You have to stop me..

Lately I noticed, if somebody ask how my daughter is doing..
Thats it..
"Shes doing this.."
"Shes doing that.."
"You know one time.. she was..."
"I cant believe she did that thing..."
"Its amazing, how she can do this.., being so small..."
Blah blah blah blah..BLAAAAAAAh

Well, Im like any other parent (atleast who had their first). If you ask, then you have to listen. If Im with my wife, then you have nowhere to escape (unless, you have an emergency and your arm is broken, on the side of the road. We will carry the arm with you in the ambulance, but on the side we will be talking..)
Im really sorry, but sometimes, its unstoppable. So, its your duty, to 'STOP' us. Or ask some other question.. (Did I see any movie, when are we going to India, Or did I get her passport (this should stop me! I've been postponing this for a while now!) or start talking about your baby, if you have one.
Lately, Im (Not 'we are') controlling myself.. but, If I havent.. then its up to you to 'STOP' me/us.

I'm jealous

(again its about my baby girl)

Ofcourse every baby cries and you try all sorts of stuff to make her stop crying.
Put her in your lap..
hold her on to your chest..
hold her on your shoulder..
try swinging in your arms..
feed her.. change her.. wrap her..
talk to her..
sing to her (and she cries more) stop singing to her.. etc
Most of the time it works.. sometimes man! She knows how to make you cry! (that too, in the middle of the night)
I dont know, how she knows this stuff, as soon as her mother carries/holds her, she stops crying.. Shes not even 2 months old. Cant see/recognize faces yet..
Hmmm...

Im jealous.

First time..

Im an Appa now!

Ive read about it and heard about it, when people talk, having the first born.
But, nothing can be compared what you have read or heard.
I even had the chance to hold couple of my siblings kids.. but nothing feels like this.

And lot of experiences daily..
You can look at her for hours. The various expressions on her face... while sleeping or while coming out the sleep priceless.
Cute crying face and some smiles while sleeping (I wonder, what they dream about or whether they have dreams) . She is very serious while sleeping, eyebrows crooked, looks like shes angry all the time (like vijayakanth eye-brows, when angty, without the redness).
Being macho and having all the ladies/relatives at home to take care of the baby, I wonder whether the appas of our family in India, had the chance of having felt this. Hmm.. they even dont know, what they missed (good for them, that they dont know that!)
Or maybe Im wrong, they have felt this, but never talked about this. Kept it to themselves.

I dont know any lullabies, so my version of the lullabies are mostly film songs (with words replaced with laddu, pattu, chittu, chilli, pilli, malli.. throughout the song). All my fav songs have new set of lyrics now.
I know, I had very little to do, to bring her to the world, but Im going to compensate that with whatever I can do to help mommy! (Ofcourse, nothing I do will be comparable.. but Im gonna try)

Pluto loses its name from the planet list..

What !?!?! Pluto gone from the planet list ?
Oh man!!!

No more "Navagraham" ? How do we call it.. "ashtagraham"..?
If I tell that to my paati (Grandma) she would say "kashtakaalam"!

What do we do with the "pluto" God in the temples ?
Btw, do you know, which God in tamil is for "pluto" ? I dont remember.. Hmm...

What to do with the geography books now, which has "9 planets of the universe.."
If theres a multiple choice, with how many planets on the universe, with both "8 and 9",
what should we select ?
Well, I may not need to.. Poor kids.

If you feel its sad, that pluto is gone from the list, (Or feel a void)
maybe we can start.. "Pluto - grahathai aadharippor sangam" (Group who support pluto as a planet). Let me know, if you are interested.
We can chat about, whos the best "Trisha" or "Asin" in the group meetings. (dont ask me what this has to do with Pluto..)

Maybe in 2007 in "Who wants to be a millionaire".. there could be a question,
"what was the planet, that was thrown away from the planets list of universe.."
"(A)Earth (B)Pluto (C)Mercury (D) Moon (!?!?)"
(If I do happen to attend.. and if I dont remember, you will be my friend to call choice..
Do, remember this answer.. Ok ?

Btw, what are the other planets of the universe..
Actually, let me try.. Mercury venus earth mars pluto (Oops) what are the other four..?
Well on the bright side.. one less planet to remember..
or Im getting old.. or have alzeimers or have selective amnesia..

Is it really necessary to spend money on finding these things.. ?
I saw a movie last week, "Eight below".
The plot goes like this
"A scientist, travels to Antarctica, to get a stone fallen from the planet mercury (I think)
For that he gets the help from a guide and eight dogs.. (Sledge dogs.. to transport them)
Apparently, they can't fly (cannot land the plane) and cant drive there.
And its the start of winter. During the journey, the dog saves the scientist twice. Due to the sudden storm, they had to evacuate. Since theres no space in the flight, they have to leave the dogs there, for the next trip.
Obviously, due to storm there's no next trip. And the dogs are left on their own for 150+ days
in the winter, without any food. While the scientist, gets his applause for finding the stone.. blah blah blah.. The hero tries so hard to get back.. but couldn't. Eventually the scientist comes to his senses and helps the hero to save the dogs (already 2 dogs dead)". They show how the dogs struggle for food and to stay alive. But, people are spending millions to find one stone. I initially thought, that they would come to rescue, after a week or so.. But.. 150+ days.. Hmm.. poor things (I think, its based on a true story.. Im not sure though!)

