Killer Food.

The foodie that I am, just stumbled upon an interesting list on Concierge.com. Don't you just loooove lists! Listen, all Virgos love lists. Don't hate us.
This list is called '20 things you need to eat before you die'. They had my attention at need to eat. But reading on I find that the list is from a book called 'Two for the Road: Our Love Affair with American Food' by Jane & Michael Stern and the title is very misleading. The list tells you not just what to eat but specifically where to eat it, in America. So it assumes you should only eat American food before you die! That's outrageous! Bad title.

I propose we do an Indian version of this list. 20 Indian foods to eat (and where to eat) before you die.

Here's the all-American version. Brace yourselves. Seriously.

1. Italian Beef Sandwich at Mr. Beef in Chicago. (trust the American list to start with beef!..lets make sure ours starts with paneer.)
2. Lobster Roll (yum!) at the Maine Diner in Maine.
3. Cuban Sandwich at the El Siboney cafe in Key West. (90 miles from Havana-that has to be a damn good Cuban sandwich!)
Ok so far this is sounding like a sandwich list.
4. Fish Tacos at the Cottage Cafe in San Diego.
5. Salmon Burger at Daly's Drive-in, Seattle.
6. Frozen Custard at Leon's or Kopp's in Milwaukee. (Finally a non-sandwichy item-but who the heck is going to Milwaukee?)
7. Creamy grits at Old Post Office restaurant, South Carolina. (I just can't believe they have grits on this list!)
8. Banana Pudding, Loveless Cafe, Nashville.
9. BBQ Ribs, McClard's, Arkansas.
10. Green Chile Cheeseburger, Bobcat Bite, Santa Fe.
Oh dear there is a lot of bread and fried food in here.
11. Fried Clams at Clam Box, Ipswich, Massachusetts.
12. White Clam Pizza at Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, New Haven.
13. Chile con Carne (hurray no beans!) at Little Diner, El Paso.
14. Beef on Weck (type of bun) at Schwabl's, Buffalo.
15. Fried chicken at Bon-Ton Mini Mart, Kentucky. (yeah like K in the FC)
16. Cheesesteak at Mama's Pizzeria, Philadelphia.
17. Muffuletta (another freakin' sandwich!) at Central Grocery, New Orleans.
18. Ham Biscuits at Sonny's Grill in North Carolina.
19. Chicken Fried Steak at Rock Cafe, Oklahoma.
20. Lemon icebox pie at Silver Skillet, Atlanta.

Wait I have to check to see if the list was called '20 things to eat that will make you die' as opposed to before you die.

This list sucks. These places are too far away and looking at pictures of them, they are mostly sketchy, run-down looking joints in bad neighborhoods. I could be wrong and I'm sure the food is coma-inducingly good (pun intended!) but surely there are some healthier options we would like to eat before we die! Just one even?

I'm serious about creating an Indian list. I want to see if the top 20 will be just as unhealthy. Less meat for sure and I highly doubt you would see a single sandwich in there. Post your nominations now and I will collaborate and republish!

Melting Santa Claus.

I love Christmas and I love Santa. Who doesn't? But seriously, we must reserve terms like "jolly" and "ho, ho, ho" (other than in music videos) for the month of December.
But then why, you ask, is there a 'World Santa Claus Convention' in the middle of summer?
Belly-shaking chuckling competitions, exhibiting christmas tree decorating skills and voting on crucial global Yuletide policies and the future of Christmas clearly deserves a gathering of the best Santa brains in the business. Let's not deny that.
The question therefore, is not why is there A Santa Claus convention, it is why is there such a gathering in the middle of summer?
Summer is not a good time to sport long white beards and while red fur looks fabulous in plus size, anytime it reads above 40 degrees Farenheit, it should be against the law.
Picture 171 sweaty Santas from all over the world attending this highly coveted event in Denmark in the heat of July. Do you know this is the 43rd year they are hosting this convention? It's crazy. You think they would have figured it out by the 23rd one at least. Denmark is so nice in the Fall. Why wouldn't they host it in the Fall? The Fall is closer to season of jolly and besides these are old folks and we all know memory is affected by age. They would certainly retain more learnings from the convention if it were in the Fall. Or how about the Spring as a post-season analysis and next year planning approach?
Apparently since the convention is held at an amusement park, it's also a way to entertain children in summer. Oh come on kids. Let's save the big guy for December OK? Summer is for sandcastles and picnics and the Little Mermaid.
I can't get over it. Why would you make a bunch of sweet, fat guys who do nothing but good for the children, melt in the summer sun under their Santa suits...is this a weight-loss scam? I don't get it!

