St. Patrick's Day Parade in Milwaukee

One fine Saturday afternoon I left for Gaurav's place (which is more like a routine now for weekends) and was in the bus number 14 as usual to Southridge Mall...

When the bus was moving on the Wisconsin Avenue, I saw a lot of people on the road.. the number was too high for any Saturday that I have been here in Milwaukee and they were with family, food, dogs, chairs, blankets and what not and were setting camps next to the road...

I decided to get off the bus and figure out what was happening... and realised that it was the St. Patrick's day Parade day... Disappointed that I was only carrying my walk-around lens and not the long one, and happy that I was at least carrying the camera, I decided to stick around and watch the parade...

It turned out to be a wonderful experience and the first such in the US for this visit... Enjoy the photographs below...

A number of vintage cars participated in the parade... these two are from 1940s and still running flawlessly... I took a few pictures of the owner of the car on the right, and he has offered me to show around the town and even a ride in the 1945 Ford he has... I am really looking forward to that opportunity...

The guy on the right wanted me to take a picture of his... He told me that they manage the security in the Parade...I asked him if he has a gun, he said yes but refused to show it to me :) I told him I believed him and took this picture of his :) and his colleague...

This was the lad(y) of liberty posing for me :)

Was happy to see so many Harley's on the road... Milwaukee has the HD Museum which is really one of its kind in the US being the only official HD Museum !

A number of IRISH dance schools also participated in the parade with girls of all ages dancing a bit every few hundred feet for the crowds...

The man with kilts playing the Bagpiper... I love this instrument... There is a Scottish band called Clanedonia who do percussion and bagpipe fusion and they are amazing.. do find a CD if you can!

Many Manimals were there too.. oops.. Animals I meant ! Dogs (picture on flickr sometime in future) Horses... what amazing animal is a horse... very royal and the ones in the parade were huge ! Larger than life ones !

And this is me :) on a different day but wanted to post this picture coz I love it so much !!! Thank you Preet for taking this picture !!!

Prediction !

It was very cold, cloudy and very very windy when I walked to the office in the morning today... the only life saver being the amazing light at the horizon...

and I started my day rather dull than with a sunshiny mood...

Wanted to complain and crib about the winter still being here and no spring or summer to be seen anywhere...

but decided to tweak the thoughts a bit and instead of complaining, looked at some pictures of the years that have gone by and what spring/summer brings !

so right now I am not complaining, not cribbing, but waiting for the spring to arrive !!! I have a whole lot to look forward to...

So here is a glimpse of what is going to happen... I promise it will... believe me or wait and watch :)

This is from the Pestigo River in Wisconsin. US.. Went camping and rafting last year with Pritam, Lakhan, Suman and a few more guys! Gotta go there again this year

Wild Flowers clicked on my way to Tungnath, Uttaranchal, India, with Aseem, Tushar, Subbu, Anil, Manish amongst many others... Still remember that trek... gotta do that again too sometime !

A kid enjoying water in the Brahm Sarovar, Kurukshetra, Haryana, India... Went with my family and Aro (who is practically family)... Want to go to Jyotisar (birthplace of Gita) again sometime...

A flower clicked on a tour of Scotland with Abhishek... This was a one day tour and practically took us around half the country :)

If the last few years were so beautiful, there is no way this one is going to be any less ! waiting !!!


and talking of Spring... do go through this link for some absolutely delightful photographs.

For Autobots !!

In the list of movies I can watch any times over and over again... Transformers would probably in the top 10 maybe top 6 or 5 as well...

I just cannot get enough of the movie... small screen big screen anything works... but this movie is not really made for a small screen or regular audio... No screen is big enough and no sound system is good enough !!!

The character of Optimus Prime just demands respect, right from the first word he speaks, and that truck he transforms into... oooooooooooooo.... and bumble bee has to be my favorite of all of them... he is such a cool dude... and I so so want to have one of those junk looking crazy sounding mind boggling camaros...



And the line in the movie, "A driver don't pick the car, a car picks the driver." I guess thats what exactly had happened that September in 2004 when I bought my car... She picked me !

ok, back to the movie !

I LOVE IT... Period.

And I saw a blue Chevy Camaro today and was so so so so wanted to drive it... someday!

p.s. I think Jyoti had taken this photograph. I am not too sure.

