The way I see it

Get up when your sleep is over, Go for a nice run in the middle of the ocean, Suck up all the fresh air in your lungs, Get ready to eat a healthy and a hearty breakfast, Ready made mind you! Gaze at the ocean and the skies so blue Get drowned in nature's beauty, A heart-to-heart chat with the love of your life....just you, him and nature. Get ready for a delicious lunch...sitting by the ocean, Relax in the sun, with your favorite book and the beautiful sea breeze, Have hot chocolate while watching sunset....the ocean you love swallows the sun. Get dressed up for live music, dancing, singing, good beer and a formal dinner (all that jazz) a sharp contrast to a day spent so close to nature, Unwind in your cozy room....the soothing sound of the ocean waves putting you to a deep sleep. That's life on a cruise ship !!

Lets assume that religion was initially formed for the betterment of humans. But the word "religion" reminds me of conflicts, violence, intolerance and egoism. Most of the conflicts in the world are based on religion...be it the Israel-Palestian, India-Pakistan upto the recent terrorism has been erupted from religious beliefs. A "set of rules" which were supposedly meant for our upliftment are taking us down...are making beasts out of us. This has naturally made me think if we really need religion to live peacefully? Is religion necessary?? This has surprised me since I consider myself a religious person. I take great pleasure in certain Hindu rituals, the colorful festivals and many other things we do under the name of religion. So I was very restless with these contradictory thoughts in my mind. The answer I realized is not black or white. Religion is not good or bad, necessary or unimportant. If we believe that the final aim of all humans is to become one with Go...

I found this article on Gregory Roberts website: http://www.shantaram.com/ It was posted on December 1 2008. Here it goes..... Bombay still suffers, as I write this, even though the security situation in the Island City has improved, and a sense of order has been restored. Fortunately, and happily, none of the hundreds among my own friends and loved ones has been injured, but the death toll has risen to more than 170 people, and the injured number more than 300. And while my friends at Leopold’s, Colaba Market, The Taj, and The Oberoi are all safe and well, many of their colleagues have been killed or injured, and their businesses have been seriously damaged. I’ll talk about what’s happening in Bombay in the next few lines, but first, before you read any further, I want to ask you, I want to plead with you, to keep the faith with India and the city I love, Bombay. If we continue to visit the country and meet the people, if we spend our time in the beautiful chaos and chaotic beauty, if...

I was just looking at my friend's pictures taken in Boston. She recently visited the area to see the beautiful fall colors. The Boston and the New England area is famous for its abundant and a wide spectrum of fall colors. So it reminds me of my times in this city. The flashback.... Boston was the place where I got my first ever job after school. Its special presence in my world is due to the financial freedom that it presented to me. I could do whatever I want, spend on anything and everything and basically fall in love with myself....absolute freedom!! But the friends I made there was the real "icing on the cake". I have done so many crazy things with them...which God knows if I would have ever ventured on my own! The city itself was overwhelming. The lush greenery around, beautiful architecture, colorful people and me! The roads are small, some may say inefficient but I grew closer to the city everytime I lost my way in it. The little cribbings about snow and cold weat...

Recently finished reading this book by Jared Diamond. Its a must read for everyone who is fascinated by human history. As a kid, I always hated history books and classes. Of course they used to be so boring and irrelevant to my life back then. But the very same history fascinates me, intrigues me now. Things that happened back then find more relevance in my life today. I try to apply the logic (derived from history) to everything around me. It helps me find answers to so many things that I was told to be "facts of life". For e.g. the hypothesis that intelligence is in your genes. But this book proved it wrong with the help of history. It gives a beautiful account of how environmental factors affected and moulded humans everywhere in the world. It dismisses racist theories of why europeans ended up dominating the rest of the world. As George Bernard Shaw once said: "Everything happens to everybody sooner or later if there is time enough". Highly recommended !

I read the book today. The book teaches you a lot if you can decipher the meaning. Here are my interpretations. To summarize, the author talks about breaking free from our self-imposed limitations and finding out the higher purpose of our lives. The first part tells us about a seagull named Jonathan, who wants to fly for the love of flying rather than merely a means of getting food for his survival. He tries and fails and tries again until he can fly the perfect flight. He thus gets outcast as he denies to follow the social norms. The second part talks about Jonathan's entry into a new world which he has not known before. Here every other seagull is like him....flying the perfect way and learning new ways for a better flight. He thinks this is heaven and starts learning new ways of flying. It is from his friend in this new world that he finds out how seagulls have to learn something new and meaningful in their lives and then they can transcend into a new world. This is like the re-...

