~time to light diyas and do rangoli~

Happy Diwali & Salmubarak to all!

Best wishes for the new year ahead of us!

from the movie "Gangster"

tu hi meri shab hai subha hai... tu hi din hai mera...
tu hi mera rab hai jahaan hai... tu hi meri duniya...
tu waqt mere liye... main hoon tera lamha...
kaise rahega bhala... hoke tu mujhse judaa....

awesome song....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BklekKJPjlI <---do listen!

pomegranate obsession

its flavor is extreme. its stain is permanent. and its nutritional value is unbelievable. its name is the pomegranate. ever since the day i first tasted one at the shak market in ambavadi, gujarat, i have loved pomegranates.
i still remember that one august night...it was horrible. i was separated from my masi and didn't spot one familiar face around me. i was scared shitless and sad...until this cute and tiny bergundy-colored fruit appeared in my hand! :) a small boy, probably no more than six years old, came up to me, gave me the pomegranate and then ran away. completely shocked at the event that happend in the past ten seconds, i cluelessly cut the pomegranate and smiled wider than ever when i saw its seeds. let me tell you i've never seen such a sight...the seeds were so damn cute and red...and for some reason i became weirdly happy. like really really happy. i stuffed seed after seed in my mouth until my dupatta...along with my whole face, became the color of the pomegranate. that fruit was freakin' awesome. it's flavor was simply irresistable...it had a sweet and sour tang, and its juice was like a high-intensity energy drink.....mmmm....
anyway, at this moment...im really craving a pomegranate...but its out of season :(...

bon voyage Ba!

my Ba is cooler than yours. no kidding. she is mother to five, grandmother to twelve, and great grandmother to six. she's eighty one and counting, stands four feet ten inches tall, and has the most sweet and welcoming smile you'll ever see.
the kitchen is her territory. she is the most amazing cook. her specialty creation is the Gujarati thali but really any thing she mixes and stirs up together has a delicious end result. i literally have an Indian style first class cuisine dinner every night at home. if she were twenty years younger she would probably be running a kick-ass catering business.
but anyway, my Ba is leaving for India today and i'm going to miss her like crazy. she's not only my grandmother, but also my teacher and good friend. although she only went up to the fifth grade, she has taught me many things. i've learned from her that giving a little something to someone who really needs it is better than buying something for yourself when you really don't need it. making others smile gives the best feeling in the world.

appetizing edibles...not!

preservatives, artificial ingredients, partially hydrogenated anything-oil....yuck! i miss my home food. i'm sick of greasy french fries and oily pizzas. i want my mommy's rotli dhal bhaat shak. :P the canteen just sucks. the menu is overly repetitive and the food is bland. i know i'm being whiny and immature right now but i really can't help it. i wish i was sitting at the kitchen table in my cozy home filled with love eating methi na tepla and sipping chai. i want that warm feeling of a home, you know? Aaah...its such a wonderful feeling to have. :) but whatever its ok i'll make do...ketchup is there to make everything better....hahaaa

mommy's song

ragupathi raghava rajah ram...pathi tha paavana sita ram...
ishwar allah tere naam... sabko sanmathi de bhagvan...
this is the song my mommy would sing to me, jasi, and anu every night to get us to sleep...it is in praise of Rama, Jesus, and Allah and advocates universal brotherhood...
i miss hearing my mom's sweet voice sing thig song in the pm hourssssss..

happy to be back in the water

water is essential to life. all living things need it. it is a molecule composed of two hydrogen atoms covalently bonded to an oxygen atom. it is a beautiful liquid that is tasteless and colorless. water and i have a special bond. not an ionic or covalent one...but more of a lovey-dovey one. i love the feeling of being in water. the pool is my panacea. all tension leaves me when i enter the pool....sounds cheesy but its true :). just now i found out that i am going to be able to swim today. its been more than a month since i've last stepped into a pool...so boy am i happy. thank you God. thank you God. thank you God. it may not be 'my' pool...but it should still be good. lets just see. oh and i'm still looking forward to the day i get to swim besides a fish i know..a very steady one. that should be hella fun. good day and jai shree krishna, i've got some swimming to do.

