"Top professors are often asked to give final talks on the hypothetical theme: what wisdom would they impart to the world if this were their last chance? Watching healthy teachers consider their demise and ruminate over subjects dear to them can make for an intriguing hour. But a recent speech by Dr. Randy Pausch of Carnegie Mellon University was more than just an academic exercise. The 46-year-old father of three has pancreatic cancer and is not expected to live longer than a few more months. His last lecture was a rollicking and riveting journey through the lessons of his life."
Watch this very inspiring video here
Also, read the article about the same event here
Friday, September 28, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
Early morning call ...
Its 5.10 am this morning and the Mission Impossible ringtone on my cell phone goes full blast. I have one of those "Earthquake Happenned" type awakenings, as I jump out of bed. I find the cell phone quickly and it says "Unknown" on the caller id. Ramya who is still trying to come to terms with my explosive jump tells me it must be from India.
Groggily, I say "Hello!".
Guess who's calling? Its my dad!!
He's like "What are you doing still sleeping? It is India v/s Pakistan cricket match finals. Aren't you watching it?"
I say "Nope dad ... no live relay anywhere!"
He says, sorta sad for me, "Oh! Sorry I woke you up"
I say "Its ok dad ... Thanks for calling anyways"
I tried sleeping, but couldn't! I was super curious about the match now. I tried refreshing the score once or twice on my cell phone, while still sleeping. The match was just too exciting for me to sleep.
I jumped out of bed and started following the game excitedly on cricinfo. Man ... what an exciting match! India's total was pathetically low. For a game like this, something close to 200 or even 200+ would have been very safe. I felt Yuvraj and Dhoni let the team down badly by their batting. Bowling and fielding was amazing as usual, except for pathetic bowling by Sreesanth and Harbhajan. But, Sreesanth made up for his follies by taking crucial catches.
An early morning work related phone conference meeting made following the game all the more tense. Man! that's what great games are made of. I wish I could WATCH it live.
Thanks Dad for making my morning a great one! :-)
Groggily, I say "Hello!".
Guess who's calling? Its my dad!!
He's like "What are you doing still sleeping? It is India v/s Pakistan cricket match finals. Aren't you watching it?"
I say "Nope dad ... no live relay anywhere!"
He says, sorta sad for me, "Oh! Sorry I woke you up"
I say "Its ok dad ... Thanks for calling anyways"
I tried sleeping, but couldn't! I was super curious about the match now. I tried refreshing the score once or twice on my cell phone, while still sleeping. The match was just too exciting for me to sleep.
I jumped out of bed and started following the game excitedly on cricinfo. Man ... what an exciting match! India's total was pathetically low. For a game like this, something close to 200 or even 200+ would have been very safe. I felt Yuvraj and Dhoni let the team down badly by their batting. Bowling and fielding was amazing as usual, except for pathetic bowling by Sreesanth and Harbhajan. But, Sreesanth made up for his follies by taking crucial catches.
An early morning work related phone conference meeting made following the game all the more tense. Man! that's what great games are made of. I wish I could WATCH it live.
Thanks Dad for making my morning a great one! :-)
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Remembering Ganesh Festival in India
An old writeup of mine ... posting it to coincide with this year's festival
On the previous evening of Ganesh Festival of 2001, my brother-in-law told me "hey karthik, let's go to Albertson's for some groceries". I just joined him
and his dad. We drove to the place. I asked him then, "hey, how come we are shopping at Albertson's, that too with such a huge list?". His dad told, "tomorrow is Ganesh Festival". BUZZ!! Suddenly i was lost for a few minutes in the many Ganesh Festivals back home. This, is just a weak effort looking back at those wonderful days.
Hindu festivals, irrespective of the religious aspect, have always been something we looked for. Firstly, it meant a vacation day. But, beyond that was something much more special. It was the actual day. It was so very resplendent with all the beautiful colors of the new clothes people wore and the fresh flowers and fruits on sale everywhere, coupled with the hectic activity. It used to look like the colors of holi bursting everywhere. The doors in the house were decorated with mango leaves which had a strangely attractive aroma about themselves, telling you that this was a very special day.
Perhaps, the most colorful aspect was about the flowers. Truckloads of them were spread out on the pavements like a flower show, with all their wonderful colors. The interesting part was, these surprisingly fresh flowers had a very high price tag stuck to them. two days before or after the festival, you would probably get the same flowers for a fifth or maybe even a tenth of its price on the festival day. But on that day, the vendors ruled!! They'd say "75 bucks saar, take it or leave it!!" Wow! that may sound rude, but hey! they have a truckload to sell and there are people to buy those flowers. I remember negotiating for 5 or 10 bucks off this price and have a smile for myself at the nice deal I got myself. Today, i realize that i might have stolen that money from a poor man who was also planning on celebrating the festival. Anyways, I do remember though that there used to be a few nice vendors, who would voluntarily cut down the price and sell it with a nice smile, provided you bought one or two more not-so-costly items from them that you had originally planned not to buy. Among all this business, for the person with an eye for beauty, there were lots'a beautiful young ladies dressed in beautiful colors looking around for flowers like you and something more. This was like an added bonus. I caught myself today asking a friend of mine, who just came back from india, about how his flower shopping went for the festival!!!
