Out of the world!

Namaste Mars! Ready for Tea & Samosa / Idli & coffee? Proud mom-ent for ISRO!!




Modi is in Madison square, Mangalyaan is in Mars orbit... orey the feelings of India dhaan!!

On a related note, there is this super one way ticket to Mars offer and a few have already jumped into the bandwagon!

Seri adhellaam irukkattum, what is this Multiverse  theory, huh? I am already dizzy hitchhiking my way in the galaxy with Douglas Adam's Guide!

Kids broken-hearted over school's Valentine's Day candy ban

Orey the outrage(grown-ups more than kids!) over the decision to ban candy this valentine's day at a school in Connecticut! With left over candies from Halloween still lying around and the prospect of more sweet stuff coming home during Easter looming threateningly, this would be a welcome relief if everyone followed suit. And who cares for warnings like this - Cancer 'tidal wave' on horizon, warns WHO

Seri, namakku edhukku vambu! Lets enjoy this 'out of this world' video! 

Caught in the (inter)net!

Earth life "may have come from Mars" - Ada, didn't I have a similar thought process sometime back?!! The mystery of life on earth is getting mysterious by the day, year, decade, century! For a change, while churning youtube, the recommendations spit out some interesting videos. So, loosely tying the knots, the pushpaka vimanas must've transported people onto earth! My earthling theory is getting super exciting, illey? ;-)

Fiat - premier padmini black and yellow taxis will be off the roads of Mumbai because of a government ban of vehicles older than 20 years-aamey! It kindled(got to use ipad, kindle etc. appappo nowadays) some old memories and took me down memory lane. For the 80s Madras-wasis, an occational auto trip was a luxury! In the then Bombay, autos were only allowed from Chembur and beyond. So, a taxi ride was sure from Dadar railway station after a long distance train ride(double damaka)! I used to envy those lucky kids who came to school in taxi after missing the school bus! But the most attoozhyam by parent folks were to take a taxi after buying vegetables at wholesale vegetable market!

Ada Pongada!!!!

As it is it is sooooo hard to set a good example to follow a healthy life style for the sake of children in this kali kaalam and then comes researches after researchers everyday like these....

Organic - worth the price?

Fat and fit!

And chocolate it is...

P.S. - Coincidentally, I just finished reading the chapter from Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" where the State Science Institute issues a vague inconclusive caution about the use of Rearden metal! Enattha...!!!

OMG!

During early childhood, like many others, I have also gone through the terror after swallowing fruit seeds, praying that plants don't grow from my inside and elders laughing & brushing aside that fear altogether.

But now....

Pea plant grows inside man's lung

Mar(s)ch madness

Some days turn out better unplanned(those days are very rare with me around!). We were headed to the museum and landed at the planetarium. Even more surprising, we were on time for the Mars quest show! Not too fascinating to a 4 year old and the big sis had 1001 questions throughout the show but best part was the news that Mars, Venus and Jupiter are visible in the night sky this month. All this happened a day before the clocks sprang forward and so got to see and wonder at the mysterious sky with all her diamonds!

The Mars show was about past(how ancient cultures saw the red planet), present(the information we have now with all those satellites) and future(the day man hopes to touch the Mars surface!). That water flowed on the planet long ago and that Carbon dioxide makes up its atmosphere now led my imaginations go wild. May be Mars was an earth like planet before and (Ma(rtia)n-made or whatever) climate changes has turned Mars into what it is today? Anyway, with no oxygen and only CO2 in the red planet, every Mars bound astronaut should take a potted plant(which will take in CO2 and give back oxygen) in addition to the oxygen tank with them when they land there! Eppadi ipdi, illey? :)

On an unrelated(to Mars) and related(to madness) note:

Already good, kind and gentle people go levels after levels of self improvement courses

Already health conscious, fit people exercise more, eat healthy etc.

Already intelligent people read more and store more in their brain

AK turned AK47!!

Tis' the season

It was sweetober October! The month started off with a birthday followed by festivals, Navarathri & Deepavali and ended with Halloween! I am not the one to say 'no' to sweets but after devouring all the goodies, handling the guilt part is what I don't like! One plus with October Deepavali is it is still warmer and the fireworks more enjoyable!

One day in a year our household and 'on time' go hand in hand is when the clocks go back for the winter! Or so until last year! Now the kids are adjusting to time changes faster than me! Many a time I have 'polambi-fied' about the day lights saving practice. But if at all the country decides to stop this practice please do not follow Russia's example and stay in summer time foerever! I have come to like the clock change in fall for that one extra hour and I prefer slightly brighter mornings!

P.S. - Even after few days of the time change, not all clocks are adjusted in our house and so everytime I look at the clocks with the wrong time, I get this "OMG" feeling.

Simbly Grand!