Aaah Pune Monsoons & The Happy Earth.

Yet another rainy summer weekend just went by and once again we were insulted with a bright and sunny Monday.
Global Warming meets Jihad you say? Naaah. Just plain old rotten summer weather.

I do love the rain though. Not 'the rain' actually but as I fondly remember them, 'the rains', the wonderful monsoons of India. Correction. The wonderful monsoons of Pune. The Bombay monsoons-not so wonderful. I have a fabulous story where I was floating in a cab towards Mahim waving my visa papers above my head screaming 'bachao' (help in angst)... A great story I promise to tell in full detail very soon.

Pune monsoons on the other hand are just plain yummy.

Garam pakodas or bhajis as they are locally known, steaming milky hot chai with Parle G of course (read my Parle G post if you haven't already!), spicy samosas and vada pav with green and red chutneys setting your tongue on fire, crunchy roadside behl-puri, the smell of the fresh earth releasing into the misty cool air, lushness and greenness, splashing rickshaws, children dancing in puddles, drives to Mulshi, Khandala, Lonavala, Sinhagad, getting soaked to the skin if you were zipping on bikes or enjoying the constant spray of monsoon rain as you drove with your car windows down.

Going for bike rides or drives was the the thing to do when it rained. Maybe it was the thrill of the ever perilous and moon crater-like roads this time of year, given that most drives involved steep, uphill, curvy roads like the one to Sinhagad (which is a fort atop a mountain), just to get the feeling of being right in the middle of the bursting grey monsoon clouds, or maybe it was the lure of the steaming chai and roadside treats ...our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Either ways, it was all heavenly.
It is an old Indian custom that ranges from children running out and playing in the first shower of the season to teens on bikes and people driving around in their cars...if it rains, you come out to play.

Besides, there is no electricity at home.

How can you possibly stay indoors during this beautiful time of year when all of nature finally comes alive? It is after all, the end of a long, dry summer and you are more relieved and excited than the cracked soil and the yellowed, brittle leaves. The whole experience is highly sensory. You walk bare-foot on the wet grass, or even better, you roll in it. Scrunching your eyes, you look up into the grey sky, and stick out your tongue to catch a few drops of the sweet rain water...and that smell! What is that wonderful fragrance that is released after the earth has soaked up the rains?
If I could bottle that smell, I would call it 'Smiling Indian Earth says Thanks for the Good Times'.

Gore's Charts & Poor Little Polar Bears.

Who has seen Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" ??? What did you think?
I liked it and didn't like it.
It's definitely one big powerpoint presentation. And if you know anything about making a good presentation, you'll know that he did a pretty good job at engaging the audience. At one point, he gets on a hydraulic ladder of sorts to show how carbon dioxide levels are projected to literally climb 'off the charts'. Very compelling.
But at times, I glaze over the many, many charts and at other times I get lost in the personal stories he sprinkles throughout. I would say I'm a sufficiently analytical person and can even make a pretty looking chart myself, on a good day. But this is the movies. I don't want to look at chart after chart while munching on salty popcorn and inhaling a bucket of diet coke.
Charts are a buzz kill.
Lets just say it's definitely not a good Saturday night movie. Ahem.
Coming back to the stories, they were touching and Al clearly has an emotional and personal connection to the subject matter. But it's too much for me. I struggle to cope with the thought of Manhattan drowning if Greenland melts and then Al talking about his childhood growing up on the farm...frankly I just don't care that much about his childhood at that point.
It sounds mean I know so let me just say that I like Al a lot more than most politicians but I don't want so much of him in this movie. It bugs me.
Focus on the issue here and it does the job well. Global Warming is here and very real. You leave feeling scared and worried.
Not scared and worried for you but for the generation after you. Your kids, their kids. What will happen?
For some reason I keep picturing the little polar bear they show in the movie. He keeps swimming in the ocean looking for ice to step on to but all the ice has melted. And he just keeps on swimming till he finds tiny bits of ice which he tries to climb on but they keep breaking and melting. Eventually there is no ice left and he drowns. It's so sad.

