My list of concerns....

Okay my blood's been boiling since last week's blasts in Bombay for a whole bunch of reasons. The more I read about them the more I get frustrated. For lack of a better audience I am gonna vent out here...- and I apologize in advance, cause I will be politically incorrect!

- Obviously, my first and biggest grudge is against the terrorists - there is nothing more inhuman, cowardly, and wrong than attacking innocent civilians in their hometowns where they are would normally consider themselves safe. These attacks whether in New York, Madrid, London or Bombay make wars fought on battlefield look so much more respectable and humane. And how can you associate killing innocent people with any religion? If you believe in God, you cannot believe in killing innocent people. There is something terribly wrong if a religion can constantly breed terrorists all across the globe. And you may give me other examples just take a look at all the major terror strikes in the last 10 years...

- Almost all the friends and family I spoke with in Bombay reacted in a way which I can best describe as unaffected if not insensitive. Noone was really as concerned about the people that had lost their lives - maybe they were, but they didn't really seem to be worried about raising the right questions.
It isn't the first time there has been a terror strike in Bombay and I fear there is a sense of submission within the people, where they have come to accept it as a normal part of life - it isn't. I do not want them to shake it off as something insignificant and move on. Coming together and helping the victims is a great act, but it shouldn't be enough to erase the memories from our minds.

- Read some of the statements made by Indian leaders. They say things like, India will not be affected and continue to function like nothings happened. How do you expect a family who has lost a son to continue functioning like nothings happened?
Also, Indian leaders need to get over trying to gather support from the international community. Screw them and all the human rights activists! Bomb the the terrorist camps still functioning in Kashmir and take it from there. Yea, I oversimpliyfy but heck, this is the second major terrorist attack on Bombay and millionth one in India. Has anyone heard of a substantial retaliation from India since the '92 bomb blasts. Its been close to 15 years! Look at the US - it took them less than 5 years to bomb 2 countries they thought were responsible for 9/11. And I don't disagree with that approach (as long as they can justify that the attack wasn't for oil)

-And finally today I read Bush's statement to India - he says that India should rely on hard evidence before drawing conclusions in the Mumbai blasts and not blame Pakistan. Does he mean "hard evidence" like the kind he had for WMDs in Iraq? Talk about hypocrisy...Wtf!!?!?

Okay I am sorry I have been MIA last week. But I'll try to compensate today - make more than one post, hopefully.....well here's the first one to Sonal's 4 questions...


If you could pick the last thing you'll see before you die, what would you choose?
Four people I love the most...

What is your favorite sandwich, made at home with your own hand?
Chutney and Amul butter each layered on both slices of bread.

With what do you associate the sound of ringing bells, if anything?
To this particular temple that I used to go to every Tuesday while growing up in Bombay.

Name something you think is fun to do that most people wouldn't think so.
- Learning about making movies
- Annoying people I love
- Talking out aloud to myself (I swear I'm not crazy but the voices indside me need to be heard ;) )

Last week has been the toughest for me - I lost my granddad late Sunday night last week. It's been a tough week since it was my first close personal loss. I never thought it would happen to me so suddenly. I mean I always kinda expected to have time to say goodbye. Its been over a week and I am fine now.

Except every once in a while I feel pangs of guilt about not having returned his calls when he tried calling me in the last 2 days before he passed away, or even not calling him enough over the last few months. Every time he called he would ask me to call him every weekend - something I never really did.

And thats the only reason I make this post - to ask you guys to take the time to talk to someone you care about and haven't called in a while. And not really wait for tomorrow, 'cause trust me the constant guilt of not having spoken to them enough, or the regret that now you never will get a chance to speak to them ever again is not a comforting feeling, not at all.

Knock knock..

So I decided to revive this blog...spoke to Sonal for a few minutes on Saturday and realised that all of us have almost completely lost touch.

Kartik's moved to Chicago (congrats and hows it going in Chi-town), Urvish is in Cali and moving to ATL, Ashish is graduating in December and working two jobs (two thumbs up for that!).

