Kurbaan-ed bollywood movies for now.

1. yes, i have seen the places shown in the film. but the places they show out of a car.
2. all the trains and stations are imitations of the real ones. trains have no numbers.
3. 110th street(first bombing) is one station away from my house, and it's not an underground station.
4. no, that is not grand central station either.
5. so saif changes everything he believes in because vivek oberoi said 2 sentences?
6. what a waste of nauheed cyrusi, so pretty.
7. the only good thing vivek oberoi ever DID was aishwarya rai.
8. kareena leaks from her nose when she cries, yuck.
9. kareena has horrible make up and wears weird clothes as long as she's in india. i mean, what's that, a chudidar below a skirt, that looks like it's cut from a south indian silk saree, with a sweater on top, for heaven's sake, and a SHAWL that looks like a dupatta!!
10. so this very experienced saif recruits vivek w/o researching on his backgroud?
11. another experienced and trained and mentally fit guy shoots cops? and saif escapes from underneath the car and singlehandedly kills so many cops? hello, that right belongs only to rajnikant!
12. you obtain a social security number only after you have proof of employment here. you can't use it to enter the country, dumbass moviemaker!
13. why to forcefully include a sex scene? she might have as well waited for him to fall asleep as he did every night!
14. what the hell happened to the baap who was being held hostage in delhi? and his caretaker terrorist?
15. haa haa, i would like to know which cellular service provider has signals that reach cell phones in the underround mta ny subway trains.
16. hasn't anyone ever heard of bloody 911??
17. cops go after 2 guys in a car and don't call for backup? after being shot? there are about 8 cops who come to every single car chase.
18. kareena's hair in the whole movie looks EXACTLY like my hair!!!
19. why to bomb lexington, that has so much indian and pakistani population? isn't that an anti to the so very intelligent and technically sophisticated plan ? i mean, it all depends on the red and blue wires, waah waah!
20. i am putting this thing up on my blog since i don't have any thoughts anyway. rather, don't have the time to put them down. (except for this bit of frustration. me and my family are still pulling our hair out).

Desperate measures people take to get a job as a technical writer

Topic: Why do we need sunglasses?

"How 'Shady' are you?

Shades, Glares, or whatever you choose to call them, sunglasses today can be seen everywhere you go. And I mean, literally. There are people who don't take them off even when inside a store or a restaurant. It's understandable if they are celebrities trying to evade recognition by zealous fans, but why do normal people like you and me need sunglasses at all?

The answer is quite simple. Not so many people around the world would use them unless they are necessary. It is common knowledge that the sun's rays compose of Ultraviolet radiation too, which can burn or damage skin (hence sunscreen). It has the same effect on the human eye too. When exposed to sunlight, the eye takes in more of UV rays than is allowed, hence sunglasses are recommended. Not just by me, by doctors too. Excessive exposure to UV radiation causes cataract, eye cancer, and so on.

Sunglasses are recommended for lots of other reasons too. A person stepping out into snow is always recommended to use them to avoid snow blindness. They are used in water sports to reduce glare reflected off water. A modification of this same principle is also used nowadays in our rear view mirrors to reduce glare from vehicles behind falling on the driver's eyes. A biker would need them to prevent the wind from getting into his eyes and obstructing his vision. It goes without saying that outdoor sports like tennis or cricket also require the use of these glasses. We can also add activities such as rock climbing to this list.

Another advantage these sunglasses provide is more visual clarity. So much so that it enables you to look into the eyes of the person in front of you, and snatch away that same ability from them. In effect, you are avoiding direct eye to eye contact. There are various reasons why you would want to do that. Sunglasses hide teary eyes, the process of weeping itself, red eyes caused from irritation, and as much as hide a black eye received during a recent domestic violence episode!

If they aren't being used for hiding your eyes, they are used to make a statement- 'I am cool'. Remember the countless number of students who did just that in college? How do sunglasses show that you are cool? As I mentioned earlier, they prevent eye-to-eye contact. This gives rise to an unsaid feeling of detachment. The person wearing sunglasses are not emotionally connected with the person they are conversing with. They do not share their sorrow, and are themselves quite happy. They are above such normal-people tendencies. Hence, they appear 'cool' (apart from the literal cooling provided by those pair of shades!).

