Oh 9...

I havent written in close to 6 months...there goes my 09 resolution to write at least once a month. I am glad I could at least manage the first half.

On this last day of 2009, I wanted to write about my 09 reflections...

I traveled every month of the year except 1, for business. Caught up with 3 good family vacation trips. Still a stat I am not very proud of.

Spent with Kaavya on her 7th Birthday after missing it 4 years in a row. I may travel again in the next year but may still be able to make it for Kaav's 8th Birthday.

Attended one great family wedding - always memorable and look forward to the next one.

Spent quality time in my back yard...reasonable success with the veggie patch - harvesting bananas, tomatoes, radishes and not to forget the carrot and cauliflower fiascoes...

Helped Kaavya play forehand and with a few school projects, Sat with Saatvik as he learned numbers and started his writing - much more fulfilling.

Had my best 5Km walk - With Priya in Thekkady inside Periyar Sanctuary...just us, in the forest, yet a comfortable walk in the driveway. Dont ask me if it was a marathon, half or full :)

Started on my pet project revamping the House in Chennai...

Connected with a few old friends - thanks to facebook...

A very challenging year professionally because of the nature of business. Helped a few exciting mobile phones come to market - would have happened even without me but connecting with the team and individuals globally, a memorable experience.

There were moments of course which made the year more balanced...Kaavya's bout of flu at the brink of media-H1N1 hype, Saatviks head injury, a few deaths...my aunts fight with cancer...and a few more.

Personally it has been a very tiring year for me - till Dec 20. Used the last couple of weeks to rejuvenate and get ready for Twenty10...Next year sounds a little like a one-sided shorter version of T20 match...Hopefully we all will be on the winning side.

Oh 9, What a year...and Oh-pfully 10 would be even better.

Good luck and a Very Happy New year.

Kreativ Furnichur - Kids Vershen

In April our family with couple of my friends and their families went to Delhi, Agra and Manali. Amongst the many hundred pictures we had taken of ourselves, the scenic view of the Himalayan mountain ranges and the many monuments of Delhi, this one stood out.

Inside one of the many small streets of Hill town Manali, we stopped one of the days for a cup of Chai - Men waiting for the wives who were busy shopping. We pulled over for a Tea in a small roadside Chai shop, taking care of the kids in parallel. It was a neighbourhood with small streets that had humble dwellings - native, small and not lavish. Quiet, very little traffic, no vehicles, no crowd, very unlike the many shopping streets of Main road Manali. I finished the tea and was ready to put the cup in the corner behind the Chai shop. I noticed this creative home furniture setup, the one in the picture above. Leaning on a column were small pieces of wood, buttons, bottle caps and broken tile used to setup a nice living room table and chair as well as a cozy kitchen.

I called Kaavya and Saatvik immediately to show them this. Built by neighbourhood kids, it reflected many things - simplicity, creativity and fun without mattel and fisherprice but true kids Imaginarium.

There has been many a times I wonder what to buy for the kids when I get to a Toy Store. Books and Barbies, Cars and Gadget, they seem to have em all.

Grandparents sometimes find it challenging to get gifts for Kaav and Saat. In the end they bring simple yet compelling gifts that the kids love and dont often find in the usual stores - Peacock feather, Book of flags, Indian Mythology Story book with coloring activity, dried leaves and flower in the middle of the books being few one wont easily (or never) find in stores...

I showed Kaavya the little furniture setup done by the neighbourhood kids who probably couldnt afford the big toy stores and encouraged her to build and make her own creative games and toys. Kaavya loves to build things and I hope this would have inspired her further. Of course I had to makeup a little story to help her visualize how the kids made it all themselves and had fun playing with them.

Some interesting pictures from this trip...

Interesting India Pictures

Kaavya smiles again...

Kaavya woke up one morning in February 2009 and was all smiles…

Kaavya looked forward to this morning for a while now. Most of her friends have lost it and few have even started to get it back. Some have lost more than one. In her class all of the kids have lost it but her. Never will you see someone wanting to lose something so badly and envious of others losing it all along.

Kaavya has been upset the last few days…some times even frowning and losing her smile when she finds yet another friend smiling happily, the new smiles they’ve discovered.

