An interesting story, which my father forwarded

Do you think such a scenairo is common? I've always neglected such hypothetical scenairos. Does this take suggestive sentiments over-board or is it something worth pondering about?


ONE BEDROOM FLAT... AN INDIAN SOFTWARE ENGINEER'S LIFE...- A Bitter
Reality


As the dream of most parents I had acquired a degree in Software
Engineer and joined a company based in USA, the land of braves and
opportunity.

When I arrived in the USA, it was as if a dream had come true.

Here at last I was in the place where I want to be. I decided I would be
staying in this country for about Five years in which time I would have
earned enough money to settle down in India.

My father was a government employee and after his retirement, the only
asset he could acquire was a decent one bedroom flat.

I wanted to do some thing more than him. I started feeling homesick and
lonely as the time passed. I used to call home and speak to my parents
every week using cheap international phone cards. Two years passed, two
years of Burgers at McDonald's and pizzas and discos and 2 years
watching the foreign exchange rate getting happy whenever the Rupee value went
down.


Finally I decided to get married. Told my parents that I have only 10
days of holidays and everything must be done within these 10 days. I got my
ticket booked in the cheapest flight. Was jubilant and was actually
enjoying hopping for gifts for all my friends back home. If I miss
anyone then there will be talks. After reaching home I spent home one week
going through all the photographs of girls and as the time was getting shorter
I was forced to select one candidate.

In-laws told me, to my surprise, that I would have to get married in 2-3
days, as I will not get anymore holidays. After the marriage, it was
time to return to USA, after giving some money to my parents and telling the
neighbors to look after them, we returned to USA.

My wife enjoyed this country for about two months and then she started
feeling lonely. The frequency of calling India increased to twice in a
week sometimes 3 times a week. Our savings started diminishing. After two
moreyears we started to have kids. Two lovely kids, a boy and a girl, were
gifted to us by the almighty. Every time I spoke to my parents, they
asked me to come to India so that they can see their grand-children.

Every year I decide to go to India. But part work part monetary
conditions prevented it. Years went by and visiting India was a distant dream. Then
suddenly one day I got a message that my parents were seriously sick. I
tried but I couldn't get any holidays and thus could not go to India.
The next message I got was my parents had passed away and as there was no
one to do the last rites the society members had done whatever they could.
I was depressed. My parents had passed away without seeing their grand
children.

After couple more years passed away, much to my children's dislike and
my wife's joy we returned to India to settle down. I started to look for a
suitable property, but to my dismay my savings were short and the
property prices had gone up during all these years. I had to return to the USA.

My wife refused to come back with me and my children refused to stay in
India. My 2 children and I returned to USA after promising my wife
I would be back for good after two years.

Time passed by, my daughter decided to get married to an American and my
son was happy living in USA. I decided that had enough and wound-up
every thing and returned to India. I had just enough money to buy a decent 02
bedroom flat in a well-developed locality.

Now I am 60 years old and the only time I go out of the flat is for the
routine visit to the nearby temple. My faithful wife has also left me
and gone to the holy abode.

Sometimes I wondered was it worth all this? My father, even after
staying in India, had a house to his name and I too have the same nothing more.

I lost my parents and children for just ONE EXTRA BEDROOM.

Looking out from the window I see a lot of children dancing. This damned
cable TV has spoiled our new generation and these children are losing
their values and culture because of it. I get occasional cards from my
children asking I am alright. Well at least they remember me.

Now perhaps after I die it will be the neighbors again who will be
performing my last rites, God Bless them. But the question still
remains 'was all this worth it?'

I am still searching for an answer................

Kaavya vishwanathan - A series of tipsy turvies

Kaavya vishwanathan was a young Indian writer, who made it into spotlight after being offered half-a-million dollars for her book "How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got wild and Got a life." Little brown publishing company, one of the well-reputed published had signed the contract.

But apparently she was found guilty of lifting excerpts from Megan McCafferty’s work in Sloppy Firsts and Second Helpings. What a shame to all the fame. I am sure this girl is highly talented, if you are you have to be even more careful. After all, she is just 19.

Genie in a bottle

Statutory Warning:
This post might be offensive to parents who want to protect their 10 year olds from the stuff they already know. By the way, if you are browsing this blog together with your children please be warned to send them out of the room. I claim no responsibility to morale, cultural and other forms of ethical offense this blog might result in.


I was reading a news post on rediff.com. http://ia.rediff.com/money/2006/apr/26cola.htm?q=bp&file=.htm ! Ain't it suprising to find a condom in your drink. But I feel this is a major hoax to pull of some el-cheapo law suit. I think the employees of Pepsi who apparently are educated in safe sex, would know about safe practises to dispose safety sheaths. Anyways buddy haste creates waste.

Some years back there was a similar litigation against coke. People in India have found razor blades, (probably used for protection against (forced?) sex), pesticides (I do not know how?) in sealed pepsi bottles.

All this said and done, I want a genie in my bottle. Probably as curvy as 7up ad model or who knows chirstina aguilera.

Political gimmick - Vijay Kanth

I think this is another political gimmick.

What a family man?