I figured that this blog would be a good idea for all of us to stay in some sort of touch. I know everyones busy but I am sure we can take time out for one blog entry a week per person...what say? Doable? So lets do this before we turn into complete strangers.

Update on me - well, I am almost all settled now in NYC - moved here about 2 months back. I never thought I'd say that but I actually do miss Houston and the friends I'd made over the last 2 years there. Felt very similar to what I had felt leaving Colorado - good time, good times.

In NYC, the ride hasnt been all fun, but I can say that most of the turbulence is gone, though I am still a little away from my safe landing in the city...

hello hello mike check.....1-2-3

Just checking to see if this blog is still alive.....is anyone else reading this??

Vegetarianism 101

I have been vegetarian the entire quarter of a century of my existence, but I never did think it was a big deal till the last few years in this country. It is pretty tough to find vegetarian food when eating outside in this country. And as a consultant I am always on the road and eating out. But that is not so much a problem as is the attitude of people. Most of the members of the meat eating fraternity react in different ways to my being a vegetarian.

A good number of them immediately feel sorry for me giving me pitiful looks as if I was suffering from a terminal disease. Others are more thoughtful and try to counter argue their case versus mine (even when I have made no argument); saying things like 'you do eat plants and they are living creatures too'. Still others are just plain ignorant to the fact that there exist people in this world who can survive without eating meat. Their reaction is usually raised eyebrows followed by a barrage of stupid questions.

There are certain things to be understood. I am not forced to be a vegetarian by religion (I dont think Hinduism forces people for anything). Sure it was a habit inculcated while growing up but so many of my friends who grew up vegetarian started eating meat as soon as they were in college. I could have too but to be honest meat grosses me out - always has. I am 25 and living all by myself today so I believe I am a vegetarian out of choice; please treat me the same as you would treat someone who chose not to eat say tomatoes (hint hint!). I can't possibly explain this to every person who shares a lunch table with me. I just smile as I tell them I am a vegetarian and wait for their reaction!

Here are some of the interesting comments/questions I have heard from people on hearing that I am vegetarian...
"So what do you eat?"
"You do know that the meat sandwich is the same price" (concerned cashier before charging me for a veggie sandwich)
"Will you eat the rice if I take out the meat pieces?" (BTW the answer is 'No,I'll order my own')
"So where do you get your proteins from?"
"Does that mean no chicken/pepperoni/sausage/....?" (Yea, genius)
"I bet your ancestors were poor hunters" ("No smartass, they actually just hunted your ancestors for sport!")
"So do you kiss people who eat meat?" (depends on what they look like)
"Now why would you do that to yourself?" (masochism maybe!?)
"Have you ever tried Butter Chicken?"
"So what would you eat if you were on Survivor?"

Break ups...and more

This is kind of picking up from where Sonals last entry ended. Sonal mentioned about first crushes. Times used to be so simple back then - and then SHIT happened i.e. you grew up. And suddenly relationships started to get so complicated.

Well I say this 'cause I just chatted for over an hour with a friend of mine who got dumped by his girlfriend of 2 years and was going through hell. He was telling me how he had lost touch with all his friends and made his life revolve complete around his girl. Now that she was gone he effectively had no friends and everything around him reminded him of her. I have heard of similar things happening around me a lot in the last couple of years.

While my efforts to cheer him up werent quite successful this conversation made me think about how important it is to continue pursuing your own personal life even when in a relationship. The concept of 'your own personal space' used to seem like abunch of bullshit to me earlier but now I really do understand its importance. Guys more so than girls in their over anxiousness when in love have this tendency to completely lose their identity. It might have something to do with the fact that most of my friends are engineers who either never had a chance or never pursued girls back in India. So in their first real relationship far away from home and family they tend to give it all. And then when things dont work out their lives are suddenly completely empty.
In fact even while in a relationship if you dont give your partner space, she/he may accuse you of having a suffocating effect (trust me this one I have heard from personal experience!)

How I wish things stayed as simple as those cute high school crushes...