things change....fast

I often wonder why things have to change at all....I mean the good things atleast :) ... just when you feel everything is going well, something new crops up from somewhere and no points for guessing what happens to your life....CHANGE. Again. One more time. And then it happens again. The difficult part of this whole cycle is the transition. The human mind and body is unbelieveably adaptable, but at the same time, I guess it craves for stability. The cocoon was happy and so is the butterfly...it was the transition that was painful. I remember reading a book last year called 'Who moved my Cheese' , which basically is about 'changing'. The author (can't remember his name) states that you have to keep reminding yourself that things are not going to remain the same forever. You gotta anticipate change. That makes the actual process of change less painful/surprising/agonizing. But it is inevitable. Like all the other things in life that we wish weren't inevitable. Gotta learn to deal with it. It will just take some more time (hopefully).

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In the next 10 days, it will be a year since I've come to the USA. And what a year it has been. Very very rich as far the the no. of experiences I've had. Staying in a different country does teach you a lot of things and maybe even change you a little. I don't know what I would have been doing had I stayed in India. And I dont wanna think about it. :-)

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After the Mumbai rains, as I expected, lot of people wrote about the 'Spirit of Mumbai'. According to them, Mumbai city has the "never say die" attitude. I think its a little different. I think the people of Mumbai have the "I should not die" attitude. They say that Mumbai sprung back to life the very next day and showed that nothing can stop it. I say they (the people of Mumbai) HAD to do it, coz if they wont, then they wont have anything to eat for that day. It is a jungle. It is always every man for himself. And thats the only LAW. Doesn't make a difference whether we like it or not. The truth why every mumbaikar goes back to work is because he can't afford to sit at home and think about the happenings. He has to carry on with his life, because if he doesn't, then rain or no rain, he knows he is not gonna be able to live very long.

And after living in Mumbai for six years, I can surely say, I know what I'm talking about.

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Song of the week: 'Speed of Sound' from the album 'X & Y' by 'Coldplay'.

The God Of Small Things

Super Sad. Super Brilliant. A few words to describe the book, "The GOD of Small Things", by Arundhati Roy. No wonder it won the Booker Price. Her command over English and her imagination are absolutely amazing. And I can definitely say after reading the book that she has been a sad person. All her life. It is impossible, otherwise, to come up with such a sad story and describe it in such vivid detail. Definitely worth a read, if you can digest a little more than usual description of everything. I wonder what would have happened next in the lives of the two main characters...

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Imagine Dil Chahta Hai. Just change the names of the three characters from Akash, Sid and Sameer to Punit, Piyush and Sachin...not neccessarily in that order. Substitute New York for Goa . Double the fun. And subtract 'Christine' ofcourse! Thats the story of our trip. We made a trip to Niagara Falls and New York City last weekend. 2200 miles round-trip. The Package included getting lost at 1:00 am in an unknown town in New York state with less than 3-5 miles to go before the gas is empty and us having no clue where we are, getting a ticket for speeding at 90 mph in Ohio, seeing a beautiful rainbow while in a boat right underneath Niagara falls, living it up at Times Square in NYC ( Bono is absolutely right, when he calls New York City as the City of Blinding Lights), eating our hearts out at my cousin sisters Indian Restaurant in New Jersey ( Dosa, Pani puri, Sev Puri, Thums up, Falooda, Mango Shake, Pan, and packed up for the drive back to Chicago...) , missing the directions to O'Hare Airport with less than an hour before Sachins's flight departs to Atlanta and getting all this done almost for free...much less than what the cost should have been....you can't actually have a better time than this even if you pay money!!

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Live 8 happened last week. Everybody performed. Everybody watched. But will poverty end? Will Africa be out of debt? Will the purpose of Live 8 be fulfilled? Only the G-8 knows!!!