What if?

The Iraq war seems to have turned into a never ending story. What was meant to be a quick-fix-and-out-:), has become a quick-fix-and-out-?? I can imagine myself during my journalism days, of days when you just don't seem to see any story anywhere. With Iraq there would never have been a dearth of stories...experts' interviews, first hand experiences, Indian perspectives, changes in discussions in political science classrooms, probable changes in the international affairs/foreign policy syllabus to make Iraq and the war on terror a permanent feature of it, Iraq quizes for supplements, astrological advise for Iraq, Bush etc etc.

All these readings and discussions about Iraq got me wondering what if instead of sending in troops and actually invading Iraq, the US had conducted one of its covert operations in regime change? What if with their superior intelligence capacities, their secret agents and stuff they had tried to get rid of (read secretly killed) Saddam and his aides? What if they had managed a traditional coup? What if they had negotiated and flexed some muscles to contain Saddam's 'intentions'? I think I should just assume that after considering the various options, the better experienced and knowledgable US policymakers thought that direct intervention is their best bet. In fulfilling their duties towards their people and the world at large, they did their best. I wonder if anyone of them said, "War! karma majha!"

What next?

March 24: UN Security Council passes resolution on stricter sanctions on Iran to back off its nuclear intentions.

March 25: Iran captures 15 British soldiers for ‘illegally entering Iranian waters.’ Criticizes the West for sending ‘mothers with toddlers’ in the combat zone to be captured by the enemy.

April 5: All 15 soldiers released as ‘Easter gift.’

April 9: Iran celebrates Day of Nuclear Technology. Announces plans to produce nuclear fuel on ‘industrial scale’

However, there have hardly been any drastic announcements of punishing Iran after it announced it nuclear intentions. Did the hostage drama really have such an impact in convincing the West to mind its own business? Or is it the silence before the storm?

In a free world.......

.....beware! if you have TB, you might land up in jail.

Am'bush'ed

The Saudi King Abdullah has been a long friend of the US and specifically the Bush family. However, recent events seem to indicate a decline in relations. He not only canceled a dinner with Bush scheduled for mid-April, but also slammed the US occupation of Iraq as illegal. Coming from an ally in the Middle East, it surely isn't good news for Bush, who is said to have been isolated.The Iraq war is also under increasing criticism, and the tune has changed from 'going-in-was-right-was-messed-up-later' to 'going-in-was-a-mistake-in-itself'.

Uparwala deta hai to chappar fadke deta hai!

Never knew we had one

This article came as a surprise. I had no clue we had a war manual. And never expected it to be lying there non updated for 15 years!

Clarification needed

Can someone please explain what exactly does this mean?

In the first part it says that India proposed the inclusion of 'descent'. And later on it says that the UN is charging India with racism. What???

My first ...like ...rambling

Apart from the general irritation and torture of sitting through Dhoom 2, one of the things that had irritated me, and quite a few others was Ashiwarya Rai going about saying 'like'! "Suhani like.....", this like and that like, like they where paying her by the word. In all my naivety I had exclaimed, "Who in the world talks like that?!"

Now after six months in the US, amidst students of all size and variety I have the answer. And if Aditya Chopra has been here for a month or more at a stretch, I wouldn’t blame him for what he has written. (Poor soul, God bless him!) People here actually use those many likes in their sentences!!! Like for example, today in the bus for all the 40minutes that it takes, two American guys were blabbering away to glory with like being used at least 40 times! And early morning when you were really hoping to sleep more, this can get on your nerves. It did on mine. I have been trying to overlook and not be irritated by this ‘like’ mania, but I have my thresholds. Everyday, more than half of the English sentences I hear have a like in it. And more than half of the times it is totally uncalled for. I don’t understand how that like helps the sentence. On any given day I listen to stuff like “You know like (pause) I got a like call from her…….and she was like so excited…and I was like what…….!”

Language influences in terms of developing an accent are not new. Though I seriously think that if you don’t want to get one, its difficult to get an accent. For me developing an accent was never a concern. Now I do worry though that by the time I go home in summer, I am going to like start talking like these people here. And end up irritating myself, and also like those around me especially my brother, who needs no reason to like pull my leg, and C, about whom the less said the better.

