Niki: “Who was daddy talking to”?
Sharmila: “A very old friend of his from Bombay. He lives here in California. His name is Karthik.”
Niki: “How many Karthiks are there in California”?
(Admittedly we know quite a few)
Sharmila: “I know. We might land up meeting this uncle in a couple of days’ time. He is very funny.”
Niki: “Real funny or Dad funny”?
And I was like “Hey, hey! I am in the room”!!! 🙂
Flying back home, I checked my Facebook account and was skimming thru the comments to see if I needed to respond to any of them. (Heaven knows I respond even when I do not need to 🙂 ).
It is then that I noticed something. More Facebook friends like my pictures when I am sitting down than when I am running 🙂 Last running post – 2 likes. The one before that where I was sitting on a bench – 35 likes!!! Prior to that – me running with Samaresh – 11 likes. And right before that, me sitting at Starbucks – 20 likes.
Either my FB friends want me to stop running and put on weight or they are much relieved when I actually survive a run and sit down 🙂
Usually, I just use Apple or Google products (and let them save in Microsoft formats if I have to send to somebody). I was trying to use Microsoft applications today (in this particular case, Powerpoint). First the application crashed. It asked me if it was okay to send a Error Report. Coming from software background, I am always about helping anybody debug. So, I said Yes. Now, the Microsoft Error Reporting crashed!!!! This is too funny!
An Indian bride yesterday dumped her groom-to-be during the wedding ceremony near Kanpur because he failed a math test he gave her!! The question she asked was how much was fifteen plus six. The groom replied seventeen! The bride simply walked out accusing the groom of lying about his educational qualifications!
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/03/14/indian-bride-dumbs-groom-failed-math-test/24759641/
Awesome!!
Now, there are unconfirmed reports that many Indian husbands are egging their wives on to ask them math questions. Evidently, everyone is prepared to say one thousand plus two thousand equals zero!!!
Here in US, we celebrate today as the Irrational Exuberance day. (We might have as well called it the Alan Greenspan day). People – especially those who do not remember what the definition of pi is (not the value) – get together and have pies and pie parties.
The rest of the world looks at us completely bemused. I am sure they go something like “Dude, you don’t even know how to write dates properly. You either go up DDMMYY or down YYMMDD. And by the way, the pie that you eat is not spell the same way as pi – the math symbol. In fact, there is an extra “e” in it – which is another math symbol that you probably neither know the definition or value of”.
In response, we pop in one more Tums. Because we have run out of pies.
Jokes apart, did you know Belize is the only other country than US that uses MMDDYY format? (There are a few other countries like Kenya, Philippines etc where, in some parts, MMDDYY is also used)
After a real hectic week on the road, I was trying to skim thru news in politics from the last few days, half asleep in the plane.
I understand Hillary Clinton had set up her own email server at her home. Dealing a mortal blow to all Bangalore call centers in India.
And that 47 Republican Senators wrote a letter to her parents complaining about it.
Or something like that?
My New York flight to Atlanta finally took off at 12:15 PM (original time 7:59 AM). I was chatting with the lady sitting next to me who was equally tired and frustrated. Found out she has been in Georgia all her life. We started talking about my travels and the topic of India came up. Then I made the following ill-fated attempt to explain “Holi” to her…
Me: “Did you know tomorrow is ‘Holi’ day in India”?
She: “It is a holiday in India?”
Me: “No, no, no. Tomorrow we celebrate Holi in India”.
She: “What does Holi stand for?”
Me: “Well, it is rooted in Hindu mythology”.
She: “Oh! you mean it is a ‘Holy’ day in India.”
Me: “Yes. No. Yes. Oh! Boy! It is a holiday in India because we celebrate Holi which is a holy event for us. BTW, you are really confusing me now”.
She: “I am the one confusing you? So, anyways, what do you do on your Holi day?”.
Me: “Well, we buy colored powder. Lots of them. And then also mix colors with water to make colored water. Lots of buckets”.
She: “Why would you make so much colored water and powder?”
Me: “We throw them at each other”.
She: “What?”
Me: “We throw them at each other”.
She: “Why?”
Me: “Because it is holy to do so”.
She: “Don’t get started again”
Me: “Okay, Okay. The celebration is all about throwing colors at each others”.
She: “Your friends?”
Me: “Yes. And also any random person on the street”
She: “Even if you do not know them?”
Me: “Even if we do not know them.”
She: “Old people?”
Me: “Sure”
She: “Kids?
Me: “Of course”
She: “Cows?”
Me: “Yep. Cows are holy”.
She: “Again, you have started?”
Me: “Oh! sorry!”
Me: “So, that is the whole idea. We throw colors at each other”
She: “Nobody gets mad?”
Me: “Some do”
She: “Don’t they yell and scream?”
Me: “Yes. So now we carry guns.”
She: “Like in Texas?”
Me: “No, no. I mean water guns. Like our kids use in the swimming pool. That way, we can throw colors from a distance and run away”.
She: “What if they can outrun you and beat you up?”
Me: “For them, we have water balloons. We throw from a safer distance”.
She: “Good God! The whole country becomes crazy, huh?”
Me: “Yes, that is because we also tend to have bhang on that day”
She: “Bhang?”
Me: “Leaves of cannabis”
She: “You have cannabis?”
Me: “Some do”
She: “Like in Colorado?”
Me: “No, I think in Colorado, everybody does.”
She: “So, you still did not tell me what is this festival all about”
Me: “Well, you see we have a lot of Gods”
She: “So I have heard”.
Me: “One main God is called Lord Krishna. He had colored Radha with ….”
She: “Radha being his wife God?”
Me: “Ummmm… no, I think Radha was his uncle’s wife”
She: “Why was he putting colors on her?”
Me: “I think he was in love. He married her later.”
She: “You think?”
Me: “No, no, I know”
She: “So, let me get this straight. Some God was trying to marry his uncle’s wife. So, you guys get high on cannabis and throw colors at each other. Yeah?”
Me: “Something like that.”
She: “And the country gets a holiday for that?”
Me: “I told you it is a holy day”.
She: “Again you started….”
Me: “No. This time you started”
She: “That’s true”…
It is at that point our breakfast arrived. This is well past 1 PM, mind you!!