I am gay...today!
It makes me very mad when i see English words which were perfectly normal to use and have regular meaning in the English language, get "labeled" because of their connotations...
like "gay"....it ceases to mean happy, excited, exuberant, lively. the only meaning of gay, is now, homosexual. I remember i was in the 9th standard in school and in my English composition, i used the word "gay" to describe the day, the weather. I was well aware of the "other" meaning of the word, but can weather be homosexual ? but the response the teacher put in my book was disheartening to say the least! she said something to the affect "this word has come to mean something you dont want to mention in your paper"....
it is so sad that a perfectly normal word has now lost all it's innocence and genuiness.
Another word which seems to have lost it's meaning completely is "voyeur". It no more means a casual peeping Tom, all it now means is someone who seeks sexual satisfaction through visual means....oh come on, the word has another meaning, why do people overlook the "other" meaning and how is it that only that meaning is the one people seem to identify with, in the word of spoken English? I had once posted a comment somewhere with the word "voyeur" and i had to delete my comment because people thought it was misleading, when the truth is, it was perfectly harmless and innocent and was used in the proper context.
But, all that is lost, but i am now not going to let my these 2 precious words be treated like this, I am going to very well use them the way i please, and if u have a problem with that, please consult the dictionary and discover for yourself what we are missing.
I am sure there are many such words, but they seemed to have passed me by so if i do come across something I will jot it down and make sure it gets back it due and you my friend do tell me about it.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Monday, October 16, 2006
TAGGED!
anu had tagged me way way back and finally now i am getting down to doing this!
1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn on page 18 and find line 4.
it's a line from tom clancy's net force. "...middle of the morning on a wekday..."
2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can.
Thanks....it was a nice stretch!
3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
It was a movie "julianne moore's forgotten".
4. Without looking, guess what time it is?
1 pm.
5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
it's 1:24...wow...i hv taken a long break from work...shud get back!
6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
in the background i can hear people's feet rubbing on the floor..mouse clicks, and someone just banged their knee in the table...that must've hurt!
7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
i just went outside to take a breath of fresh air...
8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?
was reading the news on google
9. What are you wearing?
jeans, sweater and jacket
10. Did you dream last night?
i dont think so...or even if i did...i dont remember
11. When did you last laugh?
some half hour back, i was bugging a co-worker.
12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
task lists, server settings, calendar...mundane suff!
13. Seen anything weird lately?
no....
14. What do you think of this quiz?
i am trying to think the purpose to this...
15. What is the last film you saw?
forgotten.
16. If you became a multimillionaire overnight, what would you buy?
Have a big reunion with all my friends and family in the swankiest of places and show e'one the time of their life!
17. Tell me something about you that I dunno.
i hate shopping but i can spend hours in a home deco store!
18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
i would make it compulsory for offices to have every other wkend, a long wkend!
19. Do you like to dance?
yup...but i am terribly shy!
20. George Bush.
www.toostupidtobepresident.com
21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
ambar, aakriti, kriti...
22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
though i love the name rahul, i prolly wudnt call my son that!
maybe akshat..
23. Would you ever consider living abroad?
living abroad right now...but home is where the heart is..and it's defi INDIA!
24. What do you want GOD to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?
u have done all u could !
25. 5 people who must also do this in their blog.
naeh...i'll pass!
anu had tagged me way way back and finally now i am getting down to doing this!
1. Grab the book nearest to you, turn on page 18 and find line 4.
it's a line from tom clancy's net force. "...middle of the morning on a wekday..."
2. Stretch your left arm out as far as you can.
Thanks....it was a nice stretch!
3. What is the last thing you watched on TV?
It was a movie "julianne moore's forgotten".
4. Without looking, guess what time it is?
1 pm.
5. Now look at the clock, what is the actual time?
it's 1:24...wow...i hv taken a long break from work...shud get back!
6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear?
in the background i can hear people's feet rubbing on the floor..mouse clicks, and someone just banged their knee in the table...that must've hurt!
7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing?
i just went outside to take a breath of fresh air...
8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at?
was reading the news on google
9. What are you wearing?
jeans, sweater and jacket
10. Did you dream last night?
i dont think so...or even if i did...i dont remember
11. When did you last laugh?
some half hour back, i was bugging a co-worker.
12. What is on the walls of the room you are in?
task lists, server settings, calendar...mundane suff!
13. Seen anything weird lately?
no....
14. What do you think of this quiz?
i am trying to think the purpose to this...
