A day with Panda’s (@ Chengdu China Giant Panda Breeding Base)

A weekend in Chengdu, thanks to some extended client meetings now allows me to vouch for the fact that “Panda’s are really the most adorable, cutest slobs you can ever see”. Their black and white fur, tinted with brown dust makes them definitely one of the most photogenic bears around the world. Albeit, note that the  word “bear” can be held debatable, they apparently  also classify as belonging to Raccoon family. However, I think bear sounds much more huggable that raccoons, so I choose to use the bear classification.

At 60RMB (approx $10) the entrance tickets are rather affordable. We choose to just walk around the park, rather than take the trams provided. Armed with the panda park map, available the ticket center, we set out gaping and looking at these near extinct animals. A true bamboo lover, these panda’s do actually survive on the nutrient deficient bamboo alone, with a capacity to gain up to 350 pounds.

These Panda’s are not really “wild” per say.. but I cannot imagine them being very quick in wilderness either.. the calmness which surrounds them and the zest with which they eat those bamboo sticks can be defined in one single word : “ZEN”… truly asian..

Apparently, all the white Panda’s worldwide are Chinese property.. I like to call them “Chinese Citizens” (Ahem!!) , sounds much more dignified don’t ya think?. …and boy! Are these citizens treated well.. 200 acres devoted to their preservation effort, huge open enclosures, devoted cleaners, unlimited bamboo supply.. these Panda’s seem to be doing well. Yes, definitely much better than that in zoo!

And Whilst I forget, you can actually hold the Panda’s, but of course, as is with everything, it comes with a nice sizable price tag attached to it. At about 1000RMB, holding the Panda is not exactly cheap and I decided to savor the cuteness from afar with no regrets.

Towards the end of our visit, we bought a few “gifts” from the official store at the entrance of the park and as we walked outside saw a whole bunch of stalls with “panda” items selling for much cheaper prices right outside.. well, since China does not really have a “return goods” policy, we had to make do with what we bought… but perhaps next time I will be smarter..

At the end of it all, I have to admit the white ones are the ones who evoked a lot of “ohh !! ahhhs” from. me. The red, while cute in their own rights, nevertheless paled in the “cuteness meter” next to the white Panda’s. Well, who can deny “Po” is much more adorable than “Shifu”  in Ku Fu Panda.. now I know why!!

Being You: The everchanging defination

A relationship is a funny thing.. in some ways it defines the very meaning of being you and in some it changes so many things that there is essentially a new you. Whether you like the new persona that you now are is a question you strive you answer.. sometimes the changes is like wave .. it just happens naturally and sometimes it is like a bend around the road, which you have to take…

A mom, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend….all very important relationships and all influencing the very core of being you… . An introspection at those rare silent moments makes you startle at this person you have become along the way.. so many things new which were not there earlier.. some good and some bad…

The bad are the ones which make you wonder how you got there and what made you make those decisions… some regrets ? yes, perhaps, but you move on.. you shrug away those .. decide to make a change (whether you do or not is another question) and force your thoughts away from this haunting new/disturbing  piece of you…

And it is then, you think to yourself.. “perhaps, just perhaps, there are still pieces of me, which are truly me.. good pieces of me.. totally undiluted, un-influence able, and still fillled with hope/lust/love ”

Kindle : A travel Companion

I get to catch up on my reading while traveling and it is one of the few pleasures of a business travel I have come to enjoy. By far, kindle is my favorite electronic gadget and I find myself immersed in the world of words.

Ipad lovers would beg to differ and of course their claims that Ipad can do so much more is so true.. however, the beauty of Kindle is simply that.. you can read without distractions !!! Immerse yourself in the kaleidoscope of words… build your own world, where letters rule and make your own kingdom, let the words take hold of your imagination and let the magic work. …. Kindle is a definite hand baggage must have for me!

The Bookseller's Sonnets: A Book Review

As I started reading the book, I did not remember anything from the cover.. I had no idea what the book was about or what to expect. I just assumed from the title that it was something to do with middle east.. perhaps hoping for an Iranian flavor somewhere ..

Boy was I wrong!! As I read through the pages, it became evident, it was anything but middle eastern.. the completely fictional story takes place in post sept 11 timeframe.. exploring the complex world of a jewesh curator of Holocaust Museum in Manhattan.  As you get through the first chapter, you think you know the theme .. ah! A love story about a jewish woman with orthodox background in love with a non Jewish American.. and then! the plot manages to surprise you.. in comes that mystery book, from an aynamous person…. And a story within a story begins to unravel. It weaves a complex yet fine thread of pain, joy, love and suffering. The forbidden love between the catholic and a jew in Tudor times and the pain and suffering of holocaust…. just keeps you tied in.

Predictable? Yes perhaps, but the story is told in a rather engaging manner… when a new born had to be killed to protect the family from Nazi’s I found my eyes fill up , just imagining the horror of killing ur own child made my heart ache.. the inner agony of the main character, the Jewish curator to come clean about her relationship with her family… had your understanding…

To be warned, the ending of the book, is along the expected lines, however, there is something to be said of the expected.. sometimes the expected can give you as much pleasure as the expected.