Perhaps the most important part of the Ganesh Festival was, buying the Ganesh idol. The city used to be full of Ganesh idols of various sizes, colors and shapes. Off late Lord Ganesh has gone quite hep, playing cricket, using a computer et.al. The activity around these stalls never ceased. I always wanted to buy a huge Ganesh, don't know why though. Probably it looked good. But my mom was scared that, if during the process of transit to the house, the idol would suffer some fracture it would not be a good omen!! Transporting the idol used to be thus, always kind of a scary process. At the doorstep of the house, my mom used to then perform arathi to the idol and then we used to place the idol at the place for pooja.
Coming to the actual festival celebration. Man!! it was something really memorable. The day started with the ceremonial oil application to the body, followed by a nice soapnut headbath. There was no 'casette priest' like the present day but my father performed the pooja. it was really elaborate. my mom, used to spend most of the previous day of the festival preparing lots'a goodies most importanly the 'kadubu', which is said to be Ganesha's favorite. Of course, we were not allowed to go anywhere close to the kitchen because the food was to be first offered to God. Well, the wait would be worth it 'coz they were really tasty. The pooja used to be a real long one, my dad used to do the pooja going according to the book. What do i do? Well all those colorful flowers lying around the large quantity of turmeric and vermilion looked real attractive. I used to make a neat decoration of the flowers around the idol and later sprinkle turmeric and vermilion on it, to give it a neat look. My mom says that, when i was very real young, i was as interested but with lot more enthusiasm, which meant i ended up throwing the flowers et.al. all around the place!!! After the pooja it used to be that wonderful lunch with lots'a varieties of nice food. this obviously led to the nice holiday afternoon nap. In the evening, we used to don our new clothes which looked very colorful. We'd love to do this and be extra cheerful. We used to visit our relatives and friends to exchange good wishes for the festival. In total it used to be a very eventful day.
The next important thing used to be the immersion of the idol. Though we used to just settle for an immersion of the idol in our backyard tank, there were people who used to take the idols to nearby lakes for immersion. Man!! for nearly the next one month following the festival there used to be lots of idols being immersed with shouts of "ganapathi bappa moreya...." et.al. the festival also brought a lot of enthusiasm in the youth associations of the year, to organize major celebrations of the festival. What this usually meant was loud music well into early morning and lots'a other disturbances. We felt the ill-effects, especially during exams. of course there used to be some nice cultural programmes like dramas, concerts et.al. Sometimes high profile ministers
used to visit these places. That sounds cool, especially when you try to imagine if the governor of California would visit San Jose Ganesh Mitramandali. Lot more memories pass by, some of them much more close to heart, when all of a sudden i hear, "Sir, the raisins are in the aisle next to the frozen food section". What??? I then realize, neither is this the crowded Malleswaram market nor am I in Bangalore celebrating the festival, but in a place thousands of miles away from home. Needless to say, this year's festival was quite low key with a small pooja and a quite dinner. no new clothes, no friends or relatives house visits, no loud speaker playing one of those famous Ganesh songs.
As am typing these words, a new song starts on the CD am listening to and kishore kumar sings "koi lauta de mere beete hue din...."
P.S.: The Ganesh festival of 2007 was unlike the sadness evoked in the last few lines. This was my first one after marriage. So that was a whole another experience with Ramya cooking yummy stuff and being around the Pooja. Also, met up with lots of family and friends, some of them newly married too ... so it had its own touch of uniqueness. :-)
On the previous evening of Ganesh Festival of 2001, my brother-in-law told me "hey karthik, let's go to Albertson's for some groceries". I just joined him
and his dad. We drove to the place. I asked him then, "hey, how come we are shopping at Albertson's, that too with such a huge list?". His dad told, "tomorrow is Ganesh Festival". BUZZ!! Suddenly i was lost for a few minutes in the many Ganesh Festivals back home. This, is just a weak effort looking back at those wonderful days.
Hindu festivals, irrespective of the religious aspect, have always been something we looked for. Firstly, it meant a vacation day. But, beyond that was something much more special. It was the actual day. It was so very resplendent with all the beautiful colors of the new clothes people wore and the fresh flowers and fruits on sale everywhere, coupled with the hectic activity. It used to look like the colors of holi bursting everywhere. The doors in the house were decorated with mango leaves which had a strangely attractive aroma about themselves, telling you that this was a very special day.
