My family....tireless.

My family is self-sufficient in all respects. I have a brother, a sister, a cousin, a loving granny and working parents. There is no dearth for fun, fight and play with my siblings around all the time. Seeing the parents' return after a prolonged absence (matter of hours is a long wait for a kid!) always brought great excitement and prospects of Bananas, mangoes, peanuts, toys, chips..and the list has just begun! My granny? None to beat her. If I didn't know what hunger felt like till I was in my 11th grade, its because she had a 100% record in having the tiffin and drink ready when I came back from school. (During high school, I travelled farther, so I felt hungry halfway home!).

We have not used a lot of machinary for household chores. We don't own a dish washer till date. We bought a washing machine fairly early, but found hand-wash was more effective. The same was the case with vacuum cleaner. We found that broom-sticks and waste clothes used with washing powders (Surf Ultra!)were better cleaners. For nearly 2 decades, our only personal transportation were bicycle. With my awesome granny and hard working parents and helpful siblings around, almost none of the toiling household chores ever seeped to me. No matter how much work was due, we always had the enough manpower to let me munch pop-corns over weekend entertainment. God! I had a dream childhood.

I was just reading an article in Reader's Digest which talked about how household chores like taking the trash, going to a nearby shop for grocery and helping to cook, not only improved family values, but also made one more responsible, smart and to an extent worldly. Is that true? I made a quick analysis. Oh yea! My sisters rock at home management. My brother needs little help when it comes to handling people and decision making (though my mom doesn't think so!). And....wait a minute! My secondary school friend (also a rank holder) helped his mom, bought groceries, maintained his bike and you bet he is smart! So were my friends from high school and college. The article hit the Bulls eye!

It occurred to me, I could have had a dream childhood with some more soft skills! I wish my dad dragged me out of the house to clean my bike! I wish my nanny and parents were not so tireless.

Scaffold: China 2

What really is China's growth? Asia Times Online (Contributed article)

About how China has used its diplomatic capabilities attract the Third World towards itself (and away from the US) to help its growth MSNBC

A comprehensive collection of stories about China's growth Rediff

An article actually (referenced in the an article in rediff) written last year to give a feel of China's economic growth. Washington Post

Disclaimer: All the news links from this or any post in this blog is simply obtained by using Google search. I don't get paid for posting any link. I don't mean to force anybody to read any article over the other. I don't mean to breach any copyright rules. If I do breach any that you know, before going to the lawyer, let me know in clear terms what I am breaching and what I should change (Not that I have millions to give away) .

Scaffold: Blog!

Do you know what is the BusinessWeek cover story is? Blog!!

A story about the BW cover story about the BW cover story!! (Can check out the cover of BW here!)

Now that BW has a cover stoy, it seems other sources can't avoid talking about it! Here is an article in MarketWatch!!

Don't get too excited! Blogging is not always great. It can make or break anyone's career! Here is an example to learn from!

Disclaimer: All the news links from this or any post in this blog is simply obtained by using Google search. I don't get paid for posting any link. I don't mean to force anybody to read any article over the other. I don't mean to breach any copyright rules. If I do breach any that you know, before going to the lawyer, let me know in clear terms what I am breaching and what I should change (Not that I have millions to give away) .

"Enna Satham intha neram... Ennai thalaatta varuvaala..."

"Enna satham intha neram..." - Punnagai mannan
"Tere mere beech mein.." - Ek duje Ke liye

Find anything common? Think about it, I find a few! Kamal Hassan, all-time hit love songs. One other common, but possibly, less apparent thing is that both the songs are set in a similar situations. They scan the last happy moments of a couple before they attempt to commit suicide because of so-called "love failure". Both the movies got what they wanted (atleast from me)- sympathy for the couple and hatred towards their parents (who invariably were to be blamed!). I am sure one can come up with more movies that talked about "love failure". After all, its a formula that sold well. I have also come across news, roumors and even saw a case of suicide first-hand. All due to "love failure". Now that I have started hearing about real-life incidents, I wanted to answer one question. "What were they trying to prove?" The answers I could think of, and what I want to tell to them.

Dead couple: See, if they had let us get married, they need not have gone through so much agony.

Me: You are sadists. Sure they are stupid not to respect you for your age. But no parent enjoys agonizing you. But you (or whatever remains after you are dead) enjoy agonizing your parents. I hope your parents adopt a kid who actually loves them.

Dead couple: They tried to get me married to another guy/girl. I can't even imagine living with somebody else, while I am in love with him/her

Me: Tell the guy/girl that you are in love with someone else.

Dead couple: I am too afraid to confront my or his/her parents. We couldn't find any other way

Me: You haven't used your brains. Had you used it, you would have thought about it when it occurred to you that you are in love. By the way, you just think you are afraid. Don't you realise? You are brave enough to kill not only yourselves, but your boy(girl)friend.

I don't hear news/rumors/facts about "love failure" suicides any longer. But I have come across cases first hand, in which people who are in love told themselves "You know what? Its not working out. Why don't we just move on? Best friends during middle schools forget in a few years simply because they don't meet anymore. Time is the ultimate healer"

I realized suddenly that the old movie formula doesn't sell anymore.