There is chaos everywhere. Every news channel, every newspaper is talking about the same thing: the US financial crisis. And I get dragged into it...trying to find out how it affects me and the society I live in. USA has changed from the time I first got here, which was 6 years back. Gas used to be $1.50 back then ! I never heard people here talk about saving resources like gas, electricity,etc. The financial crisis has affected people so much that you might actually get a place in Kona grill on a friday evening! The first sign or symptom of the crisis was the mortgage meltdown. Houses got foreclosed, people became homeless and the american dream was shattered. This explosion was a result of a chain reaction so as to say. It started with the buyer's dream of building a house, the lenders ability to lend them money, the banks pouring their money into the housing market and finally the government trusting the banks with their judgement. What went wrong then? The lenders could convinc...

"The Alchemist" says Follow your Dreams. Since I read it, I am trying to follow mine. But its way more difficult for me coz I donno what I am following. I am lost...how do I realize what my dream is? If we want to classify what constitutes as a person's dream, we cud say its that one thing which gives you immense pleasure even when your livelihood depends on it. Can you imagine how much fun it would be when your sole means of survival is your sole purpose of existence...it wud be beautiful I say ! Lets assume everyone is born with a purpose in life which they have to fulfil as we transit thru' this world. If this is true, then this purpose should be known to us when we are kids. Again "The Alchemist" says that usually your dream will be very clear to you when you are a kid and it will seem farther and farther away as you grow up. I guess this happens since we tend to lose focus of our dream. How then do we realize our dream when it seems so out of reach now?...

Technology demands change. And change here stands for change in outlook (attitude). Every technological progress that human societies have witnessed, were possible because of the liberal attitude that the people embraced. We can quote many examples in history like the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to farming, usage of metal tools followed by industrialization upto modern inventions like electricity, computers, etc. Everything was a major change in those societies and people who accepted them ended up dominating the rest of the world. To bring about a change in the society we need a rebel. A person who breaks away from the shackles of tradition and is far-sighted to see how this change can improve the lives of humans. Rebels will most often be ridiculed and condemned by the societies coz they deny to "Walk the Line". For many years now, I have been trying to see the advantages of being a liberal or a conservative. Conservatives will hold on to old traditions and ar...

A person is living in the USA for 30 yrs but spent the first 22 years of his life in Pune. Where do you think his loyalties should be? And where do you think his loyalties would be? I first asked this question to myself when I heard Raj Thakarey accusing the Bachchan's about their loyalties to Maharashtra and how they are socially more concerned about UP (their home state) than Maharashtra. A huge argument followed amongst various groups in the state and I believe in every immigrant's minds. I am an immigrant to the USA but originally from Pune, Mahrashtra. I have a relative who has lived here for 30 years now and his heart is still in his home town. Whatever little he does for the society, world that we live in is mostly diverted to his home town. This is what I call mother's bond. Wherever you go and settle down most people always have that feeling in their minds...oh what did I do for the place that made me what I am today, that made be capable of the respect I get in a ...

A thought came up in my mind when I heard Sarah Palin on TV yesterday. She said that what American soldiers are fighting for in Iraq or anywhere else was what God intended them to do...it was God's will that we are fulfilling. Several thoughts popped up in my mind after that. Think about it...if God wants us to kill each other then he probably doesn't want the human race to flourish. Can that be true? Its a very complex thought. And it gives me shivers. Since the past couple of months I have read a few books (philosophical) and I have loved all of them. I am going to quote and refer the concepts in those books. "The Alchemist" says that everything in the universe speaks a universal language, all events are inter-related and each one of us has a role to play which was given to us by God. He will show you the signs so that you can achieve your destiny (your fortune) and all we have to do is understand that universal language and follow the signs. But the question here i...

I thought hard about the topic to start my first blog with. And could not think of anything else than politics! I have developed an acute interest in politics since the past year or year and a half. I guess my husband was responsible for that...coz he loves it. Currently, everywhere I go...on NPR while driving, to google news at work, to casual chats with my colleagues till I reach home to watch TV....there is only one thing you will get to here and that is US elections. Obama or McCain, democrat or republican? I am a liberal, always have been. And I support Obama and here is why: 1. Highly educated 2. Gun control law 3. Excellent orator 4. Multi ethnic 5. Anti war 6. Pro choice These are the issues that matter to me the most at this point of time. Apart from these issues, why I think I like Obama as the President is the image makeover that United Sates will have for the rest of the world. I hope that he changes the US foreign policies for good. I really like the fact that he does not ...

This is my very first attempt at blogging and I am quite excited! Like most of us, my mind gets flooded with thoughts when I listen to news channels, read books or discuss/argue with my friends and colleagues. Most of the times my husband is the only one who gets to hear them and I value his feedback/opinion. But recently I have been feeling the need to discuss these issues or express my views to all my friends. I therefore decided to blog them down! I need a bigger audience in need of a much bigger feedback. With that intention, here is my first blog and with this I hope to start blogging whenever I feel like expressing myself. All you online bloggers out there, if you happen to stop by, be sure that your comments are highly valued!