Blog Hope & Morons.

In protest of the India blog ban, I refused to blog yesterday. But thankfully today I can breathe (and blog) again. Thanks for the info Rad! (see comment to last post) It was allll a big mistake! I was really looking forward to SuperITman saving the day...oh but wait...it was allll a big "tech" mistake. Tsk Tsk. SuperITman was too busy practicing for the Aaranmula Boat Race (Aaaranmula Village, Kerala. August. Be there or be square.)
All we have heard in the last 48 hours is how people bypassed the ban, extreme outrage that our country would behave like "some others", the ineffectiveness of the ban (you could still post on blogger just not read anything) and even the formation of the 'Bloggers Collective Against Censorship'. We Indians are so good at forming committees I tell you.
What a bloggy mess!
I still see today's news reports reporting the ban (hello. old story now) but none on the ban being lifted. I just hope the letter to Sree is true. (see Rad's posting)

Speaking of uselessly under and mis-reported global news, I was shocked to read the Tsunami death toll in Java is now at 550! I feel like 24 hours ago it was 60. Why is no one talking about this? Instead of over-dramatizing the middle-east crisis and calling it World War 3 (I'm not saying it's not awful but is there any need to add fuel to the fire?) they might have spared a minute or two for poor Indonesia. Gosh, I just can't believe they got hit by a Tsunami again. And again, no warnings from the local disaster agency.

Here's the real scary part.
After losing 170,000 people in this 'pacific ring of fire' in Dec 2004, no Tsunami warning system has been set up for the southern Java coast. That's right. Nothing. Nada.
Why? Because "some" officials felt this area was less likely to be hit by a Tsunami than others in Indonesia. One of these "some" officials is now saying: "It turned out that our prediction was wrong. Now, we believe that there are no tsunami-free areas along the southern coast of Java."
Listen, you moron. Which part of 'Pacific Ring of Fire' don't you understand?

There are so many unavoidable tragedies in the world, can we please focus on the ones we can avoid?

India Bans Blogs!?!?

Major News. I just learned that India has blocked all major blog websites like blogspot, typepad and geocities.
Ok give me 2 minutes to shake with anger.

Are they freakin' crazy? How will my mom read my blog now? She was a loyal reader dude.

OK this is clearly a bigger issue.
"The government ordered a blackout of around 18 sites for publishing content that was ‘anti-national’ and ‘against public interest'. Blogging, particularly on fanatic and religious websites, had surged soon after the Mumbai bomb blasts on July 11. Over 25% of India’s 38 million internet users are active bloggers."

Screwed.

All the following have been blacklisted
• hinduunity.org
• hinduhumanrights.org
• princesskimberley.com
• bloodspot.com
• dalitstan.org
• clickatell.com
• blogspot.com
• geocities.com
• typepad.com

Some of these sound plain scary but blogspot? The words "why me??" scream from my brain. Bloodspot yes. Blogspot? No!
The problem is that sites like blogspot and typepad have no mechanisms to filter content. Somebody fix this. All you IT people in India. This is clearly a job for SuperITman. (sorry I'm clearly very disturbed.)

The blogging community in India is fuming. This is so not cool. And so not fair. It's so much more than banning a web log.

Should I move from blogspot to another non-blacklisted site? Or will they end up blocking those too? Anyone have any ideas?

Bachaoooo! ("Help" in Hindi with a heap of angst thrown in.)