Celestial bonding

What happens when a dark and handsome someone enters a girl's life? And make it smart, fast, easy to get along with, and totally dedicated towards your needs and expectations! Seems too good to be true, does it? Well, but it is true. This someone has recently become a part of my life. And suddenly things seem so much more better and livelier. Not that I had a dull or boring life before. But then "jadoo hai nasha hai..."

Now for those who know me, this does not mean that C is out. How can he? after all he introduced me to this someone. And he likes this one too. They exist cordially. They might not be the best of friends, but my ever-so-generous C has graciously accepted not just the presence, but also the significance of this one in my life. And why will he not, when this one keeps me amused, entertained, engrossed especially during C's office hours. Infact as someone who refuses to put up any personal pictures on the web, C's agreed to let me put up mine with this one!

So before C gets any second thoughts I better be off for that special photo shoot with him, Toshiba Satellite!

Alas in wonderland......

Recent discussions of global warming and the “warmest summer ever” had started to bore me. There was nothing else anyone would talk about, not even my parents. I was desperately hoping for a serious change of weather talk, when last week the University closed down for one and a half days due to inclement weather! Since then I have been listening to stories of those two days. And I have one of my own too.

On the second day of the closure, my roommates and I decided to make productive use of the holiday and went out shopping. Being our first experience of real snow and bad weather, I don’t think we were particularly prepared for what came next. And even the one who has been here longer, and knows what might happen found the idea too tempting to think otherwise. So dressed in our Eskimowears we stepped out.

The first stop was supposed to be our beloved and then the parking. Five minutes in the cold and we decided it was better to change course and visit the parking first. We managed to locate the car, only because she had dared to bare partially. But then forcing her to let go off her brand new snow-white overcoat was a tad too difficult. After around an hour of scrapping, shoveling, pushing, and even kickboxing the snow, we managed to get on road. By that time it had started getting dark and we made a quick visit to the lake. It was awesome. Almost completely frozen, it looked magnificent! Two of us dared to get closer, while the other two stayed backed to shout caution. After what seemed like ages in Antarctica, we finally plodded back to the car.

The shopping was as eventful as grocery shopping could be. Once again content that we had shopped wisely, saved money and spent only an hour, we smugly started back home.

Now we don’t really have a parking permit. She parks in the visitors’ parking regularly. But that day we decided to risk it and were looking for parking places in the regular parking area. After all, why would anyone tow you away in such weather. A couple of empty spots raised our hopes, but we soon learned why they were empty. And learned the hard way. Trying to park at one spot, we got ourselves stuck. The car would move neither forward, not backwards. She tried doing all that she could sitting in the car, but to no effect. The only option was to get out and clear the snow to allow passage.

And so began the struggle of three 'strong' girls to move a car sticking deeper in snow. We once again scraped, shoveled and kicked the snow, add pushing and at a point even partially rocking and lifting the car. Thankfully a helpful neighbor, either concerned or completely irritated by the noise of skidding tyres, came down to help us. He gave us tips and tacts to make it move. Finally even he gave up and decided that the best thing to do is pick and push it out. So now we were four girls and one man struggling. (Its funny how attractive struggles are to men!) At the end of the one hour ordeal, we were four girls and five men pushing the car. Finally we did manage to get the car out and running , parked it at a safer location and labored our way back through the snow with loads on numb hands and minds.

Charmed !

With everyone complaining of an expectionaly warm winter, I had lost all hopes of experiencing my first snow this winter. But this Sunday Snow-white descended in all her glory into my little warm world. At around two in the afternoon, tiny snowflakes started drizzling and began a day full of fun. It was the first snow for my friends too and we decided to make the most of it. In about two hours the intensity of the snow and our excitement had escalated. Dressed in Eskimo-wear we trotted towards the lake. We felt, clasped, threw, and ate snow. It was one of the most beautiful sights ever. The soft sparkling white path, canopy of bare trees, tinges of brown peeping out, a mild grey-blue sky, a rippled lake as if shivering in the cold, ducks with snow on their backs wading peacefully through the ice cold water.............gorgeous!

(Pix: Divya & Bala)



The path to the lake



The first glimpse of the lake



The ugly ducklings transforming?