How much can the two neighbors talk?

Talking about the master of all talks --- India and Pakistan talks...We have been talking for quite long now. Lately External affairs minister SM Krishna calls his counterpart of have talks after the Varanasi blasts -- while some other Level-2 talks are already going on! Infact we had Musharraf himself coming down a few years back for talks when we had the famous Agra summit...a few years after AB Vajpayee had visited Pakistan again for talks. So both the sides talked and have been talking for quite long now which everytime turns out to be non-conclusive -- at least for the common man! May be it had some significance politically but till now none of these talks have brought any peace to the supposedly 'heaven on earth' and also the rest of India.
So, what are we doing here now, why have just political dimension to the whole thing. Why cant we just have an economic boycott...no terrorist country can have any kind of economic relation with any other country -- no trade and of course no cricket!!  Can a thief survive if he cant steal? No...Let the people there feel that they are residing in a country which aids anti-social and anti-human activities in some parts of the world...Let there be unrest, so the rulers there can think more rationally...May be its time that there should be some kind of "non-cooperation" movement...lest these talks just increase the history burden of our text-books!!

Finally in the waters

Finally after a lot of broken new year resolutions , I finally took the dip...Had been thinking since I don't know when that I need to learn the strokes in water...so here I was today morning next to the pool. Calm water making me lose my calm! It was chilly -- and I had already warned my coach Nishant to be lenient and patient and he was perfect at that!!
First feeling was dizziness and that of drowning...but then I thought of so many great swimmers who win gold medals and I got the courage :-) Head inside water to float...great..the mind had to be tamed and the body would follow I thought...It was wonderful and fun and simply liberating...:-)
Hopefully I will have mastered the skill by the time my daughter starts learning the sport...and I wont be afraid that she will be treading the unknown waters.
Its like fulfilling your childhood wishes once you have a child of your own...looking forward to more of such experiences :-)

White Life in Bangalore....

Bangalore mornings...generally slow and lazy. Even if it is the summers...seldom does it happen that it loses its morning cool - soft and cozy. I wake up in the morning and don't really want to wake out -- if you know what I mean.
Its winters now and winters are short -- and chilly and cloudy -- days are short...just don't realize how soon the sun hides to make way for the cold moon. I had been thinking...what we had a silver lining to these cloudy dull days...what if it snowed in Bangalore. Tiny flakes floating down my balcony. My daughter would love collecting them in her spade from the sand toy kit -- the way she tries to do with the rain drops. Just that the snow drops will stay for some time and she will be happier and busy for at least some more time :-)
So, just thinking aloud...what would the snow on the street look like...may be white with loads of brown here and there -- when every time somebody dug up the ground. You cant say that the digging will stop just because it snowed -- they don't stop digging even just when the road has been freshly laid -- the black tar still shining bright! But anyway white with brown if better than brown and more brown!!
Now, thinking about the brighter side...we would just discard our boring office jackets because just those wont help! Bikes and autos on the road will be a big no-no...and just imagine the lesser amount of scratches on your car! I would certainly love that...We could always blame the snow jamming the roads as against traffic for late show ups!
For sometime, our CM would just sigh in relief..all his denotified land invisible and he can always fight for a new law that denotification laws don't actually apply to lands under the invasion of snow...anything can happen when you want to save your chair!
Think of it, there would be entrepreneurial opportunities too..what about hoarding all the snow to make up for the water shortage...after all snow-fall harvesting will be easier than rain-water harvesting :-)
No potholes on roads - all filled by snow..BBMP can save money..all the garbage can hide underneath the white sheath...clean white bangalore :-)

Santa Claus would appear on the snow-clad roads rather than in mall-centers decked with loads of cotton if it just snowed in Bangalore..... :-)

The Smoking License!!!

It's been 9 yrs since Nishant and I got married - though it seems like we still don't know each other :-) ... may be because in this constant 'upgrade' age ..we also keep on changing/upgrading :)....Anyways, this analysis can be a separate series of blogs....So, we completed 9 yrs of our marriage on the 27th Nov...and we decided to celebrate. Nothing much was on the cards, but we just wanted to relax and have food. Though we do this every weekend but it never seems enough :-)

Bangalore weather was at its best that day and it being a Saturday, we could plan to have a lunch together from our otherwise daily routine of having it in the office. Finally after a little discussion (we wanted to avoid any discussions on that day at the very least!), we decided that a resort nearby was a good option. We could sit outside and it has some interesting ambiance, which Myra would also enjoy. 

Its a short drive, so no traffic stress -- we were are charged up with a growling stomach. 

Now started the series of disappointments -- first of all there was no valet parking and no parking within the hotel(nobody ever plans parking!!). Anyway, this is a common issue, we parked in a rented parking lot behind and walked the 300 mts to the restaurant. 

There is a kind of beach shack at the very center of the resort where the food is served. We decided not to go for the buffet -- as we wanted to eat our choice of food. Started with ordering the soup and the waiter told 2-3 names which were not there in the menu. I think he just wanted us to have what was available in the buffet!! Anyway, we specifically asked for minestrone soup which he finally agreed. We asked him for starter suggestions and help  and he just gave a blank disinterested look...I thought -- "may be no tip for this one today!" Anyway , Nishant was more generous and wanted to give him a second chance as we had just started ordering and our appetites generally are hearty :-) 

I forgot the rude waiter with Myra's chatter till a whiff of smoke disturbed me...The table next to ours had somebody smoking. The solution was simple...just ask for a change of place. So, thats what we did and moved a bit away..Within a second, there was a fresh whiff again of the same family of smoke! I asked one of the hotel staff (he had a coat on instead of an apron, so we thought may be he was a senior or something.) that if this was a smoking zone? He said "Yes mam"...I couldn't agree less...and hence asked if it was a legal to smoke in public places...He said quite stubbornly that they had a permit!! Permit to break the law I thought. He directed us to sit inside(which is a very small area), but then we hadn't come to sit inside..we wanted to sit out in the open. I requested him to cancel the order and said that we would leave..to which he rather rudely declined that the order was already placed...Strange, so we were stuck to have food either in the smoky outside or stuffy inside! By this time, Nishant jumped in saying that as they had license for smoking, he would talk to Bangalore Mirror that in fact there is a license to smoke in public places(just to add-- this is not a 5-star hotel). So that was it, within a minute we were given a good table outside , a bit away from the beach shack (which earlier they were claiming was reserved) and then a good service by a smiling steward...Had a good food and good time finally...Was it the mention of the newspaper or sudden realization by the hotel staff to be courteous ...but yes we finally got a no-smoking area to sit within the "so-claimed" smoking zone....

Sometimes I wonder -- am I misinformed or is it that law breaking is not very difficult these days!!!