a place to sleep. At no cost, whatsoever!

In this day and age when we fret and fume at the large-scale 'commercialization' of places, this service minded attitude is reassuring, to say the least. Even buses within the temple town i.e. from bus stand to the cottages, for instance, are provided free. Here's one. Unique, isn't it? Almost droll.

With the aid of technology (not to mention 'environmental friendly practices' such as usage of 'wind energy' - see below pic) and better time/crowd management, the critical part of the pilgrimage - the darshan - has been simplified. 2 hours is what you are assured. While in the queue, the ticket and the bar codes are matched to ensure your authenticity. Further into the journey and just before you enter the main temple, x-ray machines and airport type luggage scanners check you out. Frisking is done selectively. As you enter the main temple, its a shock to see sten gun toting, black-cat type commandos patrolling nearby.

Finally, after 2 to 3 hours in the queue, you get to see the Lord! Before you know it, you are pushed and pulled - "jaragandi, jaragandi" - and voila, your darshan is over! Its enough to put anyone off, but hey, with thousands waiting for their turn behind you, one has to be understanding. One possible way is to pray to your hearts content in the Venkatnarayana temple here in TNagar and visit Tirumala for a 'darshan' - no more, no less!

For me, all the discomforts are purely temporary. For there's truth in one more universal adage. No pain, no gain!

J

Its really inexplicable...the charm that is a Sunday. One can do almost anything one wants. Wake up late. Read the newspapers to your heart's content. Order (!!) endless cups of coffee. Have a late breakfast. Skip a shave. Wear a T-Shirt all day. Laze around. Lunch when you feel like it. Nap in the afternoon without feeling guilty or having to set an alarm. Ahhhhhhhhhhh!

I wonder why it feels like I'm walking on a cloud. Could it have anything to do with the kids' impish smiles, boundless energy and unfettered exuberance? Maybe the joy on seeing an uncle being awarded the Dr.B.C Roy award? Perhaps its got to do with the fact that I can, for the next 2 months, browse the net in unlimited quantity? (Go, Airtel, Go!). Maybe its the relief that comes with having visited Tirupati, however delayed the visit?! Perhaps its do with laughing so hard that my tummy ached at Shyam's post/take on the recent BBC report. Might it just be this week's forecast that says, " Jupiter, the great rule of good fortune, is moving your way….” Or, could it be that my travel plans will come to fruition after all? Whichever!

Perhaps it all boils down to this: Happiness is within and is very much a state of mind mine!

Ergo:

J