Better late than never with my (b)elated wishes to the newly weds! Last week of April was wedding waaram with reel prince Urumiraj, I mean Prithviraj having a hush-hush wedding and the real Prince William having a world wide wedding! With Wedding pictures/videos of celebrities becoming so accessible these days on the internet, it is as if we attended those events personally! Looks like Prince William's role model is his thatha, the grand duke of Edinburgh. From matching matching outfits at the Wedding(not fair that only the bride's gown is talked about) to his decision to not wear a wedding ring. Eppidiyo, nalla irunga pa! And taking about Supri(thvi)yaraj, I was smitten by kanninimaNeele from Anwar recently which made me dig up some old Malayalam movies of Prithviraj. IMO, he has made better choices in Tamil movies! "Pinakkamo" was a visual treat but the movie was a disappointment. "Kaana kannil" and "Picha vecha" have made it to my playlist but true malayalam song fans are appalled at the state of it now!

Happy ending, atlast!!!

You D(honi & co) id it, guys!! Cricket World cup champions, after almost 3 decades!! All the entertaining-the-crowd job at home was worth it! When Kapil & co won the world cup I was around the same age as A1 is now and A1 is as puzzled as I was about why and what is/was making all the grown-ups go so crazy!

P.S. - Ellaam seri dhaan, this over generosity of the state governments to shower the players with so much incentives is too much!

Peri(ya)gee Moon

This past weekend's full moon was the special perigee moon The weather unusually cooperative with temperatures in the 70s, the kids enjoying their stay-up-late allowance and oohing & aahing at the yellowish moon rising in the horizon, A2 thinking it was the sun rising again and A1 wondering if it was a comet, it was quite an interesting night. All said and done, I still think, the rising moon seen at the Marina beach in Chennai appears even bigger and more beautiful especially with bgm by Mr.Waves.

P.S. - Boasting about all the technological and other developments in this 21st century, why-o-why do we still have to follow this 19th century practice of "daylights savings"? Can't the clocks be adjusted a half hour instead of going back and forth? Any petitions going around to change this system?

Shooting star!

I read about the Perseid meteor shower and thought, "ok, let's welcome Friday the 13th in ishtyle!" Even though the meteor shower was visible since early dawn today and even though I was woken up around 2.30 AM, the lazy me took over and convinced me that tomorrow is the bigger/better show! Right now the night sky is cloudy (punishment for my laziness!) Will the clouds clear by midnight? Will my internal alarm wake me up on time tomorrow morning too?

Every time I read about any celestial spectacles, I make big plans but then go back to complaining how it's either too bright/late or too cold for sky watching here!! Like the waves in the sea, the stars in the sky and gazing at the night sky is very soothing! Just reminds me of those childhood mottai maadi days! That also reminds me of those silly teenage years when spotting a shooting star and making a wish was such a big deal!

And talking of shooting stars will definitely bring up Tintin! Oh, I didn't know this was in the making!!

அட, Lallu land!!

For many years, Bihar in northern India has earned notoriety for being one of the poorest and most lawless states in the country.

Nobel-prize winning author VS Naipaul once described it as the place where "civilisation ends".

But all is not lost, perhaps. We discover five areas where Bihar might consider itself to be ahead of other Indian states.

more...

From the news

Power station harnesses Sun's rays!!

Looks like science fiction! But to be able to use the tremendousness of Solar energy!!


Media should focus on battles of poor: NCERT director

Media, are you listening?


Bollywood star to take husband’s family name!!

Nothing like reading a newspaper along with morning coffee! Ingey coffee-yum waste, paper-um waste!! The space and importance given to World/International news in local newspapers here is really something. And the above news making it to a local GA paper is... what can I say!

Any(thing)body out there???

New 'super-Earth' found in space

Astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date, a world which could have water running on its surface.

Read more

From the news!

Gajini!!!

Athinikki chithini Pathini!!!

From the News!

Sunita Narain, Bhure Lal commended by Time

People file lawsuits for any to every thing these days. To see human beings like Sunita Narain and Bhure Lal are doing it for a cause, win the case and bring change is truly commendable.

'Adopt a lake' in IT city

Very often we are hearing about urban development destroying the natural habitat of a place. Hats off to Mr. Mishra and the Palm Meadows Residents Association for setting an example to the rest of us.

From the News!

Blogosphere Report

Hey, I'm part of this Universe!


Reduce your iPod Volume

There is concern that continuous listening of loud music on personal music players(with ear phones) may lead to hearing problems.

Some interesting news!

10th Planet of our solar system

The Universe and its secrets always intrigue me. Ever since my 5th Std Physics master while teaching about celestial bodies, told us about the possibility of life elsewhere on the Universe, I am wondering like many others, 'Is there anybody out there?'.

English speaking Priests wanted!

No Chinese competition this time!!