More Fun Things

The other day , Geeta and I were walking around the neighborhood- a very pretty place with lovely trees and flowering bushes and I noticed a strange black animal slowly crawling on the grass. It looked a bit like the Meerkat minus the long tail. It was black and large eyed and the size of small cat. So I stopped to stare. Geeta, who likes to keep a mile between her and any animal urged me to come on and I did so obediently. Later I learnt it was a skunk. The animal, if it takes a dislike to you, turns around , it’s butt facing you and squirts an awful juice at you that is supposed be such a stink that you can become a social outcast instantly! I was told that you need to take a bath in tomato ketchup to clean up and get the smell off your person!

There is a lot of wild deer and rabbits in the area. In India you would see a dead dog on the highways- here you see dead deer. There are road signs that indicate “Deer Crossing”- apparently the deer use the same route ! And I have seen deer grazing in specific locations of the town…

One of the fist things I did , on Geeta’s request, is to get a “Indian language TV channels” So we get Zee and Sony and a couple of others. One channel is dedicated to Murari Bapu! The Sony channel plays very old movies of the 70’s that would get a Hindi movie buff salivating! And , since we do not have much of a choice, I join Geeta to watch the stuff that passed for movies in those times. The recent one was an Amitabh movie. The cast included Sridevi, Vinod Mehra…Amitabh is , well, a Police Officer, who is being blackmailed by the villain , played by the famous Bengali actor ( the Villain in Amanush) whose name escapes me now ( can someone help me?***). Amitabh is running with the bad guys . The Police, Inspector Shafi Inamdar is on his tail. He reaches the crime scene always a little late- after the bad guys have scooted out. Shafi comes in to the crime scene , waving a baton menacingly with a serious look on his face, picks up the ash tray and the camera does a close up of the cigarette buts – cut to close up of Shafi chewing his lip. Now the Guarding of the Law knows which brand they smoked! When the crime rate ups the Police Commissioner gets involved. Cut to room with map of India and a Gandhi portrait on the wall- Iftekar in full regalia is seated at a table with a green top-looking a bit lost .. Later in the movie Amitabh surrenders , he has just mowed down some politicians with a submachine gun. and decides that it is time to turn himself in. Iftekar and Shafi are there to do the honors. Amitabh hands over the gun in the direction of Iftekar and iftekat turns to Shafi and commands him to take charge- Shafi accepts the gun while wrapping it with a large handkerchief to avoid adding his fingerprints to the gun! I was rolling on the carpet…

On my flight back to the US from Brussels in July . I was surfing the “Vintage Hindi hits” on the in-flight music system. RD has been a favorite composer but I have not been able to get an album of the “best“ of his songs so far. So Imagine my delight at seeing all my RD memorables listed!. My all time favorite : Ghar aaja ke ghir aye. . This is my most favorite Lata song ever. I die a little bit whenever I hear it- it is so wonderful!

It is from Chote Nawab – Pancham’s first movie. Lata does the introduction to the album and says that when she heard the first few lines of the song she knew RD had arrived and would go places. I listened to it repeatedly… The other songs are Chanda o chanda, Dil haye mera Dil, Yeh jo mohabbat hai, raina bheeti jaiye, Chingari koi Bhadke…I believe the album is titled Legends RD Burman. If you find it , rush it to me- please…

People readily hug each other when greeting. Geeta has been a regular “victim” . The neighbor does it, my realtor does it.. I have not been so lucky though

A friend and I were installing his new GPS which has Bluetooth capability and can sync with his cell phone. So when you are driving and a call comes in the cell phone diverts the call to the GPS and you can speak to the GPS. The GPS also refreshes itself with all the phone numbers on the cell phone. So, as I said, we were setting it up and my friend accidentally triggered a call from the GPS and we ended up dialing the 911 number. A clipped voice said” Police” and my friend said” Sorry sir, wrong number!” and hung up.