Just a couple of days ago, when we were driving, Kaavya brought up this mature revelation.

“Appa, I know that there is no real Tooth Fairy…I also know that there isn’t a real Santa either…”

“Then how do kids get Christmas gifts in the US…”, I respond eager to know what her answer might be.

Retorts with confidence and authenticity, “…the gifts are kept to make the children happy…mostly it is their parents who keep them.”

I knew where this conversation was going. So before it can spiral down to her sulking, I responded.

“But you know that there are no Tooth Fairies in India…Tooth Fairies are only in the US…may be there will be a Tooth Devata or Tooth Umachi here…But since you were born in the US you may get both a Tooth Fairy and an Umachi…lets see”.

I couldn’t tell how she took this response but I managed to get her distracted about a Fairy and Indian Goddess Angel than worrying about the tooth.

Priya had a more convincing argument for Kaavya,

"Kaavya, See the later your teeth falls the longer they will stay as you grow old...so as a grandma, you will still have your teeth in tact when most of your friend-grandmas wont!"

She was eager each day, shaking and pulling what had been a tooth that she desperately wanted to lose. Interestingly a couple of days later her most awaited first tooth fell. Kaavya was very excited about it and very happy. I could tell this was a milestone she desperately wanted as all of her friends in the same age-group and some younger had already accomplished.



At 10pm, Priya suddenly remembered after the kids had gone to bed...She took a 10 Rupee note and 1 Dollar bill and walked into Kaavya's bedroom.

Kaavya woke up the next day and checked under her pillow. Kaavya had got a gift from the global tooth fairy.

Rediscovering her new smile, Kaavya stood in front of her mirror first thing in the morning…Smiling wide, lowering her lips, twisting and turning them in many angles to get better visuals.

Before long she stood wondering how the brush will skip this new gap.

Gandhi to KBC...

You know what this is about...So let me get to the point straight away.

I watched Slumdog Millionaire a couple of weeks ago. I watched it in Bangalore and could not resist to imagine how this movie will be received by the tinseltown audience else where in the world, Hollywood...

American audience by and large would find this movie very educational, an eye-opener providing a different view of what they may have heard or seen, thanks to the IT outsourced, BPO lifestyle in India.

...Very well researched topic that is shot well in parts of India not normally known to rest of the world, brings out how children live their lives below the poverty line, early induction to drugs, prostitution and the whole nine-yards...truly deserves an oscar nomination...

Thanks to Boyle and his avid portrayal of Dharavi, there will be a flood of International NGOs and Hollywood stars taking ownership and responsibility to fix our slums.

Indian audience, on the other hand, are caught between rooting for an Oscar, the first realistic shot at an Indian winning an Oscar and embarrassment for what they want India to be known for in the world stage.

How diverse viewers feel about this movie – the American and Indian audience.

Depicting Indian poverty, Indian politics, Indian family system and not to forget the story-lines around arranged-marriage are stereo-typical yet compelling scripts normally catering to Oscar judges. Similar to how box-office driven directors add item numbers in the movie catering to the front benchers.

Last time an Indian theme came close to Oscar honors was also when it won - Gandhi. Indian story line with fair share of poverty, religious differences and illiteracy, catering to the history deprived average western audience. Indian audience accepted how India was portrayed in Gandhi as that was history and not a projection of current times.

My reviews – Watch it like any other movie and move on. I want to root for Rehman’s Oscar – frankly I still cant figure out what he scored. I also would want to hide and avoid if this becomes a topic of discussion over dinner with my US colleagues. So a watch, root because it has an Indian-Oscar potential and hide are my slum dog millionaire feelings.

For some it may be hard to digest when India's negatives are projected as art…Is this embarrassment, is this patriotism, shameful helplessness or inability to appreciate art as is without personal prejudice. But isn’t appreciation prejudiced anyways.

I am part of the Middleclass-Mouse turned NRI script…a movie sure to win Oscars soon…this is not about the NRIs and their life in India. But about their illiterate servants, drivers and their affairs in the middle of a busy NRI family who have just moved back to India. There are only 5 back to back songs when the credits are shown, all scored by Rehman - Hollywood version. Indian version dubbed only in 23 languages has credits shown every 10 minutes during the movie to help Rehman win back to back Oscars.