A definite one on my list.

Kindle: A love Story

Yes! I admit it.. I am a kindle lover!!! 

And  this was no easy transition… A vivid reader, I have always felt the need to hold, smell and turn those pages.. Initially I could not wrap my brain around having a electronic format of book .. it seemed just too weird not to turn the page .. or to be able to jump ahead, read a few lines and jump back to recall something..

And then Kindle happened!! A gift from my husband, I threaded cautiously.. I felt the weight of the reader, I downloaded a few books from Amazon and I just gave it a try… And much to my surprise, I actually found myself liking whole experience!! I could easily hold the reader with one hand, slip it into my purse/laptop bag without adding extra weight, could read without my eyes getting tired…..  Soon  I found myself reading all the time.. while feeding the baby, in restroom .. while sitting in passenger end of the car, while flyin.. oh yeah I was hooked…..

Oh yeah Kindle is my current fav. Electronic gadget (yeah even after having it for nearly 2 years now) …. And my dearest travel companion!! Love Love Love  Kindle!

A first tryst with Gardening

Back at home, while we were growing up, we lived in a pseudo farm house, where my mom was deeply involved with Gardening and all things associated. We got most of our veggies from the garden and our lawn – Oh! it was so lush, green, filled with flowering plants... an paradise onto itself.

However, looking back, I realize that though I savored in the benefits of having a mom with green thumb rather readily, I myself never took to playing around in the mud, planting or growing those every so amazing flowers.

Nahh! A typical teen, I just enjoyed myself without a thought at the hard work behind it.

Now, looking at the sorry state of our new digs, we decided to do something about it. So off, we went to HOME DEPOT, our current favorite store and had a discussion with one of the lawn experts there. The net result: Acknowledgement that our lawn probably needs a lotta TLC this year without receiving the benefits of the basking in green.

We are now proud owners of a spreader, pruning scissors, garden rake and a bag of deweeder plus fertilizer.

Armed with these, we decided to physically dig out some of the Dandelions, chickweeds, before we use the de-weeder and fertilizer.. so off we went digging, me with my hat, S with his cap… and R (our 1 year old) walking/falling/ohhing/ahhing along our side.

And then came the turn of pruning, my mom (who is here with us for a few days) showed us how to prune.. so click click click went our pruning scissors . and by 4 pm in evening, we had just finished pruning the plants at one end of the house.. the other 3 sides still remained. But gosh, the side where we worked, did look much better than when we started on it… worth the effort we spend there. Makes me actually look forward to next weekend, when we finally put in de-weeder on the lawn and prune rest of the plants around the house.

So herez to the first step in many more to come : our first day at Gardening, 4/15/2012

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Vs IPad 2

I am in the process of buying my mom a tablet. And her requirements are rather simple: Ability to browse, download pictures from emails and camera, do simple picture manipulations, skype, Google video chat, watch videos, WiFi.

Given the price tag of $499 for the new IPAD (ipad 3?), and that the key difference between the two versions being the retina display, I think that IPAD 2 at $399 may actually be a good option for her.

However, the fact that you still can't remove the battery, there's no HDMI out port, and no expanding the storage with an SD card, makes Galaxy Tab 10.1 very tempting. The built in stereo system, in build GPS, most importantly the easy transfer of data between SD card and windows PC makes Galaxy very attractive for the given needs

I will be the first to admit, I am not tab junkie, I have very little knowledge when it comes to tab. I use Kindle (and AHEM! Love it! .. ) and for mail etc, use my laptop or my phone (an Android based one).. so perhaps my confusion stems from the fact that I hardly have used IPAD/IPhone the way it ought to be .. real extensively.. my limited experience with these devices have been for listening to music, browsing.. which I think I can do as effectively else where in android based application.

And of course the price parity does nothing— the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and iPad 2 each cost $400 (as of March 2012) — and hence the additional dilemma.

But again, the fact that half the world and one very good friend of mine, Kanishk, is such a HUGE fan of IPAD leads me to lean a bit towards the IPAD.

Well, the conflict is on.. at this point the scores are as follows:

Galaxy tab : 1 / Ipad 2: 1.25

UPDATE: Based on further analysis and a strong recommendation from my friend Kanishk just ordered the IPAD.. . now waiting to see my mom's reaction to it

Blog revival

I have been thinking on and off about reviving this blog, it has been dead for a while with a post or two in between.

I struggled with this internally, and had to battle with the thought of no one reading the blog ! I found myself constantly pining to pen down those thoughts and struggled with possibility that I would find no one interested in it to read these thoughts, comment…. . form a comradeship based on these random ramblings.

Finally I looked real deep and went back to the roots of my reason for blogging .. and poof! It struck me hard that this was supposed to “MY Medium” for sorting/thinking/writing down things which matter.. my introspection, my view point..

And just like that, I had made the decision… to move forward, to let my doubts lie and start again on this journey, let the words flow and let them talk …

So with a bang, here I am declaring to world “YES, THIS BLOG IS ALIVE” .. KICKING and ready to go… here I am writing again! Yay!

Herez to a new start! Cheers!!!!