Moving on to fashion, sunglasses form a part of every attire. They are one of those rare items that can be carried off with any kind of clothing. In fact, they are such strong fashion necessities that you have big names like Dior and Gucci connected with them, aside from our usual Ray-Ban. And of course, the price. They range anywhere from 5 OMR to 100 OMR! Celebrities sporting sunglasses are the biggest proponents of the Shades. We have various celebrities with their own unique trademark style of sunglasses. And there are innumerable number of styles! We have the basic Aviator style, made famous by the stars of the golden era. We have the over large style that can be seen on the faces of so many punk- celebrities. We have the motorcycle and coloured lenses, made popular by the hippies. And we have sports sunglasses, water goggles, military shades, party glasses et cetera. We even have bi focals in sunglasses as a variety!

Nowadays, there are not just different styles, but also different makes. There are Polaroid, which reduce glare from shiny surfaces; mirrored, which enable you to freely look at the corner of your eye without alerting people to your watchful stare; normal glasses manufactured with tinting to double up as glares, and the ever fascinating photochromatic ones, which change colour and become darker as soon as you step out into the sun. In most countries, the glasses necessarily have to pass a certain standard before being deemed fit to be sold.

It's interesting to note that sunglasses are not all the rage just now. A very very primitive form of sunglasses dates back to the Roman times, when emperors used to look at their subjects gathered below them through precious gems. I am not sure they worked, considering you can't actually see through one. (most likely, the emperor was looking at ten or fifteen reflections of himself). Tinted glasses, which effectively gave rise to the sunglasses we use, were used by 'visionaries' to correct eye defects. Eskimos have always been known to use some protection for their eyes before stepping out of their homes. Sunglasses have always been worn by film stars in the olden days, mainly to cover the redness of their eyes caused due to exposure to the powerful lamps focussed on them. Sunglasses then shifted base to the blind. It is often easier to not see eyes that don't see. And, it makes both the wearer and the person looking at him less uncomfortable. Shades have also remained one of the most faithful weapons of secret service agents!

Irrespective of whether you are making a fashion statement or a personal statement, it is safe to have a pair of sunglasses. This is especially true for people who live in deserts and barren areas like us. The damage that our eyes could suffer versus that of, say, a person living in China for the same amount of exposure to the sun is almost double. Now, I can bet that there are one pair of sunglasses in every family. But if you are a part of one of those rare ones that don't have any, go out and get some. Because, you need it."

Visa interview!

All my friends who have appeared for the F-1 visa interview had the same thing to tell me- it’s a piece of cake. One of my friends was asked if she thinks bangs are better than curls, another one was asked to watch American football, yet another one was only asked to pronounce his name. Their interviews hardly lasted for a few seconds.

I had taken the help of professional ‘consultants’ who prepare students for the visa interview by helping us obtain the necessary documents, helping present them in the right format, getting a Chartered Accountant certificate, assessing the value of property etc etc.

These people always told me that I would get the visa, no doubt, but I should be prepared for difficult and confusing questions. My dad knew of cases of visas being rejected. He kept putting it in my head that this was a very important hurdle and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

After mock interviews with dad and temple trips and my continuous attempts to distract myself with Sims2, the big day arrived. After about 4 months, I wore a salwar kameez, with a bindi(!), courtesy my dad. My interview appointment was for 8AM. I was asked to stand in the line outside the American Consulate at 7.30AM(Oh, and this is in Chennai, btw.). At 7 AM, I was about the 45^th student to be standing in the line. The girl in front of me had the typical don’t-care attitude who gave exaggerated reactions which were mostly- “oh god, they are going to check our folders”, “oh god, we can’t take our bags in?”, “oh god!! They are going to frisk us!!!”, “oh god, there are family visas given here too!”, “oh god, we have to stand and give the interview!” (that was the last of the ‘oh god’s.)

So after all the metal detectors and frisking and bio scanning, we finally reached the counters. Here, we waited for an hour before the counters opened at 9AM. People were called according to their booked time slots. First went the 7AMs. Only one counter was open. The blond guy behind the counter spoke quite loudly into his mike, much to the advantage of the whole room. First went a couple of businessmen. Rejected straightaway. Explanation? None. “I am sorry, but I cannot grant you entry into the United States now”. Then followed a clear, then a reject. These two were students. We were all looking at each other stunned. This guy went on to reject 10 more people, many of whom went out clutching their passport and crying. (Dad’s blood pressure was climbing outside, watching all those students).

Then the second counter opened, and then I saw Him. You know how you might be in the middle of some life changing experience, and everything seems surreal, and all of a sudden, you look at something and think, ‘wow, now it strikes me, I am not dreaming and this thing is what I am going to be faced with’. In my case, the person that I would face. He seemed to be a good natured sort of fellow, with a big smiling face. As Hitler went on making people cry, My Guy allowed about 30 people into the US. Soon it was my turn to stop sitting.

