Marriage = hell?

Picture source: cartoonstock.com

Most of the guys always talk like after marriage they were literally tortured by their wives.. Is it true that we women actually change? Do we start expecting more out of the relationship? Do we blow the smallest of misunderstandings out of proportion? I personally believe that it takes two to fight! So guys, stop blaming the wife for every fight... May be she has a point about your clumsiness, forgetfulness or laziness!

Here is a conversation between a husband and wife.. Have a good laugh!

Before the marriage:

He: Yes. At last. It was so hard to wait.
She: Do you want me to leave?
He: NO! Don't even think about it.
She: Do you love me?
He: Of course!
She: Have you ever cheated on me?
He: NO! Why you even asking?
She: Will you kiss me?
He: Yes!
She: Will you hit me?
He: No way! I'm not such kind of person!
She: Can I trust you?
He: Yes.

Now after marriage you can read it bottom-up !!!!

May be next time

When we made a trip to Key West, I tried to book one of the inns near Duval Street but then all of those beautiful inns were completely booked. When we went to Key West and saw those inns, we decided that we should stay there next time.. These are old houses transformed into inns and have beautiful gardens, swings and close proximity to Duval street and the beach!

Picture source: hawaii.com

I remember the time when me made a trip to Munnar in Kerala, we booked a house rather a mansion and had lots of fun. There was a river flowing behind the house and there was a huge waterfalls 5 minutes from where we were staying.. It was an awesome vacation. It is always nice to stay in rental houses instead of hotels. You get the feeling of relaxing at home and still feel like you are on vacation! The same feeling can be got now if you are planning on a Hawaii vacation.. You can rent villas and have an amazing vacation! These villas are very well described, you can have a look at the photo gallery and choose the one which is spacious/suitable for your vacation..One cool thing about all these rental houses is that they are all located near the beach.. it is not like you choose a cheaper one and you end up in a house in the middle of the town! Now I am tempted to go on a vacation to Hawaii.. the only thing is that a vacation in Hawaii can cost you a fortune. So if you are planning to go on a super - dooper vacation to Hawaii make sure you book everything in advance, have your wallet full and be prepared to come back with an empty wallet!

Where next?

I am planning to take my parents to Orlando, the land of theme parks! There are a few parks that my parents haven't seen yet, so most probably this is going to be the next stop!

Picture source: wikipedia.org

One thing about Orlando is that not even one weekend goes by where you don't do anything but sit at home.. The three months I spent in this wonderful city during my Internship was awesome. Slowly I found out that water rides and roller coaters are not the only things this city showcases. Be it the Tragics - Orlando Magic games or the wonderful downtown with lots of restaurants or the vibrant Winter Park walks, I for sure had lots of fun! My friend and I discovered a German cafe and pub in Sanford downtown. We had a German friend and we went with him.. It was lovely, the live music and dancing was so much fun. Those good old days, I am going to miss all of that for sure once I leave the sunshine state!

Coming back to the theme park tickets, I found this website called Orlandofuntickets.com where you can purchase tickets at a discounted price. I am planning to take my parents to Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. Last time we went to Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Sea World. I have been to all of them except Magic Kingdom. I have already purchased the Universal Studio Tickets. Hopefully there won't be too much crowd.. I know I am just hoping against hope! This time of the year is the peak season for theme parks and each ride might have a waiting time of upto 3 hours! But in sipte of that, you can definitely manage to have fun and thatz exactly what we are going to do!

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan

Have to write about it after all the frenzy the media created about their wedding. One thing which I don't understand is that there are thousands of Indians getting married each year, but why did this couple get soo much of attention? Is it because Ash kept denying the fact that she was dating Abhishek Bachchan while Abhi actually talked about it very openly with Simi on her show?

Anyways here is fodder for those who want to know about Ash after marriage..

Ash's interview with Rajeev Masand on CNN-IBN

Women - the unsolvable mystery?

God created men and women to strike a balance just like his all other creations. Whom did he create first - man or woman, which of the two was the blunder, which was the solution and why? Nobody knows the answer to these questions but a woman can definitely write about her gender and help in solving the mystery about women to a tiny weeny extent!

