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The rice vault
2008-05-15 05:32:00
The last few days, I read quite a few blog posts, each expressing the level of attachment to home made conventional South Indian food - sambar, rasam, mor kuzhambu, poruchcha kuzhambu and the variants, which border a lot on the similarities than the differences! I was tempted to write one too! There are a hundred different varieties of food that use the same paste or the same kind of powder, but our taste buds are so well designed, that it is easy to differentiate the food just based on the whiff of the odor emanating from the kitchen.But in spite of the commonalities, I make it a point to call up home to try out the different kinds. My mother would patiently list out the ingredients, and after a point I had got used to the contents of the mixture. The sambar had to have the pulses cooked from the cooker, the rasam had to have the same pulses, but of lesser quantity and more liquefied, and almost every other paste had the same contents. So, after a point, I had stopped jotting d...
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6:35 AM
2008-05-07 05:19:00
6:35 AM? Getting up so early? Had I been living in India, a neighbor aunt would have come running to the house to compliment my mother on having such a wonderful son. Not that it is false, but I'm just making a point!!!This weird habit of getting up in the middle of the night (well, a wake up at 6:30 in the morning is as good as the dead of the night) got imbibed into me sometime over the weekend. The whole of last week, I struggled to get up early, and not before 8:30 did I get a chance to take a peek at the rays that were just forcing their way through the nicely covered shades of the windows. It was as if the Sun God was staring at me in exactly the same way as my mother would have, after I brought the test papers home, when I was a kid. You don't need to be a scientist to guess whether the marks had been good or not! At that time, I was cursing myself for my lethargy. But, I never realized that things can change quickly. On Saturday, I got up at 6:35 AM, felt very happy ...

Oh! Freebies, freebies!
2008-05-03 00:26:00
It was a fairly new concept in the mid-nineties to offer giveaways along with the main product. In the nineties? Yeah, I think so, because that was the time when life started making some sense. It's a different matter altogether that I have lost it completely now! It was great to explore new paths, and be awestruck by everything around. Well, this post is not about the new found wisdom of the wonder kids. OK, let's get back to where we started. Knowing me, you can well fathom, how quickly I tend to digress.How many of you remember seeing advertisements on the television promoting an offer along with the main product?Buy a 500 grams packet of Complan, and get a Complan mug free!Buy two refill packs of Boost, and get a bat signed by Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev absolutely free!But a 250 grams packet of Red Label tea, and get a stainless spoon (who cares!), absolutely free!Buy a refill pack of Maltova, and get a nice cricket cap, free!Buy a refill pack of Bournvita, and get t...
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Khelo aur Jhelo - One of a kind
2008-04-29 01:01:00
Controversy theories have plagued Indian sports in the last week much to the delight of some of India's acclaimed serial killers. Ekta Kapoor, in an exclusive media interview to SaaS TV, thanked the Indian sportsmen for her inspirational new biopic, Khelo aur Jhelo (JLo?). In her usual candid self, Ms. Kapoor spoke about the various problems troubling the cricketers of today. So, in her typical style, she chose a name starting with 'K', and says that this is one of a kind serial, bringing to the forefront, the relationship between sportsmen and their in-laws. In-laws? Yes, as she has repeated often, this is a "one of a kind" serial. Media sponsors are thronging her house, in a bid to gain valuable advertisement spots for her 1199 episode drama. When quizzed why she has to offer only 1199 episodes, she said that the story will take its course, and depending on the response, she plans to continue the plot. The interview has generated never before heard of TRP ratings, and t...

