Sensitive Issues!

We sure do have different ways to perceive things and when it comes to religion, we tend to get even more sensitive and particular. A British schoolteacher got the taste of this when she was put behind bars in an overcrowded Sudanese prison last night after being convicted of inciting religious hatred for letting her pupils name a teddy bear 'Mohammed' which happens to be a very common name in the Muslim world. I can actually count nine of my good friends named Mohammed!

Could it be that she had no intentions to insult the prophet but just went with the student’s request? After all it was the student’s idea not hers. Yes, she could have said no but who would have thought it was such a big deal? Gillian Gibbons, apologized and escaped the sentence of 40 lashes but she still served a 15-day sentence in a women’s prison considered extremely harsh by Western standards. We sure have to be cautious while addressing sensitive issues!

Criminal of the Moment!

I was driving down a bad neighborhood in Bridgeport Connecticut. I had the FM on and One Republic’s ‘Apologize’ was playing at the background. I was in my own world and was trying to decide whether my love for this particular song was still as fresh as the first time I heard it! The repetitive and continuous playing of the song was beginning to wear the novelty off! The darkness was beginning to set in and I was just mellow and exhausted.

At once three cop cars pulled around me, sirens on, lights setting the night aflame, guns drawn instructing (somebody?) to get out! I was dazed and baffled and taken aback! Before I gained control after my flight of fearful fantasy, the officers ran past me into a house, guns still drawn! Phew! I was relieved for sure. I hadn’t committed a crime but for a minute it kept me thinking, had I?

I slowly drove by the police car, awestruck and half shaken! The situation had made me feel like a criminal of the moment!

The Fear Lingers on!

Yet another friend of mine got married! Once we start approaching the age of thirty, I assume we have that constant urge to tie the knot! But is it important? Do we really have to get married? Isn’t marriage just a legal name for a relationship?

I am uncertain myself. Every time I hear of an acquaintance’s wedding, a hundred questions linger in my head and an uncertain fear halos above and around me. I was at the wedding ceremony of a friend yesterday. One of his jocular brother-in-law asked the bride to hold out her hand and then requested the groom to place his hand over hers. He then told him to enjoy the moment as this would be the last time he would ever have an upper hand. All the men in the room applauded trying to savor the bitter sweet truth about their own wedded life. Do women really control their men after marriage? “If men are the head of the family, women are the neck”, as said in the movie ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ hold true to its words?

The Fear still lingers!

Luxury of Choice

I feel fortunate living here in the United States of America. Unconsciously we are blessed with so many things in life that we hardly pay heed to. We have the luxury of letting the water run for extended period of time whilst we brush our teeth, we have the luxury of wasting food, we have the lavishness of taking showers two times a day, facilities and natural resources are sumptuous and we sure have the luxury of choice! Yet we complain!

The recent cyclone in Bangladesh let thousands without food and water. Bangladesh being a third world country can barely do much. The people affected are going without water for days and some who are lucky enough to grab a bottle offered by the relief foundations have to share it with five other members of the family. The situation is tragic and compassionate. People are dying and the situation is giving rise to numerous diseases. They don’t have a choice but adhere to the circumstance and are unsure whether they will live another day to tell their survival stories to the future generation!

Yet we complain!

Thank You for Thanksgiving!

It’s that time of the year and Thanksgiving is finally here! I love this day, not because I get to gobble down the turkey or thrilled that I get to see friends and family.

However, this is the only day that I can sit home without having to worry about work. I run four Subway restaurants and this is the only day we put down the shutters! Yep, we are open for the other 364 days of the year, whether it’s New Years, Christmas, Labor Day, Hanukkah etc. No work related calls, no calling out of the employees at the last moment, no running around…..I can just relax, worry free, not bothered, unconcerned!

Thank you Captain John Woodleaf for holding the first service of thanksgiving!

The Hullabaloo over Barack Obama!

Presidential candidates always seem to get into controversy. It’s the position they hold that people find little things to talk about! Today Barack Obama said he drank and tried drugs in his teen days. Oh well, big deal! In this era, who doesn’t? As long as its not done to the extreme to jeopardize one’s existence, his confession should just be ignored.

Now we have all the major news channels talking about him and his experiments as a teenager. They say he wouldn’t be a good example to the current youngsters, they fear that the kids will now ‘think’ that even they could drink and run for the President of the USA and blah blah blah!

At least Obama did not deprive himself of the fun and pleasure as a youngster. He can actually relate to his experiences and advise the future generation about damages drugs can cause or consequences one would have to face due to alcoholism!

I’m not campaigning for him! May the best candidate become the President! However, such petty details should not be the main reason to judge his presidential capability!

Mike Tyson, The Baddest Man in the Planet?

“Life comes at you Fast”! But Nationwide is on your side!