"Ennai thaalaatta varuvaalaa...." - Kaadalukku mariyathai

Scaffold: China 1

Scaffold: A platform to provide support.

Thats what the news links will be used for in this blog when I am lazing around without coming up with new, exciting discussions OverTea! Here are some .

An opinion editorial on why India is better-off rivaling, rather than, befriending China (in business terms) Time

An article throwing a lot of light in the improving cross-relationship between China, USA and India. Asia Times Online

Disclaimer: All the news links from this or any post in this blog is simply obtained by using Google search. I don't get paid for posting any link. I don't mean to force anybody to read any article over the other. I don't mean to breach any copyright rules. If I do breach any that you know, before going to the lawyer, let me know in clear terms what I am breaching and what I should change (Not that I have millions to give away) .

Mahabharat...all but Dharma.

Mahabharat! What a way to start of a Sunday entertainment in the TV. Just like when I went around with a cricket bat and ball when it is world cup, just like when I marked out a mini-tennis court on my terrace when it was Wimbledon, I remember making bows and arrows of different varieties and sizes when it was war-time in the serial. Half of us would not have known of what was the story of Ramayan and Mahabharat if it did not cross the mind of Ramanand Sagar and B.R chopra. Or simply if it was not telecast on a sunday!

We derive a lot of our moral values from such epics. But after a discussion I had with a friend of mine, the more I think about Mahabharat, the more I tend to feel that, Lord Krishna had been unfair towards his believers. What I say may sound sacrilegious, but lets think about it. Yudishtra was casually (may be not so casually) invited for a game of gambling by Kauravas and kept on playing till he lost everything including his kingdom and Draupathi. (I don't understand, how a guy as virtuous and honest as him can think about pledging his wife) and the pandavas go of to exile. When the come back, they Kauravas deny their rightful kingdom and they declare war. Fair enough. Now, in the so called Dharma Yudh, the Pandavas, masterminded by Lord Krishna use all unfair means to annihilate the Kauravas one by one.

- Bheeshma was killed in the presence of Shikandi by Arjuna, exploiting the fact that Bheeshma vowed not to fight a woman (rather a non-male)
- Dhrona was killed by a lie (if we go by the spirit of truth rather than the strict definition of lie)
- Karna was killed when he was unarmed. A cardinal sin, if we consider the rules of engagement.
- Dhuryodhan was killed by Bheem when he used his weapon under the former's hips. Again a breach of rules of engagement.

Had the Pandavas fought a fair war, it would have been a one-sided affair with the Pandavas losing the battle which, in my opinion, they deserve. Considering all that, I don't really see how Lord Krishna is any different from the old fox Shakuni. The name Dharm Yudh is such an irony with all but Dharma.

Scaffold: India News

Since this is a new venture, for now atleast, I tend to look at every thing through the lens of Blog. Since I spend half of my internet time reading news, I thought I would post some good ones here. Since it might take some time for a good issue to discuss OverTea, it will be a good filler too!

What did Vivek Oberoi do to a battered Tamil Nadu village after Tsunami?
NDTV

A Good educational development in Chennai, India
The Hindu

New Airport at Chennai?
The Hindu

Disclaimer: All the news links from this or any post in this blog is simply obtained by using Google search. I don't get paid for posting any link. I don't mean to force anybody to read any article over the other. I don't mean to breach any copyright rules. If I do breach any that you know, before going to the lawyer, let me know in clear terms what I am breaching and what I should change (Not that I have millions to give away) .

Hi

Oh well...OverTea

Oh well! I have started blogging. Let me tell you all first up. I am not trying to be the "kewl dude" always coming up with different and never-thought-of ways to make my fellow bloggers envious. I mean, now that I have started blogging, how different can I be from the pack?

But I should have a reason to take the initiative, right? Well, I don't always have a reason for things I do, but it so happens that I do have a reason for this. There is someone I know who believes that I have wonderful writing skills which he/she said (and I quote) I am "throwing into the trash can" and that someone suggested me that I should start blogging. I don't want to name that someone of course, because I like him/her and don't like him/her being laughed at in case some body thinks I am bad at writing. So anyway, I thought "Blogging, huh? What are the best and worst case outcomes?" The best case: there are going to be a few people responding to my blogs and discussing things OverTea. If I am allowed to get too optimistic, I will probably get some messages admiring how good my posts and writing skills are (Hey come on, I am allowed to dream!). It sure will encourage me to seriously think about a career involving a lot of writing. The worst case: I will discuss things all alone OverTea. Well, that sure is not too much fun, but then, not all the great writers attract large crowd. Don't you agree? (Don't you get it? I am still good at writing!!). I decided that I will give it a try.

So, what's with this title? While I don't want to be the "Kewl dude", I don't want to own a blogspot thats all words and no meaning. I propose, to express my views and discuss good and bad things that go around the world, just like most of us do OverTea (and hence the title). I welcome your opinions, for and against, as long as they don't get personal. So, come on! join me for a cup!