Do you have a Tiger in You?

          When talking to a colleague about Tiger woods..she suddenly asked me "Will you have an affair?"..My immediate response was "Have to ask Vidya about it"!!FTW..There is a fine line between Fantasy and reality when it comes to extra-marital affairs(EMA..new acronym..go figure:).Also it is one thing to have Fantasies with your spouse in it or just go random.Fantasy is just that-NOT REAL!!You can make some of it come alive with your significant other and thats a whole another post;))))
          Now back to EMA,My take is ,it is the thrill of the ride,the anticipation,the thought of the  rush rather than the ride itself(pun intended).It is supposed to be temporary else persistence will spoil the fun.Obviously the environment only adds to it..meaning the ease of access to such an activity.All of these are true for Tiger(and for others doing it or contemplating it)
          Physicality has nothing to do with it..reality is boring in this case and making unreal happen is the biggest addiction that makes one to go venture further!Now again different cultures might consider this differently..Physical contact might piss off someone while others might feel emotional deprivation is the cause.
          Some feel even Fantasizing is immoral..others are cool with it as long as you don't act on it..and thats that!

2009-Year of Sahana

Sahana is the highlight of this year..Watching a girl grow up is a different experience than Vinay..All the girly things she does surprises us the most..She went thorough a rough patch in spring with ear tubes ..Being used to Vinay , ahead of his age by a couple of years,made me expect the same..but realizing she is different ,changing my attitude really helped us to enjoy being in the moment and not looking to how she will be.
   Many days in the summer made me wish she would grow up and get out of certain habits..Some annoying ,but certainly very child like , traits would completely throw us off..U know ..eating habits..obstinacy..short attention to any activity..As we watched her go through that..I realised those were all my traits..my genes in full swing!!
    Fall made me realize she is growing up but in her own pace..and I thought  she was acting  mature..That made me miss her antics and theatrics from the early part of the year..(man I can never be satisfied..can I?)..I realized I do not want her to grow up!!!Thats a complete turn about in a matter of months.
    Winter is definitely my season with Christmas, snow man and holed up with family during snow days..I do feel Sahana has grown leaps in this year..but making an effort not to miss every day with her..Because as parents how much ever we wish our kids should grow up and become on their own..I do not want to miss going back to her arms when I pick her up from school or the sweet kisses during bedtime or the "Chorry" we are so often used to hearing.
  As Much as I look forward to her growing up I will cherish  2009  for a long time.

Housing and more

There were(still are) a group of people who actually predicted the housing bust and the current depression-like era back in 2006.People like Peter Schiff, Nouriel Roubini and Warren Buffet(not in so many direct words though).What did the junta do?Sat back and cashed out their home equities and refinanced to ever higher loans.
(http://www.irvinehousingblog.com/)

Our homes turned into instant ATM's for fast withdrawals.All we cared about was where to go on vacation and how to beat your neighbor in Home improvement projects.

Has this taught us a lesson..importance of savings,gravity(markets see-saw) and writing IOU's to Social security and medicare debt.Nooo..we went ahead and walked away from the loans(foreclosure).The question is WHO pays for all the money that we spent.In this case it happens to be the US government and they will continue to do so for years to come.

In hindsight if I had only been an idea-doer and sold my house in March 2006 and not just been an idea creator(planned to move down south,searched for jobs,identified the schools etc),I might have been sitting on a horde of cash.Thinking about it now I would feel sad for the sucker who might have purchased my property at such an inflated price and lost his savings now(down 25% since the peak).So good karma for me..yea!

This decade of lost savings,retirement funds,home equity,jobs will take a decade or 2 to overcome.Unlike the 1929 depression hopefully we don't start a war with some nation to replenish the lost wealth.

I recently bought a BMW..

...the BMW of mini-vans,that is the Honda Odyssey.Last year with Sahana and the arrival of in-laws on a regular basis we took the American way to Upgrade.We had a Honda CRV,decent vehicle but cannot seat more than 4..which was fine till then.
So I suggested a 3 series used BMW..

"Hmm" said Vidya,which meant I was wrong and she was going to prove it too.It totally did not make sense to sell an SUV and buy a sedan!!--Agreed.We have to go in 2 cars all the time!!--Agreed

Me--In a beemer you can go from 0-60 in 4.3 secs,handle curves elegantly at 60mph, pull out of the signal first and pick up chicks at clubs(I just threw that in...hehe.)

After a thorough,deliberate , financial and usability analysis we bought a Honda Odyssey.I can do 0-60 in 13.5 secs(not that anyone is there to time it),go around the curve at 60mph(whew!!..close call),I wait for red signal in a single lane(yea..i'm always first to pull out) and pick up Sahana at the Daycare(the only chick I care about anyways!!)

After a year of driving around,I use the Odyssey to my office,trips,grocery shopping,Home depot runs,karate class pickups and pretty much ALL the time.Really comfortable,satellite Radio and tons of space(packs 7 adults+1kid).

Bottomline..middle-aged,cant-let-go-of-college-years',married-with-kids men go for the "BMW of Minivans" and still feel masculine about it.

Death of Communism in India

Surprise!Surprise..the people have spoken..the verdict is in.Poverty and communist principles have no future in India.The host of Left parties were routed in their homelands,west bengal and kerala."Change" was the keyword and feeling for the people of these 2 states.Through out the country though, awareness was the motivation for going back to a one-party rule.

This is not the congress of yesteryear where they only said they wanted to eradicate poverty and make pro-poor choices..but they didn't.In the last 2 decades India's official poor ratio has improved by 50%.Now that is huge for a country of 1 Billion.So what has happened in the last decade that has made this transition for India?

Technology and thereby an awareness to compete.We were satisfied with blaming the Nuclear Deal, mall-culture, IT youths earning more etc.But it is this same reasons why the country has grown so much. It is the era of Information sharing be it the common SMS culture or the right to information Act.

I was always so dismayed by the fact that we Indians who produce the best minds there is in the technical world ,who design the best software on the planet were not able to do the same in their own country.Now I am convinced that this process which started with the 1999 Y2K problem has snow balled into this unstoppable thirst for information.From the serial-watching housewife to the tea-boy (in slumdog millionaire) have one thing in common.--Access to information!!They get it through TV,SMS, Satellite networks,Internet.

The general populace in India has increased their sense of awareness.The youngest generation always gets it!!When I was in college it was the choice to setup home anywhere in the world but still be indian.Now it the chance to be at Home in India and be yourself. From this awareness has come development and the clear goal of the government to show progress and measure performance.All these terms that we are so familiar with in Information Technology.

There is no looking back now.No more Grand schemes that are only in paper but local developments which show value and progress.This really proves that Information is key to the development of any nation(or a project).

Hello
This is my first mobile blog.it isalittle cumbersome to type,but it does let me post from anywhere within 150 words per text message

Joining the Millions

Of Homeowners whose house values have been depleted ..of course!Today I found out that my house is worth exactly the same amount I paid for it in Dec 2003(source:Zillow.com).After a peak in 2006 that is a 26% drop in a moderately less affected part of the country.The 5 year annualized decline of Median House Value in CT is..yep you got it..0.0%.This kind of puts a damper on our lifestyle and we start thinking with "What-if" scenarios.It does look frightening when we have to plan for the worst case.
I refer to the "House" and not "Home".Home is something that you build with your family and the equity in that investment has grown manifold with Sahana and Vinay providing us with lots of "gains".Our losses though are limited to in no particular order- Sleeping Late on Saturdays(and Sundays),Going to the Movie Theater and Bank Balances.

Ciao