And while we are talking about Machines and Cars and emotions, have a look at the video below...

अंग्रेजी की पाठशाला (Angreji ki Paathshaala)

A for Aalu ki Sabzi

A for Aero-plane


B for Bells

B for Buddha

B for Boat

What else is

A for?

and B for?


Simple simple please... no big big words...

and then....

It was cold, and it had been raining all day... and all she could see was black... pitch black... no light nothing !!!


All she could hear was her own heart pounding, and she just could not think either... it was like she needed light to think... it was too dark for her thoughts to come into her mind as well...

and she could hear were some faint creaking sounds, and breathing of the people who were left with her in that darkest of darks...

and then...


the power came back on
the elevator reached the lobby
everyone smiled at each other
and they (hopefully) lived happily ever after !

Need of the hour...

is some more time !!!


and Mountains...


mostly Mountains actually... I can manage the time with a bit of tweaking... but no amount of tweaking can make the mountains appear as of now !!!

I need to get out of here... when is the next weekend please?

छिछोरगर्दी फुल टाइम ! (Chhichhorgardi Phull Time !)

With the music of Gulal, there is one more song that has been added to the list of my favorites... the ones where you need atleast space for 3 people, have a gamcha in your neck, your lower lip between your teeth, and dance like there is no tomorrow :)

राणाजी म्हारे गुस्से में आये, आइसो बल खाए,
अगिया बरसाए, घबराए म्हारो चैन

जैसे दूर देस के टावर में घुस जाये एरोप्लेन
जैसे सरेआम इराक में जाकर बस गए अंकल सैम

Actually two songs :) the other one is

बीड़ा दूजी थाली का लगे बड़ा मसालेदार
मन बोले चक मक हाए चक मक हाए चक मक हाए चक मक चक मक चक मक

खाई तो मचल गई रे ओ कजरारी नार
मन बोले चक मक हाए चक मक हाए चक मक हाए चक मक चक मक चक मक

The simplicity in lyrics and music is something that bowls me over EVERY single time with such songs... Thank you Rekha Bhardwaj for rendering it in a way that it touches the heart!

Thanks Geet for the post on Gulal... Good music and some very strong lyrics! I am looking forward to the movie as well...


Oh and talking about the title... here is the last video from my trip to Minneapolis... the gang enjoying with Billo Rani !



The best part is that Papa also likes this song a lot and there is no time when he listens to this song and we do not put it on a repeat :)

Another random thought, I need to prepare a list of songs for my bachelor party, whenever that happens :D

If you are not able to see the embedded video, click here to see it on youtube.

You might also want to see some photographs of these guys HERE.

Flowers !

Sahil : I sent you flowers !


Purvi : What? Why?

Sahil : Oh, because I love you and because you told me you were not feeling too well and because you are alone there...

Purvi : How many times do I need to tell you that I don't want you to send me flowers? I think they bring bad luck to me

Sahil : I am sorry but you were not well for the last few days and I could not think of something else...

Purvi : Whatever !

Sahil : Anyway, but the hotel that you told me you were staying in, says that there is no one called Purvi checked in there...

Purvi : Oh, yea, I checked out ! forgot to tell you !

Kuarterly Kleaning !

I dive when I want to... if pushed I may fall !

I am going through my quarterly evaluation phase these days... for some reason every few months I start questioning myself on what am I upto and what are things around me all about...

The ones that add value, Stay
The ones that don't, they go away

Call it a 3 monthly cleaning of the mind ! Its a tricky situation to be in because I get into a very critical and analytical mode where I question myself a lot, and at times feel bad about doing certain things or not doing them ! However the end result is usually a "sunny spring" after a "cold winter" kind of a feeling !!!


As as result of this quarter's activity, the working out sessions at home have stopped and I have joined a gym which started well yesterday with about a mile of running and some free weights!

There is a lot more going on the li'il brain of mine.... later maybe !

Happy Holi :)

Holi hai bhai holi hai
Rang Birangi Holi hai

Pictures from Holi'06 at Home :)

And what is a Holi without this song?