What women think of men

Picture source:beconfused.com

So here is my contribution : 5 things about woman married/in a relationship

1. When she cooks and serves the food, tell her it is good. Don't exaggerate and please don't say "I think the dish needs a little more salt". She takes this as an insult and especially if you are married she will definitely think/say that you never complain about your mother's cooking!

2. All of us have heard of "no means yes".. here are a few other truths : 'I don't know means don't you dare do it', 'I am not sure means definitely NO' & after a fight if she is acting like she is not going to talk to you, most of the times she wants you to keep trying to make her talk/smile!

3. Women are by nature forgiving especially of their dear ones. So if you fight and then she brings it up in another fight, she is just trying to make you fight back.. not that she wants to bury you alive.

4. Don't ever ever tell your wife that your mother said something and you are going to do it when your wife is not ok with it. This will be the beginning of the "I have a MONSTER-IN-LAW" feeling! All a woman wants is you to discuss things with her rather than just tell her your decision. Convincing your wife is generally not as difficult as it seems ;)

5. Women are not big givers, but are definitely takers. They will never forget the things you forgot like anniversaries etc. but will very easily forget all the dates you remembered and the gifts you got. Get her gifts, never forget anniversaries, dates and make sure that you plan out things and surprise her even if she knows your plan!

A memorable holiday

Seven mile bridge - Key West

Last week was awesome. I took my parents to Miami and Key West. The three of us had a wonderful time. We went to the beaches and my parents loved the ride to Key West especially the 7 mile bridge. I have been to Miami before but this was my first trip to Key West and it was great. I was thinking that the whole place was going to be very crowded since all the hotels were booked, but surprisingly I could not find too many people.

Miami

In Miami we stayed in a hotel next to the Miami river on the 15th floor and the view we had from there was breathtaking. My dad utilized his camcorder to the fullest. He took video of every small thing that caught his eye. I could remember the times when my parents used to plan out trips and take my sister and I to various places. This time it felt very different. I did the planning..

My dad driving

My dad drove my car on the way back from Key West and he did an awesome job. Initially I was very scared to let him drive because in India we are not aware of 'lane discipline', 'speed limit' and 'honking'. But my dad has been driving for more than 35 years and so I allowed him to drive for about 50 miles and he drove very confidently and was able follow lanes and speed limit.. of course he didn't have the need to honk as everybody else on the road was also driving carefully!

Graduated! Wuuhu

Hurray!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I graduated yesterday.. It was one of the most amazing moments of my life! Although the moment lasted only 10 seconds (on the stage) it was well worth the hard work of 2 years. The announcer pronounced my first name correctly but KILLED my last name.. Poor thing, my dad was listening to the announcer totally mispronouncing his name!

The whole of yesterday was very hectic, had a lot of last minute things to complete. Somehow I managed to get all of that done, came home got dressed and went to the ceremony. My friends were able to make it for the ceremony. It was a great feeling to have all your well wishers next to you.

The ceremony took place at the Basketball stadium and the place was very crowded. It somehow felt like there were a lot of PhD students graduating this time. I saw a couple of my TAs graduating. We took a lot of pictures and my parents were so proud. I am very glad that I was able to share this important day of my life with my parents! It is only because of their hard work and encouragement that both my sister and I are who we are today. Kudos to them!

Signing off - Swetha Vaidyanathan MS ;)

Strange things

A very strange building in North Korea. It is called the Ryugyong Hotel. They stopped the construction of the hotel in 1992. If they complete it, this will be the tallest hotel in the world.. Any idea about the offices/hotels in Burj Dubai? May be there will be some hotel in the top most floor.. Imagine looking down from there ;)

I am planning to take my parents around Florida. One month of total free time and I am going to make the most use of it. Planning a vacation is pretty tedious and time consuming. Although I have decided the places I need to cover I am yet to make the Hotel Reservations. Places like Key West and Miami seem to be so expensive at this time of the year. But these are places which every person visiting Gatorland should see. I found out about this website Hotel Reservations.com where you can find hotels at discounted price. I first thought of booking hotel room through Priceline.com but then later thought about the kind of rooms people get especially at places like Miami. They also have offers on car rental and vacation packages. I like the way you can choose hotels and the diverse options you have to make your reservations.