God answered my prayers and I was called to My Guy’s queue. I couldn’t see clearly what was happening ahead of me, so I continued watching Hitler. There, a student who was from the same consultant as me was lined up to go there. Over 70% of that queue had been returned their passports(whereas My Guy had rejected about 1/7^th of that population), and he was next. I was in for a rude shock as he was asked to produce his marksheets and was eventually rejected. Most students were questioned on backlogs

I was breaking into a sweat now. At this time, My Guy was going, “Listen man, I know a lot about banking, ok? My wife is a banker. So you tell me what your actual point is”. And then, reject. Everyone was being asked to place one random finger on a scanner, and not one person was doing it right. They would either mix up the hand, or the fingers or both. The guy in front of me was asked to put his right middle finger, and he put his left ring finger(who selects their ring finger, of all the fingers??). He couldn’t do it right, until My Guy was forced to make an obscene gesture at him. Most people, when asked to place their ‘forefinger’ on the scanner, placed four of their fingers, trying to squeeze them into the small area.

After ten harrowing minutes of waiting, I was called for the interview:

Him: (big smile) Hi. How are you this morning?

Me: I’m good, how are you?

Him: Good. (takes a look at my I20). Oh, you are going to New York? That’s wonderful! What do you know about New York City?

I wanted to say, I know that NYC is in the state of NY. I know that it is divided into five boroughs, I know that the Empire state building is once again the tallest building in NYC after 9/11. I know how Central Park is the most visited park in the United States and I know about the David Letterman Show. I know about the Lady Liberty and how she was designed by Gustav Eiffel and how if you peek into her robe, you will find the Eiffel Tower inside it. But what did I end up saying? “Nothing much, except for what I see on tv”!

Him: haha.. it’s not like that at all. It’s a great place. And (pointing to my I20) Brooklyn is lovely.

Me: (smiles)

Him: (continuously entering data on the computer) Place your left index finger on the red square please.

I do it. He gives a sigh of relief as I was the first person who did it right. Really.

Him: (looking through my passport, stopping at a page and pointing) What is this?

Me: Oh, I had been to Oman, my dad works there

Him: (another big smile) Oman! My friend was posted in Moose-cat for a year.

Me: yeah, I had been to Muscat too.

Him: He said it is a beautiful place.. you know, no one on the streets, just take your car and go for a ride wherever and whenever you want, mountains all around..

Me: that’s true. But the heat! It’s unbearable!

Him: of course.. (pause) there is heat here too, and I find it unbearable!

Me: (laughs)

Him: what made you choose this university?

Me: I had received an admit from Iowa State too, but I found the course structure offered here more fitting to my preferences.

Him: (entering data) Can I see your gre scores please.

Me: (showed)

Him: who’s going to sponsor your non scholarship part?

Me: My dad

Him: uh-uh.. and what does he do?

Me: (said).

Him: (types and types) Well, all set. Your passport will be couriered to you in a week.(it reached me within 72 hours, actually) (very nice smile)

Me: Great! Thank you!

Him: I hope you enjoy your stay in New york. Good luck!

Me: (putting stuff inside) Oh, I really hope so too.

Him: ah, don’t worry, you will. NY is the greatest city in the world!

I wanted to ask him why he likes it so much, or if he was from NY. But relief was flooding over me, and I didn’t even turn back. Went to the restroom, drank water at every cooler, and ran out!

Idyll of an idle mind

I’m back on this page after a hiatus of over 2 months. I’ve been super busy these days. I mean, I wrote my final semester exams, cleared them with first class, dropped my plans of MS, went job hunting in 2 countries for a while, went all the way to Bangalore for a horrid interview where it was revealed that the job I was looking for was an unpaid internship (thus wasting my time, and the cost of the trip) for a year! Then I got an admit to Polytechnic Institute of New York University, with scholarship ($5000 is not much, but has reduced my financial burden quite a bit), I spoke to tons of people about every possible thing, decided to attend the university, appeared for a visa interview, took immunization shots so that I can be allowed to enter the state of New York and finally be excited that I am going to New York City, and now, phew, writing again after ages!

