The Spicy Indian Blog

Its The Heaven On Earth, albeit leading straight to Hell. Its Vegas, Las Vegas.... ...with an unpardonably glamorous glorification of all the vices you could possibly find on our burdened planet... Though Gambling was probably the 'original sin' of Vegas, there are the other objects of desire which keep good pace with it now...Wine and Women...primarily. The dens of unrestricted vice as some may call them, or the casinos, are constructions of extravagant splendor. It is as if Kuber has himself funded the construction of 'The Strip', as the prime length on the Las Vegas Boulevard is so very affectionately called by the world. I had seen some pictures earlier, but I was entirely mesmerised by what I saw with my own eyes. Perhaps I was not the first person to react so on reaching Vegas. (am I the master of understatement or what...) The trip schedule to Vegas was the outcome of many adjustments and compromises. And it also turned out to be a test of hardiness, as my dear h...

They were more of them. But only three since I became aware of, and understood my emotional self. So, I write about the three only. But I surely do not intend to be unfair to the 4 others, three of them whom I never got to know. The three I was fortunate to have the company of, for significant years of my life were Aaji, BaalMama and Vishnumama. Aaji, my paternal Grandmother, and Baalmama and Vishnumama were her brothers. What is so different about them? Why do I write about them? They were ordinary persons, like the most of us. What was extraordinary about them,however, was that they remained incorrigibly happy throughout their lives. They never read Dale Carnegie, nor Deepak Chopra. I do not think the decision to remain happy was a conscious one. It was probably a state of mind they were born with. A point well mentioned is the sibling bonding between them. It is perhaps the joyful and contented attitude which forged this. And the bond remained strong throughout their lifetimes. ...

Your Dreams, Your Fears, Phases of Life, All the Good and Bad In Our Life, Are Really Not That Far Away...! All sorts of things hit you even before you can say 'Duck'... Taking the positive, as I said, this goes for our dreams too... We just have to try ; we are bound to end up somewhere nearby. But the most important thing is knowing where you want to go... Else you end up just being a drifter.... A 'Vision', as Dr.Amitava Datta used to say, (the person who gave Siemens Soarian such a momentum) is critical for well-directed and measurable progress. Its like a force (motivates you towards your foreseen goals), and at the same time like a rudder (guides the force in the direction of your goals). You need to see where you want to be may be a few years down the line, atleast. I.e. Imagining the context of your existence after the trees have shed leaves a few more times. May be something like this. "Living happily (this happy word can have endless elaboration) with fam...

This is getting interesting... Not that I have not seen subzeros, but not in California last winter atleast. Juxtapose and contrast this with 'The Searing Heat' post down below. Ah...The Season's of Life... :-) ...

It was our first Diwali in US, rather the first Diwali out of India... To be honest, I had expected it to pass off just like any other days here. U know, devoid of the actual spirit etc etc... But I guess, the dish of life is how YOU make it. Its after all up to you to add the spices, the flavors. This is of course apart from what life serves you. But you are always free to make your own dishes too... Nobody stops you :-), do they ? So, once this Bodhi tree effect struck, we concluded that we must make the best of this occassion. We were in US after all, what the heck... So, off I went... And bought the electric lights and the candles (as diyas). And it was fun as usual arranging the lights on the balcony. I wondered though, whether most of the people in the apartment felt the lighting was for Halloween :-) ... Each moment was enacted exactly as we would do in India...Waking up early, the abhyangasnaan with utna (as always from Bhanupadma in Dadar) and scented oil, the early morning pu...

A complete Song and dance sequence. With very much decipherable lyrics. Akshay Kumar and Govinda dancing along with Urmila and another babe whom I could not recognise. Even a romantic intertwining of their names written on the water, beside beautiful fountains... And after the song, back to some action. A rib-tickling comedy scene about policemen afraid to handle their bull-dogs. I was laughing hysterically, and not only in my dreams. That's when Mugdha nudged me awake. With some fear in her mind as to what was happening to me, and why was I laughing so much at wierd hours in the night...And then I recounted the part of the 'movie' that I had just seen. :-) ... My sense of humor was pretty active even then, to have dreamt of such a hilariously funny scene of the 'dogged' policemen... I will probably be amused by this figment or rather 'Reel' of Imagination for some time to come... But to know who was the second heroine in the sequence, I wait to dream of the...

A branch from Ranade Road cuts in into Gokhale Road. And right in front of this T Section, is Krishna Kripa. Whether coming back from a brief spell of shopping at Ranade Road (which, along with the Shivaji Park is my favorite part of Central Mumbai), or coming back from the Dadar Railway Station, or station as we call it, 'Aajikade' was where we always had a stopover before heading to our 'extension' abodes. Seeing the silhoutte of Aaji standing by the balcony railing was always comforting sight. I used to wave from across the road. Aaji would strain to see who it was, from her first floor vantage point; and a smile crossed her face inevitably when she realised it was me. She used to respond with a calm, yet happy wave back, and moments later I would be scrambling my way up the stairs of Krishna Kripa. The stairs there make a rickety-rackety noise, thanks to one or two metal plates nailed to each step. Inside the house, there would be Aatya going about some work. You co...