Speaking of priceline, I need to write about the pathetic experience I had once when I went Tampa. I stayed at the Wyndham and paid $70 per night. I got the worst room which was so dirty and they refused to change my room. The bed cover had some stains and when I told them that I need a different room, they told me that since I had booked through priceline they cannot change my room. I had at argue with the receptionist for more than 15 minutes to have them change my room. Finally that guy budged. After that I decided not to book hotels through Priceline. Now that I am taking my parents along, I am surely going to book a hotel through a proper website!

Last exam for my Master's

It was a great feeling to write the very last exam for my Master's... I am unofficially done with my MS..Hurray! The whole of last week I just could not concentrate and study. I kept thinking about graduation and trips.. Finally I somehow managed to finish studying the night before the exam. To top it all there was a power outage in Gainesville on Thursday night for about 3 hours! Somehow I managed to study and finished my LAST exam.

Yesterday my parents came from India to attend my graduation ceremony. It is always a great feeling to see your parents especially when they are your best of best friends! I am sure the three of us are going to have lots of fun together. The only thing is that they did not get their baggage! I hope they deliver the bags home today.. At least we were saved the trouble of lifting the bags.

A Surprising Find

Picture source: movietune.com

I am sure that most of us (esp. people from Tamil Nadu) are excited about the release of the movie Sivaji starring Rajinikath and Shriya Saran. After the release of the music, people are looking forward to the movie all the more. A.R. Rahman has proved his worth once again!

Speaking of songs, I personally like Sahana and Balleilekka. Want to know more about the voice behind Sahana? The male singer is Udit Narayan and the female singer is Chinmayi. Most of us know her as the Kanathil Muthamittal voice! When I was blog hopping, I came across this blog "WhatToNameIt".. It was Chinmayi's blog. Initially I thought that someone was making a fool out of people because where is someone like her going to find the time to blog? But I was surprised to learn that it was indeed her blog. I should say that she writes very well and posts pretty regularly! She has written about her experiences and has a photo blog too!

I am sure that you must be thinking, why on earth is this post about 'chinmayi'? I just thought that I should write about her blog and tell myself that I should blog more often and always make time to post here instead of giving excuses like I am busy.. too much work!

Why make moving so painful?

Picture Source: allseasonsmoving.net

A lot of my friends are moving to different places for job. It is surprising that they actually want to carry most of their stuff along. They are thinking about transporting their couch, dining table, chairs, study table, bed and even Comforters.. How ridiculous is that? As graduate students more importantly desi graduate students, none of us buy NEW furniture. It is either got from the dumpster or thrift shop or hand down from graduating folks! I got my bed and couch from a friend who was graduating.

I have decided that I am not going to carry any of my stuff when I have to leave Gnv. There is no point in carrying stuffs which have been used for 2+2+2=6 years. When you get a good job you would want to buy new stuff and settle down.. You know for a fact you are going to be in that place for at least 2 years. From the time you came to the US, you have been using "used/pre-owned" things. Why not go in for new things now. I understand the reluctance in buying a new car but not a new bed or a new comforter! I have always wanted to buy one of the bed sets displayed in Macy's. They look so good and obviously expensive. So I was searching for cheap new bed sets online and found out about this site DownDeals.com. They are actually suppliers to shops like Macy's, Dillards etc. and are selling things at a much lower price! They have comforters, blankets and other bedding stuff. I found out that they have featherbeds. When I read about these beds I came to know that they are actually stuffed with bird's feathers. Has anyone actually used this bed?

I am going to make my moving very simple.. Just my clothes, some utensils and left over groceries! I don't want to make my "moving" so painful!