Did I mention that May in Muscat was the busiest for me? I was extremely busy getting horribly bored- bored out of my mind! They rightly say that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Although I don’t think I quite had the devil in me, I renewed my fights with my sister with newly found vigour. It’s funny how you fight with your sister as though you are still fifteen, and ten mins later, you are laughing together at the silliest of things, much to the amusement of your dad. The beauty of Muscat is in the luxury and the laid back life you have there-as long as you have something to do! Hence, my sister and dad have a great life there. Me? The only good thing was that I was with them. The heat, oh, the heat!! It’s unbearable! The temperature I experienced in the hottest of summers in Nagpur at midday, I experienced at midnight in Muscat. And the summer hasn’t even started there yet! Hence, there is no way you can go out in the day, and there is absolutely no place you can go if you don’t have a car. And because of endless lying on a very comfortable couch and exceptional clarity on the 40 inch tv right in front, and the easy availability of chocolates, I no longer fit into jeans I used to wear half a year ago. I had plans to write regularly and try and use all the words I had learnt for GRE, but then I was so frustrated at having nothing to do, that I couldn’t bring myself to think! The only piece of writing I did was for a company’s 4 month old ad for a technical writer. The topic- Why do we need sunglasses?

Seems idle mind has killed my reading habit too. Back in the hostel, we girls would sit together at night and munch on something crunchy and watch movies. Not that I really ever want to watch a movie, but I’ve become so accustomed to the learning channels that I would prefer to watch something and learn now, rather than read about it. Time to change all that and get back to track. Now I’m in Chennai, still very much bored. But I have tons of work on my hands, along with a bit of a swelling because of a Rubella shot(Rubella, a nice name for a disease, don’t you think?). Hence watching tv is enjoyable again, and it’s Chennai, so all I watch is old Tamil songs. Ah, Vyjayantimala and Padmini dancing. Who can do that now?

(excuse the dull image, couldn't get a better one with the two of them in the same frame. Vanjikkottai Valiban. check- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jQmgcsRE44)

And now after the insistence of about 20 people, and my own guilt, I am back to writing. I am planning to post 2 other articles today itself, to make up for the lack of new articles on this page. I just wish I knew how I could format this page better. Make better use of colors and not just use Google’s own provided templates. Need to ask for help. Wish I had the patience for all that! Now, that’s another thing I need to change! Get back my old patience.

Anyway, I’ll stop this random disorganized flow of thoughts now, and get started with the next article. As usual, I’ll look forward to the comments and constructive criticisms. Anyone suggesting different positive adjectives? My mind only jumps to ‘super’ and ‘awesome’ and ‘cool’ these days. I think I’m starting to sound a little retarded. Check back soon, people!

The wonder that is an engineering student.

Whoever agrees with the phrase Ignorance is bliss shouldn't read this post. I wanted to write about someone I know, just share my experiences with her, with all of you. I want to say first that the person I am writing about is someone I really care for and mean absolutely no offence. The only reason I write so openly about this person is, not many people who know her would read this, and want people to know that people like these exist still, in our shining country... what lack of proper education would do to a person, who can never fit anywhere, except her own people, no matter how desperate she is to get out. I am also, in no way, violating her privacy, as everything I write here has been gladly shared by her with anyone who shows interest. Also, a lot of my frustration might come out in the form of rude and taunting words, please do ignore that! I will not write a name here, a lot of people already know her. Let me call her...umm.. Sims! So, Sims is someone I met less than a year ago. She is 24, and is married; hence, I'll call her, Mrs. Sims.

Mrs. Sims comes from a backward (am I allowed to use that word?) family, whose members aren't well educated, and live and abide by superstitions unique to their own village. She has studied all her life in a local school, without learning a word of English, and is currently about to finish her degree in engineering. She had completed her diploma (for those who don't know, diploma is done after the 10^th standard, for 3 years, and students are directly admitted to the 2^nd year of whatever course they join. It's really not a time-saver as most people say, as it is still 3 years), after school (12^th standard), because there were no good professional institutes near near her place. And after 3 years of diploma, her father forced her to join engineering. He still thinks that he helped his daughter finish her studies early, apparently, even though it can be understood by a five year old that Mrs. Sims's 2 years have gone down the drain.

Mrs. Sims is the typical character you see in hindi serials, who gawks at anything that shines and whispers when a man talks to a woman other than his wife. She is also a person who believes that Venus can't shine because it's a planet, and that thing I point out to her in the sky is definitely a star, maybe in our own solar system. She's going to have a Bachelor of engg. degree in computer science, and doesn't know what 'Recycle Bin' is, on her desktop, thinks that if I hold the mouse with my left hand, it won't function, doesn't understand the concept of storage space in a hard disk, and has never heard of the 'Mother board' before I mentioned it to her(yeah, she's in the final year of her grad. She actually thought I was pulling her leg because of the word 'mother'). I have had the dumbest arguments of my life with her, but never won, because I always give up. One unforgettable conversation went like this,

Mrs. Sims(out of the blue): We live in a college hostel, right? So why are civil (engg.)students also here?

