Skull & Bones on Cigarette Packs

The Indian Government decided today(oct 9th) to mandate pictorial depiction of the dangers of smoking on Cigarette packs.There should be a skull & bones symbol along with oral-cancer depcitions.Also the words "Smoking Kills" should be imprinted on the side and should cover 50% of the printed area.

In contrast,in the US we dont have such signs.Smoking kills 700000 Indians every year(only 400000 in US).Even the words on the box states something akin to "Smoking causes Lung Cancer and MAY complicate pregnancy".So it is a step in the right direction for India..I guess.

The highest influence on smokers is during the College days.These youngsters dont buy packs but in singles(or how many ever they can afford at a time).So the general smokers will avoid seeing the signs and pictures warning against smoking.SO how can the government reach them.Make mandatory advertisements to show that 50% of the area be covered with the warnings.

6 sixes in Twenty20

Cricket is back to its glory..i love it..After only reading the news about Yuvraj Singh's 6 sixes..I missed watching it!!Youtube saves my day..and here it is..

Flintoff must have really pissed him off..

Solli..solli adiche maathree irukku...

Gotto love this game ..again.:)

Being a Parent

Time: Monday Morn 6:45AM
Loc : Kitchen Table

Me: Vinay eat quickly..bus will be here in a few minutes..
Vinay:Ohhkaayyy...
Me: Drink all the water in the bottle else your skin will become old faster than you..
V:??
Me: Sahana (daughter of 14 months) eats more than you..
V:NO.. she does not!
Me: YES..she does.If only you had gone to bed early..you wont be so tired!!
V:..I am NOT tired(voice quivers a bit)
Me:(in softer tone)..Ok..ok..I meant you will feel very refreshed if you go to bed early..
V leaving the table...
Me:Put on your uniform..its getting late..
V:I have to go to the potty...
Me:Yeah!!..finish quickly..
After 2 mins..knocking on toilet door..

R u done..
No daddy..
2 more minutes..bus will be here..
Ohhkaayyy!!!

I cant believe that I have turned into..none other than my dad..same concerns,same annoying tone and the same love that he had...If only I had realised this to the same extent as my son does..

History repeats itself..

Twenty20 Format

The 20/20 format is an awesome version of cricket.Period.It has taken off quite well and brings the zing back to cricket.Personally I haven't followed cricket for many years now...What will all the "oldies" dominating the game..I feel old too to watch(I mean follow the matches on the web) these days..
Right now I am following the India/Pak match and it is nearing a nail-biting finish..Man..I cant control my anxiety and my urge to pee(holding for the last 1 hour)...hopefully it is all worth it..
(pak is 152/10..YEA..we WON!!!)..Let me make a pit-stop first!!!
Whew..that feels better.Now,the format clearly establishes the fact that people don't have the time anymore to spend a WHOLE day watching cricket..Why?First of there is something called Life..which is passing by soo fast..like broadband and your hairline...Second the pace is fast and cricket is no more leisurely but intense and you cant afford to miss a minute..which in turn holds the viewer to the screen..Third the excitement is mind-blowing..I know I can get my adrenaline pumped up so high in the next few hours and it is legal to do that!!!!
Love the cricket..again..and hope this brings the game back to its glory days...

We won the match!!..Nana..nana.naa naa..we beat Pakis..Nana nana naa naa..

Lighting up many lives(literally)

In the world that we live,we take so many things for granted..love,health,your spouse,money..but then there are things we truly cant even imagine life without.Things which are beyond "being taken for granted"..Water,electricity...It came as a surprise for me when there people who have not heard of "Lights"..artificial one that is!!These folks have depended only on sunlight as their only source of light..I mean imagine a world without power(electricity)..no TV,Microwave,AC/Heat,cellphone(OMG..no text messages!!!)

People in the village of Gudda,Rajasthan have something to celebrate.One 80-year-old woman is the proudest of all!!!They have Light in the Night..such an unheard of thing for centuries in that village..All possible due to the vision of one man, Hanuman Ram , and the support of the whole village.

Mr.Hanuman Ram has installed Solar light panels on every rooftop in this village.Now students can study in the night,eat dinner at night and watch the world on TV..Maybe they can dream about what they have been missing and motivate many others to do what Hanuman did.


Link to the article below


http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/07/26/india.solar/index.html#cnnSTCText





Personally,in my lifetime If I could make one good action like this guy did..It will all be worthwhile!!Well..many such actions wouldnt hurt either...