Deadliest college shooting at Virginia Tech

Picture source: cnn.com

Today was a horrifying day for the students and staff at Virgina Tech. There were two shooting incidents at around 7.00 am, one at the dormitory and the other at the Engineering building.

22 people were killed and 29 wounded. It is reported that the gunman was also found dead.

More Information

The Namesake

Picture source: impawards.com

I watched the movie 'The Namesake' last night. It was a last minute plan to go for the movie. My roommate and I have been asking for the DVD of the movie at the Indian store for over 2 weeks and finally we saw that the movie was screened at a theater here. So we decided to go and watch it. I should say that the movie was worth the $$$.

When we entered the movie hall there were exactly 2 people. Then a few more desies came and totally there were 10 of us watching the movie.. What else can you expect for a 10.00 pm show on a Sunday night?

The movie was very good. I have not read the book by Jhumpa Lahiri but my roommate has and she told me that the movie has done justice to the book.

So here are my views:

Pros:

• The story was told very well.
• The movie was not fast paced at the same time was not dragging.
• Tabu's make up suited the role very well.
• Irfan Khan and Tabu did an amazing job. They seemed very natural and I thought that they acted very well.
• The costumes for all the actors was very nice and appropriate for the role they played.

Cons:

• Choosing Kal Pen to do the pivotal role might have not been the right thing. Although he did a good job, I thought that he is better suited for movies like the American Pie! In the first half although there was a lot of scope to be Kal Pen, he did not fully utilize it. In the second half, when his father dies, I could barely see any acting from Kal Pen. He was good towards the end.

Overall: Good meaningful movie.

Gruesome week

Last week was really busy. I had so much to do in so little time..a lot of time became less time due to procrastination. I have tried real hard, but this is always the case.. It all starts with thinking that I can complete one task a little later since I have 2 more days before the due date.. then the postponement has an avalanche effect! But somehow I managed to get all the work done.

Weekend was fun.. I went to the "VISA Talent show" which is a multicultural talent competition. There were clubs like the Japanese club, Brazilian club etc, participating. Last year the Indian club, 'Indian Inc' won the talent competition. This year they won it again! I personally thought the performance by the Brazilian people was very good, but they lacked variety! The Indians performed Garbha and Rass followed by Bharatnatyam.

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Just two more weeks to go before I get done with the Spring Semester, the last semester in my grad school life! I am kind of excited about it but also sad that I am going to be leaving Gnv, which has been my home for the last 1.5 years..

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Today I went to Wal-mart to get some empty CDs. But as usual you never buy one thing when you are in Wal-mart. I went there to do a purchase for $10 and ended up spending $30 and guess what, I did not buy the CDs. Instead I got a (Florida) Gator T-shirt for $22 and a cap for $8. Now that the Gators have won the Basketball and the Football National championships, the price of all the Gator stuff has increased like crazy. I am sure that I could have got the same T-shirt for $15-$16 some 1 month back.. I guess this is the price you pay for being a part of the Gator Nation!

Indian Cricket players - a new leaf

Imagine what would the Indian Cricket players do if they loose all the advertisement contracts they have.. Switch to some other profession!

Here are some of the players doing what they are passionate about rather doing what they are good for!

Virendar Sehwag

Robin Uthappa




Sourav Ganguly



Dhoni



Ajith Agarkar



Zaheer Khan

Building our house

For Indians building their own house is one of their biggest life time goals. They take this job very seriously and once done all the relatives say "Ohh, they have built their own house now. No more worries for them." I understand the feeling of accomplishment when we build our first house. But people buy/build 4 houses and for the 5th house the feel the same way. How many houses do u need to live in? I guess the idea is one house for the kitchen, one house for the living room, one house for the bedroom etc. One thing I have noticed is that people believe that real estate is a great investment which I completely agree with the roaring price of land in Chennai!

