19th Commonwealth Games - Where is India headed?

The Wall Street Journal carried an article on the upcoming 19th Commonwealth Games and how under prepared India was just 70 days prior to the start of the event.

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On reading the article, especially the line "Recent efforts by world peers—China's 2008 Beijing Olympics, South Africa's just-concluded FIFA World Cup—will be hard acts to follow." all it showed was that how much ever the corruption, bureaucracy and likes affected these nation internally, when they are to face the world and prove themselves, both these countries did it. All said and done, the question remains, will India be able to do it?

Moreover, the work that has been completed does not meet standard and quality. A downpour had the false ceiling of the table tennis arena crashing! Work which will for sure take more then 2 months, are going to be finished ( hopefully) within 2 months. This will result in nothing but below par stadiums, swimming pools and such which shall deteriorate faster than they were completed.

With work moving at the present pace, I wonder how many sponsors do they plan on signing up. Except for Coca Cola, Hero Honda and Reebok, there isn't a single big name yet. Will a big brand sign up at the 13th hour? How will they advertise?

Above all, where is the metro headed to? It was to be completed by the Commonwealth Games, which is what I distinctly remember them saying, when they started work in 2005, and that was 5 years back!

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

A backdrop of Nazi soldiers, Hitler's regime, Jews and concentration camps. A girl who has lost her mother, brother and all to communism. She is put with foster care in one of the oldest, poorest streets of Munich. Her life changes and through her eyes, narrated by Death, we see the life and hardships of a German family. We see how the thoughts in Hitler's mind are not those in every Germans mind, how poverty and strikes them during this war, and how all they care about is their family and not whether they have a Jew living next door.

There are so any facets which are covered in this book, a girl growing up, making friends in a new place, learning to love and trust her foster parents, learning to read and falling in love with books, befriending the mayor's wife to read books, falling in love, watching people die in front of her eyes, etc.

The book moves through the lives of many people, and show their day to day lives, how the war affected them, their children, and what they went through to keep it as normal as possible for them.

As it says on the cover, its a story told by Death, how can you not listen. During many pages, one forgets that life of all these people is seen through the eyes of death, but in between our memories are refreshed with a sudden death and the details of how Death has a role to play, especially in a country ridden in war.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, its an easy read, but you are compelled to move with the story and see whats in store in the next pages. I also liked of the book was divided into parts, giving a illusion of a slice of life from each character.

Winds of change

I made many friends through college and school. And the percentage of friends with whom I am in touch with are higher from school than from college! This is a funny observation which I made when I was sitting one day on the balcony and thinking.

Many who I called friends in college are on my Facebook for sure, but I do not have any other consistent mode of communication with them. This makes me wonder, is it because when we are in college, we are older and hence realize that when we leave college, in most probability you shall lose contact with these college friends too. And, while in school, we are too naive to realize this and fight to keep in touch, which also makes us feign an attempt at keeping in touch with school friends more. I am not sure whether this is true, but just a thought which crossed my mind.

Something which I want to do starting today is, try to severe all those connections in real life which are just the Facebook connections. Let them remain on Facebook, I do not want to take the pains of writing a mail, or dropping and sms and not receiving any reply for either. As I say this itself, I see it as a harsh and difficult step to take, but I think I need to do this so that I free up time and thought.

I have 10 friends who I am on a constant contact with, and I wish to build on these relationships rather than trying to keep in touch with a total of 20 people. I have decided that if anyone wishes to keep in touch, then they can take a step forward and I shall surely take one forward. But, I do not want to take the first step to be left waiting.

This is a change which I need to bring about in myself.

Retarded Outlook

I am shocked that in a room where 15 people were sitting and having coffee/tea, they did not realize that the microwave was switched on for 3 minutes with nothing what so ever inside.

I have seen this happen many a times, someone keeps an X item for 5 mins and stops it in between at 3.5 minutes. They remove the X item and then shut the door, which results in the microwave proceeding to finish the rest of the 3.5 minutes with nothing to heat inside. Another variation of the incident which I have seen is that the person shall switch off the main power after removing the X item, which results in the microwave being set at 3.5 minutes, and the next person who wishes to use it being shocked to see the microwave start on its own when the door is shut!

I am sure it is not who ever uses the microwave does not understand the technology, its just that they do not care as its the office equipment!

This is such a retarded outlook to things!

A sinner in me

I have read so many posts on the gender stereotype tag, and many a times I wondered what would my list be like. Richa from Grad Life tagged me and here is me rattling away my share.

1. I hate wearing salwars, churidhars and all that fall into that category. I prefer jeans, trousers, skirts, and if I have to wear something Indian, it shall be by default a saree.

2. I do not like cleaning, putting things back in place and the usual household activities, I do not mind doing it when there is someone with me doing it, but I do not at all think its a part of me.

3. I have done my fair share of jumping walls, gates etc and I can do it even today if I have to.

4. I enjoy playing video games, started it when I was in class 5 and I still do  when my brother is in town. I have played games on the Sony Sega, Nintendo Console, PS 1 & 2, PSP and the Nintendo Wii.

5. I do not like pink t shirts, pink belts, pink ear rings, I wear what I like be it red, purple, blue, black or white. My wardrobe is never filled with girly colours, usually bold colours I would say.

6. I have no qualms of walking around in shorts when out shopping. I do not think that its the just the men who have the right to be comfortable. Just that my shorts might be a lot more shorter than theirs ;)

7. I love gadgets....recently got the Macbook Pro as my birthday gift. I am very specific about my cellphones, I need to know all the features, and most of the times, I have a list of things which I am looking for, and no sales person can deter me from that.

8. A complete animal lover. My wish is that I get to have a job wherein I am in contact with animals. That would be my perfect job :)

9. I hate sweets, Indian sweets especially with their sugar overload. Chocolates are accepted as last resorts.

Now on the alter side,

a. I apply makeup, lightly but almost every day of my life.

b. I like to sew and bake

c. I love shopping, and every few weeks I tend to feel I have no clothes!

d. I love being driven around and treated like a lady

e. I would love to get flowers, and I know I become teary eyed when I do.

As to pass on the tag, I do not know of many people who have not done it, so anyone who wishes to pick it up, feel free to. Let me know in the comment section that you would be picking it up, so I can come by and reads your sins!

Emails

There was a time in high school when all I received in my email inbox was FWDs. But, now, what I mostly receive is newsletters, subscription mailers, offer mailers, and in between all that junk, what the dear people in my life send. Another added feature is that now everyone one generation older are the ones who send me FWDs... be it about the bad luck if you don't send it to 13 people, or the health hazards of soya milk, KFC chicken source in depth analysis, etc.

This makes me wonder, is it the start of the internet phase and the information available, which makes you gullible to these facts. Initially I used to think it was because I was a high school girl, who would believe that maybe not sending it to 15 people would mean I would have bad luck for 15 years, but on seeing my mom also sending it to 15 people I wonder...

What are the different categories of emails you receive?