Ava's Vimaana II- The diamond route

 Of all the planets Ava liked Uranus the best because it was different from others. It was a beautiful blue and rolled on its axis horizontally around the sun, unlike others. She often imagined it to be rolling on a hypothetical elliptically shaped floor. It was also speculated that Uranus has a phenomenon called diamond rain in its atmosphere. She wondered if there was life on Uranus, the uro-sapiens would just have to hold out containers during rains to collect some precious pieces. At the same time diamonds would be really cheap in Uranus due to abundance. Maybe they’d even build houses out of it, she wondered. And eventually could there be some kind of trade between Uranus and Earth where they could export diamonds to us in return for grocery or oil? That would be interesting. “The Diamond Route” it would be called, she thought.

 

Anni was also interested in planets but in the way they affected humans and animals on earth. They also had a pet dog Scurry. Since its birth time and place were known he often used it to understand its weird yet cute temperament and behaviors. One thing in Scurry’s chart that aroused Anni’s curiosity was that it indicated space travel. The only way this could really come true was if Ava became an astronaut. And given her brilliant mind, this was not a remote possibility. In fact, Ava’s chart also showed space travel as a strong possibility. She also had indications of traveling and living in a foreign country. If this was possible, Scurry would tag along his mistress during one of her interstellar trips and look adorable in a spacesuit! Being a passionate astrologer, he wanted to take up astrology to the next level. He had already started an Instagram page on “Astrology for your pets”. The page had gotten 250 followers within the first month itself! His users were youngsters who mostly dug the weekly posts and predictions on sun and moon signs.

 

A curiosity point for Ava and Anni around these planetary worlds was that of the existence of Rahu and Ketu. Indian Vedic astrology recognized Rahu and Ketu as planet-like massless bodies -orbits formed by collection of points in space where the orbital paths of the sun and the moon intersect. These affected human minds such that Rahu caused craving to arise in humans while Ketu detachment. As in, they were opposing forces. While astrology viewed these as subtle or shadow planets with no mass, astronomy has never included them in the solar system. Did the difference of inclusion arise because they could not be seen or detected by the naked eye or scientific instruments but only be perceived by attained meditative minds? Wouldn’t it be amazing to do a scientific experiment to detect such massless yet dense planetary entities? Ava and Anni nodded on the thought.

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Above is part of a storybook I am writing. Book is Ava's Vimaana (Ava's airplane) and is the story of a teenage girl Ava who grows up with a wonderful younger brother Anni while they have their fun with life experiments around science, astrology, religion and the paranormal. It is fiction and has humor.

Ava's Vimana- A day with CuSO4

 

 

The water and the salt mixed together to produce a blue colored Copper Sulphate solution. Ava’s face immediately brightened up as she finished her chemistry experiment.

 

2H2O + CuSO4 => CuSO4.2H2O

 

She wrote down in her lab notebook.

 

With the heat turned up all she had to do was to wait now for the bright blue crystals to form and cluster around the string she had thrown into the flask earlier. Her bespectacled brother Anni nodded in excitement. There was more than just the science behind the chemistry that was exciting. Anni was a budding astrologer and had recommended Ava to wear blue colored crystals to improve her mental abilities. It was an astro-scientifical test. Ava wanted to be a scientist when she grew up- an astronomical physicist precisely. These crystal enhancements were a good-to-have, she thought. Anni wanted to be a crystals astrologer and was doing his own independent research on what good crystals could do to people. His logic behind CuS04 was that it was blue, and blue stood for calm. It also represented the zodiac sign of Pisces represented by Jupiter which aspects Virgo- logic. So, it must work.

 

The siblings were 17 and 12 years old and studying in 11th and 8th classes respectively. On some levels their frequencies really matched. They both thought about the universe in a benevolent way and were in awe of what could happen when the forces of science- astronomy and astrology were put together. Their parents, Sheila and Mahesh were liberal and optimistic about this.

 

What would Copper Sulphate earrings look like? Ava thought. She would call them Blu-studs. She sat down to check her astrological chart again and looked at some stones that were recommended to her last time by Anni. Blue was her color. But she also liked Ruby and thought that would work quite well on her too. Ruby was red and perhaps stood for Mars – that would help her engineering skills she thought. She even asked her mum to get her a real ruby pendant, but her mom said it was too expensive and she was not in favor of them using astrology for academic achievements. They should use their minds, not the stones -she said firmly.

 

About 15 mins later, blue crystal clusters were formed inside the solution looking like an odd-shaped necklace. Anni hurried into the kitchen and came back carrying steel tongs used to make chapattis. They lifted the necklace out of the solution and put it on a napkin to dry. After another 5 mins wait the necklace had dried. Ava rushed with this half-baked beauty to her mother and asked her to use her sewing skills to create something beautiful for her to wear. Her mom stared at both the fellas and frowningly went to her room taking the necklace along. Half an hour later, lo and behold- the glittering blue crystals necklace was ready! It was more beautiful than Ava had ever imagined. She glanced at Anni- he looked prouder than ever. They hugged each other!