Is it really necessary to spend money on finding these things.. ?
Well, then you can say "nothing is necessary in the world, except food and reproducing.. isnt it ?" (Thats a totally different blog)

let me stop my rant & rave..
Peace everyone!

Borrowed from another blog.. (Coffee cups)

First of all, this is not my own blog. I borrowed it from http://hiphopgmom.blogspot.com/

Coffee Cups
A good friend of mine sent this to me.I hope you also enjoy it--A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor.Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups, porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite. Telling them to help themselves to the coffee.All the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.Be assured that the cup itself, adds no quality to the coffee in most cases just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups, and then began eyeing each other's cups.Now consider this: Life is the coffee, and the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us." God brews the coffee, not the cups : enjoy your coffee.

On my way to work..

I need to turn right.. I see one car in front of me.., waiting to take the free right turn..
(Come on.. theres no-one coming in the cross-road in front of you.. Go! G..O...! go! what are you waiting for ?.. Oops.. theres a car.. Wait, that is in the middle lane.. , what are you waiting for ?
Why are talking to the person sitting next to you.. instead of moving ?
You could've turned in the right-most lane.. Alright.. hes gone.. Now.. Go!
What ? Are you waiting for that truck to cross over.. that too in the middle lane ? The truck is coming so slow.. Go man!. I should've gone through the Gas station, to make that right!..
Oh.. ok.. The truck is gone.. Are you moving.. oh Yes.. Looks like hes gonna move.. I see the red-brake-light is gone.. moving.. moving.. Red-brake light again ? What ? Still waiting for some other car to come ? Now go man! (ok its a woman).. Go lady! If you go now, I wouldnt get caught in the red-light in the oncoming signal in the crossroad..
Well, ok.. some cars are coming.. they are slowing down.. (Why arent they going fast.. ) oh.. Its green now for us. Hello, dont look at them. its green for us.. Go.. Appaada..
Shes moving already.
This is why, you shouldnt sleep late and go to work late, in a hurry!
I took my right, passed that lady.. reached work..
Logging in.., Opening Explorer.. started typing "mail.yahoo.com"...

Now, I wonder, why am I getting bald! Does this have anything to do with that ?

Padithadhil Pidithadhu (favorite from read)

Loving is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction.
- Antoine de Saint

Most of us can read the writing on the wall;we just assume it's addressed to someone else.
- Ivern Ball

It's a beggar's pride that he is not a thief.
- Japanese Proverb

Be wiser than other people if you can, but do not tell them so.
- Earl of Chesterfield

I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.
- Woodrow Wilson

Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.
- John W Gardner

The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going.
- Unknown

We judge youngesters harshly today not realising that error is the backyard of perfection
- Unknown

God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loved the birds and invented cages.
- Jacques Deval

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.
- The Buddha

Except Buddha, haven't heard about anyone else. Have you ?
It's a beggar's pride that he is not a thief.
It's a thief's pride that he is not a murderer.
It's a murderer's pride that he is not a terrorist.
It's a terrorist's pride that he will go to heaven..:)
- Suresh Sankaralingam
(this last one was part of the comment.. but I sure liked it and wanted to post it here!)

Do you Sudoku ?

This blog is for those who haven't heard about sudoku!
Its a wonderful game, just like solving crossword puzzle. Except its all numbers. If you are intrigued by numbers.. then its not for you (or it can be for you, to overcome the fear!)

The game goes like this.. You will be given a 9x9 rows/columns with random numbers already filled in. The no. of numbers filled in makes it easy/difficult. The more the numbers are filled in already, the easier it will be to solve.
The rule is you have to fill in the remaining empty boxes with numbers.
At any point each 3x3 row should have all the numbers from 1 to 9 (no repetition) [There will be 9 3x3 boxes in the puzzle)
Each horizontal 1x9 row should have all the numbers 1 to 9 (no repetition)
Each vertical 9x1 column should have all the numbers 1 to 9 (no repetition)

Let me give an ex. in the below row of x,y,z,a,b,c's....
x x x y y y z z z
x x x y y y z z z
x x x y y y z z z
a a a b b b c c c
a a a b b b c c c
a a a b b b c c c
x x x y y y z z z
x x x y y y z z z
x x x y y y z z z
Each Vertical column (x x x a a a x x x, y y y b b b y y y, ....) should have all the numbers from 1 to 9
Each Horizontal column (x x x y y y z z z, a a a b b b c c c, ...) should have all the number from 1 to 9
Each 3x3 rows/colums (xxx,xxx,xxx or yyy,yyy,yyy or ....) should have all the number from 1 to 9
Thats it. Just google "sudoku" online.. take any of the daily newspaper.. (Here or in India) They have a column for sudoku puzzles nowadays.
If you are flying for couple of hours and not in the mood for reading or travelling alone.. try sudoku. Couple of hours will vanish just like minutes.. Even the airline magazines have the sudoku puzzle in them (Ive seen in Southwest airlines)
Let me warn you.. its quite addictive.
Try one and let me know, if you like it or not!