I tried mindfully eating the other day.

Ordered a Masala Dosa in the canteen in a hospital last week.

Was alone. By habit I pulled out my phone to read or browse something while eating.

Then I stopped and put the phone back – had been reading Awakening the Buddha within – thought let me try mindful eating – a practice as suggested in the book.

Tore off a small part of the dosa – dipped it in sambhar and chutney and ate it. Chewed it trying to discern the contents – the dal, rice, coconut, onion – thought from where all the ingredients would have travelled. Relished the taste of different ingredients – it was just like listening to a symphony and trying to identify the music instruments.

Then my mind drifted away – don’t remember what it started analysing – and after sometime realised I should be mindfully eating – and again started focusing on the food and the moment.

Man it is tough. The mind keeps drifting.

After that day, have tried a lot of times when I eat alone to remind myself to eat mindfully – no phone, no ipad, no book, no TV while eating. To think of only the food and trying to keep my mind around food and eating – and not let it go on its journey on work, or judge people or the billion things it can think at any moment.

There is another advantage of mindful eating.

I am paying more attention to nutrition, the flavour, the taste, the texture – food never tasted this good. Even a simple preparation is tasty now. I have taken a new interest on Rasam – it is so simple but has got some amazing taste if you just close your eyes and take just a sip. If I drink Coke mindfully, I will think of all the harmful chemicals in it or the 10 spoons of sugar they have put – will not be able to continue drinking coke anymore.

If I eat mindfully – the food I pick automatically becomes healthy and wholesome and in tune with the earth. And as a bonus my daily quota of meditation also is met or exceeded – because mindful eating is also a form of meditation. We get 3 or 4 times a day to eat – these are beautiful opportunities to practice meditation.

Rest Easy Chickens.

I am not going to eat you.

And also you – the Baby Goat, Goat, Fish, Prawn.

And this time I think its for real.

Here is the path to reducing consumption and finally zeroing it out – if you are a carnivore who is in doubt you can continue reading this post. If you are a carnivore who doesn’t care – you need not read any further – but if you want to amuse yourself – go ahead and read it 🙂

2000

Went to LSU to do my masters. I figured out that chicken was cheaper than Veggies. Also cooking chicken was much much easier – drop in some masala and within 30 minutes a tasty preparation would be ready. No brainer.  Also in US everyone ate meat – 3 times a day. The poor Veggie FOBs all suffered – some converted. I did not have any 2nd thoughts ( not that I had ) that eating Meat had any issues in it and it was totally fine.

2006

Got back to India – and had to visit Chicken shops – as there was no pre packaged meat like in US. I would say 1/2 a kg – if the vendor doesnt have stock, he will take one chicken from the cage, go behind the counter, slit its throat and will drop it into a drum. There will be a commotion and slowly it will subside. He will give me 1/2 kg in a black plastic bag – and it will be warm. It disturbed me – but only till the time I dropped it in the kitchen. My mother ( an ex-carnivore herself ) would cook some delicious dishes – and all was forgotten.

2009

Reliance Fresh opened a Meat section near our home. It was back to good old US days – it was all packaged – and zero guilt. Also this time I started running – thought I needed protein and started getting meat almost on a weekly basis.

2011

This is when I read Born to Run – ( http://kvrlogs.blogspot.in/2011/10/three-running-myths-busted.html ). Learnt that you don’t need to be a carnivore to run better.

And I was reading more and more spiritual books. Had lot of questions in my mind – every time I tasted a meat preparation – always a doubt will come in my mind.

2012

We moved to Mumbai. The area we moved in – Kandivali – did not have any meat shops. There was only frozen stuff and we completely stopped cooking chicken at home. Fish continued but I was getting weary of eating fish – too cumbersome. However we checked out lot of famous foodie joints – Bade Miyaan, BBC, Candies..and meat eating continued.

At the same time – Mumbai gave lot many good veggie options. Banana Leaf, Cream Center.. we liked visiting often – so when we went out as a family ( my mother being veggie ), we always went out to the veggie joints.