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Above is part of a storybook I am writing. Book is Ava's Vimaana (Ava's airplane) and is the story of a teenage girl Ava who grows up with a wonderful younger brother Anni while they have their fun with life experiments around science, astrology, religion and the paranormal. It is fiction and has humor.

Minty

Writing after almost a decade here. This is from a few years back when I was in US in Virginia-

The owners above my house had 4 pups and a dog. The pups used to rush outside the house the moment their door opened in the morning and come jumping downstairs. Then wagging their tail they would stand right outside the glass door of my bedroom and start barking. The black one- Minty was the cutest of all, also loaded with much attitude.

(Nothing exciting is going to happen here guys, I am vegetarian. I can’t feed non-veg to a dog. Sorry. Their food has to be vegetarian too :).)

So I would reluctantly go into the kitchen and try to find something interesting. Over months I had tried everything, lots of mix and match- like paneer on biscuit, roasted potatoes, some Indian chilly snacks ;), chickpea cutlets, even glucose biscuits (who knows, they are biscuits) etc. Minty was never happy with what I fed them. Others managed to like something or maybe just stick with “this is food, just eat it”. But not Minty. He was also sure to display his dissatisfaction. So there the disgruntled looks would start. The woofs and the whines. He would even show his anger to me with an “Every day?!!” look.

By evening there would be jugnus everywhere in the area around my house. And another episode would begin. The dogs would jump and chase each jugnu (firefly) until it’s light went out and then switched over to the other. They were “always” mesmerised, “every” single day!

I miss them quite a lot.

A dream, forlorn

Just some personal thoughts ...

It's a dream, forlorn.

At the crack of dawn-
Between the sea and the beautiful sky
On the brink of horizon,
With the promise of sunrise…
A hope is born.

The divine hand –
A dancing breeze, some soaring waves
Whispers of land to the sails…
A frail boat lingers on.

Thus, stroke after stroke,
On the canvas of hope…
A picture is drawn.

Faith is thy name,
Oh the light in my flame.
My dream you adorn.

With the storms, will you haggle?
From my side, will you battle?
For the question hereon -
“Will she, wont she
Enkindle her dream of aeon?"

It's a dream, forlorn.

Nothing

An old blog posted-

Well this blog is about nothing. Like some times when you just decide to write with nothing in mind. Just a moment's decision. Just a have to or a let me or simply an itch to share nothing.

I was just doing my work in the past couple of hours and then something stopped working. So I just took a break, had milk, browsed for a few minutes. Then I picked up my laptop and moved into my bedroom. Just a change of place to rejuvenate myself. Change energizes me you know. And of course, I have always loved to sit on the bed with a pillow on the lap. And then it is either a book or a laptop on the pillow. My best studying posture. It has never changed in decades. My dad always says, it is better to sit on a chair and a table and then read/write/study. He always does that himself. But not me. I can never feel completely comfortable sitting in that formal position. Needs to be informal. Lying face down with the books on the floor is another of my favorite positions. I remember in office also, thanks to the completely informal dress code as well as working environment, towards the evening, I used to cross my legs while sitting on the chair. In fact, after normal office hours, you would find many people reading while sitting in very informal positions. Some would sit over the desk of the cubicles, some would settle down on the floor, some would be cross legged on the chair like me. It used to be fun.

So anyways, while I settled myself on the bed, I thought of opening up the Mozilla browser window just once. Maybe just peep into my blog. Like a customary or a tradition. (Of course with no intention to blog. And yes that happens often.) And there I saw I had reached a place in my blog where I have posted 74 posts. I suddenly felt an itch for the number 75. It just made the whole thing complete. Of course a 100 would be more complete but that would take it's toll. 75 was a cheaper bargain. After quickly wrestling with the idea of whether or not to put up a new post (there was a slight effort to ignore the guilt as I had put one post yesterday itself plus I had work to do)I decided for it. And, here I am.

Right now, I am listening to the beautiful music of Water by Shivkumar Sharma in the background. (I am sure you have heard that one. And if you are shaking your head, then the first thing you must do is find that online and listen to it. It is an old album but I think one of the best. Specially the "Walking in the rain". I just love it.) I can also hear the race between the ticking of the wall clock and the alarm clock. Tic Tuck tic tuck tic tuck ... And you know, it surprises me sometimes how when suddenly I wake up in the night, the ticking seems really loud. A couple of times I have mistaken it for something else and then realised Oh its only the clock... Plus, there is the hum of the AC in the background, some yellow light, a mirror right in front of me, a book shelf on the left of it, a table on one side of the bed and a floor lamp on the other side.

And that will be all from me right now. Like I said this was about nothing.