McCurry in No Hurry.

Steve McCurry is one of those brilliant photographers. A legendary photo-journalist who has travelled the globe in a quest to capture human struggle and joy. I urge you to absorb his gallery online (www.stevemccurry.com) and when you do, you will recognize the photographer behind one of the most recognized photos in the world today-the mesmerizing portrait of an unidentified Afghan refugee girl. There is an amazing story about how she was found many years later...
I mean this is a man who disguised in local garb, crossed over the border of Pakistan into rebel-controlled Afghanistan prior to Russian invasion, with the help of six mujahidin (Afghan freedom fighters). All to capture the suffering of the people there. Walking through mine-fields amidst the Russian invaders, McCurry risked his life. He finally escaped Afghanistan with camera film sewn into his clothes and was the first to show the world what was going on in Afghanistan in the 1980's.
Talk about motivation.
McCurry started his adventures in India.
His bio says: "It was in India that McCurry learned to watch and wait on life. "If you wait," he realized, "people would forget your camera and the soul would drift up into view."
Yes, India definitely is a good place to master the art of watching and waiting. So much to watch and so many things to wait on.
McCurry's web galleries are amazing by the way (www.stevemccurry.com) and feature a nice sample of his work from around the globe. Pictures from India are so real and deeply touching. In the India gallery you will also recognize the photo of the boy from Mumbai on the paperback version of Suketu Mehta's Maximum City. The boy is celebrating Ganesh Chaturti and covered with rang (red powder-often used in times of celebration) but his expression is serious and unexpected.
In an effort to literally absorb myself in his work, I recently bought a box of 50 postcards titled 'Portraits by Steve McCurry' (from Yoox.com-see link on the right) and have pasted them in a row on all 4 walls of my office.
For practically every emotion I feel during the course of my day, there is a face, a person, a story gazing back at me that inspires me, soothes me, haunts me, intrigues me, amuses me, saddens me, confuses me, delights me...and reminds me of the colorful and fascinating world beyond the one I live in. So much to learn by watching and waiting.

Visa Chaiye Kya?

An interesting article just came out on Forbes today. 'Jobs That Will Get You A U.S. Visa'
Professors, Nurses, Artists, Musicians, Athletes, Researchers, Physical Therapists and Executives (isn't that like the broadest category in the world?) this is your lucky day...

http://www.forbes.com/leadership/2006/07/13/leadership-careers-immigration-cx_tw_0713jobsthatgetyouausvisa.html

Thank You BBC.

The quest for a good news website on the situation back home has become an obsession. I tried samachar. com and hindustantimes.com but was let down (good coverage on Miss Universe, however). Look, I'm not saying they don't have news, it's just hard to get to the articles, there aren't that many good articles to begin with, and the ones that are good are overwhelmed by everything else that is going on, on that page.
Pulling down advertising on websites and news channels has become a standard practice here in the U.S since 9/11. It's the right thing to do. And I wish the media in India would adopt this practice as well. Trust me, I work in advertising and we have established industry best practices...contrary to popular belief.

I was hoping to find a homegrown online destination to fulfill my intense journalistic needs right now (I feel an uneasy rumble back home, anger, tensions, accusations...and I want to keep my finger on the pulse) but I'm sorry. I couldn't find one. If you do, please let me know.

In the meanwhile, I am thankful to the BBC who never fails to provide in-depth news where depth means deep and news is serious business.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/default.stm

I Want the News Dammit!

I have been having a hard time getting the news on Mumbai sitting here a million miles away in Manhattan. I am sure TV news coverage is great back home but I have the web to rely on. As does the rest of the world. This is because global news is on page 16 of our newspapers, clearly less important and compelling as Britney's pregnant belly or wasps swarming around a giant nest in Georgia, and the local news channels can't stop talking about the flash flood warnings (anytime it rains more than one centimeter)...therefore the web is my only hope.
Oh how I adore the web.
But I am just so disappointed with Indian news websites like timesofindia.com and ndtv.com. Call me greedy but the news is not updated at the frequency I would like to see and the stories are brief and shallow. Overall, the content is flat and not emotionally engaging at all.


