Happy birthday, Google!

I did a double-take when I dropped by the Google site today. Something was not quite right. And then I saw it!
Somebody had not done the proofreading right, I thought. And giggled a little to think of such a massive mistake... one tiny mis-spelling, one huge red face for someone.

Then I moved the mouse over it and found out that I should be laughing at myself instead. Someone at Google is very clever. That's their way of announcing that Google is 11!

Happy birthday, Google. Thanks for being around and saving the day on too many occasions to count.
Especially when my children have a project to submit on some topic I have no clue about and don't want to admit it !

Ji, Aunty-ji !

Aunt : the sister of one's father or mother. Or the wife of one's uncle.
(Origin - Old French ante )

Unless, of course, one lives in India. When every girl goes through a weird metamorphosis the minute she ties the knot and even before she steps out of the marriage hall. She is now Aunty to every one under 20.
Hey, so what if the addressor is all of 19 ? Our glowing bride is now a very respectable Aunty... even if she was thought to be the hottest babe in town just yesterday!

The silk saris dripping zari and that new tag of Mrs. before her name brings with it heavy burdens. Not the least of them being this Aunty-fication!
Not 'Aunt X' or 'Aunt Y', but a very universal Aunty to the young.
To the others, she is a stop-gap bhabhi (sister-in-law). No matter that she may have never seen them before nor likely to ever again, and irrespective of a decided lack of any family connections either by blood or marriage. She is still their bhabhi; her mangalsutra/ sindoor/ wedding-band has seen to that!

Then the first heir to the family genes appears. Now our Aunty-to-the-young takes on wider responsibilities in more ways than one. She is now Aunty to the world in general, age no bar. Even 40-somethings take the liberty of "aunty"-ing her. The young newly marrieds call her Aunty. So does the balding man in the provision store . As do all the children in her building, road and city. How very respectful!
And demoralising.
Not to mention, restricting!

Of late my son has taken to this new form of repressal :"Mama, don't be such an Aunty!"
Aunties, apparently, aren't fun people. Gulp!

Co-writer to the world

Ever fancied yourself as an author? Join the whole world in writing a book! The WorldWritesABook.com project has come up with this brilliant idea of giving every person in this world a chance to co-write a book ... a snippet at a time!

The idea is to give each and every one of us ... from you, me and Chottu down the street, to Igor , Andre, Heather, Makame and Ling at the other corners of the globe ... a chance to write a snippet of the story, continuing from the first one published online by TWWAB team . Every day a new snippet is selected from all those submitted and the story rolls forward.

There is no pre-set plot ... that's up to you (and the 6 billion odd people populating this world) to decide. You can add new twists and turns, introduce new characters or kill them off, turn a hero into a villain or vice versa ... the mind boggles!

There are no guidelines except that you can submit only a snippet of 140 characters at a time and that you have to write it in english.

And here's where it gets really interesting ... the person with the most number of accepted snippets stands to win a Grand Prize of $25,000 !
Incentive enough? I would think that the chance to have a say in which way a story sways is more than good enough. But this really does sweeten the deal, doesn't it?

This book already looks set to become a best-seller to beat 'em all. After all, who wouldn't buy a book which they've written a part of ... even if that part is only 140 characters long! That's a definite market of about 6 billion books .

So what's the story so far? Read it here.
And hopefully your name is going to show up in that column in the accepted entry list.

Too much of a good thing

The thing I looked forward to the most when I was a kid (okay, when I grew up too) was ... vacations!
Sleep late, roll out of bed late, breakfast at noon, lie on the lawn and watch the clouds drift by, stroll, hang out with friends, watch movies, read and read and read ... oh, the sheer deliciousness of it!
There is a magical something in the very aimlessness and let-your-hair-down quality that these long holidays conjures up. Something that makes you long for it and count the days till you can revel in it again.

This is exactly what my son (and his parents too) was looking forward to when he finished his Std. X Board exams in March this year. In the long, grimy, tough days while he was preparing for his exams, my favourite motivational talk was all about "study now and you'll have such a long vaction ... at least 3-4 months .... after your exams to enjoy yourself" .
And so with tempting pictures of what he would, or rather, would not do in these days of grace, I persuaded him to stick his nose to his books.

The exams wound up and sure enough, his books were flung aside. Then followed a feast of 'doing-nothing', alternated sometimes with 'nothing doing'! Football on the beach, meeting friends, making friends, movies, eating out, staying up late, watching videos till midnight, cell-phoneitis till 2 a.m., doze off at 4, wake up at noon (except when there's football on the beach!)... mmmm, nothing changes except what we choose to do , or rather, don't do during the languid days of Vacation. The deliciousness, though, remains the same .