Perhaps, the most colorful aspect was about the flowers. Truckloads of them were spread out on the pavements like a flower show, with all their wonderful colors. The interesting part was, these surprisingly fresh flowers had a very high price tag stuck to them. two days before or after the festival, you would probably get the same flowers for a fifth or maybe even a tenth of its price on the festival day. But on that day, the vendors ruled!! They'd say "75 bucks saar, take it or leave it!!" Wow! that may sound rude, but hey! they have a truckload to sell and there are people to buy those flowers. I remember negotiating for 5 or 10 bucks off this price and have a smile for myself at the nice deal I got myself. Today, i realize that i might have stolen that money from a poor man who was also planning on celebrating the festival. Anyways, I do remember though that there used to be a few nice vendors, who would voluntarily cut down the price and sell it with a nice smile, provided you bought one or two more not-so-costly items from them that you had originally planned not to buy. Among all this business, for the person with an eye for beauty, there were lots'a beautiful young ladies dressed in beautiful colors looking around for flowers like you and something more. This was like an added bonus. I caught myself today asking a friend of mine, who just came back from india, about how his flower shopping went for the festival!!!
Perhaps the most important part of the Ganesh Festival was, buying the Ganesh idol. The city used to be full of Ganesh idols of various sizes, colors and shapes. Off late Lord Ganesh has gone quite hep, playing cricket, using a computer et.al. The activity around these stalls never ceased. I always wanted to buy a huge Ganesh, don't know why though. Probably it looked good. But my mom was scared that, if during the process of transit to the house, the idol would suffer some fracture it would not be a good omen!! Transporting the idol used to be thus, always kind of a scary process. At the doorstep of the house, my mom used to then perform arathi to the idol and then we used to place the idol at the place for pooja.
Coming to the actual festival celebration. Man!! it was something really memorable. The day started with the ceremonial oil application to the body, followed by a nice soapnut headbath. There was no 'casette priest' like the present day but my father performed the pooja. it was really elaborate. my mom, used to spend most of the previous day of the festival preparing lots'a goodies most importanly the 'kadubu', which is said to be Ganesha's favorite. Of course, we were not allowed to go anywhere close to the kitchen because the food was to be first offered to God. Well, the wait would be worth it 'coz they were really tasty. The pooja used to be a real long one, my dad used to do the pooja going according to the book. What do i do? Well all those colorful flowers lying around the large quantity of turmeric and vermilion looked real attractive. I used to make a neat decoration of the flowers around the idol and later sprinkle turmeric and vermilion on it, to give it a neat look. My mom says that, when i was very real young, i was as interested but with lot more enthusiasm, which meant i ended up throwing the flowers et.al. all around the place!!! After the pooja it used to be that wonderful lunch with lots'a varieties of nice food. this obviously led to the nice holiday afternoon nap. In the evening, we used to don our new clothes which looked very colorful. We'd love to do this and be extra cheerful. We used to visit our relatives and friends to exchange good wishes for the festival. In total it used to be a very eventful day.
The next important thing used to be the immersion of the idol. Though we used to just settle for an immersion of the idol in our backyard tank, there were people who used to take the idols to nearby lakes for immersion. Man!! for nearly the next one month following the festival there used to be lots of idols being immersed with shouts of "ganapathi bappa moreya...." et.al. the festival also brought a lot of enthusiasm in the youth associations of the year, to organize major celebrations of the festival. What this usually meant was loud music well into early morning and lots'a other disturbances. We felt the ill-effects, especially during exams. of course there used to be some nice cultural programmes like dramas, concerts et.al. Sometimes high profile ministers
used to visit these places. That sounds cool, especially when you try to imagine if the governor of California would visit San Jose Ganesh Mitramandali. Lot more memories pass by, some of them much more close to heart, when all of a sudden i hear, "Sir, the raisins are in the aisle next to the frozen food section". What??? I then realize, neither is this the crowded Malleswaram market nor am I in Bangalore celebrating the festival, but in a place thousands of miles away from home. Needless to say, this year's festival was quite low key with a small pooja and a quite dinner. no new clothes, no friends or relatives house visits, no loud speaker playing one of those famous Ganesh songs.
As am typing these words, a new song starts on the CD am listening to and kishore kumar sings "koi lauta de mere beete hue din...."
P.S.: The Ganesh festival of 2007 was unlike the sadness evoked in the last few lines. This was my first one after marriage. So that was a whole another experience with Ramya cooking yummy stuff and being around the Pooja. Also, met up with lots of family and friends, some of them newly married too ... so it had its own touch of uniqueness. :-)
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Hot Culinary spots in Bangalore
The author of this article has made a fairly decent effort at listing favorite jaunts for eating out in Bangalore. This is also about 2 years old, so may not be entirely accurate.
Read through the comments at the end of the page for some more recommendations.
What are your favorite eating outlets in Bangalore? Do share :-)
Read the article here
Read through the comments at the end of the page for some more recommendations.
What are your favorite eating outlets in Bangalore? Do share :-)
Read the article here
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