2013

Sangeeta tried to spring a surprise on me in June – by taking me to Meating joint in Colaba – not a single veggie item in the menu. Actually the variety was fantastic and would be a delight for any meat eater. In my weird conflicted mind – I could not enjoy the food like before.

Few weeks back I had to go to Navi Mumbai for a demo. At lunch I went to a food court in a mall nearby. I ordered hummus. Next to me someone brought a chicken sizzler – I didnt feel jealous or wanted that. Was very much at peace with the hummus dish I got.

Then I picked up Eat and Run by Scott Jurek.  It was an eye-opener.

For those of you who don’t know Scott Jurek – he is an Ultra Marathoner.

Marathon is where people run 42Kms under 6 hours. Ultra Marathoners run 24 to 48 hours at a stretch and cover crazy distances – 100,150.. even 300 Kms, on hills and rocks, through deserts and snow. Totally ridiculous inhuman race.

Guess what? – Scott Jurek was born and brought up in Minnesota – his dad presented him a Gun in his 10th birthday – so he can go hunt rabbits, deer and fowls. The family will eat these animals – they were big meat eaters.

Scott Jurek started running – and like any new runner got injured. He figured out that eating plants helped him recover very quickly. Also the plant based fat burnt faster than animal based fat – he was leaner and stronger. He started doing lot of research and found that eating Animals are bad for the running form.

He turned vegan – not vegetarian – vegan – absolutely no animal products. He won ultra marathon after ultra marathon – inspite of eating just plants. He is the most accomplished and distinguished Ultra Marathoner of all – and has won every race in the world.

Combined with this book – I started reading on Buddhism – which abhors violence to humans and animals alike.  I also remember reading a quote somewhere.

“You can eat meat. There is absolutely no problem in it. However if you are in the path of awakening you will question this habit.”

And this was a question in my mind the past few years – is it alright to eat meat?

Am I missing something? – Maybe.

I have not yet visited Taj and had some fantastic signature meat dish by a renowned chef.

I havent visited Ponnusamy or Anjappar in more than 4 or 5 years.

I will probably not have the Bade Miyaan Bheja Fry – and the weird taste texture it had.

I was joking to Sangeeta – when Cigarette smokers quit they would smoke 2 3 packs and quit in style.

I did not do any of that. The transition just happened smoothly. Don’t even remember the last meat dish I ate.

So – dear Chicken and all animals of all kinds – relax. You are safe in my presence.

This week, after working for almost a month without a break ( except for a sunday when we went to Lonavalla but the drive to and fro was more stressful than a work day) – my body just slammed on the brake – by picking up a nasty cold. I had to stop and slow down.

This led me to think – what is Born Lucky.

At one point while growing up – I wanted my Dad to own a motor bike like other Dads instead of the bi-cycle – a vehicle that was also showing its age. After some time I saw my class mates who rode around in a car. Some wore fancy “jerkins” with multiple pockets and zips. I wore a sweater – served the purpose though – for the Coimbatorean chill. I thought they were born lucky – to be born in a rich family.

Then went to College. Saw folks who were gifted. They had amazing memory and analytical skills. They could solve complex mathematical problems and seemingly knew the answer to any problem in any subject. They could easily ace the exams while I had to work hard to understand the concepts. That time I thought they were born lucky – who are gifted with such good memory and IQ.

Couple of years later, work life started – and would admire those who speak fluently, articulate complex thoughts really well, who can put across their points of view firmly and influence an entire team, who will walk into a party and everyone would take notice – who are charismatic and are born leaders – being born lucky.

And so on – the definition of being born lucky kept getting updated as I see more and more “lucky people” in my life!

I thought being born lucky was to be born rich, or to be born with high IQ or to be born with lots of charisma.

I was so wrong.