Me: huh???

Mrs. Sims: I mean, why waste hostel facility on students who study in a branch as useless as civil engineering?

Me: useless? It's not useless.

Mrs. Sims: of course it is. These people shouldn't be called engineering students. They work on construction sites! There is no need for them. Or that stream.

Me: what do you mean? If there were no civil engineers, who would build roads or buildings or bridges?

Mrs. Sims: those things already exist. At least, civil engineers already exist. They'll do the job!

Me: then why do we need computer engineers? There are already people who do that job too.

Mrs. Sims: but computers are used everywhere! You need people to build them. Look around and tell me how many things you see that civil engineers have built.

(I imagine she pictured herself living in the jungle, without roads on which she drives her vehicle, and just a computer, connected to God knows where, and working on it, Satan knows how, as satellites are used only to take photos of the earth and not for communication.)

That was the first time I wanted to pull my brains out. My expressions of ridiculous shock slowly turned into curiosity, and then laughter to, pity, and now, blank. There were tons of conversations like these, I'll list a couple more later.

 

Anyway, one year before her graduation was due to complete, she was forcefully married off to her, get this, first cousin. She had never met this guy before(wonder how). Her father's sisters are all of the same type. Her own elder sister was married to another of their aunt's sons, and when she got pregnant a couple of years later, her mother in law yelled at her for being in such a hurry.( 'It was your son's idea!' 'Don't you dare say anything about my son, you witch!' and the hindi equivalent of 'burn in hell'). Poor Mrs. Sims's mil is no different. And the worst part is, her father knew his sister very well, but he still threatened to kill himself if his daughter didn't marry that loser of a man, and justified his actions, saying that, it's the son she's getting married to, not the mother. And he knew nothing, absolutely nothing about the son.

The son, in short, is an <beep>. He's very obviously cheating on her, was on the phone with another woman on his wedding night, has lurid text messages and sleazy photos in his cell phone, and is a mama's boy. His mama has officially given him permission in front of his wife, to have another girlfriend. Two more words that would describe him would be incestuous
paedophile. When Mrs. Sims tried to tell the family about his actions with the 5 year old kid in question, she was verbally thrashed for doubting her husband.

Mrs. Sims can never leave her husband because, in hindi movies, all the women say that it is morally right to be with only one man, and husband is like god. Agreed, either you live in the 12^th century, or those are values of our long lost tradition, but heck, do you not know the guy? And hello, you are going to live your life according to hindi movies?? The most cheesy, most ridiculous, over emoted dramas in the history of television? The answer, is apparently, yes. There were a couple of other living principles she borrowed from Karan Johar and the like. But one filmy conversation that stands out in the minds of 3 people present then was when we were watching an English movie, and at the end of the movie, a pair of lovers are reunited, and they kiss, and it is implied that they eventually go to bed. She thankfully understood that this time, but said:

These English people na, so dirty. Why do they have to do all this when they are not married? There is no reason!

X: it is instinct, Mrs. Sims. They don't plan it, it's something that is natural. They do it, it's their wish.

Mrs. Sims: there is nothing natural about it. And there is no need! People shouldn't get feelings like that before they are married. You should do that only when you want babies. (yeah, she's twenty four!)

Me: alright, this is a movie. Not real life.

Mrs. Sims: hindi movies don't show anything like that. so it's not real.

Ok, understood you don't know what fornication is, but hindi movies don't show sex? Excuse me??

Mrs. Sims, innocent and unknowing as she is, has faced a lot of ridicule from her husband. When she shared her unrealistic dreams with her husband, such as, wanting a laser eye surgery to get rid of glasses that make her look ugly, her husband told her that he would transplant a goat's eyes into hers(and she tried for ten mins to convince me that there are people in her family who do have goats' eyes to rid themselves of glasses, even though they can't see after that! In the same thread, she also thinks that, birds are asexual, as there are no male, and female gendered words for them, and that crows and mynahs mate, and lay 2 eggs: one becomes a crow, and the other one, a mynah.). she also dreams of leaving the country and her family as soon as college gets over, but doesn't realize the importance of obtaining a passport for herself. She and her husband haven't spoken a word to each other in the past 5 months, since her mil spread a rumour in the family that her father is having an affair.