Taxing the alien
2008-04-17 03:58:00
Finally, I made up my mind. Yes, I can fill up the 1040 EZ form to file my tax returns. Wait a minute. What if this is not the right form? I went back and forth, getting into discussions with like-minded, not fully informed gentlemen, individuals, who had as much proficiency in accountancy and related information as I have, in say, Carnatic music. I tried to reach every information I could avail with a faint hope of procuring the maximum possible in some way. It is also important to fill up the right form; you don't want to be hauled up for filling out a wrong form!I wanted to believe whatever others said as far as tax forms were concerned. I thought that everyone other than me had better knowledge when it came to filling these forms. It was after careful deliberation that I was sure of two thingsI am capable of filling these forms on my own instead of going to a consultant, even if that meant additional complications in figuring out the obscurities.That I cannot fill the on...
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Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
2008-04-07 03:44:00
I had no idea about Jhumpa Lahiri's latest release until I got many of those promotional mails from Barnes and Noble, Borders and Amazon offering an attractive discount. It was a perfect way to start the month. Obviously, my first intention was to check up at the local library, and on finding out that I was 81st in the queue, I quickly went to the nearest Borders store, swiped my Amazon (what an irony!) credit card for $15.75 (inclusive of tax), and there I was clutching the beautiful hardcover bound book as if I was the proud author.Even though Interpreter of Maladies was her first publication in the literary world, I latched onto this only after I had finished reading The Namesake. The Namesake has left a lasting impression in me (link). The feeling lingered on for some days, as the emotional aspect of the book ebbed on to me in seamless fashion. Her topics are not out of the world; on the contrary, they have got a lot to do with day to day situations that we conjure in our daily...
More About: Earth

Anbe Sivam
2008-03-23 22:29:00
Our lives are governed by facts and beliefs over a period of time that we have got used to these things; practices have been stamped with unquestionable beliefs. It is only a confined section of the society that tends to think on iconoclastic lines, and majority of us find it difficult to have our views matched with the minority section.I run into a severe thought process; most of the times, they are about trivialities, and the rest, about the extremes. It is always a great feeling to know that you have complete control of life, and that you want to think and act independently. But, ironically, it gives us great comfort to think that there is a power vastly superior than us controlling the various stages of our lives. Who is He? is a big question, but it gives great comfort to know that there is a He governing our lives!Last week, I happened to watch the movie Anbe Sivam once again (you can safely put the number of viewings to a double digit value). Some of my non-Tamil speaking...

Simply subconscious
2008-03-16 01:01:00
It's an awry feeling to get up at around 8 in the morning after about twenty snoozes an hour; the war torn feeling just lingers on and you know exactly what you are going to do for the next twenty to thirty minutes to get ready for work, and at the back of your head, you actually don't have any idea as to what you're doing. Ironical, but every human being getting up to go to work will know what exactly I'm talking about. Every morning is like a deja vu and the repeatability of daily life leaves you asking a lot more questions instead of getting the answers as time goes on.What is it about the subconscious aspect of life? Many times, I don't even realize that I am driving my car from home to office or vice-versa. I have spoken to a lot of people about this, and I get a response, that it is the case of taking certain things for granted. It is just about how you prioritize certain things in life. You know the route by-heart, that you end up following the car ahead of you. Wh...
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Six o' clock
2008-03-01 04:18:00
Back in India, every evening, I was wafted into a sea of devotion, thanks to MSS, whose enchanting voice rendered the complicated slokas of Sanskrit in perfect clarity. The pristine voice filled the surroundings with a sense of calmness and everlasting composure. But, there were many a times, when my brother and I wanted to change the evening atmosphere at home, by replacing the usage of the only tape recorder with the latest happenings on the television. So, on many days, we have watched the only sport that the whole of India supports, and on many other, we would end up watching one of the latest movies being played on many different channels."Praveen, today is a very auspicious day. Why don't you both play some devotional songs on the tape recorder?"Even before I could open my mouth, my brother would let out a cry of anguish as if she had just asked us to go to war, "No, let the movie finish. We are watching Alai Payuthey."She would agree reluctantly, for we would never be ...
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Jodhaa Akbar
2008-02-19 00:01:00
Ashutosh Gowariker, when he decided to make a magnum opus on one of Indian history's significant and finest characters, would have had a tough time to take up the challenging task of bringing out the appropriate fusion of fact and fiction. History is a daunting subject, the moment you decide to merge it with the present, there are people - those who know history and those who have no idea about what happened five hundred years ago, are literally baying for your blood for an unknown reason. There is little wonder that Ashutosh researched on his pet project for more than four years before getting down to the basic aspect of film making. It would have been easy for him to give up and proceed with the same old cliched subject of hero romancing heroine set in contemporary times. But, he stuck on to what he had set out for, getting the right people to do what he wanted, and in the end, he has come out with an outstanding movie of monumental grandeur transcending all possible imaginat...
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S-C-R-A-B-B-L-E
2008-02-15 04:19:00
Life is composed of many simple things, and the pleasure of spending time on them takes you to an unexplainable high. Sometimes, on the spur of the moment, you envision something out of the blue, and you realize that you have to do it at that instant. I have this tendency to visit these online shopping sites often - Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Borders, and try to catch up with the latest offerings in the book world. So, last week, as I was casually browsing through B & N, I happened to see the Scrabble Deluxe Edition game advertised on the main page at half the normal price. Word games are fun to play, and Scrabble, according to me, is one of the best word games ever. As soon as the nicely displayed advertisement caught my eye, there was no looking back. I did not even think twice in deciding to buy it. Again, this was a decision based purely on instinct, just like many other things that I have done throughout.I gloated over my new found acquisition in front of who else...