Now this is the commercial that should be based on Mike Tyson, someone who I once, as a kid looked up to. Haloed with accusations ranging from rape of a beauty queen, drug possession, reckless driving, he is referred to as the most controversial sports personality ever!

Once the undisputed champion and one of the best fighters that the world had seen, is a symbol of sheer mockery now. Having collected approximately $30 million for some of his bouts and career earnings averaging about $350 million, Mike Tyson had file for bankruptcy few years ago. He is now behind bars for driving under the influence!

Some people just don’t give up. I wished, the zeal and enthusiasm he has to get arrested was channelized into the right direction to win his title bouts fairly without having to leave the ring with a piece of Evander Holyfield in him.

Life sure came fast at Iron Mike, the baddest man on the planet!

Writers Guild of America Labor Strike

With the Writers Guild of America labor strike, here I am stuck watching all the reruns of almost all the episodes. Not that I spend too many long hours watching television; approximately and hour or so! Any more time spent gets me a fit of restlessness.

I think it should be fair for me to say that there are millions of Americans or even people around the world suffering due to the strike. People who have mistakenly chosen watching television as their full time job and the virtual salaries derived may appear miniscule and people who have chosen to exist as couch potatoes, simply as a burden and an occupant of space to the ones around them suffering from their mere existence.

But my sincere sympathies are with the victims! I just think there are simply two solutions to this ongoing labor strike!

1. Meet their demands paying them the diminutive share that they demand for. After all Broadway itself is a billion dollar industry OR
2. Apply the Ronald Reagan Theory! Just like he fired all the air traffic controllers, all the writers should be fired and rehire the aspiring authors. Perhaps we get to see some twists and creativity in writing and I am sure there are millions of them around! How many quality TV shows do we have anyway?

Take the poll friends!

Sexy Back Behind Bars!

My brother was in court to prove his innocence about some driving tickets he was issued. It's never a good experience being in the court specially if you are the guilty defendant. However, this time he was amused!

A courtroom, where pin drop silence is demanded except when asked to speak, any disturbance would violate the terms and conditions set forward. In this particular courtroom, filled with men and women of various age ranges including infants accompanied by their parents had some entertainment in store in the expense of someone else.

There was a middle aged defendant who was sentenced even before his crime was disclosed. While the court was in session, his phone sang the tune of 'Sexy Back' by Justin Timberlake setting the whole court room into laughter! The sad part is that he was sent to six months in prison for the violation of the courtroom and playing inappropriate music in front of minors!

This is true but is it allowed??

Islamic Car?

I read in BBC today that the Malaysian carmaker Proton has announced plans to develop an "Islamic car", designed especially for Muslim motorists!

Now how is this car Islamic? Sure enough it does not have to undergo religious ceremonies or convert itself into Islam from its own religion of 'machinery and mechanism'. Instead they call it the 'Islamic car' because the car is going to be boasting features such as the compass pointing to Mecca and a dedicated space to keep a copy of the Koran and a headscarf! Sure enough there are other ways to sell a car but they think vehicles designed specifically for Muslims across the world represent a huge gap in the market! The idea just sounds weird to me! Imagine going to the dealership and asking for an 'Islamic car' or perhaps in future: a Christian car, Hindu car, Buddhist car, Jewish car etc.!!

If only candidate's wife had taken the time to vote he wouldn't have lost!

Bill Monroe lost by one vote in his bid to return to the Winchester City Council. And here's the clincher to the squeaker of a race:His wife didn't vote.

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The iPhone Surprise!

So today was my birthday! My girlfriend decided to surprise me by buying me an iPhone but the surprise did not remain a surprise when the AT&T customer service called me and disclosed everything.

This is how it happened! Usually I go to pick my girl up from the train station (She works in Morgan Stanley NY) but yesterday my mom and brother decided to go pick her up. They landed up in the mall and it sure was preplanned. My mom, my girl and I have T-mobile family plan service. Now since she was getting me an iPhone, we had to switch to AT&T. She managed to switch our service to AT&T’s family plan while we kept the old numbers.

Perhaps with a little mix up, AT&T noted my number as my girl’s and then called me before my ‘shopping family’ was back. They asked for my girl. I said she wasn’t home and if I could take a message. She told me that she had to explain the disclosures of the service that she purchased and about the purchase of an iPhone……

iPhone?? I was excited and couldn’t wait for them to get back home! They got back at 10pm and now I had to wait two more hours for the clock to strike 12 am. I kept asking for the gifts as its obvious but did not give out the hint that I knew.

Well the constant cajoling did not work and I had to wait. I did not give out the mishap or should I call it a misunderstanding of the AT&T customer service to my girl as I’m just too engrossed enjoying my new iPhone enjoying technology and innovation. BTW, it took me about half and hour to type this blog from my iPhone, but I enjoyed it!!