Or does it? I wonder...
This year seems to have a record-breaking long Vacation. First there was all that drama about the online admissions and the court case about a quota for SSC Board students. And the date of reopening was extended till the first week of August when the normal date is somewhere in mid-July.

Oh that's great, he said and promptly organised some more football in the rain and more outings with his friends. And then went down to his new college to check out the place and other friends and seniors from his school who're already studying there.

He came back filled with anticipation. He had tried out for the football team and had been selected. Classes haven't started but football has!
Oh yes, and there are some college festivals he's been hearing all about and waiting to take part in...

Then, Mumbai was swamped under the swine flu epidemic and all schools and colleges have been shut till the 20th of August . Which means my son's Junior College has still not re-opened.
This time his reaction was "Oh no!" .
Actually it was more like "Oh s..t!" but I freely translated that in the interests of maintaining motherly dignity (don't know why I bother! )
Anyway, back to the son's reaction ... "When are they going to open my college anyway? Its almost the end of August! "

Hmmm .... looks like trouble in paradise. A severe case of discontent if nothing else. He's actually waiting for college to reopen now!
Maybe too much of ennui has got the better of him ?
Are too much of holidays just too much of a good thing?

The tide of a lifetime !

Today is special! Mumbai saw what the highest tide of the century looks like.

And in my apartment close to the raging sea, I actually felt it. With each ginormous wave that crashed against a suddenly puny-looking wall, a strong vibration thudded through the table where I was resting my arms . My questioning (or was it terrified?) look was answered by my son who was lying down on his bed. He had felt it too.

The sea had become a gigantic hammer!

I ran to my balcony, camera in hand. Down on the road, throngs of people had the same idea. There was a carnival atmosphere and everyone was looking at the super spectacle put up by the sea.
Huge waves crashed against retaining walls and threw spray high into the air, sometimes 5-storeys high, and the eager wind carried it inland to rain on all the laughing people. I didn't see fear in anyone's face. Instead there was a jubilant mood, shouting in approval with each super-high plume of spray. Trying to match the sea roar for roar.

Very soon, the road was flooded knee-high with water. Not because it was raining but because there wasn't enough time for the water from each giant wave to drain away before the next one hit. But the ever-growing crowd couldn't care less. All they wanted to do was to join in this momentous natural phenomenon taking place in their backyard!

Not satisfied with the view from my balcony, I went up to the terrace of our building for a better view. And this is what I saw in a neighbouring compound!

What can I say?
The fence had been ripped up and thrown aside like a flimsy piece of tissue paper.
And guess what else I saw? The sea was belching up all the plastic bags so carelessly tossed into it by the citizens of Mumbai !
Revenge of the Sea? Definitely! And a powerful warning not to take its placid appearance lightly.

(Incidentally, these photos were taken at mid-day but it was so cloudy that I didnt get any colour into the photos. Somehow, I think it looks better this way)

Home by the sea

This has to be the ultimate home by the sea!
Okay, so I'm stretching facts a bit ... apparently 'this' is not a home but a restaurant on the sunny coat of Zanzibar, just down the beach from Monsoon Garden (sigh! I even love the name!).
But it looks more home-y, doesn't it?

I'm not too keen about the sunniness factor ... but isn't it way too cool a spot to dream awhile, safely perched on a rock, with the tides literally lapping at my feet?


(Image courtesy : Monsoon Garden)

Jewellery ? But naturally!

Who would've thought something like carambola would make such exquisite jewellery! It's a fruit for heaven's sake!
But then, this is the work of Nubia Goncalves from Rio de Janeiro. Nubia uses Brazilian natural products, including gemstones and nuts, to craft such beautiful jewellery and sells these on Etsy.

And yes, this is the same Starfruit (aka Bilimbi) which you'll find kids buying by the cartload from the bhaiyya outside their school-gates. Who knew it would have their mums lusting for it too?! Oh... watch that drool... this is a natural product so take care to keep it away from moisture.

(I wonder whether I'd feel like munching on it if I was wearing it?
Maybe. Probably... sigh!)

So would you fancy blue rosebuds around your neck? Apparently they're actually Abacaxizinhos (don't ask me how that's pronounced, please!) and dotted with pearls.
Want a translation? I did, and checked out a couple of translation sites which told me that abacaxi means pineapple in Portuguese. So would these be the head of the pineapple? Maybe very tiny, baby ones?
In any case, isn't their resemblance to rosebuds amazing?

Now this is super fun!
As zesty as chilled lemonade on a hot day, these coco discs in bright sunshiny colours can bring a smile to anyone.

Or try an earthy one for a change.
Mmmm...hmmm...! I've got to find a way to turn a skull-breaking coconut into a mind-boggling piece of jewellery!


(Images courtesy : Nubia Goncalves )