For the Women I know and I don't

I was in a meeting today... and most of my audience was Director level decision making stakeholders and I am glad to say that most of these were Women... Just the right reminder to Women's day .. I am intentionally keeping myself away from the word "International" because I have doubts that it is truly an international thought !

But here on Chai Ki Dukan, which has seen three continents (Bit of international eh!) in the last few years I had to write my dedication to Women... I associate Women with a few words.. here are some of them that I like to remember ...

Innocent

Assertive

Stylish

Fun

Calm

Faithful

Leader

Adventurous

Thinker

Beautiful


Independent

Mysterious

Sexy

Talented

And my limited vocabulary and lack of time is making me stop here, however I did make a set on Flickr to put together all the photographs above and more. Please do see a slide show here, when you have sometime.

Hope for a better tomorrow, for the WOMEN of the world !

Amen !

And a big thank you to every woman who has been a part of my life, big or small and I know this for sure that I have learnt from everyone of them!

I wanted to write names here first, but chose not to - Jealous is a word that comes to my mind in addition to the ones above ;)

There is a lot of money out there !!!

$ 150 Million were spent on Obama's inaugration ceremony... Was it just to keep with the expectations of the world?

I am just wondering if this could have been managed in anything less than what was spent?

Recession? Was anyone really thinking about it when this function was held?

I am wondering if this ceremony was the cheapest ever instead of the most expensive ever, would it have made people to think differently?

And...

Vijay Mallya gets back Gandhi's stuff to the country at a cost of $1.8 million...

For?

The country?

right !!!

and now I am really interested in knowing how India gained from this.. After all this was done for the country !!! On second thoughts I am wondering about why am I getting so angry about all this, its his bloody money, he can spend it on whatever he wants! after all, he has earned the money and the rights to spend it too !

I personally feel that the word Gandhi is a bit too over hyped in India... especially when the other names have just been limited to names and a holiday and maybe some awards or roads or markets...

I did not feel good about this "victory" and felt that we are focussing on absolutely irrelevant activities at some level... and spending time, money, and effort doing those!


Multiple issues, and I am feeling angry... aargh !

आ आ ई ई आ आ ई ई मास्टरजी की आ गई चिट्ठी

मास्टरजी : रामू बेटा तुम स्कूल देर से क्यों आये?

रामू : मास्टरजी, मेरी चवन्नी नहीं मिल रही थी... तो वोही ढूंड रहा था !

मास्टरजी : और बेटा श्याम, तुम देर से क्यों आये?

श्याम : मास्टरजी, मैं इसकी चवन्नी पर पैर रख कर जो खड़ा था !!!!

So did you smile or did you laugh?

Enjoy the video below :) I love it... hope you will too !




This video kind of tells me where Himess bhai got his singing ideas from...

and the part with "Gathri mein laga chor musafir ! dekh chand ki or"

and that the kid missed the centre of gravity :)

love this song totally !!!! love eeet !!! Here is the link in case you are not able to see the video above.

And my sincere apologies... I now remember that Mayuri had sent me this song and she knew I was going to love it.. Thanks dear !!! God bless !!

Go but never leave...

I needed a break, had been working for a while...

Got up

and tried to open the door... but it took me some effort before the door opened...

on my way back.. the door opened relatively much easier!

I thought why, and realised something...

• The flames are more stable near the wick...

• The flags flutter least near the rope...

• The door opens with the most effort if pushed from near the hinges...

Strange thought but I need to write it here...

Stability is more when you are closer to your roots... when you are closer to your base...

The farther you wander away the more unstable you get...

Now another point of view can be about the reach when you move away... Remember that geometry problem from school?
What is the area in which the Cow can eat grass when she is tied to a pole with a rope which is 10 metres long?

Increase the rope length and the cow has more to eat, more space to explore... but when it comes to taking a rest, the cow (At least that is something that I have seen in my village) would always come back near her pole and sit... and if they are out in the open, they will come back home in the evening... That's where the word Godhuli comes from too.

The essence of this post (and this is a note to myself) is to be aware of your roots, and stay connected while you explore the rest of the world... because your roots are where you get the most stability and the most peace !

The Good and the Bad !

Lets start with the good one... According to an article in the TOI, Delhi Police would help stranded women anytime of the day... which basically means if you are stuck somewhere please call 100 and a PCR would assist you shortly...