To be born lucky is simply to be born healthy – without any defects ( reminds me of the Avaiyar poem –  translation is at the end of the post ) – that is truly being born lucky. We get a body – which has been honed to perfection through evolution over millions of years.

Yet – we throw away our luck. By over working ( like what I was doing ), or smoking or eating junk or having a sedentary lifestyle.

And being Healthy is complete in itself.

If I have a Honda City, I yearn for an Audi, someone having an Audi yearns for a Lamborghini.

Someone who is gifted with prodigal IQ – may perhaps be not satisfied – and may want to get famous by cracking a complex Mathematical puzzle or find cure for Cancer and win a Nobel Prize.

And for the person with oodles of Charisma – perhaps will think – wish I was like King Khan – and for King Khan – perhaps he is thinking how can I get to be the next Bachchan.

There are no levels in Being Healthy – much like running – I do not compete against anyone else but I am a happy content runner.

If we are having the gift of a healthy life – we should work hard to protect the gift and keep it with us as long as possible.

Getting rich or intelligent or becoming charismatic – all take lot of effort and hard work.

Protecting good health is quite simple – just need to live a stress free, simple, active life style. Sounds lot easier than the other 3.

Also just being healthy – all the above 3 can be achieved – the reverse is simply not possible.

Here is Avaiyar’s poem which makes sense now. And the great sage has suggested a path when you are born human and luckier to be born healthy and luckier to get educated..

“It is rare to be born as a human being,
It is still rarer to be born without any deformity.
Even if you are born without any deformity,
It is rare to acquire knowledge and education.
Even if one could acquire knowledge and education,
It is still rare to offer service to the mankind and contemplate on the higher self.
If one leads such a selfless divine life,
The gates of heaven open to greet such an evolved soul.”

[Above Translation is from  http://risingabhijeet.blogspot.in/2011/09/avvaiyars-favorite-poem-rare-to-be-born.html ]

Once gizmos run out of warranty I get excited. Time to try out a few things it was not originally designed for ( definition of hacking )

My Early 2011, Mac Book Pro (MBP) 13″ is soon turning 2 years.  And it was getting slow. Painfully slow. [ Tried Taming Lion but was not enough ]

Meanwhile I was slowly burning in envy ( envy is good. jealousy is bad 🙂 ) – looking at @sanban‘s  Mac Book Air (MBA) – which was so light and ran amazingly fast. All thanks to the SSD – Solid State Drive in it vs the HDD – Hard Disk Drive on my MBP.

Twitterverse advised me to upgrade to SSD. Spoke to @b_hari who advised me – its a no brainer.  And you won’t regret it – the difference is humungous.

I did a search on the local flipkart and ebay.in but could not find any SSDs.  This was some 6 months back I guess.

A few days back I was planning to do a re-install – things had gone painfully slow. This time I went to ebay.in and searched for SSDs and got a few hits.

There were lot of options and I zeroed in on Samsung 840 SSD ( 250GB ). There was a Pro but more expensive. I snagged the non-Pro 840 SSD at Rs.11,500. Took 4 days to reach – felt like I was back in US ordering stuff from newegg!

Here are the steps. Took 4 hours end to end – to get the same setup back on SSD.

1. Moved music and other unnecessary files to the external Hard Disk – have to now fit things from a 3BHK into a 2BHK.

2. Took a time machine backup to an external hard disk. What a time saver this time machine backup was.

3. Burnt the Mountain Lion Installation file to a 8GB USB Stick.

4. Bought a 31 in 1 Screw kit, Chinese made from a fancy store for Rs.110. The DiY blogs,youtube videos specify some Philips Screw Driver, Torc screw driver etc – good luck finding those in India. This Chinese one had it all.

5. All set. Popped open the bottom lid. Tried removing the battery connector ( some of the youtube videos advised doing this ) – but the connector was not coming out – decided not to do something stupid by damaging the connector. So let it stay there.

The Hard disk drive came out easily. The SATA connector also did not give any problems.