I remember when we built our house in Chennai, my parents took the role of an architect, supervisor, contractor, manager, name it and they did it. I don't think many people in the city would have done as much as my parents did while building the house. Usually what they do is go to an architect and ask him to make the plan and they just approve it. But my parents went and sat down with the architect and designed each wall. The energy and involvement they had was awesome. I was in undergrad then and was too busy with friends and din't bother much about the house. Now I feel guilty for not helping them around. I remember once we went to 'Thousand Lights' to purchase a chandelier for the living room and to buy some special lights for the bedrooms. My parents took me to some 6 or 7 shops before they decided what to buy. Then came the task of buying fans. In the US, you can buy ceiling fans and lights online. When I was a kid we got a fan with a light in the center and my friends thought that I had a very cool fan. Nowadays you have various kinds of fans, fanimation (animated ceiling fans), hunter fans, designer fans (monte carlo fans) etc. Things have changed so much that the pleasure of building a house is kind of lost. Everything is delegated to agencies/contractors. The owners come and see the progress of the house once in 2-3 weeks. Nobody has the time to get themselves involved anymore.

My parents are living in the house they built and are constantly making improvement and changes to the house. The day we had the 'Grahapravesam' (house warming ceremony), my parents were so thrilled and at the same time felt relieved because they built the house in less than a year. They faced lots of problems while building the house with the masons, painters and carpenters but somehow they managed to swim across and reach the shore. I wish I will have the same the energy and enthusiasm when I build my house!

India vs. the US

There are a lot of things which are different between India and the US. When Indians come to the US, they change themselves a little in certain ways to suit the land of the free!

Some of the most common things are when people in the US have coffee they have dikashun/black coffee but in India by default coffee comes with lots of milk and sugar! First floor means ground floor and ground floor means basement. The way they pronounce words that have the letter "j" for example, jalapeño is pronounced as halapeno and not Jalapeno.. Fuel for vehicles is called 'gas' and not 'petrol'. People are honest in this country even our own folks learn to be honest..

Indians never change when it comes to a few things like bargaining.. I saw an Indian aunty who was trying to bargain at JcPenny because the shirt that she took had a button which was not stitched properly!

Picture source: desithreads.com

Indians always go in for the cheap stuff, be it vegetables, groceries, clothes or insurance. Speaking of insurance when we come to the US as students all of us are told to purchase the cheapest medical insurance possible. The policy hardly covers anything but still all of us do it. Even for car insurance, Indians go in for the cheapest. They buy insurance from some unheard of company thinking that they are saving a lot of $$$.

One thing that all Indians in the US do is complain about the Indian food at the Indian Restaurants. There is always something bad to talk about.. Most of the people who give such raging reviews about restaurants are men, I bet they know for a fact that the food at the restaurant was 100 times better than their wives' cooking! Also most of the Indians here always discuss about the economy of India and how corrupt the politicians are. The men here always tell their mothers that they are planning to come back to India the next year and that next year never comes! The guy's mother topic is a separate issue and will definitely write about it soon!

Buckeyes, whatz the deal?

Picture source: espn.com

Yesterday's game was awesome. Gators proved it once again.. Remember the Monday, Jan 8th when the Gators played against the Buckeyes for the National Football championship? The outcome was unexpected! Gators won.. This Monday the Gators faced the Buckeyes and the outcome was as expected, the gators won again! This is the second time the gators are winning the NCAA Basketball championship!

I watched the game at home and few of my friends went to the Basketball stadium to watch the game and they told me that the entire University Avenue was crowded.. When the game got over, I could hear people bursting crackers near my place. On the whole, it was an awesome game and hats off to Corey Brewer and Taurean Green!

Go Gators!

Tomorrow is going to be a very interesting game.. Florida vs. Ohio State Men's Basketball Championship. The Buckeyes are meeting the Gators for the second time this year, the first time was for the National Football Championship on Jan 8th at which the gators had a meritorious win!

Picture source: gatorshop.com

I am sure the gators who were the 2006 champions will re-prove their worth in tomorrow's game. Poor thing the Buckeyes are going to face loss against the same team for the second time! May be the Michigan Wolverines need to take some tips from the gators on facing/beating the Buckeyes ;)


Here is the video of the Gator's White-House Visit. Enjoy

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