me and my beautiful black bush

i used to abhor the black bush that grows on my head...but now i absolutely adore it. let me tell you the story of my hair. when i was a tiny tot my madre kept my hair in a mushroom boy cut, it was awful. i was the epitome of a tom boy and having my hair in a boyish style just made me look completely like a boy. lol. then later as i got older, the braiding era began. my mumma would wash, oil, comb, and braid both mine and my sisters hair every night and the whole house...sometimes the whole street would hear us yell as she tackled our tangles. and then came the chlorine phase of my hair's life. i would go swimming monday through friday for about 3 to 4 hours a day and my hair would turn nasty. i despised wearing swimming caps...i'd rather my hair turn blonde instead. it was a bad idea...but i didn't know better at the time. after being in chlorine for hours after hours, my hair became disgusting. people actually asked my if i got highlights since my hair turned blondish brown at the ends. yuck. oh and then was the straightening time. in july 2005 i got my hair semi-permanently straightened at a place called kundan ben's beauty salon in the beautiful city of ahmedabad in India. i freaking loved my hair after that..but not for long. i find that everyone who has curly hair wants straight hair and vice versa. no one is really happy with their natural hair...at least thats what i've observed. anyway, back to the story. after my india straightening i was happy with my hair until my natural hair started growing out. thats right...my balck bush started up again and so i had a big bump at the top of my head and then long strands falling from the bumps. haha. it was bad.
and now my hair is what it is. curly hair owns straight hairs behind....any day. if you have curl hair and you straighten it...it looks natural..but you can't say that the other way around. i can have both curl and straight hair..and i like the way i look with both styles. although there are still those moments when i curse at the comb for not going through my bush...in the end i end up loving my hair.
ok well i gotta run...thanks for tuning in. ciao!

the maGiK of GooGle mapss

being 2,778 miles away from my hood in Cali, i was able to see my house last Sunday. this was made possible by google's map feature and by the two kewl people who enlightened me about google mapss. :) i thought it was too good to be true...i seriously couldn't believe my eyes. hahaha..i wish there was a google family feature so i could spy on my sisterrr......lol, that would be freaking awesome. who knows....maybe they'll come up with such a feature!

to the awesome people called friends

proximity matters in friendship only if you make it a big deal. although i am not tech savvy, i will say kudos to the creators of the world wide web because its communication capabilities are outstanding. im very glad to have made awesome friends in this life of mine, far or near to me at his moment. most of my good friends have been people who share something in common with me but experience it in a different way. i just want to shout out right now to all those who've molded me into the me i am today. muchos gracias. merci beaucoup. thanks a trillion.

...and to the one friend who taught me about hygiene and how its important to take care of your body and on the whole take care of yourself first...just thought i'd let you know im about to step into the shower :)

Courtesy of Melissa Desiree :-)

Listen as your days unfolds
challenge what the future holds
try to keep your head up to the sky

Lovers they may cause you tears
go ahead release your fears
stand up and be counted
don't be shamed to cry

you gotta be you gotta be bad
you gotta be bold
you gotta be wiser
you gotta be hard
you gotta be tough
you gotta be stronger
you gotta be cool
you gotta be calm
you gotta stay together
all I know all I know love will save the day

herald what you mother said
read the books your father read'
try to solve the puzzles in your own sweet time
some may have more cash then you
others take a different view
my oh my
hey hey hey

you gotta be bad
you gotta be bold
you gotta be wiser
you gotta be hard
you gotta be tough
you gotta be stronger
you gotta be cool
you gotta be calm
you gotta stay together
all I know all I know love will save the day

Time asks no questions, it goes on without you
Leaving you behind if you can't stand the pace
The world keeps on spinning, can't stop it if you tried to
The best part is danger staring you in the face

random rant...