Not only does she talk like a 6 year old(*nasal, like Janice* yay! I am going to sit on your bed today, wish me all the best!! Yay! I sat on your bed, congratulate me!! Uh-ha-uh-ha-uh-ha!!), she has the mental and emotional maturity of one too.
Out of the deepest regions of my heart, I feel bad for her. I wish I could help her, but I don't know what to do. The women of her family have a violent streak that I do not wish to experience. Her own ignorance is so ingrained in her that, try as we may, we can't get to admit that she is wrong. She is a very nice person, mind you. It's just that when I have conversations like the below, I realize how helpless she is, and how, now, there is absolutely nothing we can do about it, and how there are atleast one hundred thousand other people like her in the entire country!

Me: why don't you apply foundation to your neck too? Your face looks ten shades fairer than the rest of your body and it looks plain strange!

Mrs. Sims: let it be na, who's gonna look at me? I am fat and I wear glasses.

Me: then why are you putting on makeup in the first place?

Mrs. Sims: because I have to go to college and attend lectures. And i am not fair, like you! (in her whiny voice.)

Me: so?

Mrs.Sims: so? There will be people on the roads, sandy! (horrified expression, as though I don't comprehend such an obvious fact)

Me: so they'll look at you? Then why don't you apply make up properly?

Mrs. Sims: chodo na... who's gonna look at me anyway?

And it the loop went on twice, in the exact same way, before I quit.

Akhil-babu's letter to the Railway Department

A forward:

Akhil Chandra Sen wrote this letter to the Sahibganj divisional railway office in 1909. It is on display at the Railway Museum in New Delhi. It was also reproduced under the caption “Travelers' Tales" in the Far Eastern Economic Review.

"I am arrive by passenger train Ahmedpur station and my belly is too much swelling with jackfruit. I am therefore went to privy. Just I doing the nuisance that guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with lotah in one hand and dhoti in the next when I am fall over and expose all my shocking to man and female women on platform. I am got leaved at Ahmedpur station.

This too much bad, if passenger go to make dung that dam guard not wait train five minutes for him. I am therefore pray your honor to make big fine on that guard for public sake. Otherwise I am making big report to papers."

Any guesses why this letter was of historic value? It apparently led to introduction of toilets in trains.

20-20: English words you didn’t know were of Indian origin:

Alright, everyone knows Bungalow, Pajamas/Pyjamas, Junta, Cheetah, Cummerbund, Guru, Jungle, Cashmere, Khaki (colour of dust, in Urdu), Gymkhana, Coolie(from the Tamil ‘Coolie’), Veranda, Loot, and of course, Yoga. I even read somewhere that ‘bifurcate’ is of Indian origin, but I couldn’t find out more about that.

Ok, I’ll start with some pretty obvious ones and go down to unusual and shocking.

1. First one on our list is Juggernaut. As it sounds, it has its origins in the name of Lord Vishnu, Jagannath. (Wikipedia says: During the British colonial era, Christian missionaries promulgated a falsehood that Hindu devotees of Krishna were lunatic fanatics who threw themselves under the wheels of huge chariots in order to attain salvation. In rare instances in the Jagannath yatra festival's past, people had been crushed accidentally as the massive 45-foot-tall, multi-ton chariot slipped out of control, with others suffering injury in the resulting stampedes. This sight led the Britons of the time to contrive the word "juggernaut" to refer to examples of unstoppable, crushing forces.)
   
2. Second one is on the list is the fruit drink Punch(made of fruit juices mixed with water or soda water, with or without alcohol). This word originates from ‘pancha’ (Sanskrit), meaning ‘five’, because of the five ingredients used: spirit/soda, sugar, lemon, water and tea/spices.
   
3. Cool number one: Bandana: from ‘bandhna’, to tie. (Hindi, Lucknow). We started a fashion trend!
   
4. Surprising entry number one: Chit(yeah, the piece of paper with writing on it) has originated from Chitthi, a letter(Hindi)!!!
   
5. Number two is: Mango. This is from ‘maangai’ in Tamil, for Mango.
   
6. An animal makes it to the list too. Mongoose is from the Marathi word for the same, Mangus.
   
7. A Malayalam word, Chakka, is what gave birth to Jack Fruit. More interestingly, Coir came from the Mallu word kayaru, which in turn was borrowed from Kayir, in Tamil.
   
8. On a slightly dull, yet bright note, Opal is from Sanskrit Upalah. Another stone, Marakata, travelled all the way to the Greek language, and then Latin under the guise of smaragdus, and became the English Emarald.
   