6. I spent some time admiring at a cool piece of technology in the MBP – which is now getting obsolete. The HDD rests on a sensor – and when the laptop is moved fast or is dropped – it detects the fall and stops the HDD’s needle from touching the spindle – this prevents any bad sectors / physical damages to the hard disk. You would hear a small cracking noise whenever the motion detection happened. But with SSD there are no movable parts and this piece of hardware is not needed anymore.

7. Then fitted the SSD, bolted it nicely. Put the lid back ( didnt screw it ) and powered the laptop. Heard the Apple chime and the screen just froze white for an eternity. I had a mild panick attack – but then a folder with a question mark showed up. Phoo – thats good. The SSD is windows formatted so it was not detected.

8. Now I put the screws back – thanked the Chinese Screw driver. Plugged in the 8GB USB stick.

9. Powered it on, choose Disk Utility and formatted the SSD – into 3 partitions – Jobs, Gates and Linus.

Screenshot taken after the installation was complete.

10. Continued with the installation ( remember to make a username which is different from the one you used to have. Time machine when it tries to restore it will ask for a different username if its already taken ). I made this mistake ( not a big deal though )

11. Once installation was over,  connected my external Hard drive, chose Migration Assistant and restored from the Time Machine backup. Forums recommend Carbon Copy Cloner – not needed if you have a Time machine backup.

12. A few things I had to do from what I gathered from the forums.

a. Installed TrimEnabler – this will optimize the writes and will not spoil the SSD ( ahemm. I never really understood the whole file storage and sector concept)

b. Turned off the Hard drive motion sensor – can be disabled from command line.

c. Turned off Last Access time for file – seems the OS will thrash the SSD a lot. Again a command line setting.

You can google for these. Simple ones.

13.  Finally it was done. All the Mail was restored, all applications ( except Microsoft Office which had to be activated once again ), settings, wallpaper – just like before. And it is blazing fast. If you are drooling at the new Retina MBPs or planning to get an MBA – try out the SSD route – for lot less you can breathe another couple of years into your favorite MBP.

I dont see any difference in weight. Its still heavy. I didnt see any significant change in Battery life.

Next : Have to install Windows 7 and Ubuntu. The rEFIt bootloader I had put is still intact ( actually I was worried if I would run into problems because of this – searched in forums if anyone having rEFIt had done SSD swap – could not find any – but thankfully it all went smooth ).

After a couple of months – will either put one more SSD inplace of the DVD Drive ( another piece of technology fast becoming obsolete ) – or remove the DVD Drive itself to reduce the weight a bit.

And friends – if anyone needs any help on how to swap an SSD sitting in India with all parts procured locally – now you know who to talk to!

Meditation

Earlier I used to think Meditation is ‘Focus’. Focus on light, or some sound or an image of a God. I learnt Transcendental Meditation from a Thermodynamics professor in CEG during my 2nd year. Don’t remember his name, but remember his teaching still. His focus was on a Mantra.

I thought I have to focus on the Mantra during meditation. But later realised the Mantra is just a vehicle to go into “Thoughtlessness”.

Actually once I realised the goal of Meditation is to get into Thoughtlessness it became easy as I did not have to fight to focus or control the mind. I just let it loose. When I sit for Meditation a ton of thoughts come to my mind – much like a jelly lorry emptying its load on a road side – the mind is very excited now – finally it is getting a piece of time to analyze everything. I let the mind analyze everything and once in a while remind the mind ( by recalling the Mantra ) that I am here to meditate and not for a psychiatric session.

But some where I drift into Thoughtlessness – do not know how much time I go into this state – I know I have gone into this state as when I get out of my 30 minutes session I cannot remember much of the analysis the mind was doing. I feel fresh and calm – and a kind of happiness and love sets in. Something like the runner’s high.

Meditation puts the mind to rest. This allows the subconscious / soul to surface. The soul gets a chance to come out of the cave – as this mind is like a dog barking all the time outside this cave – and the soul never dares to peep out. When the soul peeps out brilliant things happen – as it is pure and is full of love. The soul/heart is pure intuition and if we let this drive our life wonders will happen as it is not weighed down by ego or the mind.

