Do in Rome as Romans do!

You know you are turning amreekan if

1. You have a coffee cup or its holder in your car, in your bag, on your desk, in your kitchen, on your dining table, on your "Coffee" table, next to your wash basin and in your hand

2. If you reach office early, let's say before 8 or at times 7:30 am and also leave early

3. If you, when it gets hot, walk around with your t-shirt on your shoulders instead of wearing it

4. If you feel that a horn is an unnecessary part of an automobile

5. If you wear a t-shirt (polo style) with trousers and a formal leather belt and formal shoes

Or if you wear a tshirt(polo style) with short(formal looking) with a formal leather belt and sports or casual shoes

6. You wonder how people live in these countries every single time someone talks to you about India or China or Sri Lanka. And would have a never ending list of things which are not good about India and a longer never ending list of how everything can be resolved

7. If you do not associate Asia with India and visa versa! Asians are Chinese! Indians are Pakistani! and Pakistani are Indian! Bangadeshi and Sri Lankans ! well, Indians again!

8. If you fail to understand why the traffic moves at an average of 50 kmph in countries like India

9. If your footpaths are now called CURBS, if your washbasin taps are now called FAUCETS, if the policemen are now called cops! oh no! not cops, but KHAAPS (read it like PAAP in Hindi), if your taxis are now called CABS

10. If a burger or a sandwich can be treated as lunch

11. If you look for a fat free sign on almost everything that you buy from the grocery store. And one thing that you will always find in your fridge is "I can't believe its not butter".

12. If your kitchen does not have a door

13. If you have a panic attack if you cannot find a tissue roll in your bathroom even though there is a perfectly nice and shining mug kept there

14. The only way to take a bath that you know is a shower. You don't know what to do with a bucket and a mug

15. If you don't know that touching elder's feet is a way of expressing respect like nothing else

16. If you don't stare at cleavages and legs in aww

17. If you don't look around before a lip kiss and after

18. If you start living in today, and not the past and not the future

19. If your requests for credit cards are getting rejected because of a bad credit history

20. If you are ok with paying for incoming phone calls and text messages

21. If you have a pair of running shoes, a pair of walking shoes, a pair of hiking shoes, a pair of office shoes, a pair of casual shoes along some specific running shorts, swimming shorts, walking shorts, casual shorts, short shorts, long shorts and so on...

22. If you have a mp3 player "with" an arm band

23. If you like to eat a cheese burger with diet coke

24. AND, if you stop missing a Chai ki Dukaan at the road side on the highways, or shall we call them Freeways!

What is the relevance of the picture? nothing! I just happen to like the color in there!

of Amreekaa and of Indiaaa

I was reading some online news about protests in the US against steel made in India and advocating using "only" those things which are American.

I could not help but laugh at the thought of this... if overnight something of this sort happens, then most people in the US would run around "almost" naked, with "almost" no software to use, with "almost" no customer care, with "almost" no electronics and huge reduction in the number of vehicles... oh but where would they get the fuel to run the vehicles? well.. sorry about that !!! Add vehicles that do not have any gas to run...

While I agree to the thought that a nation's and its people's interest should be kept in mind when you are outsourcing or buying, I feel the "barter" system is something that we have lived with for ages... someone somewhere has a different skill and someone here has a different one.. both utilize it for a mutual benefit !!!

I have also been thinking that people who went on spending money like crazy, when they did not have any to pay up their credit card bills, must be the people who have played an important role in companies going bankrupt by purchasing dieing financial firms and dead assets... (Correct me someone if I am wrong here) and who gets thrown out first? The people who come from outside and save like crazy (another extreme, and I fail to understand why suddenly most desi's talk about how much they are able to save when they are in US; sorry digressing from the topic)

umm.. but that was it, I guess about the "America use only American" point of view...

Our second point on today's discussion is the Lok Sabha Elections... I am hoping and wishing and sincerely hoping and wishing that the people who had stood up for a cause after the Bombay Incident make a difference in these Lok Sabha Elections !!! AMEN to that ! this is a wonderful opportunity to bring the change a lot of us started to talk about !

I hope we elect people who

- can make a difference in the country like Shiela Dikshit made to Delhi in the last few years (I personally feel that Delhi has changed from what it was 10 years ago, for both good and bad, but mostly good)

- can make a difference in the country like Lalu did to Indian Railways (I can see and feel the difference in IR which has happened in recent past, mostly because of improved audit mechanisms and accountability and privatization playing and important role)

- can lead the nation and bring it on top like Mayawati did to her party in the last assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh (The BSP won the elections single handedly in UP, with Mayawati leading the pack and playing her cards very carefully. While she has always and continues to advocate the lower casts fiercely, she made sure that her candidates were a right mix from all communities)

- focus on what is the USP of the country like governments did in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttaranchal (These three states I feel have understood that tourism is the key for them when it comes to revenue and the efforts to promote tourism are more than obvious... The lovely roads in these states, the availability of information, and a slight change in the attitude is something that you can notice if you have been visiting for a while)

I feel we have to move ahead of the manifestos that focus more on luring people to vote for a party instead of value they add to the country, move ahead of religion and see the country as one unit, focus on sustainability and .................... sorry... enough of this...

Oh and I just recalled... there were two major campaigns the Lead India and Teach India... can someone help me know what happened to them... I am not aware of the current status... I know a few friends did register in the Teach India campaign but not sure what happened from there...

Japanese American or American Japanese !!!

A few days back I saw a car on the road here, I recognised it and smiled because I feel good if the same models are introduced in India and outside !!! For me that represents a growing India...

Honda Accord, CRV, Civic; Toyota Camri, Corolla; The Chevrolet UVA (Aveo in the US) are exactly the same models !!! nice... Ok, back to the incident !!!

Everything was fine till I saw the logo of the brand, and I was shocked !!!

The car looked like the Chevrolet Optra and it was carrying a Suzuki Logo... Pretty interesting eh !!!

Check out the following links for yourself !!!

Suzuki Forenza (USA)

Chevrolet Optra (India)

I don't see much of a difference !!! Do you?

*Listening to Don Davis - Navras (Matrix Revolutions Soundtrack) {Fantastic track; High Energy; Sanskrit ; Rock ; Instrumental; What not}