Why is more than half the homepage devoted to distracting banner advertisements?
Could they not have taken these ads down at a time of crisis like this one? It isn't fair to have "Get marriage proposals daily from shaadi.com" and "NRIs, no miminum balance required for the next 10 years" messaging flashing wildly at me and screaming for my attention, when I am frantically trying to absorb the horror that is going on back home.
The matrimony banner is as big as the main picture on the timesofindia.com homepage...no wait actually it's bigger!!!
Come on people.
And while NDTV dedicates comparatively less real estate to banner ads, what is up with the banner ad promoting Frederick Forsyth's new book 'The Afghan, a chilling story of modern terrorism' on the same page as the leading story on the Mumbai local train bombings??


I mean can we be a little sensitive here?

There is a time and place for cross-selling and contextual advertising and this clearly isn't it.
A little moderation (please hire someone who checks to see where the ads are being placed for goodness sake!) and just plain common sense would be much appreciated.

More Mumbai News.

Please do read all the comments that have been coming in...it's always great to hear your thoughts.

Thank you all for asking about family and friends back home. Everyone is well.

One friend of ours was lucky, he hadn't taken his car to work that day and was supposed to be on one of the trains at 6:45 p.m. in the first class compartment...luckily he missed the train.
People are talking about how the cops weren't anywhere to be seen that day and how it was absolute mayhem and chaos, people running about wildly, trying to reach home, stopping buses, cars, rickshaws, anything, trying to reach loved ones with all the cellphone networks jammed (why does that always happen??)
Our friend told us any $%&@# thing could have tipped violence that day.
In truth, people were in shock and scared to the bone already...all they cared about was getting home to their loved ones in one piece.

Mumbai. You Are Not Alone.

The support pouring in for Mumbai right now is outstanding. Thank you world for finally acknowledging that bloodshed in India is not always random acts of communal violence. We are facing the same terrorism everyone else is facing. From New York to London, Madrid and Bali, we are all in the same boat here, bobbing about on the same stormy waters.

While Mumbai slowly heals from yesterday's horror, the focus quickly shifts to finding the culprits. And right now SIMI and LeT are in the running.
If you are like me and hadn't really heard much about Al Qaeda pre 9/11 here's what you need to know:
This information is from the South Asian Terrorism Portal. (excuse me? what portal? yes I had the same reaction.)
"The Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is an Islamist fundamentalist organization, which advocates the ‘liberation of India’ by converting it to an Islamic land. The SIMI, an organisation of young extremist students has declared Jehad against India, the aim of which is to establish Dar-ul-Islam (land of Islam) by either forcefully converting everyone to Islam or by violence. "

So that's settled then. Jihad is not just reserved for America.

"The Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), reportedly one of the largest terrorist outfits operating in Jammu and Kashmir is the military wing of the Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad (MDI). The LeT’s professed ideology goes beyond merely challenging India's sovereignty over the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The Lashkar's ‘agenda’, as outlined in a pamphlet titled 'Why are we waging jihad' includes the restoration of Islamic rule over all parts of India. Further, the outfit propagates a narrow Islamist fundamentalism preached by its mentor, the MDI. It seeks to bring about a union of all Muslim majority regions in countries that surround Pakistan. Towards that end, it is active in J&K, Chechnya and other parts of Central Asia."

There's a pamphlet on 'why are we waging jihad' ??? God help us.

For the average person living in Mumbai, terrorism is what many a Bollywood movie depicts over and above the singing and dancing around trees movies. And besides it's comforting to know that Kashmir is so far away and really, who wouldn't prefer to remember Kashmir for the snow-capped mountains and the honeymoon haven it once was? Terrorists are the scary guys running through deserts or jungles and hiding behind mountains...
Wrong.
They are riding our trains, sipping chai at our local cafes and breathing the air we breathe, maybe even shopping at the same stores we do...

A Prayer for Mumbai.