Reflections
2008-02-09 07:05:00
I've been out of reckoning with the blog world for quite some time now. Last month was pretty much busy with a lot of things rammed into my head, and my focus could just not shift away from some of the important priorities. At every stage in life, it is so important to realize what is important. In the vagaries of life, it is easy to lose what you have been searching for all your life. But then, I have been inculcated with the typical Indian middle class values, so it is not easy to lose track of the fact that one wrong move can hurt you and everyone around you. So, people around you look upon you to make the decisions, let alone the right ones.Dedication, deference, sincerity, hard work, merit and the typical adjectives used by fathers and mothers drive home a sense of responsibility just too difficult to get away from. My father, right from my school days has tried to convey a simple point It is not the will to win, but it is the will to prepare to win that is important. N...
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Miracle at Perth post Sydney fiasco
2008-01-19 20:52:00
A series in Australia is the ultimate conundrum to solve for the visiting teams; more often than not, the riddle remains unsolved and the overseas teams are always found wanting. This can be due to a myriad of factors, apart from the usual cricketing skill of the players. It's not just the question of playing to your potential, but the resilience and tenacity of the players are tested beyond limits. A tour down under is considered difficult simply because it is so difficult to imagine the prospect of beating the Aussies just about anywhere, let alone at home. So, when a four match test series is scheduled with the big "bad" boys of world cricket, it is not difficult to see the itinerary and point out that India are already one down, at least mentally. Obviously, you are scheduled to play on the fastest pitch in the world at the WACA, Perth . Teams with a terrific bowling attack have failed to tame the Aussies at Perth, and India, traditionally weak at the pace bowling depart...
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The grandpa
2008-01-05 23:38:00
Grandpa, is it true that there were snakes in this house? I asked innocently. Yes, when your father was very young, there were many. What happened to them? Oh! I bought a mongoose; the snakes got scared and they ran out of the house. Ran? I thought snakes did not have legs. Why are you cutting down the tamarind tree from the backyard? Oh! We need more space. I plan to construct an outhouse for you. You know what my friends are saying; they say that ghosts stick to tamarind trees and so the tree is getting chopped. Is it true? Grandpa, will you take me to the pond at the outskirts of the village? I want to see the crocodiles there. Who said so? Gopal went there last week, and he told me that summer is getting warmer by the day; the crocodiles may vanish any day. So, I want to see the crocodiles before they disappear.Never a person to flinch, my grandfather was ready with his answers for all those unanswerable questions that I posed to him. He spent a lot of time with me day...