:) (embarrassing smiling look)

Light and sound

The big needle on the clock keeps ticking. She is not able to sleep. She tosses around in bed for a while. Then she tries to meditate. Its not her thoughts or some worry that is hogging her mind. She has just moved into a new apartment. There are big windows in all rooms and beautiful view of thick green shrubs that have grown high enough to stand tall outside her 3rd floor window. When she first came in to inspect the apartment, the open space, the big windows and the greenery outside were the only three checks she needed to give it a nod. This was a great bargain for the price. Add to that, a small balcony with a view of the sky, the greenery and the chirpy birds.

Little does she know that the scene changes a little by night. Her bedroom window has blinds that can let in more light than the tinted glass windows of her car. There is a street light right outside the window, which operates on motion detection. So, if a bird or a butterfly or even a bug flutters around, the light turns on. And then it switches off after some set timer expires, only to switch on again in a few minutes. It's torture. The dysfunctional blinds do nothing to abate the nuisance. She turns around to face away from the window. But now she has to face the wall painted ivory white which only so beautifully reflects the light coming from the blinds. Oh the disappointment. She does not mind getting distracted into the physics and principles of optics for a bit. Anything to divert her attention from the light. Maybe bedroom walls should be painted in darker colors. She instantly recognizes this as her first thought ever of justifying a dark color on a wall. A new perspective, huh!

A few more minutes pass. She pulls the quilt over her head in an attempt to block the light. Only to find herself panicking with the thought of suffocating due to Carbon monoxide poisoning. Sometimes knowing can also be a dangerous thing :(. And the mind momentarily lapses into a disconnected chain of thoughts. But no sleep yet. Finally she gets up determined to bring an end to the tyranny the night has brought upon her. She turns on the light and moves about through the rooms to find something she can use to block the light. The whiteboard does it for her. She picks it up and places it balanced on the sill of the window. It blocks 90% of the light. What a change it is. A sigh of relief!

She quickly checks her iphone for time. It is 3:45am. All is not lost. She has at least 3-4 hours before morning. A feeling of rest and hope takes over and she quickly settles into her super-comfy bed/quilt/pillow combo. As a few minutes pass and sleep becomes an almost reality in her la la land, she is blissfully unaware that ...

In the lush green thicket
Over this window 'Macbeth,
The cardinal and the sparrow,
In the morrow liveth,
And hither and thither they moveth,
Singing and chirping songs,
And soon, Not light but Sound
Through the yonder window, breaketh... 

The Visitor

I made a new friend. Or that is how I say it now that he made himself feel at home at my place without bothering to ask for my permission. When I moved to Cville, I got loads of boxes along with me which I decided to keep for future use. When my small closet spaces simply refused to accommodate the rusty and disfigured junk I thought it best to let the boxes reside, one with nature in the peaceful quiet of the balcony. Just to make it more aesthetic, I placed them behind a couple brass vases on the balcony (an impulse buy that was struggling for recognition inside the house for long). At that time I did not know I was soon going to have a visitor who had a different perspective on the junk.

One summer night when I was alone in the house, I heard constant rustling and rumbling noises from the back of our house. With my fingers fixated on the “9” and “1” keys of my cell-phone, I spent the night with much unease, hoping it would only be the breeze. With the first sign of light however, my character underwent a total transformation. From Timidy Timidson in the night, I became the Sherlock Holmes by the day. Its generally otherwise for the superheroes. Isn’t it funny how light can change our character? Donning my sleuth hat when I walked up to the balcony, here is what I saw.

Instead of the boxes there were only shredded and tattered remnants of the cardboard. The poor vases were lying flat on the floor rolling slowly with the wind. Before my now-detective mind began to tie the loose ends of the story, I found myself being examined by the dark shiny eyes of a small furry creature from behind one of the shredded pieces. Its bushy tail was rolled up into a question mark; the face- alert and expectant. There was a small speck of paper stuck over one of its eyes making it look like a pirate who had just robbed a ship. While I stared at it, it stared back, still like a corpse. It was a squirrel alright but a bold one.

There was only one give-away to this bold mischievous avatar who was looking at me eye to eye- its pulsating heartbeat while one of its arms folded across its chest. I really dint know what that meant. Was it feeling so scared that it thought its heart would come out? Or was it conveying its heartfelt gratitude to me in advance so that I forgive and forget its misdemeanor and allow it to continue to stay in its newly found home. It was a long moment but its innocent and earnest appeal was enough to sway my heart. I gave into its desire to stay.