In pictures: Nepal dogs honoured

Nepal is celebrating the festival of Tihar, its equivalent of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. In Nepal, on the second day of the feast, special honour is bestowed on dogs.

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Stripper Visits School Classroom in 'mix-up'

It seems like a 16 year old had the time of his life when he got a strip dance amidst his stunned classmates and a teacher during a drama class!

Apparently the British boy’s mother had booked a gorillagram as a surprise to her son in his classroom. Instead due to the booking error, the stripper entered and performed for a classroom full of British teenagers, spanked a birthday boy and asked him to rub cream all over her.

The funny thing about this is that the teenager's mother had told the teacher beforehand that a “birthday surprise” would walk in during the class and requested that it be filmed.

“The teacher suddenly announced: ‘Something is about to happen’,” the student said.

“Then a woman in a very short skirt walked in dressed as a copper. She asked the lad to stand up, which he did, and told him he had been a very naughty boy because he hadn’t been doing his homework.”

The newspaper quoted the student as saying that it was when the stripper pulled some cream out of her bag that the teacher took action.

“To be fair to the teacher, you could tell she was just stunned, and when the cream came out she told the stripper: ‘That’s it. That’s enough’.”

The student said the birthday boy ran out of the classroom while the stripper packed her bag.

Sweet Sixteen Indeed!

Blind Wine Tastings Aren’t Always the Best Tastings

Wine critics should get a break when they pan a wine during a blind tasting that they normally praise to the skies, says Slate wine columnist Mike Steinberger. Few things give satisfaction like catching a wine snob preferring the bottle of swill over a storied chateau in a blind tasting, concedes Mr. Steinberger. And in […]

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How to Spot a Rich Person

I was talking to a Jaguar salesman last week and asked him what the hardest part of his job was.“You can’t tell who’s rich anymore,” he said. “It used to be if someone walked in with jeans and a T-shirt I could ignore them or ask them to leave. Now that guy could be a […]

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Swiss Study Finds Marijuana Use Alone May Benefit Some Teens

Teens that use cannabis may function better than teen tobacco-users, and appear to be more socially driven and have fewer psychosocial problems than those who do not use either substance, according to a Swiss survey.

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The Dollar is Dead, Next the Country ... Yes it Can Get Worse alot Worse

The euro, worth 83 cents in the early George W. Bush years, is at $1.45. The British pound is back up over $2, the highest level since the Carter era. The Canadian dollar, which used to be worth 65 cents, is worth more than the U.S. dollar for the first time in half a century. Oil is over $90 a barrel. Gold, was $260/ounce not long ago, now $800

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King Tutankhamun!

Just when I was stretching to grab the remote control, the news anchor mentioned the revelation of King Tut’s face for the first time in 3000 years. It sounded interesting so I waited and watched all the commercials in order not to miss the disclosure of the Golden King. But I was disappointed to see the decaying face of a mummy! What was I expecting to see?

"The face of the golden boy is amazing. It has magic and it has mystery," Egypt's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass added. In contrast, I thought the mystery and magic was there when he had the mask on. There was something enigmatic about the mask that kept me wondering and now every time I see the golden mask of King Tutankhamun's, the moldering and wilting face is what I’ll remember.

Welcome to the world of Future!

This is quite interesting! A friend of mine forwarded this to me and I was quite amazed, simply admiring the advancement of technology! Here are a few pictures and I want you to decide for yourself.

Do you think what those things are in front of that man?




I'm sure you thought they were pens. Need a closer look??




Here they are---------->












Ah! You probably think these are pens with cameras huh? Well, here's another picture to keep you guessing!

Any guesses yet? Well, you are looking into the future! The future that will soon replace our PCs and Laptops!

Here is how it works!

In the revolution of miniature computers, scientists have made great developments with bluetooth technology.


This is the forthcoming computers that you can carry within your pockets.

This "Pen" instrument creates both the monitor and the keyboard on any flat surfaces functioning just as your PCs and laptops! This is the world we live in!! A very advanced world indeed!

Chris Angel the Phenomenon!

Finally there's a good show in television that keeps me glued to my couch. I watched the second episode of the Phenomenon; a reality show where illusionist, mentalists and others from the similar category compete to become the ultimate "Phenomenon". The tricks they perform is intriguing and I can't help but wonder, "How the hell do they do that?"

The show took a little turn yesterday when Chris Angel, the Mind Freak, freaked out when one of the contestant's act, in which he demonstrates his relationship with the paranormal to guide him on his quest to discover what would be inside a certain box that no one had tampered with. The "Ghost" gave him the right answer but Chris Angel, unwilling to buy the comical performance, bet him a million dollars of his own personal money if he could guess the content of Angel's envelop that he was holding in his pocket!! The show nearly turned in a live Jerry Springer show while I sat there enjoying every bit of it!