Just when I was beginning to get over the shock of the foiled subway terrorist attacks in Manhattan, bomb blasts in the Mumbai local trains brought back the reality that there is truly no place on earth that is safe anymore. Terrorism is not new to India. Thousands of people have died at the mercy of Islamic terrorists over the last many decades, many many more lives sacrificed than on that tragic day in September here in Manhattan.

If you have ever been on a local train in Bombay you will know that we are talking about a ginormous volume of commuters on a daily basis, crammed in like sardines, with the smell of sardines (thanks to the many fisherwomen on these trains) and on a normal day the experience can be pretty terrifying.
I can't begin to imagine the scenes there today with seven bombs exploding at rush hour in first class compartments of the local trains. Two of the stations affected - Khar and Bandra, are ones I have travelled through many many times when I lived there. These were people getting home after a hard day's work. Within 11 minutes, over 150 lives lost. A horrible tragedy.

At times like this one can only count on the resilience of the people to get through it all. And that's the one thing we can count on. Like New Yorkers, Bombayites are a tough species. Hats off to a city where the first people who rushed to help victims were slum dwellers. We are all hearing familiar stories of strangers selflessly helping strangers with no care for caste, creed and or social rank. Long lines outside blood banks.
Once again we are reminded of an unconditional love for a city and it's people.
As people tremble in the aftermath of these terrorist attacks in Mumbai and other parts of India, let's remember that the spirit of cities like New York and Mumbai will never ever be shaken. I refuse to accept headlines by British journalists that read "Seven Blasts Push Bombay to the Brink of Collapse." They just have no idea do they?
And while Time magazine does a cover on India and it's fabulous progress and even talks about Tapas bars in Mumbai, let's not forget the evil eye that watches over our cities, hoping to trip us up, instill fear in us and weaken us.
We won't let it happen Mumbai.
We won't let it happen Manhattan.

Whale of A Time.

I've been told my postings are too long. What do you think? No one has time to read my essays eh? Oh well, the adaptive human being that I am, I will work towards heeding to your reduced attention spans. This digital age I tell you. I think our great grand-children will eventually have communication down to monosyllables and emoticons only.
Ok so here's my post for today-nice and short mind you.
Have you ever been whale-watching? Most fascinating excursion. I was so sceptical about seeing a real whale in the ocean...I mean Boston harbor hardly makes for a Discovery channel moment. But an hour or two of steady zipping into the Atlantic ocean and I saw 7 of the most beautiful mammals in the world (after Brad Pitt and George Clooney that is.) The hugeness of these creatures is phenomenally humbling. We're talking up to 50 feet long! And being huge and so utterly graceful is just mindblowing (Take note Rosie O'Donnell.) We saw humpbacks and fin whales and minkes. Their glistening bodies gliding effortlessly in the green ocean, it was nature at it's best. Visit http://whalecenter.org/sightings/recent.htm to see what we saw and potentially even adopt a whale. I'm seriously considering whale adoption. 2 of the whales we saw are part of only 350 left in the world! And we saw one of the reasons why...boats getting too close to the whales. Selfish people wanting a good close-up view of these delicate beauties. Another major threat to whales is entanglement in fishing gear. Looking at them, at 30-40 tons a piece, you can hardly imagine anything getting in their way, let alone some fishing lines...

Virgo Billionaires.

My husband and I are big fans of Marjorie Orr. She used to write daily horoscopes for a Bombay/Pune local paper, Mid-Day, and probably still does. Luckily we have the web so even though I am a million miles away from the cutie little boy who used to sell me my Mid-Day at the traffic light intersection, nose pressed up against the car window and all, I have Marjorie's website (can someone please hire her a web design agency?) to tell me what will go wrong next. She has been known to be eerily accurate on occasion.
Did you know that 33% of Americans read their horoscope on a regular basis!?
I'll admit that I'm not too disciplined when it comes to seeking out my horoscope for the day and Marjorie's ugly website does indeed deter me (sorry I am sooo hung up on that stuff.) I do read it in the free subway newspaper though, because it happens to be there in front of me, but ask me my horoscope 10 minutes later and I would draw a blank. It's certainly not in the 'information I retain' category. I have a lot of those categories by the way.