aye dil, dil ki duniya mein...
aisa haal bhi hota hai..
baahar koi hansta hai..
andhar koi rota hai..

aye dil........
koi pehchaana nahin
kisi ne yeh maana nahin
kisi ne yeh jaana nahin
kisi ko bataana nahin
dard chhupa hai kahan...

quite random, eh? ..but really it isn't. In this song, from the movie Yaadein, a typical behavior is being performed by Kareena Kapoor's character Esha. Laughing on the outside, crying on the inside. So damn typical, but so damn true for the whole world. whether you know it or you don't, and whether you like it or you don't, everyone alters themselves and possesses what WEB Du Bois calls a "double consciousness."A double consciousness is an awareness of one's self as well as an awareness of how others perceive that person. Kareena wants to present herself to Hrithik as cheerful and unbothered, but really she is yearning for the moment when she cant hold him and hug him. Sounds cheesy, but its a reality to all the individuals of th world. We possess this double consciousness and present this double self to our parents, our employers, our lovers, and even to our own self. For whatever reason, to feel good, to feel bad, to relieve stress, etc. I may not be making any sense at all, but it really doesn't matter..

asians: the model minority

Asians are more than just yellow skinned, black haired, small eyed human beings. They are not just engineers and doctors. And they do not all use chopsticks and eat sushi. Asia is the largest of all continents and thus contains a vast variety of people ranging from Cambodians to Koreans to Pakistanis. People need to realize this. All oriental people are not of Chinese origin and all brown skinned, bhindi wearing people are not Indian. These assumptions should not be made. I hate generalizations. Actually, I despise them. Get a life people.

Asians are the model minority according to the American people. America does not worry about the Asians because they know in the end they will be just fine…right? For instance, if a Japanese person were to discover some new scientific something-or-the-other people wouldn’t be as impressed if that same person was Latin American. If that person was Latin American, he or she would probably be on BBC World News, The New York Times, and have a statue of them in some science museum. What racists dude. This also works for need based financial aid. What do they think God had it planned out that Asians would be closer to the American Dream than other immigrants?? I’m sorry folks but our Asian parents, grandparents, or ancestors went through a hell of a lot of hardships just like any other immigrants just to get to this so called “free” country. We should be treated the same. Just because we do better than you doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get the same recognition and expectation limit as others. We are the model minority and that kind of sucks. People think we’re smart, and we are. People think we’re cheap, and we are. But we should not get judged for it.

Also I feel that Americans need to know more about the whole world. It’s kind of sad but for a person to think all people from the Indian subcontinent to be Muslim, they need some help. American children need to learn about people such as Benazir Bhutto and the Dalai Lama and places like the Sahara and the Amazon. American history is wonderful but world history is critical. I feel the rest of the world knows all about America but I can’t say that statement vice versa. People all over the world struggle endlessly to come to our country…and why? We need to know about their countries and what it is about the countries they want to get away from.

Get it straight. Asians come in many shapes, colors, and sizes. They can have hair brown to black, eyes brown to green, and skin yellow to wheatish. They can be of any profession and can eat with hands, chopsticks, spoons, and forks. They can be of any religion from Hindu to Muslim to Buddhist to Christian. And just like any other human being, they deserve to have the same rights promised to them as the rest of America. America sure has international inhabitants and international languages spoken within its walls, but it still needs something more. It needs to create an international connection between itself and the world, not governmental like the United Nations but something for students of all ages to learn about the outer environment.

Please remember what I said earlier: I despise generalizations. When you’re about to make an assumption of someone or something based on stereotypes or what you hear, think again and give that person a chance. Be courteous to others regardless of how they act, how they talk, how they think, etc.

ordinary yet odd

Imagine this: Inside out beings. Appearance and true character shown simultaneously. No such thing as superficiality. There are no secrets, no rumors, and therefore no deception. The person you think you are, the person others think you are, and the person you really are, are all the same person. Seems impossible, right? A creation of an imagination gone wild. If such a place existed, oh what a place it would be!