Regards

Calorie Counter

I have a bagel every morning and was wondering how many calories was I munching down..So a search got me to this site
http://www.calorie-count.com/

A toasted plain bagel has the following

Calories 363
Total Carbohydrates 70.7g
Protein 13.9g
Sodium 706mg

Type in "Chicken Biryani" and you get details about it too.I have never bothered to get calorific value for Indian foods..and never cared about it either..until now..There is a link to the company which makes the pre-packaged product.

Nice site..check it out
-Sankar

Mango Mania

Of a dozen things I miss (of India) living in USA,the summer season evokes all the wafty,aphrodisiac(y) smell of Mangoes.Malgoa,Alphonso,Banganapalli ..oh my Gawd!!Juicy is all I can recollect.Today a colleague shared a mango(what?? Sharing MANGOES!!!..crazeee!!!) from Puerto Rico.It was delish.

Back in my school days we used to have a Rumani Mango tree.Summers were fun..Trying to keep the kids from throwing stones was a constant task for my Mom and dad..and they were pretty hyper about it...The ripening season starts in May and they are ready to be plucked by June.

If you wait longer then the squirrels and crows have a go at it ... I am employed to climb the tree and hand-pick the fruits,load em in a bag around my waist.Sitting precariously on a branch I then lower the bag tied to a rope down for my Dad to unload.This went on for several hours.

Later we would hire someone to climb to those parts which are unreachable.Also we had a hook attached to a long bamboo pole which was used for low hanging fruits..That instrument was pretty ingenious in that there was bag under the hook..The trick was to cut the stem holing the fruit and deftly catch it while doing..Of course we also had "catchers" to catch the unfortunate ones.

The fruits are neatly staked on hay ..got to be careful to keep the end which was attached to the branch facing down,else the "milk"(sap) would get inside the mango and produce a sour taste.
The usual summer haul was 600-700 mangoes..which were distributed unequally among my relatives and the rest was sold to any local vendor..
I felt very sad when we had to cut down the tree after several years...

I miss the mangoes...

Marathon Boy

Found this article in CNN.Link Below

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/06/06/boy.walker.ap/index.html?eref=edition_world



Now here is an opportunity for Indian Olympic Association to recognise the talent of this toddler(just past it maybe) to encourage him and his family and provide support for his cause.Instead we go ahead and stop his ambitions.I mean If someone this young can run a 60 Kms(37 miles) marathon(albeit being severely exhausted!!!) wouldnt we jump at this chance ..that maybe he might win us an Olympic Gold for us..and might turn out to be the youngest marathon runner in the olympics.
If I were Suresh Kalmadi(IOA president) I would be very jubiliant about this news.
I would offer him a scholarship and train him to be the pride of India that he ought to be.
But thats me..
BTW..you can email Mr.Kalmadi from his website(http://www.skalmdi.org) maybe a few voices will do the needful..

-Later

Got an iMac!

Yeaaaa...It is so good to get gadgets and expore the hell out of it..But this one is awesome!!Love the iMac..with the intuitive interface,setting up was a breeze,detected my home network.I added airport express and now can listen to my iTunes in my Home theater speakers(Yamaha YSP-1000..which is cool by the way).
The smallest details are taken care of..this is truly a computer created just for us.

We also have the advantage of having windows on another partition..since my wife needs VB,.Net and stuff..
iMac rules..I have spent atleast 1 hour everyday for the last 20 days on it,and still not started the imovie or iweb yet,which I hear are very cool too.
Thanks Nags!!

I am happy

We are off to a good start in 2007.Sahana is doing well,still trying to set some routines for her night time sleep.Cant believe Vinay starts school this year!!Time is churning so faast..as someone said "after 30 with a family it is all downhill"..that is for the time..But as for the mood I am HAPPY..maybe contented too..

The weeks from Jan 19th-Jan 31st was "awesome and blissful"..what say Nags?.In the midst of all this,my Mom had her first heart-attack.If only my family had known the symptoms we could have rushed her to the hospital and prevented several complications.She is recovering at home and needs 24/7 care.We owe a lot to my Sister-in-law(lakshmi) who is taking care of her in chennai along with 2 school going kids.

Life itself,not 2 sound philosophical(but cant help it!!), has so much twists.Never there is a dull moment.We can only take it as it comes.Vidya and myself need to take care of our health more than anything.

Love all(especially Vinay for his maturity in understanding us parents)