Last week, the 44th president of the United States of America was sworn it. As I watched it on TV, I was touched by the magnitude of the whole event. A Black President! Wow .. I was watching history being made, and it even brought a few tears to my eyes.
You may wonder how or even why it affected me in any way. I didn't vote for Obama to become the 44th President, I didn't work in his campaign and neither did I follow every step of his campaign from the comfort of my own home. Despite all that, I felt a sense of pride that I could be there to watch history being made.
There was hope in the air that things would change after he took office. But like Obama himself said, he is no miracle worker and things are going to get a lot worse before they can get better! So hopefully it doesn't take very long for things to turn around.
The austere environment of the inauguration was tempered by Obama starting his oath pre-maturely and the Chief Justice messing up the words of the oath. There was a moment of lightness during the swearing in ceremony. Obama also retook his oath the next day for just in case.
The funny thing is .. When I was listening to Obama making his inaugural address, I had a Deja vu feeling! I felt like I was watching the movie "Independence Day". The tone and the intonations were exactly the same as those of Bull Pullman in the scene just before they launch a worldwide counter offensive against the aliens.
Good Luck President Obama!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Childhood Memories
Of late, I have been reminiscing about my childhood. My parents had sent some stuff for me from India through some friends who had come from India. How sweet right? The best part of the parcel was an envelope from from sister. It was a picture of the two of us that was taken close to 15 years ago. I was probably 9 and my sister was 7. It was the day of my sari ceremony and the two of us had to wake up at an insane hour of the morning. We look dead exhausted :D But thinking back brought a smile to my face. As Pri rightly said, "From ugly to gorgeous".
I had this insane urge to eat beetroot chutney today. I don't even remember the last time I ate beetroot chutney. lol. It was that long ago. So i bought myself beets and made the chutney and I swear it was the best thing I have eaten in forever! It was so good (Sigh!). When we were kids, the only vegetable that we used to love was beetroot. We loved the pink color and there was never enough of it. Mix it in sambhar, we got pink sambhar. Mix it in rasam, we got pink rasam. Mix it in curd rice, we got pink curd rice. The day mom made beetroot we made just about everything pink!
The good old days!
I had this insane urge to eat beetroot chutney today. I don't even remember the last time I ate beetroot chutney. lol. It was that long ago. So i bought myself beets and made the chutney and I swear it was the best thing I have eaten in forever! It was so good (Sigh!). When we were kids, the only vegetable that we used to love was beetroot. We loved the pink color and there was never enough of it. Mix it in sambhar, we got pink sambhar. Mix it in rasam, we got pink rasam. Mix it in curd rice, we got pink curd rice. The day mom made beetroot we made just about everything pink!
The good old days!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Skinny Bitch
The United States of America has been classified as the "Fattest Nation" of the world. Unemployment and poverty are the biggest problems that lead to obesity. Depression and boredom drive people to turn to food for comfort, albeit a temporary comfort. I can say from first hand experience, that I have been in situations that have stressed me out so much that I have indeed turned to food for comfort. Eating a great big ice cream or a doughnut, not to mention a giant muffin provides a temporary sense of euphoria that for just that one second you feel great. But once that passes, there is a tremendous sense of guilt that assaults you.
When I was vacationing in Austin, I found at a Borders a book called "Skinny Bitch". I was most intrigued by what I read in it. Some of you may have read and some may not. If you haven't, I think you should! It exposes a lot of practices in the food processing industry that you probably knew but were in denial about. I certainly was! When people told me that milk was not really "vegetarian", I like everyone else made fun of them. I had to realize the truth once I read that book. I'm not saying that "Skinny Bitch" is the bible to food, but it provides insights that you need to be aware of and of course take what they say with a grain of salt. If I had to describe "Skinny Bitch" in a few words, I'd say that it is a "permanent crash diet" for the modeling industry or for whoever is obsessed about looking good.
In the last few months I have become more aware of the number of shows that are aired on TV about "Fat" people. Way more than necessary even. It seems as if the whole country is obsessed by it. "The Biggest Loser", "Fat Sally" are just a few. Agreed that they are inspirational, but it can get overwhelming too. I happened to walk in to Borders this morning, and I found that almost 50% of the new arrivals have something to do with weight loss. Workout routines, Bob & Jillian (For those of you who don't know, they are the trainers on the Biggest Loser. I love Jillian), cookbooks, weight loss biographies, just to name a few.
Is all of this exposure actually helping people? Or do they just forget about it once they are done reading? How much does it cost to eat healthy and can people afford to do so in these troubled times? I don't know if these are questions that I will ever know the answer for. But they still need to be asked.
What have I learned from all of this: 1. Staying healthy is not an option but a necessity. 2. Use the exposure from the media to my advantage and learn from other people's mistakes. 3. Use your head and don't blindly accept everything that is thrown out at you by the media. 4. Read the ingredients label before buying processed food. 5. Count calories (not to the extent of being paranoid) and exercise daily to maintain good health.
When I was vacationing in Austin, I found at a Borders a book called "Skinny Bitch". I was most intrigued by what I read in it. Some of you may have read and some may not. If you haven't, I think you should! It exposes a lot of practices in the food processing industry that you probably knew but were in denial about. I certainly was! When people told me that milk was not really "vegetarian", I like everyone else made fun of them. I had to realize the truth once I read that book. I'm not saying that "Skinny Bitch" is the bible to food, but it provides insights that you need to be aware of and of course take what they say with a grain of salt. If I had to describe "Skinny Bitch" in a few words, I'd say that it is a "permanent crash diet" for the modeling industry or for whoever is obsessed about looking good.
In the last few months I have become more aware of the number of shows that are aired on TV about "Fat" people. Way more than necessary even. It seems as if the whole country is obsessed by it. "The Biggest Loser", "Fat Sally" are just a few. Agreed that they are inspirational, but it can get overwhelming too. I happened to walk in to Borders this morning, and I found that almost 50% of the new arrivals have something to do with weight loss. Workout routines, Bob & Jillian (For those of you who don't know, they are the trainers on the Biggest Loser. I love Jillian), cookbooks, weight loss biographies, just to name a few.
Is all of this exposure actually helping people? Or do they just forget about it once they are done reading? How much does it cost to eat healthy and can people afford to do so in these troubled times? I don't know if these are questions that I will ever know the answer for. But they still need to be asked.
What have I learned from all of this: 1. Staying healthy is not an option but a necessity. 2. Use the exposure from the media to my advantage and learn from other people's mistakes. 3. Use your head and don't blindly accept everything that is thrown out at you by the media. 4. Read the ingredients label before buying processed food. 5. Count calories (not to the extent of being paranoid) and exercise daily to maintain good health.
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