From then on we’ve become friends. Every time I come back from school, first thing I rush to my balcony to take a peek if it’s there. More often than not it is. And believe me it’s not out of love. It’s normally sitting there with eager eyes wondering if it’s that time of the day it will get a peanut or two to crush and swallow. It’s funny how it knows how to grab attention. One day I found it lying flat on its belly, all fours and tail on the ground as well, While it was soothing itself in the staggering heat of the afternoon, I was worrying if it had fainted or even died. The other day it advertised its presence by jumping onto the screen door of my living room and hanging down flat from its hind legs just like a bat. My personal favorite is when it has its tail swapped around itself over the head to the other side resembling a person with a Mohawk hairstyle.

I call it Squeaky. Not that it responds to the name. Let’s remember, it only responds to peanuts. But over time it has become a beautiful and inseparable part of my life- a joy that I loved sharing with you today.

(ps: This was the content of my 4th Toastmasters speech- "How to say it")

Orange cream biscuits and tea

After a really really long time I came across orange cream biscuits in an Indian store. I cannot tell you how blissfully delighted I was. Since then all my tea breaks have been nothing less than a party. Moreover, now I have another reason to have tea. In fact I am having a party right now. :-)

Well, not to say that I would not have discovered them earlier if I was looking for them. Interestingly, probability of that happening is not much since I almost never go into the cookies section of any store. Reason? I am not so much of a fan. I never crave for cookies. It probably originates from the fact that I don't have a sweet tooth. Munching cookies is like having crispy bread to me. Still there are a couple of these that can brighten up my day. Oh! And there is the other one that I like a lot! Coconut flavored ones with sugar sprinkled all over. Yum!

Speaking of cookies, I am immediately reminded of my dear friend. Her association with cookies and tea has been really long. I should not be surprised, if she is the first one to comment.

Idle

View of inside of the apartment.
Through the patio at the backside,
Sounds of traffic, birds chirping, motors running.
In the front through the kitchen window,
Some leafy branches on a tree swaying with the wind,
A side wall of an apartment.
Dull color of leaves, gray light streaming through the window.
Suggestions of a cloudy sky, windy day.
Sounds of typing on a keypad.
Intermittent human voices, music from a car stereo.
An emergency siren.
A plane landing.
The wet feel of a steam-cleaned carpet.
A sneeze.
Some warm breeze.
An ordinary day?

Pause.
Cursor blinking.
A confused stream of thoughts.
Undefined purpose.
Resolved as Tea time.

Long time no blog

I recently triumphed over the tyranny of a mammoth like exam. During the sullen and morbid days, my depleted mind was hopelessly confusing regular activity as fun. Those few moments I could grab to watch much of the same old stuff on television, catch a glimpse of the fall colors as I drove to school or even find time to prepare tea seemed like the promises of a free tomorrow.

These perspectives virtually vanished into thin air the moment the D-day was over. Since anything regular was too trivial for my drained self, my mind presented various interesting ideas to toy with. From carving a pumpkin on Halloween, to going for a drive all by myself to watch the fall foliage in Shenandoah National Forest, to assembling a long due 3D puzzle and many others; what I eventually ended up doing however, was dozing off to sleep for 14 hours ghodhe bech ke.

Finally, yes, that's me on the picture. I am singing Tra la la la la and drumming gleefully to glory. I have both white hair and grey hair post the toll. And yes, I need a haircut.:-)!).

Boston Cold

It is "Boston cold" today. People who have been to Boston know what that means. I had gone to Boston this summer (and boy, was it summer?). It was mid May. We stayed in a hotel close to MIT campus. One of my friends was graduating. I wanted to attend his thesis defense. We woke up early morning. The sunlight looked really bright and warm from our apartment window.Vow! what a day, I thought. It would be great to go for a short nice walk around campus. And so we quickly got ready and stepped out. Well, bright and warm sunlight my foot! It was freezing cold! I cursed the deceptive weather and rushed back in to get my jacket. My friend was cool ... I don't know whether he didnt feel the chill actually or thought he was one of the "cool dudes" who could "handle" rough weather. On my persistence, we went first to a coffee shop closeby before heading anywhere. Other than the chill factor though, it did turn out to be a nice day.
Funny how weather varies across regions. In India, summers is the time when you swear and curse the most. More than the heat it is the frequent power cuts (read thefts) that pain you. Also sometimes the humidity. I find it hilarious sometimes when here in Raleigh the temperature crosses 75-80F and there are heat stroke warnings all over. In Delhi 75-80F is almost spring season and till the time the weather is below 105F, people are happy with mother nature. And this when at least 80-90% of the population does not use Air conditioners for cooling. Only some fans and coolers. Some villages or small towns dont even have electricity, the number maybe really small though today.

Ek Sau Ikyavan

I did not know until now when I logged into Blogger that my last post was my 150th one. So this is the Ek Sau Ikyavan'th. For the Hindi-challenged, it means One hundred fifty one. I remember how as kids we used to get cash envelopes on auspicious occasions with Rs. 11, Rs. 21, Rs. 51 and so on. Many times the extra rupee note was not easy to find, and would be replaced by a One Rupee Sikka (coin). Of course later they started selling envelopes with the one rupee coin stuck on it so every give and take transaction was auspicious. I always used to yearn for that One rupee note however and whenever I got it, it was like finding gold.