9. The scaly reptiles are here! Serpent is from the Sanskrit Sarpam.
   
10. The next reptile has a weird avatar here. Apparently fashionable Victorian purses were made of crocodile skin. The Hindi word for croc is Magar/ mugger. Street robbers were thus called Muggers.
    
11. Surprise number three: Sugar is from Middle Latin succarum, from Arabic sukkar and Persian shakar ultimately from Sanskrit sharkara.
    
12. Another word for ‘sugar’ in Sanskrit is Khanda. This one travelled to Persia, and then to France as Sucre Candi, and then to England in the form of Candy. (Cool number two)
    
13. An interesting one is Zen. Yes, it’s Japanese, for meditation. The Chinese called it ch’an. And we called it, Dhyaana(Sanskrit).
    
14. Rice is from where the most Rice is eaten (as far as popular jokes go, at least): in Tamil, it is arisi.(Cool! again....)
    
15. When our elders wanted a massage, they would ask their slaves to champu(Hindi, verb) their scalp. Today, it led to Shampoo.
    
16. In Tamil, people call money, kaasu. In English, we call it, Cash. (pretty shocking, isn’t it? and amazing!)
    
17. For the Chemistry geeks, Indians knew of a chemical and they called it Sulvari. In Latin, it became Sulfur. You know what it is now.
    
18. Going back to the roots of English(or Maths): The numbers Eight and One are from their Tamil equivalents: yettu and onru.(amazing!)
    
19. Going back to the roots of our own birth, two words that people all over the world use and are most sentimental about are Mother and Father. They have their own roots in Sanskrit, Matru and Pitru.(awesome!!)
    
20. I wanted to put the last one as the best, but this one is the most amazing of all! In Tamil Nadu, people were terrified of snakes(yet another reptile!) that could gobble up elephants! They called it, aanai kondan, literally meaning, elephant killer. The rest of the world was too lazy to invent a new word, so they pronounced it, Anaconda!!!
    

Kate Middleton

For those who don’t know her, she is the current girlfriend.. oops, Girlfriend of Prince William of Wales. Why am I writing all of a sudden about some girl who lives in another country and who’s done nothing worthy of writing about? Because, I live in India, and the news on British Royals is(almost) the only international news that makes it to the front page, other than day to day happenings in the US of A. (The latest one to catch my eye was an article on how Chelsy Davy informed Prince Harry that their relationship was over by changing the status of her Facebook profile. She, turns out, is much more sensible than Kate, but that’s for later.. maybe). The media frenzy surrounding the couple has reached to such alarming levels, that a few months ago, paparazzi chased the car in which the couple were travelling, reminiscent of the scene of Lady Diana’s death.

Kate Middleton was born to an ex airline stewardess and a pilot. She has a brother and a sister, and comes from a very middle class family (in its origins at least). Her parents started an online business selling party paraphernalia and they are now millionaires (www.partypieces.co.uk). She was apparently a brilliant student all her life. She attended the elite Marlborough College, where she stuck up a poster of Prince William in her dorm. She then attended St. Andrews University in Scotland, where she met William. They became friends, then fell in love and later shared housing. 

I admit it, I like her. The girl has the complete package. She’s undeniably beautiful, she’s got brains, she maintains her dignity, the media has followed her every footstep for the past seven years, yet she has never put a foot wrong (unlike her mother, sister and brother.. wonder where her dad is) her sauciest moment in life would have been when she strutted on the ramp in a charity fashion show in her university, in just her underwear, with William sitting in the front row. She has never once given an interview.. I am sure there are very few people who aren’t her friends and family who can claim they’ve heard her voice. 

She has an impeccable fashion sense

(She made it to the best dressed/style icon list in People’s magazine, Tatler, The Telegraph, Vanity Fair and more!) and has a wardrobe to die for. She has a real good looking, rich, famous Prince-of-hearts for a boyfriend. She showed the world her confidence when she re-emerged a couple of days after William shortly broke up with her, looking more attractive, being photographed all over London, and showing William-training-in-the-army exactly what he was missing. (Of course they got back together!)She has a lot of common sense(read stories about how she persuaded William not to quit university), and has been raised in a strong, 2-parent, close knit family, so unlike W, and she keeps him grounded.  Her exclusive photos sell for over 50,000 pounds! She even has a page on her in Wikipedia! And most of all, she provides the much needed glamour and sizzle in the Royally dull British empire. In short, she is perfect!