15. What is the last film you saw?
forgotten.
16. If you became a multimillionaire overnight, what would you buy?
Have a big reunion with all my friends and family in the swankiest of places and show e'one the time of their life!
17. Tell me something about you that I dunno.
i hate shopping but i can spend hours in a home deco store!
18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do?
i would make it compulsory for offices to have every other wkend, a long wkend!
19. Do you like to dance?
yup...but i am terribly shy!
20. George Bush.
www.toostupidtobepresident.com
21. Imagine your first child is a girl, what do you call her?
ambar, aakriti, kriti...
22. Imagine your first child is a boy, what do you call him?
though i love the name rahul, i prolly wudnt call my son that!
maybe akshat..
23. Would you ever consider living abroad?
living abroad right now...but home is where the heart is..and it's defi INDIA!
24. What do you want GOD to say to you when you reach the pearly gates?
u have done all u could !
25. 5 people who must also do this in their blog.
naeh...i'll pass!
Thursday, October 12, 2006
I Miss Home
It's that time of the year again, when I am most reminded of home....when the festivals are all crowding in your wall calendar, every days seems like a day meant for festivities, some pooja (prayer) , good food and meeting relatives..
My favorite festival is Diwali, it's the festival i most miss and look forward to and it's fast approaching..yipeee!!! but...i am not home..where i wud start preparations long back...my mum-dad and me would go on a shopping spree to buy gifts for family and friends. The shops would be so well decorated, with glitter, colors and there would be a zillion people on the roads and we'd hv to tackle our way! Then we'd prepare some nice Indian delicacies...gujiya, shakar pare, namkeen pare, mathari, samosa, kachori, sev....yummmy...my mouth is watering...ummmm...(and now i miss it all more!!!)
Then we'd battle through the insane traffic on Delhi roads and go gift delivering! this was really so cool, coz we'd get to meet friends we hadn't met in some time and i'd meet friends who were home for the holidays! and ofcouse the food...the very lovely Indian delicacies that i'd get to gorge!...I miss it soooo much!
The run up to diwali has some cute mini festivals...it's sooo much fun...all the little pujas and the cleaning in the house...so many times this would also be the time that the house would be painted...now that was the pain!! ...but soon the Diwali day would dawn...it is the one day, i don't crib to get up early...my day would be filled with decorating the house..with the leaf banner (called bandanwaar) , the painting on the floor (rangoli) and flowers would adorn the house...simply the best of indian delicacies would be consumed the whole day long...and then at nightfall...after the pooja (religious ceremony) we'd light the house with candles, diyas and the fancy string lights! the entire city would look like a galaxy! Then we'd go and crack the fire crackers and walk around town to see the lights and people...all dressed in the best of silks...
I sooo miss those days..the weather these days is the autumn i miss in India...the cool breeze in the mornings reminds me always of the long drives I have undertaken with my parents to meet family....the ganesh-laxmi idols @ home remind me of all the drama and hoopla surrounding the shopping of these idols in my Indian home....
If there is one thing I want to do right now..is go back to those good old days when I'd celebrate Diwali in India...
It's that time of the year again, when I am most reminded of home....when the festivals are all crowding in your wall calendar, every days seems like a day meant for festivities, some pooja (prayer) , good food and meeting relatives..
My favorite festival is Diwali, it's the festival i most miss and look forward to and it's fast approaching..yipeee!!! but...i am not home..where i wud start preparations long back...my mum-dad and me would go on a shopping spree to buy gifts for family and friends. The shops would be so well decorated, with glitter, colors and there would be a zillion people on the roads and we'd hv to tackle our way! Then we'd prepare some nice Indian delicacies...gujiya, shakar pare, namkeen pare, mathari, samosa, kachori, sev....yummmy...my mouth is watering...ummmm...(and now i miss it all more!!!)
Then we'd battle through the insane traffic on Delhi roads and go gift delivering! this was really so cool, coz we'd get to meet friends we hadn't met in some time and i'd meet friends who were home for the holidays! and ofcouse the food...the very lovely Indian delicacies that i'd get to gorge!...I miss it soooo much!
The run up to diwali has some cute mini festivals...it's sooo much fun...all the little pujas and the cleaning in the house...so many times this would also be the time that the house would be painted...now that was the pain!! ...but soon the Diwali day would dawn...it is the one day, i don't crib to get up early...my day would be filled with decorating the house..with the leaf banner (called bandanwaar) , the painting on the floor (rangoli) and flowers would adorn the house...simply the best of indian delicacies would be consumed the whole day long...and then at nightfall...after the pooja (religious ceremony) we'd light the house with candles, diyas and the fancy string lights! the entire city would look like a galaxy! Then we'd go and crack the fire crackers and walk around town to see the lights and people...all dressed in the best of silks...