Drifting from the above topic, I am just wondering whether Ek Sau Ikyavan could be the name of a movie. It sounds like a nice title. But some fun movie, not like Ab Tak Chhapan. Or it could be a Sabun ki tikiya (cake of soap) like Paanch sau pachpan or a brilliant cricket score. How about a mythological character with One Fifty One heads? Of course that would have to be a villain which a hero with one head (and lots of super natural powers) would have to fight off. Multiple heads only brings two pictures in my mind- Octopus and Ravana. Which makes me wonder why poor Ravana had to have ten heads in the first place? Did he not often have problems with gravity? What if he wanted to shake or nod his heads (or array of heads, whatever you want to call it) while listening to music? Or just wave them side to side in consent? Gosh! He must be bumping his head into stuff all the time!

Well, India would turn Ek Sau Ikyavan some day. I wonder what it would be like to see that India. I do hope to be able to make it on India's Ek Sau Ekth (101) birthday at least. With hopes and wishes for an India of dreams and hoping that it doesn't confuse turning Sixty One with being retired, let's give it a big hand for whatever it has achieved. Looking forward to a bright future.

Happy Independence Month!

Orange purple

The art of being idle while scribbling colorful nonsense.

Those treasure hunts

Car keys and I don’t go together. In fact keys and I don’t go together. I can also add that wallet, and cash and hair bands and safety pins and buttons and umbrellas and all that paraphernalia and I, don't go together. We constantly elude each other. We like to play hide and seek. We have a distant relationship. It is some conspiracy of nature, some joke of God, or some repulsive magnetic field thing. Or wait, maybe it’s simply that my mind only likes to ponder about bigger things, you know? Only meaningful stuff. Like life, and philosophy and all that? What is in a key or wallet or an ATM card or cash after all?

Alright, enough of blah. The truth is that I am absent minded. And I agree. Period. The smaller the object I have to take care of, the more absent my mind is. And that is why I travel light. I always carry the bare minimum stuff, because I know that on my way back, I will forget something! So am I disorganized? No, not at all. Am I not careful? That is not true either. Am I forgetful then? Well, I would not like to call it that way. The thing is that I try to be very organized and careful, while my mind is with me. When it is not there, it's all God’s mercy. Thankfully, God has been merciful enough on this tuchh prani. *Smile*.

Here is something that has often happened with me. I come home with some really important document or key or gadget or anything like that. And of course, my extremely careful self puts that thing in some real safe and logical reasonable place. And then after that (here comes the hitch) my mind forgets about it completely. Now, after a few days or months, the time for fruition comes when that very treasure needs to be retrieved. And the pain begins. Add to that those expectant eyes looking at you with disdain and disbelief while I have to manage with, “No I have not lost it definitely, I know it is very important and so I kept it in some real befitting place. Just give me a few more minutes”. But suddenly life becomes very mysterious (remember hide and seek?). And then as days pass and one fine evening, I am searching for some socks (or something else that is now the treasure being hunted), lo! I find my old treasure (it is accompanied by a small private moment of pride and appreciation on what a fine place I had kept it in).

Like it happened last time when I was on my India trip these very winters. I had taken my winter jacket and was flaunting it around most of the time. Winters are pretty cold in Delhi although they are nothing compared to US. Still 40's to 60's are common during Dec-Jan-Feb. Anyways, so I was wearing the jacket often; when during some unfortunate moment, I realized that a button on the front side had become loose. The when mindful very careful person that I am, (like I told you) I immediately kept it safely at some esteemed place. And then happy and carefree again, (like after discharging your duties well) I went back into indulging in the other trivia of life. Incidentally, the next few days were warmer and I did not have to wear the jacket. Then one day it became very cold again and I took out my jacket. Suddenly, I remembered that the button had come off. Obviously it had to be fixed before I put it on. Or may be not. It depended on the success of the next operation (which is? you are right, the search operation). I started to look around for the button. I looked and looked - in the jacket pockets, handbag pockets, my closet locker, this and that. But did I find it? NO.

Anyways, I managed the winter there with some other jackets, shawls, pullovers (sometimes even this jacket trying hard to hide the flaw). I knew however, that I was going to take this jacket back to US because it was really a warm one. So, with many more search operations (private ones while faking to look for something else) and no success, I reluctantly bought a whole new set of buttons and got them stitched onto the jacket. Reluctant because the older buttons were really fashionable and went very well with it and I did not find any new ones up to the mark. I eventually settled my mind for the compromise solution of the newly sewed boring yet useful buttons and decided to forget about everything.