Mindfulness

Of late I am discovering one more style of Meditation – Mindfulness. This is even tougher to practice but this is the next logical step.

Right now, this very minute – as I am writing this blog – my ego is jumping like a mad monkey from one tree of thought to another – how will the person who is reading judge me, will I get enough Facebook likes etc. I am not completely immersed into this post and writing with my heart and soul.

But when I write being mindful of just this post – I automatically get enough Facebook likes or people call me to appreciate that was a good post. At times after I finish writing I know – this is a good post – I was mindful only about this Post, and the ego was forgotten.

I am noticing this “not being in the moment” during many instances of my waking life. Yesterday I was in Juhu beach standing on the shore with my niece Charu – a 12 year old. She was jumping and talking to the waves and was fully drenched in the moment. I was standing there not drinking in the moment but thinking of work or the thousand things my mind likes to chew upon.

Now and then I get into a “flow” like state when I am immersed in the moment. While coding or while writing some emails or such blog posts – words or code just flow. I get into this meditative state – and I would have dished out ton of good stuff in a short span of time – and yet feel refreshed and energized to produce more.

I should try to get more into the “being in the moment”. When I write code or blog or eating or shaving or cleaning my laptop – should just be mindful of this task. When I am singing or dancing with kids – be there with them – in the moment. This sounds much easier than meditation but it is quite tough.

I have to keep reminding myself to be mindful. Much like the mantra I use during my meditation session to break the train of thoughts and remind myself that I am here to meditate.

When I am doing a task – and if my mind starts drifting – should bring it back to the task at hand. Then I am in a meditative state all day and the very thought is intoxicating!

Mindfulness is Meditation.

Life is much like a train that takes you through many Cities.

It has taken me from Coimbatore to Madurai to Chennai to Baton Rouge to Madison to Chicago to Bangalore and now in Mumbai.

Coimbatore is very special to me. The monsoon drizzle in June/July, then the Puja and Diwali rains, the chill in December,  Pongal time visit to a village temple from where my father came from and the summer holidays – visiting the Annual Exhibition – the highlight of the city once. Lot of sweet simple memories – all intertwined among school friends, street friends, relatives and festivals.

Madurai was hot. Super hot. Got Jaundice and Chicken pox. This city lives and breathes Tamil. I still remember one Sugarcane vendor’s rhyming statement when he had to go attend nature’s call after handing over the juice ( thankfully ) “Aatharathai adaku mudiyum aana mootharathai adaku mudiyuma” [ You can control Anger – aatharam, but you cannot control nature’s call – mootharam ]. All the streets, places had beautiful names – Anupaanadi, Thallakulam – and each has a story which the Tamil Miss will tell. Then the school I attended where except me all were somehow related to each other – and at times during marriage season half the class will be gone to attend a wedding!

Chennai was magical. The beach, the crowd, the super hot summers and movies. I tasted freedom. Had my own pocket money to spend between movies, food or books. Life in CEG was even more awesome. Techofes, Waves, Student Union Elections, running a stall during Techofes, the “study” tours, the labs, late night chat parties, editing a magazine, horrible hostel food, the cricket matches in TV room with some 200 people crammed into a 20×20 room – that too in that chennai summer – each day was new and un-predicatable. Then the second phase of Chennai life where I worked in TCS – had lot of money now – could go places where I could never go before – Residency buffet or Ponnuswamy or Anjappar and could buy any book or CD when I wanted. I once blew a months salary on a VCD system and watched umpteen movies week after week from a VCD rental shop in Velacherry who did door delivery. But got bored quickly with this life.

Was once again broke as a student in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where I went for my Masters. It was Super hot in summer when I landed. I thought USA was a cold place. This was year 2000 – did not know of Google or a website to go check for Weather. And it was a place with warm hearts and down to earth people and had a unique culture  Cajun culture. Learnt to cook  and got addicted to American Football, Baseball and Basketball. It was a lazy laid back place with a huge river – Mississippi – and God Awesome hurricanes.

