Spoons and Forks

Why do we use spoons or forks while eating ? Back in India most of us don't use forks or spoon while eating at home.. But when we go out to restaurants or parties we manage to use them efficiently ;). What is the reason behind using this..?

If eating with spoons or forks is a good or healthy habit then why we are not following them at home ?

or

Its just a dining etiquette to be followed in public places ?

or

Is it just a eating style being followed from the western or the other parts of the world ?

Considering them as a healthy habit is a convincing reason, because our hands are maximum exposed to germs and dirt compared to the spoons and forks. In fact these utensils are sterilized in most of the places which makes them more safer..

Here is an article which speaks about the different ways of eating various kinds of food. Just curious to hear the history behind the usage of these spoons and forks.. :)

The fall of Benazir..

Moments before and after the the fall of Benazir.... Here are some facts about the leader..

My New Camera :)

Few snaps from my new camera :) These places are in and around The Mammoth Lakes, 5 hours drive from Los Angeles, California..

On the way to The Mammoth Lakes

Lake disguised as a snowy land

A house decorated with snow

Skiing zone @ The Mammoths
(apparently we missed this adventure :( )

With The Sun all set to rise, The Moon is about to wane
(Few minutes before sunrise)

Of course its not taken by me ;)

Can You?

Recently when i was commuting to office, i happened to see a small kid (should be around 5-7 yrs old) with an innocent face in a local bus. All of a sudden something made me feel how this kid is going to be after few years..May be a respectable person in the society or may be an anti social element (my 12 std master Mr. Sella paandi use this word very often :)) . This event triggered me a sequence of questions and facts.. Everyone is innocent when they are born. In that case, what makes them turn into a terrorists or anti social elements.

Is it the background they are born ?

Is it the environment they grow?

The extra ordinary circumstances or events that changes their course of life ?

I feel that the surroundings (which includes all the above) in which the child grows plays a vital role in determining his\her future.. Born in a decent background, with all conducive environment and factors to grow better, am sitting in LA and writing this blog.. What if i had born in a remote village of Kashmir or Sri Lanka with an environment that is not as conducive as i have now ? It is quite possible that i would have become a member of Al Quaeda or Tamil Eelam and fighting for its ideologies ?

Let us assume people like Osama, Prabhakaran, Phoolan are the victims of this vicious environments and background. Is it fair enough to judge and brand them, just because we had a better environment to grow?

I am not able to say for sure that I would have not become another Osama or Phoolan, if i had been brought up in their environment. Can you?

Hey Ram

When i was listening to this song "Gokulathu Kanna " from the movie Gokulathil seethi, this lyric "Raavanan nenjil Kaamam illai (Ravana had no lust in his mind) struck me something. As far as what i have heard about the epic Ramayana, Raavanaa captured Seetha and prisoned her in Sri Lanka.. And later Ram rescued Seetha and from their she took the Agni Test (Not the one Abdul kalaam tests, this is kind of fidelity test) to prove her integrity

Coming back to the lyric

The line "Raavanan nenjil kaamam illai" made some sense to me.. Though he captured Ram's wife (which cannot be justified for any reason), i am not sure if he did forcefully exhibited his desires\lust on her when seetha was in Lanka.. If it is true then so is the lyric.

When i felt Raavanaa's act of capturing Seetha is not justifiable, I felt that Ram's act of Agni Test is also not justifiable.. Was it really necessary ? Once you lose faith on your partner, their breaks the relationship then why need a test? May be Ram trusted her but to prove to this world, he wanted seetha to take it.. But again why do you want to prove to this world about someone whom you know better than the world....? An why it is only Seetha, and why not Ram's integrity is questioned here.. ?

One reason may be Ram is another man made God, or because Ram belongs to one of the most powerful dominating genre of the society,"The Men". I am not able to find a better answer for this. Do you?

Stance..

Here is an equation. A is in love with B , But B only likes A, but not in love with A. You should understand here the difference between love and like. When a person say they like you, it is not equal to or almost equivalent to loving you. Both are different. So get yourself cleared when some one says they like you :) . Coming back to the equation again, B only likes A. A is disappointed with B because B is not understanding or accepting the love of A. But B has its own valid reasons not to accept A.

To make this equation little complex, here comes C. C knows A is in love with B. In spite of that, C is loving A, like how A is loving B. When all the three comes to know about each other, what stance should they take?

A knows the pain of waiting for B. So A can easily understand how C will feel. Understanding C, should A accept C's Love?
or
Sticking to its stance, should A go ahead and keep on waiting for B? Doing this A is reacting to C, the same ways how B is reacting to A..
or
C knowing what love is, should it help A in its love for B?
or
B, coming to know C's love with A, should persuade A to accept C?

What will be your stance if you were A, B or in C's position?

Trip to Las Vegas

It will not be an exaggeration if Las Vegas is called as The City of Lights. The enormous night activities,the Casinos,rides, shows and night clubs in this part of the world, makes the visitors nocturnal.