Time flew and no sooner I was back home after a great trip. After a few hours of a little chit chat and retrospection on the trip, I began to unpack. Now guess what happened? You are right. I found that button. Where did I find it? you would ask. Well, remember I talked about searching in the handbag? So it was in the handbag and I did not check it well? again you would ask. Err … not exactly. You see, in a way it was in the handbag but in a way it was not. Kind of like Hai bhi aur nahin bhi hai (I am suddenly reminded of the scene in the Bollywood movie Chupke Chupke, where Amitabh is trying to tell Jaya how Corolla is a flower and yet it is not; something like that... that movie is my all time favorite by the way). Alright, let me unravel the mystery quick. So, it was inside that handbag, but it was inside a small purse inside the handbag (kinda small pouch where I keep most of my important stuff like, home keys, some jewelry, important receipts and all that). So, when I searched, I searched in the main big handbag, but not in the bag inside the bag. You see? Logical? (these are of course rhetorical questions, not meant to be answered).

So now, I have the old jacket with the new buttons sewed onto it and the old buttons all safely tucked in some safe place. And umm … do I know where? Err … I 'll have to check with my mind and get back to you on that.

Cube

Her cubicle is in a private cozy corner of the department. It has a wide window on one side that lets in abundant sunlight during the day. Her PC is a combination of a sleek looking, Pentium 4, 1GB RAM box, a regular keyboard and a flickering monitor. The mouse is not wireless but the effort to create an illusion of such, by reducing the wire length drastically is worth a mention- never mind the restricted mobility. Her desk is pretty much empty of any docs or books as she prefers to keep them with her all the time. It is sometimes important to know that you have the freedom to read everything possible on earth even though you really never will.

There is a bottle of VASA mineral water on her table that is filled with water from the cooler every day. Since the water is too cold for her, she microwaves some of it and mixes it back with the remaining in the bottle to make it drink-worthy. The AC vent right above her head is the only hitch in her pleasant work life. She is still an Indian thermodynamically and even the five cold winters in the US has not made her any more immune to cold. Her most comfortable room temperature is from 75-85F. Anything below that makes her shiver. An old sweater resting on the back of her chair provides the comfort she needs.

Not all of them come to office everyday, it is more or less a quiet workplace. Other than the familiar hum of typing keys, occasional footsteps and phone rings, the coffee maker at the desk of her near neighbor from middle east is the only music she hears all day. This one in particular while brewing coffee sounds much like someone smoking a Hookah (tobacco pipe). While she was still new at this office, this sound had intrigued her for sometime. Until one day she decided to take a good scan of the workplaces of her colleagues to unearth the mystery.

Life is good with intermittent lunch-time and otherwise unplanned- some finite and other infinite chats with colleagues. Chinese Orange flavored White tea in hot water and sugar cubes add to the zing.

The Jeans

I bought a jeans for myself during the thanksgiving sale last year. Fortunately or unfortunately it fitted me well except that it was too long. Well, just to clarify, the fortune here is about being able to find a jeans of my size. Otherwise I tend to bank on my India trips to build up the pile for my jeans and trousers. There in the mall when I actually found something that fit me so well, the fact that there was a length problem seemed too minuscule to come in the way of buying it. Happy and chirpy I came back home and had a long look at it. I was very excited. This was my second treasure hunt in the past 4 years here where I actually dug gold.

It being close to the end of semester, I was too busy bothering about getting it altered immediately. So I waited for the winter vacation. Winter vacation came and went and my lazy self never got "the work" done. January, the new semester began. And then I started freaking out a little. Every time I would plan to get it altered something would come in the way and it would get postponed. There were too many variables. The algorithm went like this:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boolean Muhoorat=FALSE; Int Freaking-out=50;

If (Jeans-present==TRUE) AND (Memory-in-place==TRUE) AND (Available-time==TRUE) AND (No-travel-plans==TRUE) AND (Shop-timings-right==TRUE)
Muhoorat=TRUE;
else
Freaking-out+=5;
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Often one of these culprits would turn out to be FALSE and my head would get hotter. Later I tried to fix things a little by keeping the Jeans and its alteration measurements in a bag inside my car, so that it was in an ever-ready state. Somehow with time the priority of this task became so high that all except shop timings part got fixed. I had shortlisted a shop for this but the last couple of times I ended up going at the wrong times and found it to be closed.

Then one fine day, it happened. It was a Tuesday, I was going home around 5:30pm, the shop was open until 6pm I remembered, I had the jeans in my car, my wallet with me. Everything seemed right. I parked my car and walked up to the shop. I checked my watch and the timings on the door. It was 5:50pm and the shop was open until 6. But as I tried to enter the door would not open. It was a glass door and I tried to take a peek inside. The lights were on, the fan was running, and there was a lineup of clothes on the table. It seemed like someone was definitely inside working on the stuff. As I peeked further, I saw a door inside the shop that seemed like an entrance to another room, the light of which was also on. So I decided to knock (yes, even though the door was locked. I wanted to be a true Indian that day). A minute passed and nobody appeared. I started knocking harder (Yeah, believe that!). "Come on, I had to make it happen today", I thought.