Then shifted from Hottest place in USA to the Coldest place – Madison – another college town. And then to Chicago – a fairy tale place with museums and sky scrapers and parks and lakes and plays and all kinds of restaurants from around the world – so much to do – cycling,trekking – or just walking near the lakes late nights. If I ever go back to live in USA, here is where I will drop my anchor.

Then Bangalore. I actually feel sorry for this nice little city. In the 6 years that I was there, could see the city turn into a concrete jungle. Do not know how the old timers feel. But this city feels young and vibrant.  Here is where the New India ( India 2.0 ) is being forged. Barcamps, Devcamps, cycle commuters, car poolers, Tree planting drives, New Age Politicians, Wasteland turned into a meeting cum work place cum garage sale place, Eco Conservationists…its a long list of new age thinkers and doers. Then the MG Road, Brigade Road, Church Street, Cubbon Park and now Metro – loved to just hang out.  335E Volvo – thanks to traffic will take 1 hour to reach my office – a distance of 8 kms – and I crunched book after book – Leo Tolstoy, Paulo Coelho, Ayn Rand, Robert Pirsig – thanks to Justbooks – a library startup from Bangalore. And Startups – cart loads of them.

Finally since last year – moored in Mumbai. Started on the wrong foot – bike got towed, got hit with a fine next day for jumping signal. Discovered public transport, most are super hard working people, folks who respect and value money, auto drivers who return 1 Rupee, parks everywhere, dirty roads and pan spits everywhere, and Rains that keep going on and on and all festivals celebrated with lot of food, music and dance. This is one crazy city. Folks here do 2 3 jobs and are always looking for new opportunities and to make things work. 200 sqft shops where some 10 people work in this space thanks to the concept of a “mezzanine floor” – like the new office we are to move shortly ( will post photos next week after we move ). Its amazing how Mumbai uses space.

Yet to fully discover Mumbai. It has so many layers which I keep peeling as I continue my journey here. But the thing I have come to appreciate the most are Drinkable Tap Water ( felt guilty drinking bisleri water in Bangalore ), zero power cuts and a Public Transport that is so reliable.

Where next? No idea – I live in the present 🙂

I am noticing this dichotomy everywhere. From life to love to design to coding.

It is easy to eat junk food. But hard to eat healthy stuff.

It is easy to watch TV. But hard to read a book.

It is easy to veg out in the couch. But hard to get out and run.

It is easy to hate someone we despise. But hard to love the same person.

It is easy to create something with lot of code. But hard to create the same functionality with minimal code.

It is easy to get stressed out and feel down. But hard to keep cool and spirits high.

Guess what? – in all cases – the hard part is the most rewarding.

Yet – we all choose the easy part. Again and Again and Again. Even though we know that taking the hard part will be more rewarding and beautiful.

I think this is a test being conducted – and if we have to pass in this we have to keep taking the hard path at every fork.

Eat Healthy.
Read Books.
Run.
Love everyone.
Write beautiful code.
Stay cool & Keep Spirits high.

& Drink coffee / red wine 🙂

ps : some vices are Ok I guess. We need not aim for a 100. An 80 will do!

You never know when something deep inside you gets triggered.

Could be a near miss with death, losing a close friend/family – or a chance meeting with a stranger.

4 years back – I had a chance meeting with a retired Bank Manager in Bangalore. He suggested I read Conversations with God.

I then read all of Paulo Coelho’s works – my favourite Brazilian author. Then Steve Jobs died – and read all about him and the spiritual side of him.

I have been trying to figure out Who I am and Why I am here – and I am nowhere close to the truth.

I am confused and clearer at the same time – just like light – which is both a wave and a particle at the same time.