But something caught my eye recently. Forbes did a study that reveals most billionaires are Virgos. Niiiice. Virgo that I am, I read on to discover that a couple of years ago it was Pisces that was the billionaire sign but since Pisces and Virgo are on the same 180 degree axis (whatever that means) which switched at some point, it's now our turn. Does this mean in a few years it will turn again and therefore I only have a few years to make my billion? Sheesh. Way to up the pressure.

Here are some interesting nuggets from the Forbes report:
"So far, we have confirmed the birth dates for 613 of our 793 billionaires. Of those, more than 70, or roughly 12%, were born between Aug. 23 and Sept. 22, making this earth sign the most common among billionaires. It’s a bit ironic that top astrology honors for this male-dominated billionaires list goes to the sign symbolized by a virgin, but it actually isn’t too surprising. Virgos are known to be hardworking, determined, detail-oriented and analytical. They are driven more by their desire to achieve excellence at whatever they do than by the pursuit of riches, according to astrologer Michael Lutin. These utilitarian types are happiest when they can produce things or services that are useful to others. Two of the richest and best-known American billionaires are both Virgos: Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett, the second-richest person in the world, and Oracle's Larry Ellison. But don’t fret if you or your children are not Virgos. Forbes found examples of billionaires born under all 12 zodiac signs. Aggressive Aries, who account for 8% of our list, include Microsoft's Steve Ballmer and Ikea’s Ingvar Kamprad; idealistic Aquarians like Oprah Winfrey also make up 8%. Scorpio has bragging rights as the sign of the world’s richest man, Microsoft’s Bill Gates. "Scorpios always do well because they use all of their seductive powers to sell. The goal of Scorpio is to make you do what they want you to do, whether you want to do it or not. People hate Windows, but they buy it." So true my friends. So true.

I got a giggle out of this last bit of the report. But frankly it's a little mean...sorry my little Sagittarians...
"The least common sign among billionaires? Sagittarius, which represents just 6% of the world’s wealthiest. Folks born under this sign are sometimes described as unorganized or even sloppy, and more focused on the big picture than on little details. “Counting on their luck and the grace of God, adventurous Sagittarians can act like tourists in the marketplace," explains astrologer David R. Railey. But what they may lack in business acumen, they make up for in creativity. Thus it's no surprise that Sagittarian billionaires include Hollywood director Steven Spielberg and producer Arnon Milchan."

India Calling.