A bald Asian guy came out from the inner room and gave a perplexed look. Then he made a gesture with his hand that clearly said We are not open. I did not want to give up. I gestured to the wall clock and then my watch trying to indicate that there were still 5-10 minutes. He gave one hard look at me and then came up to the door and opened it. My heart rejoiced but quickly skipped a beat noticing that he stood at the door barring the entrance. At the first opportunity I went on blabbering about how there were still 5 minutes and it would be great if he could let me in and give this jeans for "just" length shortening etc. Initially he seemed confused and looked at the clock but then gathering himself back, he said, "Ma'am, we are closed. It is a Monday today".

Those last words struck me hard like iron. Monday? How could it be Monday today? I had worked yesterday also and ... Well, after a big pause when finally my cluttered mind "got it", the lighter side of me took over and I began laughing at myself. This whole episode had taken such a toll on me that I had almost gotten crazy. Finally the Muhoorat did arrive and the auspicious happened the very next day itself (from the same shop, yes I went there again).

I have been wearing that jeans pretty often since then and I love it. I did resolve however never to go for the alteration option again given my task execution abilities.

School bus

Everyday, I drive to the university parking lot and catch a school bus from there to my department. Mostly I am carrying a school bag with all my notebooks etc, my cellphone, my wallet and my keys(a single bunch for all possible doors - yes, a single point of failure, I know). Also, during the days it's really warm, I have a bottle of water with me.

As Murphy's law goes, the bus never turns up on time. Either I have just missed it or it is late. Btw I am a punctual person and have a zero-fail track record of being at places at the right time. Same for this one. To make things efficient I even have a log on my cellphone to record the timings of the bus arrival every single day. The subsequent data analysis has been in vain with the following conclusion- The bus arrives at any time despite the scheduled timings. So in my case, the worst case delay possible if I just missed the bus is 20 minutes, and even more if I missed the previous bus and the next one is late. But I have made my peace with it.

This incident is from around a few days back. I was waiting at the bus stop. I had already parked my car. There were others too waiting at the stop for the same bus (nice supportive feeling). Things seemed right. As I reached out to grab my phone from my pocket I suddenly realized that I had left it in the car. I have a habit of keeping my phone plugged in to the charger whenever I am driving. I made a quick reluctant dash to my car hoping and praying that the bus be delayed. But in a hurry I left my bag at the stop. Luckily my car wasn't parked too far and within a minute I had my cellphone in my hand. Starting to run back as I turned my head around now I realized it was time to be Muhammad Ali -I saw the bus speeding into the parking area. I ran waving my hands hard, trying to make all possible gestures to catch the driver's attention. The bus came, stopped and then started moving. I kept making gestures while frantically running towards the bus. Finally the driver saw me and although the bus had moved past the designated stop, it slowed down to a halt. I felt so happy and lucky and ran towards it.

It was then that I remembered that my bag was still at the stop, which was now behind the bus. So here's the funniest scene of the century- I am hurrying towards the bus with my hand-waving and all, the driver patiently waiting for me, and then I run past the bus! There is utter confusion on the driver's face and the bus starts moving again. And there I am grabbing my bag and running after the bus again hysterically yelling to stop. The bus finally stops again. The door opens. I board the bus catching my breath while trying to give out a beaming smile. The driver gets it and is laughing. I say "Thank you" with a lot of gratitude on my face and he smiles back, nodding his head in acknowledgment and then finally comments, "I am sorry, I had NO idea what the heck you were trying to do!"

For a beautiful tomorrow

As the sun of yesterday sinks 

Painting the sky purple and pure, 

The moon rises to reflect hope 

While seas billow and roar. 

  See the divine motif- In this unrivaled creativity, 

'tis an endless wheel of fortune- Not the drums of destiny. 

Why only dream to be free? 

And dwell in antiquity? 

When night's only the beginning 

Of the promise of possibility? 

Let past be - "Just that something we know" 

Dream new dreams- 'tis today when you knead the dough... 

 For a beautiful tomorrow! 

* * *

With these thoughts and wishes for a bright, fun-filled and Happy New Year! 

- Yours truly 

(ps: This picture was taken by me recently at Miami Beach, Florida)

Conversations: The lavender story

F and I visited a friend A's place (in a different city) recently. They were there for about 3-4 days and had a great time. Due to some work, F planned to leave early while I stayed on for a couple of days more.

One of the evenings (after F left) A and I were having a great one on one conversation. While they chatted along about different things, the lavender comb on the dressing table caught their attention and was blissfully included in the talk. This is how the conversation went.