I am not an Atheist

I am clear on one thing. I do believe in God as some mysterious supreme power or light or energy. Earth and Humans are not here by chance. I did briefly stray into being an atheist when my father passed away. Did shake me up and for sometime went around not being bothered about God or Religion or any customs.

I dont practice any Religion

Religion does not make any sense – so I dont pray to any God form anymore. However I like the philosophy that is present in all Religions. I like the meanings hidden in Bible and Hinduism. Love the sufi songs and Quawwali. Yet to read Quran. I don’t believe in the shortcuts in the form of Sanskrit Verses and rituals present in Hinduism to attain Enlightenment.

I am not an Apatheist Either

Though I don’t follow any religion – I am not an Apatheist – one who does not care if God Exists or Not. I believe in God, but not in Religion.

What am I to be classified?

If someone asks me – are you an atheist, or an apatheist, or are you a Hindu/Christian/Muslim?

My answer is none of the above.

It is quite simple. I am in a journey to discover by my self what this is all about. More like my running – I don’t run with any group – I do my own research and discover new techniques and find what works and doesn’t work through trial and error.

I am unravelling the mystery one day at a time – through books, through songs, through movies – keeping my eyes and ears open for any interesting tid bit that helps forming my mental model about God, Life & Death and Love.

Buddha figured it out. Dalai Lama figured it out. Many Saadhus have figured it out.

I know I am not going to run in the Olympics – but I can still run a full marathon ( 42 kms ) some day. Working towards it one run at a time.

Likewise – I am not sure if I will get the enlightenment in this lifetime’s journey. Unlike the sequential model we are so used to – in the next lifetime I will be born in the past like in 10th Century BC or in the future like in 30th Century AD- I might be a wiser man than what I am now and I am sure I will be continuing this journey.

Signing off as someone who is Spiritual but not Religious.

Alright here it goes – the best kept bong secrets are all revealed.

All these from the observation I made during a Bong wedding I attended in February.

Fish is a vegetarian dish

This is an open secret – but I will not get full marks if I do not list it here. I am yet to figure out this mystery.

Wedding doesn’t get over on the same day

On the night of the wedding day, the boy and girl are kept awake by the 2 sides. There is a mythology where Lakhinder of the Behula Lakhinder legend has to stay awake on their wedding night or he dies. This turned out to be lot of fun – and we all became deep and spiritual ( after 3 am ).

Groom’s Mom should not attend wedding

If this comes up in any of the Tamil TV Serials – all the heads watching the TVs will just explode in unison. I don’t know the reason behind this tradition.

Bongs hate Rosogolla

I am not kidding. Try giving Rosogolloas to them and they will all go – ohh.. eeh.. and if they are pushed to eat and they realise there is no way out – they will take the rasogolla and squeeze all the syrup out of it before putting it in their mouth. Perhaps the bongs living outside Kolkata might not exhibit this behaviour. The only ones who were stuffing ourselves with Rosogollas where the Tams.

Mark my words – My in-law race will take over this world for sure  – and that time most of the words that you know will be replaced. Here is preparing you for the future.

Punjaabi – Its the Kurta as you all know it
Puchhka – Paani Puri
Loochi –  Poori
Shingaada – Samosa

Jokes Apart – I am in total admiration of Bengalis.

They are very deep and spiritual. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda, Paramhansa Yogananda ( Autobiography of a Yogi – very interesting book – the only book Steve Jobs had in his iPad and he read it once every year) – all are Bengalis.

Bengalis are forward thinking in lot of ways. Birthplace of Indian Freedom movement, Music, Art and Literature, Movies and now there are many Rock Bands. Their songs ( once translated to me of course ) are deep and spiritual in many ways.

They are very brave when it comes to naming their kids – the wife’s cousin kids names are based on Currencies for instance ( Rouble, Ringgit and Lira )

Bengalis never give up a fight for whats right – and are an impractical but passionate lot.

Someday I will write a book on just Bengalis – from a 3/4 Tam + 1/4 Kannadiga’s view point.