The decision is noble and well appreciated... what needs to be done is a proper implementation and then sustain it... make sure that records are maintained and published for the people to judge if this initiative is successful or not... if not anything else it might just help restore some faith that I am not sure how many have in the Delhi Police.

If the past has taught us anything, such initiatives do start but loose their steam in the early stages, either because of lack of properly thinking or planning !

So, good luck Delhi Police! I hope you do make a change !

And the bad one now...

Sri Lankan Cricket team attacked in Pakistan... ok before that... Pakistani Stand up comedians were forced to leave India after the Bombay incident !

I agree that the magnitude of these two incidents is way different, but still SHAME on people who are involved in spreading the terror and reacting like a bunch of idiots to it !

ART, SPORTS, MUSIC and similar, are things that go a long way in helping bridge some gaps at-least between the people if not between two nations... and such acts ensure that everything is over in a minute...

I doubt if SL or any other international team is going to play a match in Pakistan EVER, and I am not sure if any Pakistani Comedian or Musician would perform in India...

but what I know is somewhere someone, in the streets of these nations, irrespective of the boundaries would continue to love how JayaSurya has kicked some bowler butt, how Wasim Akram has made the batsmen go clueless (I love watching his action... every single time), how Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan has made millions of people love him..

Damn the Political Agendas which has separated the people and drew these limits !!!

Of mixed emotions...

Its strange how one act of nature can invoke so many feelings together in me...

I am talking about a snowfall !

On my way out of home today I just happened to check the scene outside, and I was like damn... need to change the shoes... so the formals go in the bag, and the dependable woodlands are out !

I walk out, and there is a cover of white all around... I feel a certain peace and calm when I see the snow on the footpaths, the trees, bushes...

The snow is still falling and there is no wind... so it falls slowly and the snowflakes enjoy their ride down to the ground moving around at their own pace and taking their own path... Find a snowflake that you like and then follow it to the ground... Its amazing...

And then some wind... some snowflakes hit my face and I just take my tongue out to let some of the flakes fall on it... I love that feeling of the cold snowflakes landing on my tongue... :)

I walk by a small park towards the office and there is so much snow... and I feel like leaving my bag and just go make a snowman the entire day

All of this snow makes me want my friends around me too so that we can play war in the snow :)

and something that I always miss in a snowfall... to have a sweetheart and walk with her hand in hand looking at the snowfall !



All of this in some 5 minutes walk to the office :)

The 8th Day !

I have been thinking for a while about this and I finally talked to Uncle God to see what does he have to say about it... here is how our conversation went...

Me: Uncle, I need another day ...

Uncle: For?

Me : To have fun... Weekdays seem to be too busy at work, and weekends as well fly away... when do I have fun...

Uncle: And?

Me: So you add another day in the week... make it an 8 day week... and the 8th day would be the "Funday"... I will only enjoy on that day... no sad feelings, no dull faces... only fun !

Uncle: You are crazy fella ! And me too, for keeping up with you... but I am sorry, I cannot just add another day to the week... Even I am hit by recession... even I am short of days these days ! I rather give another day for people to eat, and another day for people to live.. don't even get me started on that note.. but here is what you can do...

• When you wake up in the morning, thank someone that you have another day to enjoy !
• When you brush your teeth, dance
• When you are cooking in the kitchen, dance
• When are walking to the office, or driving or cycling to the office, listen to your favorite music... and do that when you are coming back from work too
• When you meet people in the elevator, always say a hello
• When you are taking food in the cafe, greet the person on the other side of the counter
• Before you go off to sleep, call someone you've not called in a while and talk for 5 minutes
• Don't ever sleep with a unresolved argument
• Sing when you take a bath
• Go out for a walk after you have your dinner... spend this time with yourself.. leave your phone home, leave your iPod home as well
• Cook for someone you like
• Write a letter to your parents
  
• Play, run, jump, hop whenever you get an opportunity
• Once a day smell something nice
• Compliment when you like something
• Ask for opinions from the sales people when you shop
• Find a complete misfit cloth, wear it and show it your friends
• Make faces in the mirror
  

Do these and come back to me... I will tell you a few more things to do... If you still feel you need another day called a "funday" we will think about it !