Names and Nuances...

Ever noticed most Indian names have something in common. All girl names invariably end with a vowel and the boy names with a consonant.

I thought about this when I read Know your English column in The Hindu today. The quote at the end said, Always name your child with a vowel at the end - it is easy to yell their name out loud.

This got me thinking and I started to check a few names out that came to my mind as I read the article.
Sudha, Deepa, Priya, Nithya, Vidya, Shilpa, Sruthi, Kaavya, Daksha
Gokul, Sriram, Ganesh, Prakash, Shreyas, Saatvik, Ankit

Guess what, most Indian girl names end in a vowel. Even a 'y' at the end has an 'e' sound most of the times. And most Indian boy names end with a consonant.

It is a no-brainer that a vowel sounds easy to pronounce at the end and flows well compared to the consonant that has an abrupt end to the pronunciation. This is also why boys with nick names most often have their nick name ending in a vowel.

Does this mean...
1. We use girl names more often when we speak and call them out so much that we prefer to name them with easy pronunciations
2. The flow and mellifluous pronunciation jives well with one gender and the abrupt and staccato pronunciation is fitting for the other
and there goes my thought process...

In parallel I tried to Google and see if this observation of mine had more data or theories behind it or was it something that just I have discovered. Of course like always some one had already stumbled on this similarity. Google took me to a website and there I read an interesting (feminist) comment and a strong request to all the would-be Moms...
A lady (see even lady has an e sound at the end) was suggesting all the moms out there to stop naming their new-born girls with names having vowels at the end. Why? Apparently names with vowel-endings sounded weak and made the girls less stronger compared to the boys. A discrimination of some convoluted sort. Names ending with a consonant shows more strength and authority compared to names ending with a vowel which sounds weak was her theory. You know the rest...women standing for women's right blah blah blah. Her observation was based on western names - Sara, Linda, Kelly vs. John, George, Michael

Interesting how names have evolved across cultures and civilizations but still have a few common traits. Yet the reasons and interpretation of why they are the way they are and what they should be are so diverse.

Any other theories on names and their distinct nature for the two genders or may be three in some constituencies...

Wedding...A decade of changes...

I attended a wedding couple of weeks ago. The last one was close to a decade ago. This was my cousin's wedding in Mumbai...ok its my nephew...

Mumbai weddings are always more sophisticated and had its fair share of outsourcing even before call centers and contract jobs hit the IT world. The days when Mama's and Mami's bragged about the Chellappas and Ambis to whom they gave wedding contracts. Big ticket items like cooking and floral arrangements were the ones Mumbai based Tamil community typically outsourced. With time Mumbai weddings have their fair share of originality and uniqueness and continue to be different from the ones that happened else where in the south.

Girls at the entrance with Kalkandu, paneer, poo, chandanam - mostly ponnu side or mapalai side. A combination of small kids and teenage girls - the younger ones going through their first experience of paavadai chattai and the slightly older ones years away from being a bride, draped in saree. The competition to see who gets a chance to be the official one(s)...

The recent wedding I attended had taken outsourcing to another level...it was interesting in Mumbai's own way of the Contract Kalyanam.

New faces for the Welcome greeting - Front Desk, outsourced. I did not recognize the young lady at the entrance and thought this may be one of the cousins or neice I have lost touch with...big smile with out an iota of shyness and a very formal welcome message. Nothing like what I've seen in weddings before. I realized it was outsourced only after I saw more women with the same colored saree. I was glad that we did not make our customary prank right at the entrance. The bold smile and professional welcome probably took our self-confidence away. We walked in with the minimal of acknowledgement and eyes wandering to pick a face we can connect with.

We had men in suits and women in uniformed sarees all over the hall providing refreshments regularly. Later I figured this uniform is on a per day basis and changes from one day to the other - thanks to multiday, multisession weddings we have. The logistics in the hall was outsourced to a local wedding planner, Nirmalyam.

