Blog@GraceJunction

The loud music coming from inside the huge canopy, huge halogen lights all around, smell of excitement rising above the small stench of animal presence, vendors selling popcorn, wafers, cold drinks, balloons, toys etc, and anticipation and excitement of my elder daughter and even myself are some of the first few things that come to my mind when I look back to the evening a couple of days back. I had never seen a circus for real. There were huge gates to greet us and to make sure people don’t barge in. The show inside was still on and we could hear faint sounds of announcements by the ringmaster rising above the din of music and the murmur of hundreds of people.  Suddenly, they appeared. Hordes of them smiling, talking, some amused, some with a look of disbelief and most only thinking about the next chore on their list. They kept trickling out and I was surprised by the number of people that tent had accommodated! (more…)

In my wee-wonder days of childhood, the classic debate was “Will robots replace human beings?” The person who stood “for it”, always won the debate by justifying the fact about the improved quality of life, faster production & development, maximum utilization of natural resources etc. Hearing the debate I always wondered what type of a dumb and wobbly feeling would have measured-up in the heart of the person who stood against it! 

But today it would be foolish to, not admire and be thankful for the great achievements of modern technology over the last century: advance medicines, advance energy, advance weapons, high speed communication and navigation systems. (more…)

In my recent trips to down south, Kerala, I had the several opportunities for trysts with the laidback lifestyle of the Keralites. Except when they are on a strike or on a protest with loud ‘zindabaads’, the Keralites are noticeably very laid back.

I have my reasons for the same. For example, the workers in the fields; supposed to report at 8.00am; nearly idle their way to their work spots well past 8.15am and then you can suddenly see them resting again after ‘kanji’ at around 10.00am and then, though none of them carries a watch (at least they don’t show they have it!), invariably you can find them “all”, suddenly leaving their posts at 12.28pm. Such an impeccable and awesome sense of time! Though post-lunch period starts at 2.00pm, you can see them coming slowly to re-occupy their posts by 2.15pm. If you are at the spot, supervising them, you won’t even realize how and where they vanish suddenly at around 4.00pm for the ‘chaaya’! Around 4.50 pm you can see most of them lining up to wash themselves up before their procession back home! Perhaps they sigh and tell themselves, “At last, the end of another arduous day”! Yeah, arduous for sure, but arduous because of watching them! Oh what a life! (more…)

I had just returned from a long trip and was visiting the Soul Café after a long time. There were some visible changes to the place but most of it was only rearrangements. However, they were giving away Cold Coco at an almost ‘throw away’ price. I was surely going to try a couple of cups. I took the corner seat, ordered the Coco and took a relaxing position to make a review of the place. So many long discussions had ensued in that place! (more…)

New York

David Letterman, the popular host of an entertaining talk show in an episode last week made a reference to 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin saying that she had the style of a “slutty flight attendant”. He also made an inappropriate comment about Palin’s daughter linking her to a baseball player. The daughter who accompanied Palin is just 14 years old. Letterman retracted his statement saying that he was infact talking about Palin’s other daughter who is 18 and is an unwed mother. (more…)

“One life. Why so serious?”.. Goes the latest ad campaign for the much awaited hatchback from the Honda stable, Honda Jazz. Let me take you thru a small history of this car. The car was launched in the year 2001 in Japan and in Europe, US and some other markets the car is known by the name “FIT” and in singapore, and some other markets its known as “JAZZ”. (more…)

On most days, a racist attack, anti-abortion riots and a crucial national health plan would have automatically been the important news of the day. But June 11, 2009 was not one of them. Donald Trump, who owns the rights to Miss USA, the beauty pageant announced that Carrie Prejean, crowned Miss USA runner up was being sacked for breaking her contract with him and the furore that followed has divided the United States of America into two. (more…)