I sooo miss those days..the weather these days is the autumn i miss in India...the cool breeze in the mornings reminds me always of the long drives I have undertaken with my parents to meet family....the ganesh-laxmi idols @ home remind me of all the drama and hoopla surrounding the shopping of these idols in my Indian home....
If there is one thing I want to do right now..is go back to those good old days when I'd celebrate Diwali in India...
Saturday, October 07, 2006
One of my best vacations!
Have you been to
Chicago? if you haven't, I tell u, u must go..it's the place to be...it's an architectural heaven and the city surely knows how to attract crowds...they have the tallest, the largest, the oldest...name it and they have it!
So we went on a week vacation to Chicago, it began on 29th Sept. and ended on 5th Oct...so we were there for 6 days...and i tell u we were running out of time! one city and 6 days is left...that is how Chicago is!
when i look back the things i remember most about chicago are:
1. the architecture boat cruise
2. segway tour
3. wicked "the broddway show"
4. king tut's exhibition
Chicago is a city that has alot of history...some 200 years of it now...and that's quite something, considering how young US is...lake Michigan flanks one side of chicago..and it gives the city a beautiful green-blue color!
So on our first day of the vacation we decided to hit the museums...since both me and G are big museums enthusiasts...we were really looking forward to it...we started with the "Museum of Contemporary art", now this is a museum which tells you about alternative sources of energy, construction material, conservation of nature, wildlife and such things, not a a cliche "museum" and that's what made it interesting, the best part of it was the section with a myriad of pictures from different events, landing on moon, eclipses, birth of a flower and many more...the entrance had an interesting art displayed.
Since I am covering Museums here, let me continue with the museums, Chicago sure knows how to make the best looking structures, and this is well exemplified by the museums they have, we picked the ones we were most interested in:
Field Museum
Museum of Science and Industry
and other places like Adler Planetarium and Shedd Aquarium.
What interested me most about the Field Museum, which is a histroy museum was the King Tut's exhibits, they were so many and so well explained and the mere fascination we have for this boy king made it all the more interesting!
The planetarium also had a special going on how the kings calculated the years and the day, their knowledge of the constellations and how they revered these was really interesting! G slept off in this show...but i thoroughly enjoyed it, for we had just come out of the exhibits of the king and this seemed lk a bonus treat to me!!!
Then we did the architecture boat cruise, one hell of an experience, knowing when the different buildings were constructed, what's changed about them over the years and the uniqueness of each of them, this is really a very interesting tour and i would suggest everyone should take this tour, even if you are not interested in architecture, this still is a very entertaining tour. The must visit buildings are the John Hancock Observatory and the Sears Towers!
One thing we didn't do right was that our hotel was a bit far from downtown, which is where everything significant is. We ended up being frustrated by traffic a lot of times, so i would suggest anyone visiting Chicago should stay close to downtown.
Then came our Segway tour, now this is a cool way of seeing the city, we had registered with the tour people before we left Dallas, so we got there well in time for the demo record and then we were given some lessons, now let me tell you that this machine is really not as easy as it seems ok...i was uneasy on it and so the guide (who much to my dismay and luck saw from my face that i am scared) helped me through most of it..staying close to me and making sure i did the right things...but this happened after i had already fallen off the damn thing...rather funny it was...but the tour is really cool! Again a must-see/do in Chicago.
Chicago downtown has some nice restaurants that we sampled, of course there is the UNO pizzeria, but i would suggest to go there well in time before hunger pans strike you for it will be close to 1 hour wait no matter when u go...they made superlicious pizza!!!
Navy pier a fun place to wrap up an evening and oh the architecture tours begin here itself, you might have to check the listings to see when the tours are. This is located by the Lake Michigan and it has rides/food/local shops/souvenirs and such...we also saw a joker/magician doing some tricks. There is a popcorn gourmet shop here that sell different kinds of popcorns, we liked the caramel popcorn...so if u like gourmet popcorn, you know where to go! Some stunning stained glass paintings can also be found here.
If you to Chicago and do not go to Broadway, then it's a waste of a trip if you are from a place like Dallas...so we went to see Wicked, my second experience with musicals. All this while I used to think that Bombay Dreams was the best thing ever, but how wrong i was i came to know when i saw wicked!! it really was brilliantly done, the production, the props, the performers, the music everything was simply amazing!