Wild turkey and wild ducks

I am lucky to have wonderful fauna around my apartment. Spring has returned to Buffalo. Today I saw wild ducks and turkey lingering around my yard. Trivia : Wild turkey can grow upto 25 kilos. They can fly short distances around 1/8 miles and climb trees.



Hope I do not catch bird flu :).Also, I hope they are not migratory birds. I have seen rabbits and squirrels hopping around. More updates to follow.

Analyze this

Yesterday was a fustrating day all together. Could not get the code of simulated annealing work properly. Could not figure out provisions to plugin my intended code in ASA C code. Damn, I worked hard for it. No way hard word is directly proportional to the output. :(

Use of colon`

Shamelessly reproduced frm http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/punct/colon.html

The following rules and examples will help you know when and where to use the colon as a punctuation mark.

* Use a colon to signal the reader that a series of words, phrases, or clauses follows a complete sentence.

The baseball coach claimed that the team's success stemmed from four things: consistent hitting, solid pitching, good fielding, and excellent teamwork.

The Greasy Spoon restaurant had several house specialties: a hot turkey sandwich, a roast pork dinner, a walleye platter, and a barbecued chicken wing basket.

* Use a colon to signal the reader that a second complete sentence explains a closely related preceding sentence.

The supervisor's remark was straight to the point: I won't tolerate workers who show up late.

Religion and politics can be sensitive subjects: many people hold opinionated views and are easily offended by other peoples' remarks.

* Use a colon to signal the reader that a name or description follows a complete sentence when you want to put a lot of emphasis on that item.

The local anglers had a nickname for the large muskie that had cruised the lake's shoreline for years without being caught: Old Mossback.

The preoccupied burglar didn't notice who was standing right behind him: a smiling police officer.

* Use a colon to introduce a long quotation after a complete sentence.

In his book, Language is Sermonic, rhetorician Richard Weaver described how language may influence us:

Sophistications of theory cannot obscure the truth that there are but three ways for language to affect us. It can move us toward what is good; it can move us toward what is evil; or it can, in hypothetical third place, fail to move us at all. (60)

* Colons are also used...

...to separate titles and subtitles:

Richard Nixon: The Tarnished President

...to express time:

The accident occurred at approximately 1:45 p.m. on Tuesday.

...to cite a law or Biblical passage:

According to Minnesota statute 1:49:002, it is unlawful to feed licorice or peanut butter to goats.

...to end a salutation:

Dear Rachel:

...to separate the place of publication and the publisher in a bibliographic entry:

West, Gerald. How to Write Best Sellers. New York: Henry

James Publishing, 1973.

Election, Education and Corruption?

What does these three words have in common? - Ofcourse they end with ion. Other than that these things reflect sorry plight of day to day affairs in Tamil Nadu.

Here is the sequence of events - Spend money before election, win, make money, spend money for the next term again. Between this, I feel it is absurd to see semi-educated, film stars determining the fate of our state. Despite the fact that TN is renowned for educationists and educators, made auspicious with the presence of premier institutions like IITs, RECs and Anna we determine our fate to be decided by bunch of selfish and uneducated buffoons. Although corruption is prevalent (in a small scale comparatatively) in advanced countries like UK and USA, atleast their Presidents and PMs are very well educated.

Although the advantage of having film stars be our leaders is that they are expected to swindle less, considering the money they already made while acting, I am proved wrong in every turn. The greed for more has not become less.

Also, the current regime is characterized by lack of orderliness. Take for examle the confusion in the 12th std state board. Till the very last moment students were left clueless about the presence/absence of enterance test, counselling etc. Even now nobody has a clear idea of what lies ahead. I am sure we can certainly be more than what we are today. But who is to help?

Can I do something about it? Plain and simple nothing. Lets pray that it turns out fine. Also, continue watching Vijay and Asin movies, you never know where they will end up in next 20 years.

Power of positive thinking vs. reality

I hate those boring books by dale carnegie, shiv kera and others alike. I really think how would these authors take if their books hadn't been a best seller. It is always easy to motivate people in paper, draw wonderful plans yet deceive them. I also never believed in consuelling. Not because I am a cynic, but I do not see the finer point in it. I am a strong believer of no person can be resurrected or redeemed without his complete will, and a person who possess such will never needs to find such cheap motivation.
Given the current day life, hapiness is sought as a product, as a commodity and even as luxury by many people. When I was young no matter what I did, how stupid its consequences were I remained happy. As I reached adulthood, because of cut throat competition and so-called acheivements I am driven to go and do stuff which is really challenging. But is it worth it? time alone shall say. But do I enjoy it? Yes. I am a kind of person without stress would stress out. Positive thinking and high hopes always are important. No matter where you end up with these virtues you surely will be higher than the place you would be without them.
Do not look in yourself within the words of others. You should praise, pamper, motivate and treat yourself. Never except this in the words of anyone else as it is not worth much.

google earth vs. microsoft local live

Almost a year ago, the whole world was astonished by the wonder of Google earth. Now, it is time to rethink while giving away such laurels. Microsoft live has done an amazing job of micro managing the satellite images that you seem to view the whole stuff from a distance of 20 feet. Though I was not successful to get it work for other countries, even at a higher granularity, I feel it is just a matter of time.