Happy New Year 2008
2007-12-26 20:08:00
As the clock chimes 12 on Monday night to set off a frenzy of global celebrations, and as the New Year hype reaches a crescendo, we would have passed off yet another year having touched the "usual" landmarks on the way. Happy New Year mails and phone calls are exchanged to enliven the moment. It's not a moment of a lifetime, but there's a feeling of new found hope and excitement, as you look forward to life with gusto, albeit for those few moments. Though the general lifestyle of people has changed considerably over the last few years, and as technology has shaped our lives dramatically, the sameness in me has ensured that life has moved on at a steady pace in the year 2007. Personally, there is nothing much as far as I am concerned to unravel the timeline of events in the year 2007.December 2006The last week of December 2006 was spent with undergraduate classmates at Washington, DC, and we got back to our respective places just a day before the onset of New Year. New Year was nev...
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Rolla; Graduation walk and Nostalgia
2007-12-17 23:34:00
Pic: Graduation ceremony at Recreation CenterLife is rife with little expectations; the little things that can spruce and spice up your life in equal measure. In today's highly global world, it is not unusual to find friends in even the remotest part of the world. United States may be the largest country in the world with vast space, but every state in the US is filled with a known face. It is truly heartening to know that there is nothing to worry when you land up in a new place, because you just can't be devoid of friends. The flip side is that, with so many people in different areas, it has become increasingly difficult to find a common meet-up place. So, when you get a chance to meet up for the right occasion, we just have to make use of it totally. These little expectations may not change your life, but this fleeting passage of a quick time out together leaves you lingering for more.Pic: Graduates seated!So, last weekend was a great way to break the norms of life by get...
More About: Nostalgia , Walk

Kannada movie; an afterthought
2007-12-06 23:38:00
My knowledge of Kannada movies was strictly limited to the single source of entertainment channel in the mid-nineties. I used to wait for the Saturday evening show (later moved to Sunday evening) eagerly, hoping I could see Annavaru Dr. Rajkumar, "rebel star" Ambareesh, "Kottigobba" Vishnuvardhan, or the Nag brothers in action. Movie s were plain and simple, and it always ended in a feel good factor. I was never into watching Kannada movies in cinema halls. But as the years went by, as different channels came into existence, I could not keep up with the pace of Kannada movies; not that it was way ahead, but sadly, it had fallen way behind the standards set by its regional peers. So, I moved away from the solitary source to keep track of other things, but I still made it a point to watch the movies played on DD9, the regional equivalent of DD1, as and when I caught the Kannada movie watching mindset.Though I am not a big fan of Upendra, he brought some entertainment value to the i...

Staying in vogue
2007-11-29 06:19:00
There are some things which you can live without; there are some things which you just cannot live without after having lived with it for some time. This blog post is coming to you at 12:27 AM (to be absolutely precise) EST, and you can imagine, at this wee hour in the morning, how my mind is clouded with random thoughts. Life has taken a fast track in the last twenty years, and I just can't imagine how quickly our lives have got adapted to it. It is strange, but in the process of making things simpler, how we have lost out on some of the simple aspects of life. In the last many years, I have always fought for simplicity, trying to steer my life away from the norms, since norms are no longer associated with simplicity. Yet, the more I try to get away from it, the more I am interested in the development of today's world.I clearly remember the day we got the land line phone back in Bangalore. I was in my fifth standard and was getting all excited about the new device at home. ...
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Staying (dis)connected
2007-11-21 23:08:00
One of the greatest wonders of life, according to me, is the ability to communicate with a wide set of people, identify a select few with whom you think will share an unknown closeness, back your instincts and give it all you can to be in touch with them. Many a time, I have pondered how much a new face means to us after some point of time.How many of us really keep in touch with our old friends? All of us have met so many people since childhood that the number keeps increasing by the day. We lose track of some of them just due to the sheer number of new faces that we meet everyday. Obviously, you give it your best shot to stay in touch with all, but the inevitable slowly seeps in. The good old days of yesteryears is slowly forgotten. The hourly phone calls are replaced by daily phone calls, which soon turns weekly and before your realize, it has already become bi-monthly, until one fine day it dawns on you that you haven't spoken to your friend in a year. You think, by then, it is...
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Washing away your "echchal"
2007-11-13 22:50:00
The habit of maintaining a foot long distance between the mouth and spoon dates back to early stages of childhood when my mother had a stern eye on the proceedings in the kitchen. The typical conservative South Indian touch that I inculcated at such a young age under the watchful eyes of my mother has actually made life difficult for me several years later. They are simple set of rules, but when I see the general population bypass them, I have an unexplainable sense of exasperation seething through me. The first feeling I get when I see such things happen is Oh! What would my mother say if she sees this! The concept of echchal was made clear to me at home when I had just crossed the stage of crawling I guess. It remains distinct in memory to me because at every stage it was explained to me the consequence of not following the general protocols of life. I remember as a toddler, I would follow my mother into the kitchen holding the pallu of her saree, and demanding some offerings from...
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Five minutes...please...!!!
2007-11-03 03:26:00
Get up. It is time to get ready. Ma, 5 minutes, please!I have no idea how many times I would have played out this situation in my life. It all started during my school days, when I had to get up early in the morning. My school started at 7:30 in the morning, and my mother would start her wake-me-up process from 6:00, which would easily go on till 6:30. The struggle would continue relentlessly every morning, shuttling between the room and the kitchen every five minutes. She would coax and cajole, give a stern call at times, and finally, would consider that the best option would be to drag me off the bed. I would react as if my mother had committed a sin by treating me so "violently". I would never help her cause by reacting too slowly in the morning, contrary to the way she pulled herself up every morning, never flinching even once in her daily chores. How could I explain to her the bliss of early morning sleep? The day began by deriding the cold Bangalore weather, which never helped...
More About: Minutes , Utes