A: This is such a nice comb, na?
I: Yeah, and the color is really beautiful. Lavender in fact is my favorite color.
A: Hmm.. and it's especially a good idea to carry a small comb like this. More so when you are traveling.
I: Yes. You know although I always use a hair brush for combing my hair, it generally takes a lot of space. And..
A: And you can easily carry this along anywhere you go..

They both nodded, happily agreeing to each other while they admired the comb. And then the topic of conversation gradually shifted to something else and time moved on.
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A couple of days after I was back home, A called. After a quick exchange of greetings A mentioned something that triggered a whole new conversation. This is how it went.

A: By the way, you forgot your comb.
I: What comb?
A: The purple comb?
I: Oh no. I just got a hair brush with me.
A: No but remember we talked about it that evening? You were saying how it is easy to carry the comb etc?
I: Exactly because I thought it was your comb and it was a good idea to use for next time!
A: And I thought it was yours!
I: He he ... Then it must belong to F.

And they both had a good laugh.
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Recently at home after a few days I and F had the third and final conversation.

I: Hey F, did you forget something at A's place?
F: No I don't think so.
I: Come on try to remember. Din't you forget your comb?
F: Comb? Which comb?
I: A lavender colored comb. (With details)
F: No, I did not. I've never had a lavender colored comb in the first place!
I: @#$%%^$^&*&^**(!!!!!!!!!!

(ps: This article is two quarts truth and one quart imagination)

Multiplicity

I had got this comment some time ago from an aquaintence in Orkut that I looked really different in the current picture and the previous one posted there. Incidentally the two pictures are only 2 months apart from each other. But you bet, I look different. And that reminded me of an incident a while ago.

It was summer time last year. One fine day, I decided to clean the tiles of my verandah. The main door of the house was open and as I almost finished, I saw my neighbour passing by. I nodded in acknowledgement. Later when the chore was done, I walked out of my house, to get something from my car which was parked right in front and I bumped into the same neighbour again. I nodded and smiled again. The day just passed.

The next afternoon, when I was walking around my apartment area, I met that neighbour again. We just got into some conversation and in the middle of it, he rushed into his apartment and returned with a diary to learn the exact spelling of my name. He is a Mexican. I appreciated his effort. To tell you frankly, I really get this esteemed feeling, here in US, when someone pronounces or spells my name correctly. Otherwise, it feels like I am some software product that comes in versions - Archana 1.0, Airkaana bis 1.1, Urchchaana bis 1.2. And you never know there could be more coming. Sometimes, it seems like these are my mutated variants. I fear the next could be an Arachnuha. Or even Unicorn. Who knows. It is at least going in that direction. But I am sure learning to be at peace with it. Like when they call out these names (of these weird creatures, if they exist), I simply nod in acknowledgement. It's like my consciousness has expanded to accomodate something more than just the mere me.

Anyways, that is besides the point. So, as we were talking, our conversation turned into something like this. (Just to give you a small background, the only conversations I have had previously with this neighbour are of the kinds of Hello, how are you doing? I am studying this. What do you do? or It is really getting humid these days.. Just greetings or extended greetings. Now that you have the context, please read ahead.)

Neighbour: ".... And so how is your roommate?".

Me: "Roommate? uh, yes, he is fine. He is actually my husband. I told you about him, that day? Inder?"

N: "No. I mean the other girl."

M: "Other girl? Who?"

N: "There is a girl also who stays with you, doesnt she?"

M: "Oh ... no there used to be that girl roommate with me, but that was only till last winters. She left after that." That was Jenny, with whom I shared the apartment for four months while Inder was away on work in India. She moved back to India for good and is a good friend now.

N: "No, no. I just saw her yesterday."

M: A slight shiver went down my spine. Was there a lady ghost living in my house? Eeks. I nervously shoved the thought away, "No there is no other girl. There is a neighbour upstairs who you might have mistaken with. It's just been me and my husband since last year."

N: "No really I just saw her walk out of your house yesterday. The one who has hair till shoulder, she is taller and always ties her hair."

M: The first line made it sound even more eerie but by the second my light bulb started glowing.

N: Continuing uninterrupted, "See yesterday, there was you cleaning the floor in the afternoon. Remember you said Hi to me?" I was nodding. "And then later when I was going out to my office again, I met your roommate. She went to the car and brought back some cans and stuff into the house. She said Hi to me too."

M: "But that was m...".

N: Cutting, "No no ...bla bla bla".

M: $%$%**^%(^.

Err.. yes, that was me both times. First time, I had my hair open and unkempt; second time, they were neatly tied up. Although I could understand that I looked different in tied hair and open hair, but one is taller than the other? that was the weird one. However, understanding that my dear neighbour was so stuck with his theory of "her and I", as well as to save him any embarassment that he got so confused, I decided not to argue further and let it remain a shhh-roud-ed a'myst-ree.

This was of course an extreme case. But, all said and done, I still prefer the multiplicity of looks to the multiplicity of names.