But wait, isn’t there an adage in Kate’s own ageless language? Nobody’s perfect. Of course nobody’s perfect. Then why is Kate always projected so? Only and only because there is a strong possibility, in the remote future that she could be, The Queen of England... someday. But I’ll tell you what’s wrong with her. She is 27 years old now. And she hasn’t had a real job till date. Her resume probably reads:

‘Kate Middleton, excellent performance throughout school, college, university. Worked for a couple of months as some-buyer for some-fashion-chain whose owners are close family friends, currently working for parents’ mail order company as ‘cyber chief’ ’ (“Kate Middleton has been promoted at Party Pieces:  After completing not one but two, short courses in computing Kate has now been promoted from compiling and editing catalogues to the dizzying heights of "website design editor and new business manager". It seems it didn't take much for Kate to impress her bosses who also happen to be her parents”.--- royaltruthforum.blogspot.com)

She lives with her parents, and she is only ever photographed shopping or weaving her way in and out of nightclubs!! (Considering the media frenzy surrounding her, you can virtually know when she sneezes, so this is all she apparently does). She doesn’t have a source of income.. I wonder where she gets all the money. Can any self respecting 27 year old girl (esp. one who is so much in the limelight) live off her parents or younger sister/brother? Or worse, her boyfriend?  She isn’t involved in any kind of charity work. The only thing she’s done that has come closest to being praiseworthy is join a Girls’ Chinese Dragon Race team and train for a charity match. She pulled out of it at the last moment on the advice of the Queen. (The team went on to set some world record, I don’t remember). She is so stark different from Chelsy, who runs away from paps. Kate is never knows to use the back exit of any place. She held her head high and conducted herself very well indeed when William broke up with her.. she knew exactly what the prince did after that(considering even I  know!), and yet, she’s back with him again. Prince William, for all his resemblance to his mother, is apparently a chip off his father’s old block.. Prince Charles, who famously remarked to Diana, ‘Do you want me to be the only Prince of Wales in history to not have a mistress?’ She has been nicknamed by the press as ‘Waity Katie’. She is doing nothing with her life, but simply waiting for her Prince to pop the question (if he does, I’m waiting for the wedding videos!).

And it’s not just Chelsy Davy or Kate Middleton(pictured together) who make it to the news. If you google either of these names, you will get results on the girls’ brothers’ antics, Kate’s sister, Pippa’s apparent ferociousness to climb the social ladder, their friends, their relatives, 3 or 4 girls whose names you would never want to hear again, a couple of guys, who names you can’t pronounce, in the news just because they saw these girls (at a nightclub, most likely).. people even remotely associated with these girls have their fifteen minutes..over and over again. Why, though?, I ask. The British royal family stands for everything that was. Today, it’s presence, although adds a little entertainment to the lives of common men like you and me, is totally unnecessary, downright to the point of being an extra burden on the taxpayer (Britain’s only, thankfully). Alright, I guess we can accept ‘culture’ and ‘tradition’ as answers for another half a century or more.

But, why Kate’s sister? What has she done? Except have a weird name, Pippa(short for Philippa). Why is the international media so obsessed with these really-nothing-girls? Kates and Pippas, Jade Goody(maybe I shouldn’t say anything about her now, considering she’s dying, but all she ever did was take part in a reality show, and pass a racist comment..which definitely isn’t a good thing to do), Paris Hilton(OMG, seen anyone dumber? At least, if she had been good looking... )

{Kate, and that’s Holly Branson behind her, btw. Sir Richard Branson’s daughter. She's seen in the same circuit, finished her medical studies and ended her medical career to join the Virgin empire..but she did save a man's life in an airplane once}

What have these people achieved that make them worthy of being common household names among the existing human civilization? They aren’t accomplished entrepreneurs, great thinkers or even talented actors! These girls simply provide the dream most people want to live-be rich and famous and attractive without having to do anything! You don’t need talent, you don’t need brains, in fact, you don’t even need to look good! What can be a better deal in life? These girls represent the materialized hopes and tears of millions of girls worldwide who have worked and not had their hard work pay off, dreamt and see their dreams shattered.. girls who have been teased for being fat or ugly, girls who couldn’t afford to buy a ridiculously expensive lipstick the size of their little finger, girls who would rather be skinny and attractive than be smart and respected. These celebrity girls stand for the hole in the soul of the common woman. If you think about it, doing away (away from the spotlight, I mean!) with these girls couldn’t really affect anybody. Normal girls might just stop spending so much time poring over pointless newspaper reports and glossy magazines and articles on the internet. The paparazzi will continue to have a field day with actors and wardrobe malfunctions and politicians and rock stars!