Else where and in old times...one cannot forget mamas with soiled dhoti, wet red towel over one side of their shoulder, open torso and the infamous never-been-white poonal, serve food in the dining area. Walking with a basket of papadams or the ultra small vessel with spoon shell as flat as the handle, mamas pacing fast to serve pachadi on the Elai - a drop or two at best. I am sure we've all had our episodes of the rasam and payasam finding its way out of the elai.

Dining area was the one to remember...no more mamas, no more baskets and of course no more food encroached tables.

We had Nirmalyam ladies instruct and oversee well-dressed waiters serve food. Plates with elai, cups for rasam, sambar, payasam and curd and the impressive plastice cups with sealed lids and straw carrying water. Paper napkins carrying the Nirmalyam logo and to beat it all the after food pan, beeda plate had on its side a stack of Nirmalyam business cards.

I have to admit that the Nirmalyam concept and staff provided me and my brother-in-law with an arsenal of jokes that was well used during the wedding and sure to last till the next one.

We had a wonderful time meeting all our athais, athimbares, cousins, neice and nephews. Cant but wait for the next one.

Unusual Vegas Similarities...

More than once this past month I was reminded of LasVegas...drawn to similarities from two unrelated places I visited.

I flew Kingfisher airlines about a month ago from Bangalore to London, the 5-star airline. Plush red seats, individual touch screen monitors with a variety of entertainment options (Bollywood, Hollywood movies, local and US Sitcoms, games, news and you name it), models handpicked by Mallya as flight attendants , all in a spanking new aircraft.

As you enter, greetings galore every 30 feet by a variety of attendants. The flight was largely empty with many vacant seats in the economy class - the 5 star airline is not really making star profits. After take off and an hr or so into the journey...I wanted to get up, stretch and head to the designated stretch zone in international flights - next to the washrooms. I had one of the front seats before the business class and the restrooms were be a few 10 rows behind. I got up, walked back to the rear of the aircraft to stretch. From the rear, noticed rows of red seats each with brightly lit LCDs hosting the various entertainment menu, organized like a pack of open cards (3 in a row with 3 in each) looking nothing short of casino slot machine displays. Interestingly many empty seats had all their individual montiors in the read side of each seat lit and active. Red seats each with bright slot machine display and attendants serving beverage - How can one not be reminded of LasVegas.

Few weeks later, we drove to Chennai to have children spend time with grandpa and grandma. I had a working week. During my 25+ years of living in Chennai, we have never shopped in the famous T.Nagar area except many be once for my sister's wedding. My wife picked a holiday to go saree shopping with my mom - Day of Vijayadasami. This year Deepavali was just 3 weeks away. I concurred. Why do I need to concur, you may think. Filled with guilt to have come on a holiday to chennai and had to work every single day, I agreed to take them shopping. Yes, my wife, mother and I went to T Nagar for their saree shopping. If you thought the rest of this blog is about me between wife and mom taking sides awkwardly on selections and choices, you've been watching way too many soaps and movies in India lately. The wise one decided to keep the kids and stay back home - for all that grey hair he made this one right choice.

We left at about 1pm to T.Nagar. For those of you in Chennai you know what I am talking about.
This is a stretch of shops, Nalli old and new, Pothys, RMKV, Kumarans and few other lesser known names. Each store having its own architecture and interiors, all posh and flashy in and out. Huge chandeliers, Deities in xxl frames, work force greeting as you enter. Some with tie and badge, some with trousers, some in saree and some others in traditional Dhotis, men and women from the store every 10 feet greeting and running to take the purchase to the counter for payment, sorting out short lists and selections, helping customers pick the right aisle based on what silk from which part of India you want to shop (Mysore, Kanchipuram, Khota, Blah Blah Blah...). I took to a corner to observe as that was the best I could do given the situation. Crowds throng these stores - will be an understatement. People walking all over the T.Nagar main road stretch, hopping from one store to the other...varying building architectures and lightings, posh interiors, greeting staff and extravagant luxury. T.Nagar reminded me of the Vegas Strip.

KingFisher and T.Nagar were my little Vegas look alikes, minus the slot machines and the shows, ofcourse.