Las Vegas - The city of Lights

The hotels and casinos in Las Vegas are not just conventional Multi-storied sky scrappers alone. Here is the casino Paris Hotel - a replica of Eiffel tower . This replica is half of the height (appx 540 foot) of its original one in Paris.

Paris(Hotel), Las Vegas

Paris - Bellagio casino -in the back drop

Bellagio is another hotel and casino in Las Vegas. Inspired by the Lake Como in Italy, this casino has an artificial lake set up in 32000 meter square in front of its massive building. The specialty of this casino is the Fountain of Bellagio that takes place every 15 minutes in this artificial lake. This is a real beauty to watch.

The Fountain of Bellagio

Its more beautiful to see the water dancing to the tunes, from the top of the Eiffel tower. Here is the video taken from the top of the tower at a height of 500 feet.

The fountain of Bellagio - from Eiffel Tower

For those who have watched the roaring MGM lion in their movies and shows alone, here is the Lion Habitat set up inside the MGM - Metro Goldwyn Mayer Inc. Casino, to symbolize their mascot. The Lion Habitat - a glass protected lion cage, has two, two years old siblings (though they doesn't appear like that ;) ) well trained by instructors.Its amazing to see the instructors moving so closely with the lions like pets. We saw a trainer teasing the Lion in his tail playfully :)..

Inside MGM Lion Habitat - The Lion King and its Trainer

MGM and Bellagio are among the three casino vaults targeted along with The Mirage, in the George Clooney, Brad Pitt starer Ocean's Eleven.

After Paris, it is Venice now. The Venetian is another Casino in the Las Vegas strip area. Venetian's internal architecture is a replica of the Venice city itself.

The Venetian - Replicating the canals in the Venice

A part of the Venetian casino is designed with Venice like canals. Any guess about the timing of these photographs..

Inside the Venetian

You would have noticed how dark the sky was in the first few photos. Those photos were taken around 10 - 11 pm in the night. The above two photos were taken two hours after the first few photos (i.e) 12:15 am midnight. Yes. The Venetian interior was designed with a spectacular day light effect that makes you feel that you are at outdoors in day time. For a moment i was wondering which part of the day i was. I was stunned for a moment about the light effects they had inside the casino. Amazing !!!

Above all, the most unforgettable experience was in the Thrills of The Stratosphere. The Stratosphere Casino has a tower which is the tallest observation tower in The United States. At a height of 1149 feet, The Stratosphere has three thriller rides,The X scream, The Insanity, The Big shot. These are real thrillers.

'Triple Thrill Ad - posted inside The Stratosphere

Though we didn't get a chance to ride The Insanity, The X Scream and The Big Shot was too good. The X Scream is a ride of my life. The tower seen in the picture is at the top of The Stratosphere at a height of 1100 feet.

The X scream ride goes vertically down towards the ground at an elevated angle,from the top of the tower (1100 feet) with a quick momentum and then stops, then makes a jerk pushing you little more down, then lifts you elegantly. This is repeated for 3 times i guess. I rode this thriller sitting right in the first seat (you can imagine with the above picture).

Sitting there i was wondering what would happen if something goes wrong. What else ? I would not have been writing this now :)

Here are the few other photos taken during this trip.

Inside The Venetian @12.15 am

In front of the Eiffel Tower

Inside the Eiffel Tower

(Gopi*, Naanthaanga, Ganesh, Srivatsan*)

Last but not the least, Las Vegas, from The Stratosphere

Las Vegas - From the Top of The Stratosphere

*The photographers of the trip :)

Adaptations

In recent times, movies has become a pleasure for me to watch rather than a time pass. This is mainly because of the movies which portrays a powerful art in the form of motion picture rather than being an entertaining medium alone. A significant number of beautiful movies that are pleasant to watch are being produced and directed without any lingual or regional barriers. They may not be always thought provoking or inspirational, but they will give you some sense of joy (like reading a book). And interestingly many of such good movies are adaptations from novels. There is always a opinion that books are always better than their movie version. This is mainly because movies cannot provide all the small minute details that a book can provide and the movies cannot fit an abridged book version within a frame of two hours. This gives books an edge over the movies,but still these movies are enjoyable.

Seeing these movies (most of them made in Hollywood), i wonder why such kind of adaptations are not being made in the Indian cine industry. Having watched a considerable number of Indian movies am able to list only a very few numbers which i have watched under this category.

The Namesake -Hindi/English (2007) -Adapted from The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Parineeta - Hindi(2005) -Adapted from Parineeta by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay

Aalavandhaan - Tamil(2001) -Adapted from Aalavandhaan by Kamalhaasan

Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal - Tamil(1975) -Adapted from Sila Nerangalil Sila
Manithargal by Jayakanthan

Pather Panchali - Bengali(1955) -Adapter from Pather Panchali by Bibhutibhushan
Bandopadhyay

It will be great to see quite a number of Indian movies to fall under this category. Especially for books and movie lovers like me.. :)