Boston, MA
2007-10-30 00:38:00
Pic: In front of MITBlogging is a strange thing; there is so much to be written, and it depends on you to pick the right topic to be written about. I thought I was bored of writing travelogues, but then after a rather eventful weekend, I just could not think of writing anything more important. It was planned weeks earlier that Yadu and Karthik would be joining us for the weekend here at Boston . Boston is one of the cities on the east coast which can make you feel absolutely pleasant. There is a feel good factor associated with this city, so famous for education and sports, among many other things; a touch of class that can be experienced by staying in this beautiful city. Truly English!Pic: In front of HarvardThe best part about friends visiting you from far off places has more to do with staying together than just touring the city. You look forward to meeting them with a sense of longing to catch up with the good old times. All of us hailing from the same school, we generate tonnes...

Inspiration at 200 continues...
2007-10-22 05:24:00
The dreaded years of English language in school began with short essays, compositions and paragraph writing in your own words. I had to adapt to the language through a series of mind conversions from the local tongue, before it actually took some time to think in English and write in English. When I wrote my first essay in my own words, there was a startling revelation of how hard it is to write something without by-hearting what the teacher enforced upon us. That was class fifth and the beginning of a whole series of problems with grammar and other small nuances. The English text books were fun to read, which gradually got complicated with Shakespeare entering the fray along with a whole lot of Russian writers. As you like it was a brilliant read, and short stories like God sees the truth but waits by Leo Tolstoy, The bet by Anton Chekov, Gateman's gift by RK Narayan, The last leaf by O' Henry just elevated me to an unexplainable trance by getting me introduced to the choici...
More About: Inspiration , Conti

HP-NH-HG-EW-HD
2007-10-16 03:01:00
Well, well, well, before I break your head with acronyms, three out of the five refer to the same topic. I am referring to the Harry Potter (HP) series, which had readers hooked all over the world, thanks to JK Rowling. What really pleased me was the fact that there was so much anticipation, that kids and adults alike had lined up stores at midnight to procure the first copy of the book. That really is a good step and it was good to see people give so much importance to literature instead of other trivialities.I read the books after a long time, actually, really long. After the final edition of the series had come out, I took up to Harry Potter reading. I just wanted to know what was there in the book that people were going crazy about. I read the six books in about two or three weeks time, in between office and household chores. I don't know why, but I could never take out time to read it over the weekends. There was a point when I was reading the fourth book that I felt r...

Turning up(on!) with a bindi
2007-10-08 17:44:00
I had to check the title twice so that I did not end up adding an 'h' somewhere that could result in a vegetable. The whole meaning of the post would have been lost. But, Google has always helped my cause to verify things instantaneously, and here goes the post to convey the right meaning.Bindi is a symbol anyone from India would be familiar with. In South India, it is referred to as Pottu or Bottu, and since I am from the South, my first reaction would be to associate that tiny dot on a woman's forehead as Pottu. I do not want to write about the religious significance of a bindi since a significant lot has been written about that. I have always wondered how that tiny addition to the forehead of women serves as a nice decorative item. A bindi comes in different sizes and shapes associated with a myriad of decorative features thus answering a big question Why do girls spend hours and hours of their time selecting a bindi?But today it is different. It is no more cool to spo...