I went to the local laundry store- I decided that it was just too much to spend evenings pressing my clothes . I asked him the charges and he said “Dollar and 80 cents wash and press” . I regret fighting with the local Bhaiya in Mulund when he was charging me 1.25 rupees!!

I joined the local Library where you can draw books and VCDs/DVDS and CDs – the books are free and the CDS are a dollar each for rental- this is terrific. Periodically, the Library places some 50 books on a rack near the door and lets you take them home for free- no need to return them . I found a Audio book ( 4 cassettes)on sharks recently and came home with it…

We have “Lunch with the leadership “ program on site and I asked to lunch with the big Boss I was invited along with three others to Lunch at the cafeteria and was supplied a $8 coupon – lunch is not free here- So we sat down and introduced ourselves. One lady in the group had the name of Mercedes – a typical Mexican name- and the boss was checking if it was spelt exactly like that of the German automobile. She said she had a daughter and boss asked her “What is her name?” She said Anna- Boss was clearly disappointed and wanted to know why she was not named a “Cadillac”?! I had a tough time keeping myself from rolling on the aisles…

Fun things from Navi Jersey

Who would have thought that there is good “literary humor” associated with a simple burger- A “Burger King free coupon” led me to yonder store and I got myself a Burger , and a my son a “value meal”. In case you are wondering why Geeta is not on this list, you should know she is a strict vegetarian. So, I bring home this burgers and we sit down to eat. I notice that the burger wrap and the bag have interesting messages- here is a sample:” Have it your way!” One message praises you for your choice! Another says that you are welcome to mix Sprite and coke – juts have it your way. The dumpster in the store has a message that says “somehow get the trash inside..” Another: “Some fries are mavericks. Free spirits that slip over the cardboard wall and make straight for the bottom of the bag, where they can then plan the next move. We call them spud separatists bagglers, and they’re especially delicious. Maybe it’s because they’re a little out of bounds. Life can be like that.” And another: You have the right to dip these fries in ketchup or mustard or a vanilla shake if that turns you on. You have the right to stuff them in your sandwich or stack them like the boyhood home of Abraham Lincoln. You have the right to have these fries your way, even if it means eating them like a normal human being.


The India Independence day parade, at Manhattan last week, was actually a boring affair- the usual patriotic façade – people in Khadi and silly floats with Hindi film music blaring on the streets of Manhattan. The food stalls were surely the best attraction. They were giving away 30 minute India calling cards and we shamelessly presented ourselves more than a couple of times to get them! The family has been exercising their jaws ever since…

My eighty year old American neighbor and I got chatting and she was asking about what breads we eat in India- I went nostalgic and described in great details the wonderful taste and aroma of an Indian Naan. Later, in the afternoon, I heard the door bell ring and I noticed a carry bag hanging on the door knob- it was a packet of ready-to- eat Naan . She had vanished inside her home and did not even stop to receive a “thank you”.

My boss dropped in last week with her husband and son in tow and took us top an Indian restaurant for dinner. We had a rollicking time- some interesting conversations happened. They took a huge fascination for Geeta and, next day, my boss delivered two personalized cards for Geeta – from herself and her son- thanking Geeta for the hospitality…

Recently I was at a Nissan Showroom and walked up to a sales person and said, typical Indian style, “I’m looking for Nissan Cars”. He said: “ Nissan cars? You are certainly at the right place- in case you have not noticed, all these cars around you are all of Nissan!”
I recently heard the word “Cognitive Surplus” and got curious- here is the article link- When I hark back to my time in Mumbai- the movie fanatics and the Cricket mania and the Balaji Telefims “Saas Bahu” serials, the point about cognitive surplus hit home- so check out this link: http://www.herecomeseverybody.org/2008/04/looking-for-the-mouse.html

Another interesting piece of information I came across was the research done by the Max Planck Institute in Germany on “Free Will” – to those that are interested in the concepts of Free Will and Advaita – this is juicy stuff: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-560149/So-free-really-just-illusion.html