Deep Impact

So now, my niece, Anika is almost an year old! All the quintessential baby things are being gradually shunned and I am sure before we all know it, she would grow into a fine young lady. But right now she is the naughtiest and most lively 10 month almost to be 11 month old kid I have ever seen. She now recognizes all her close ones, from her grandparents to great grandparents to me, her aunt. It has been fascinating to see her grow. It is like raw, unprocessed clay is being given shape into a beautiful pot. With the design on the outside getting intricate with every single day. I mean every time I see her photographs from when she had just arrived in the world, I wonder is that the same kid? Which had crinkled open its eyes barely. From that day to this day, it has been an amazing journey, for her I guess and for her parents. Her growth and development, touchwood is great.. she now eats mashed roti and daal and rice too!  I can see the pride and joy in my sister-in-law’s eyes wh

Your parents, grandparents, close relatives.  All of them are waiting with bated breath as to when do you turn 24 or thereabouts. They want to see you in the wedlock. In a few cases even younger – this applies to girls, though! For guys it is somewhere around 27. So, once you pass that threshold, all hell breaks loose. If you have been smart enough and have found someone yourself, you are in a better position and less hell will break loose. Even then one cannot predict, there is an epidemic called commitment phobia these days. However, if by chance you have not been a smarty pant in your college hay days and have not been able to patao someone, you are in for a hell of a ride. The road to matrimony is not a cake walk!  It is like that hurdles event in athletics, for most part.  Your parents start searching with zeal and optimism. It stays, but not for long. The prospective brides and grooms join too with enthusiasm, Soon enough, though it dies down. The search becomes limited to

There was funny and weird news about cricket Australia yesterday. Shane Watson, the vice captain along with three other Australian cricketers were axed from the team yesterday. All because those poor fellas did not or could not come up with a presentation involving mere 3 points to enhance  their performance and subsequently help Australia perform better. While on one hand coach Arthur’s being miffed is justified, as it seems to some extent that the players are perhaps not serious about the job they are assigned. On the other hand I feel that axing these potentially talented players was uncalled for.  Honestly I think they can judge themselves better. Probably they felt that rather than writing some stuff down or making a presentation, they would be better off actually playing! Seeing this whole episode I was wondering what if this had happened with women’s cricket team in India, I am sure the coach would not have been able to afford losing 4 players from the side given the pa

Writing about the best books of all time, I want to mention something first here. Just recently dropped in at Crossword Book Store in Pune and was astounded and happy to find a whole range of new authors which included Indian ones too in a fair number.  I refrain myself a lot of times from stepping into a bookshop as I have this overpowering urge of buying the whole bookshop! All the same just going through these books I came across ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ (which I grabbed pronto!), which is considered to be a classic and one of the all time popular books. Unfortunately, there are so many books which are worth a read, it is intimidating! I mean every time someone asks have you read this book? It is a classic! And there I go. Another dent to my reading career! But here with this blog atleast I now know what am I missing out on, to some extent! Here is the list! ·          To Kill a Mocking Bird – Harper Lee ·          Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky.  ·         

Was just wondering how it would be if I want to buy a house in India. I have no clue what goes into the whole process of signing a house agreement. So I thought I would dig some info. Buying a house is definitely not a cake walk. What with a zillion documents to sign (and an equal number required for the purchase), formalities to be done and basically running from pillar to post, any home buyer would tell you that it surely gets to your nerves. But hey, where is there ever any gain without pain? So for those looking for their heavenly abode, going through these scary motions of getting affidavits, loan approvals, registration etc is inevitable. The only good news is that if you know what all to take care of before signing house contract, then the whole process will be a tad easier. So what all should a first time home buyer be looking at prior to signing on the dotted line? Here are a few basics. The Good ‘Deed’ Checking the title deed of the property is of utmost importanc

Well, guys it is time to gear up for a nice ride! No actually, you don’t need to, especially if you are looking at driving a car. The reason? Ladies and gentlemen please brace yourselves to welcome Google’s driverless car! But maybe, few years from now! Google, tussi great ho! I don’t know how many of you have read about this driverless car, so I just thought I will share a thing or two about this amazing new development I read about on the Forbes Magazine portal. To begin with, hold your breath, as this car has potential worth trillions. While on the one hand this monumental development has in store business opportunities which can overshadow the current search engine leader, at the same time it will have serious repercussions on auto related businesses. On the brighter side there are claims that such a wonder car can –    D ecrease the number of traffic accidents    T ime and energy wasted on commuting from one place to other and    R eduction in the number of cars

The morning dawned with splashing of news of former Haryana CM Prakash Chautala and his son’s arrest all over the news channels, online news portals and any other news medium one could think of. It was just interesting to notice the irony in our political scenario. While a certain party supremo is let off and has regained his position, the other is now going to have face imprisonment. The judgement was passed amid a lot of violence outside Rohini Delhi Court complex. Teachers' recruitment scam landed the 78 year old politician in trouble along with his son. Well, der aaye , but is it durust aaye ? No doubt this is a welcome decision as far as curbing corruption goes.  But what about the other politician whose corrupt practices were blatantly proved? He was let off and he is slated to be reinstated to his previous position. It is such an irony really. And to add to it, there was this breach of ceasefire agreement between us and Pakistan. And suddenly as one my favouritest (I know