Simple things in life
2007-10-03 01:56:00
Simplicity is certainly the norm of life, and sometimes, when you look back in time, you just wonder how in the world, the world has changed drastically over a period of time. There are so many people with whom I can easily share this view How I wish I can go back in time. Life was simple, with all the little things having the greatest of significance and extravaganza was limited to just over the top luxuries, luxuries which do not even qualify as basic necessities in today's ever changing world. Life was all about doing the simple things in a simple way to get simple results and more importantly getting satisfied in a simple way. Simple , isn't it?Pratap and I go a long way in sharing some of the good and bad times together. Today, at lunch time, we had a brief conversation over phone, and invariably, the talks centered on Bangalore and the simplicity of the early nineties. He told me Praveen, I want to go back to Bangalore and experience the thrill of life as Bangal...
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The week that was...
2007-09-26 02:15:00
Obviously the biggest news of the week is the Indian team's superlative victory against arch rivals Pakistan in the inaugural edition of the Twenty 20 International Tournament comprising all the test playing nations. I don't think I can add anything more than what is already said in all the websites. Basically, everyone has run out of cliches. The feel good factor for an average Indian cricket fan is at an all time high, thanks to the out of the world victory in a big tournament after almost 25 years. No wonder, we are so excited about this wonderful victory. Dhoni and his boys have got us a great pre-Navarathri gift.All said and done, I was just wondering when the Indian media is going to look beyond the actual euphoria of the win. Well, what is that, you may wonder. Shoaib Malik, the Pakistani captain, came out with one of the most atrocious comments. Let us quote him verbatim, so that we can clearly understand what he saysFirst of all, I want to say something over here...
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The love affair timeline
2007-09-19 03:09:00
Timeline #1My gaze was fixed on the main deity of the Sringeri Sharadambal temple; She had the power to encapsulate my very existence with that divine sight. I only wished She would come to life for a split second and embrace me into Her fold; Her eyes had such a might. But then, that is what all the learned men, the so called sages have been praying all life for that split second darshan. She could destroy anybody with that glance, and equally, bring any inanimate object to life with the minimum of fuss. The all pervading being had everything within Her control; Her simple glance encompassing so many facets of life. Simplicity and majesty are two words that can lend a paradoxical touch when describing someone, but She had both these qualities embedded within Her in such a way that it is very easy for a normal being to identify distinctly the difference. I closed my eyes in front of Her. What can I ask Her? She knew everything that I wanted. I prostrated before Her, flat on the grou...
More About: Love , Timeline , Affair

Some cents(sense) for an instinct!!!
2007-09-12 05:13:00
Today would have been just another usual day for us - get up early in the morning (I meant 8:30 am; my definition of early means till noon), quick ablutions, get running to the office, be back by evening, play some tennis weather permitting, else self made food and retire. It sometimes can get on to your nerves. Life follows such a predictable trajectory that I can define my weekdays for the next ten weeks easily. The pattern has injected such an expected response, that any deviation, even if slightly from normal, soothes us to no end. Oh! That was something different for the day!Late in the evening, after dinner, I had this incredible urge to try out a sundae at one of the ice cream parlors in Reading. I am basically an ice cream freak and love to try it out at various places. We had tried to go to this place on one of the weekends and found it closed. It was more of a loose statement directed at Sameer, my roommate, "Come on, why not go to Reading, let's try out the ice c...
More About: Sense , Cents , Some

The North South Divide: A Chasm
2007-09-02 06:54:00
In a land of billion people, with 1500 miles separating the east from the west, and an equal distance separating the north from the south, the resulting cultural exchange that culminates across different parts of the country allows us to accept the similarities and probe for those differences that can get baffling at times and at other times, equally glaring. India has in her the wherewithal to adapt to the changing times, and in today's fast paced world, she is really doing a good job in staying in tune with the present.North , south, east and the west, but if you notice, people tend to classify India into two broad divisions, the north and the south. The east and the west somehow tend to get aligned with one of the two major divisions. Ask any Indian about the two regions, and he will be quick to draw the boundaries. At least 99% of the Indians will agree with me: Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu fall in the southern part of India, and anybody hailing from any...
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