Chicago is not a conventional honeymoon spot, but both of us really wanted to go there and it was truly an amazing experience, we liked the city so much that we going to visit it again soon!
So if you are craving a vacation and are not sure where to go, go see Chicago, it's a lovely place to go...but just check the weather before you do that...it gets pretty nasty there in the winters :)
Have you been to
So we went on a week vacation to Chicago, it began on 29th Sept. and ended on 5th Oct...so we were there for 6 days...and i tell u we were running out of time! one city and 6 days is left...that is how Chicago is!
when i look back the things i remember most about chicago are:
1. the architecture boat cruise
2. segway tour
3. wicked "the broddway show"
4. king tut's exhibition
Chicago is a city that has alot of history...some 200 years of it now...and that's quite something, considering how young US is...lake Michigan flanks one side of chicago..and it gives the city a beautiful green-blue color!
So on our first day of the vacation we decided to hit the museums...since both me and G are big museums enthusiasts...we were really looking forward to it...we started with the "Museum of Contemporary art", now this is a museum which tells you about alternative sources of energy, construction material, conservation of nature, wildlife and such things, not a a cliche "museum" and that's what made it interesting, the best part of it was the section with a myriad of pictures from different events, landing on moon, eclipses, birth of a flower and many more...the entrance had an interesting art displayed.
Since I am covering Museums here, let me continue with the museums, Chicago sure knows how to make the best looking structures, and this is well exemplified by the museums they have, we picked the ones we were most interested in:
Field Museum
Museum of Science and Industry
and other places like Adler Planetarium and Shedd Aquarium.
What interested me most about the Field Museum, which is a histroy museum was the King Tut's exhibits, they were so many and so well explained and the mere fascination we have for this boy king made it all the more interesting!
The planetarium also had a special going on how the kings calculated the years and the day, their knowledge of the constellations and how they revered these was really interesting! G slept off in this show...but i thoroughly enjoyed it, for we had just come out of the exhibits of the king and this seemed lk a bonus treat to me!!!
Then we did the architecture boat cruise, one hell of an experience, knowing when the different buildings were constructed, what's changed about them over the years and the uniqueness of each of them, this is really a very interesting tour and i would suggest everyone should take this tour, even if you are not interested in architecture, this still is a very entertaining tour. The must visit buildings are the John Hancock Observatory and the Sears Towers!
One thing we didn't do right was that our hotel was a bit far from downtown, which is where everything significant is. We ended up being frustrated by traffic a lot of times, so i would suggest anyone visiting Chicago should stay close to downtown.
Then came our Segway tour, now this is a cool way of seeing the city, we had registered with the tour people before we left Dallas, so we got there well in time for the demo record and then we were given some lessons, now let me tell you that this machine is really not as easy as it seems ok...i was uneasy on it and so the guide (who much to my dismay and luck saw from my face that i am scared) helped me through most of it..staying close to me and making sure i did the right things...but this happened after i had already fallen off the damn thing...rather funny it was...but the tour is really cool! Again a must-see/do in Chicago.
Chicago downtown has some nice restaurants that we sampled, of course there is the UNO pizzeria, but i would suggest to go there well in time before hunger pans strike you for it will be close to 1 hour wait no matter when u go...they made superlicious pizza!!!
Navy pier a fun place to wrap up an evening and oh the architecture tours begin here itself, you might have to check the listings to see when the tours are. This is located by the Lake Michigan and it has rides/food/local shops/souvenirs and such...we also saw a joker/magician doing some tricks. There is a popcorn gourmet shop here that sell different kinds of popcorns, we liked the caramel popcorn...so if u like gourmet popcorn, you know where to go! Some stunning stained glass paintings can also be found here.
If you to Chicago and do not go to Broadway, then it's a waste of a trip if you are from a place like Dallas...so we went to see Wicked, my second experience with musicals. All this while I used to think that Bombay Dreams was the best thing ever, but how wrong i was i came to know when i saw wicked!! it really was brilliantly done, the production, the props, the performers, the music everything was simply amazing!
Chicago is not a conventional honeymoon spot, but both of us really wanted to go there and it was truly an amazing experience, we liked the city so much that we going to visit it again soon!
So if you are craving a vacation and are not sure where to go, go see Chicago, it's a lovely place to go...but just check the weather before you do that...it gets pretty nasty there in the winters :)
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