It’s time to start planning my annual trip to India. I'm so dreading calling my travel agent just knowing that a) there won't be any tickets left and b) they will cost me an arm and a leg. What is going on with December travel to India? Can some people please go in the summer or during Diwali so the rest of us can actually enjoy the journey? Oh the many Air India horror stories I could share with you! I know we all have some. I won't go there right now because it will only further deter me from calling the travel agent. And I'm done procrastinating.
The one thing I fear more than the air fare right now is the one thing that drives most of us humans crazy. Change.
You know how when you and a younger sibling have grown up in separate countries and you miss them growing up (this will resonate for those of us with younger siblings who have moved to foreign shores while the little ones are still in school). If you don't have a younger sibling, think of the little cousins or nieces and nephews you see like once a year or even a long-distance friend. Every time you see them, you just can't fathom how much they have grown up or changed. It's not the fact that they have changed, change is good and healthy and wonderful, but it's the process of change that you have missed out on and that's the part that is difficult to grasp. It's those little moments and experiences that have had a major implication on this person's character, personality and/or outlook that you have not been part of. And by the time you get the memory of the person the way they were the last time you saw them out of your head and understand and embrace the new and changed person they have now become and you finally realize how they are as cute or cool as ever, it's time to say goodbye again! And so the cycle continues...
This is how I feel about India in general and Pune, my hometown specifically. So much change! More so than Bombay or Delhi which too have progressed dramatically but Pune was always my sleepy little town nestled behind the western ghaats (mountain range) where the hills were green, the people in no rush to get anywhere or do anything and life was never complicated. The last bit of course has nothing to do with Pune as it does with the fact that I was younger and therefore life was less complicated...anyway I digress. I just feel so overwhelmed by the change that has hit my little hometown. Each time I drive into the city after a 30 hour cross-global haul, I don't even recognize it at first. And while family and friends proudly point out all the progress, I’m thinking why does everything have to get so freakin' modernized and westernized? Why have the little shack hang-out joints been replaced by Starbucks imitators? Why can't I buy a movie ticket for 40 rupees anymore? Why are all the kids lined up outside KFC...do they have any idea how bad fried chicken is for you? And why has the local tailor been replaced by a Lacoste store? On second thoughts I love Lacoste and it’s much cheaper in India so I won't complain. But I love my tailor too. I just wish we could have a bit of both, you know.
Each time I visit Pune, it’s less Pune and more something else. Something I don’t want it to be. Something I have enough of here in New York. But I look around me and see that the Pune kids are happy. This is what they want. It’s their Pune now and not so much the sleepy town I remember. And just as I get settled in and finally start to recognize and accept Pune for the place it always was and what it is poised to be, its time to leave again. All in all an emotional rollercoaster ride or rather I should say a bumpy rickshaw-ride!
I think I’m ready to call my travel agent now.

Meryl Don't Wear No Prada.

Just in case you were wondering why the book/movie is titled Devil Wears Prada and not Devil Wears Dolce & Gabbana or Devil Wears Calvin Klein, I found this wonderful quote that puts it all into perspective:
"Because, at $490 for a signature nylon and leather hobo purse, $590 for beaded leather sandals and $2,895 for a tweed skirt suit, Prada equals incomparable prestige. If you want to be a fashionista who invokes confidence, not flash or glitz, Prada is the name to wear. When you wear Prada, you feel intelligent and exclusive because only a very small group will recognize what you are wearing. It's not one of those designers that screams money with lots of logos all over their designs."
I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this one. See I get the confidence and exclusivity part but did someone say you feel intelligent when you wear Prada??? A tweed skirt that could feed an entire village? Not so intelligent in my opinion.

You know what's really ironic? Meryl doesn't even wear Prada in the movie! Patricia Field who dressed Meryl for the role admitted that because Meryl isn't a size 0, 2 or 4 they couldn't use sample pieces and the movie budget wouldn't allow for custom made, so she had to turn to Donna Karan (who actually dresses real women) pieces from the 80's. Which she found at a warehouse in New Jersey. Tragic.
Maybe they should have named the movie "Devil Wears What Fits Her".

The Spilling the Beans on Fashion Movie.

Meryl Streep in 'Devil Wears Prada' is sheer genius. Turns out that she pretty much defined the movie role of Miranda Priestly, the boss from hell and editor of Runway (Vogue) magazine. So Meryl of her to not lift the character directly from the book, but to truly embrace the role, playing priestess Priestly not as Lauren Weisberger (author of the book) had defined her but creating a very Cruella Deville (101 Dalmations) look to her (think grey hair and plenty fur) and adding a more human touch to Miranda the monster in the book...after all even mean fashion bitches can love a little.
Meryl shows us that being mean is not about yelling or throwing hissy fits, no drama here sisters...this is a world where even the most vicious remarks are uttered cooingly. It's all in the eyes my friends. Now only if we could see behind those Versace sunglasses!

While some might feel the movie over-dramatizes the high-fashion publishing world, if you've ever known anyone who has worked in the Conde Nast building at Times Square where Vogue and other fashion titles are housed, you know that the depictions are pretty darn accurate. In real life, the average employee height is 5' 7", very few are above a size 4 (such a waste of the gloriously famed Conde Nast cafeteria!) everyone is dressed for a party at 8 a.m. and spending an entire month's paycheck on shoes is totally acceptable.
It's all so wonderfully shallow.