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Cataloging my Library

Librarything pageI started my first (and only) business when I was 12 years old. Along with my close childhood friends, Priyanka and Priti, I decided to start a library.  We pooled in our existing book collection (Priti “borrowed” her sister’s collection of Famous Five & Secret Seven), Priyanka’s parents generously donated an old filing cabinet (and more importantly , the permission to keep it in their main hallway) and my father paid for our most prized possession: a rubber stamp with the words “PICK-A-BOOK CIRCULATING LIBRARY”. We had extremely reasonable rates: 50 paise for a paper back & 1 Rupee for a hard-back & you could keep the books for a week.  The money we earned would go into buying more books for us to read and then ultimately back to the library.  It was a sound business plan, reality however, didn’t quite live up to that promise. Continued…

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By Deepa – May 25, 2010

A Mini Reunion

PHOTOS

DSC_5430We had a mini-meet up with a few friends from our undergraduate engineering school last week at Longwood Gardens near Philadelphia.  The tulips were still in bloom, the gardens looked pretty, the fountains looked beautiful and we all had a wonderful time.  I am heavily borrowing from Sarika’s email to our e-group describing our get-together but here are the highlights of the trip.

It is always great to catch up with old friends, so that was undoubtedly high point of the entire trip.

  1. The tulip garden was extremely colorful and looked splendid. The photographers amongst us (Ashu, Seejo and budding talent Sarika) clicked a lot of photos.
  2. I got a completely unexpected (and rare) call from Vidya after a long time, so everyone got a chance to catch up with her as well.
  3. We stayed over at Ashu & Niral’s place on Saturday night, and were amazed by his exquisite works of art (they were too beautiful too be called mere photographs).  Ashu also regaled us with anecdotes of his second career as a photographer.
  4. Enjoyed watching Vania running around the house, and Pooja trying to be all mom-like! Continued…

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By Deepa – May 22, 2010

Weekend Getaway: The Home and Farm Edition

PHOTOS:  HERE

Deep Creek Lake is a popular vacation spot situated in Western Maryland and offers something for every kind of visitor, be it water activities such as fishing or canoeing at the large man-made Deep Creek, hiking or camping in  the 5 or so  state parks in the region or simply relaxing in the many bed and breakfast inns in the area.  It is about a 2 hour drive from where we live, and when I was looking for a quick getaway location for the weekend, a colleague suggested this place.  We went to Haley’s Farm Bed and Breakfast Inn at Deep Creek,  a 65 acre farm that is managed by Pete and Bobbi Briggs.  Let me give you a little tour of the place where we stayed.

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Our luxury suites were in a barn!   Despite the rustic exterior, the suites were ultra comfortable and very comfortable.    The view from the window of our suite was the real barn where 4-6  horses were tethered.  The main house was large and had a spa, a jacuzzi, a huge entertainment room with a decent video collection, lots of books and games. There was always some snacks to munch on and when we arrived on Friday night, we were greeted with a huge slab of gooey chocolate cake! Continued…

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By Deepa – May 20, 2010

Food Blog Update: Zucchini muffins with Jalapeno jelly

IMG_7327One of my favourite shops in US, is Harry and David—a gourmet food store.  I can never resist the impulse to enter the store when I pass by it and once I enter, I rarely leave without purchasing something or the other.  My favourite item from the store is their collection of relishes, dips and spreads .  The last time I went there, I bought their green jalapeno jelly, it was simply delicious—the right mixture of sweet and spice. Infact, I liked it so much that I emptied the entire bottle in one sitting.   And then I got on the internet to find how I could make these at home.  I got tons of recipes while I googled recipe for jalapeno jelly.

It was quick, it was simple and it was delicious.  I had some red and green chillies that I had grown in my garden last year in my freezer and I was glad to finish them before I planted some more this summer.  Once I had the jalapeno jelly, I started looking out for things I could eat it with.  This weekend, I made some zucchini & beetroot muffins to go along with it.  The muffins were such a healthier alternative to bread—I had it for lunch for 4 straight days. Continued…

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By Deepa – May 18, 2010

Clinton, Bush, Gore at BIO

Clinton & BushThe Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) held its annual meeting in Chicago this year. The weather in Chicago was unusually mild and a welcome difference from the cold windy days that I encounter during my annual pilgrimage to Chicago in December to attend the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting.  BIO was much more of a “schmooze” meeting rather than scientific, but the highlight of the meeting was that the keynote speakers for the Monday luncheon were Presidents George W Bush & President Clinton while that for Tuesday was Al Gore.

We got to the hall about 1.5 hours before the scheduled time but the queue had already started forming.  They let us into the hall 30 minutes before the presentation, and then it was a free for all, as everyone literally sprinted down the hall to get as close to the stage as possible.  The serving staff stood in two lines on either side of the center aisle loudly cheering as meeting attendees dressed in formal wear dashed down to catch the best seats. Fortunately for me, my enterprising colleague Todd managed to get us excellent seats upfront right behind the VIP section.  The food served was rather mediocre, and we picked at it waiting for the talk to start.  The two Presidents walked in along with the session moderator,  Jim Greenwood, President & CEO of BIO, who started the discussion claiming that they had three Presidents on stage. Continued…

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By Deepa – May 17, 2010

I Have a Dream – 2

Yup, I dream in color. I dream fantastic details. Most dreams end with the “The END’ flashing accompanied by theme song music.

Like the other day, I dreamt of Seejo. Now that is weird first because I NEVER dream of Seejo. He may be a part of my dream world (gag gag) but he is never the main focus more like the character actor who has hardly two lines in the movie. But this dream was solely based on Seejo & Me. And set in a typical Kerala mileu. In a house than resembled a movie “tharavad”.

And so Seejo stays in this tharavadu. I stay in the neighbourhood. Seejo & I have a “thing” for each other. Apparently it is well known within the family and everyone sort of approves it. There is a function in Seejo’s house…some wedding, perhaps of a  cousin. Lots of guests. One of the guests is a distant relative. Now this girl is a “gaanv ki ladki” (movie stereotypical).  Very simple girl but stubborn and she wants to get married to Seejo. She makes a fuss, the elders tell “let us wait till this wedding is over and then decide.” . Simple Girl meets Seejo, Seejo brushes her off with a “Don’t be silly”. As a long time neighbour, I attend the wedding celebrations too. I hear the rumors about this girl too. We are not very concerned about it , though. Continued…

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By Deepa – May 9, 2010

I have A Dream – 1

I have mentioned before that I have vivid dreams—extremely detailed with a pretty structured (albeit fantastical) plotline. I have always suspected that these dreams are an attempt by my sub-conscious mind to rebel against the lack of imagination I display in my waking life.  Since I have given up all pretensions to write fiction, I thought I should record my dreams here for no other reason than to have some laughs.

So, in this particular dream, I am visiting home for a short vacation. We are still staying at the RBI colony at  Bombay Central and as was the practice all through my teenage years, I go down to take “rounds” in the evening. (Real life: Haven’t been to the colony in ages).  I come back with the information that one of Dwiti’s friends, Jui, is going to visit the colony that evening.  (Real life:  I haven’t met Jui in the last 10 years, and probably haven’t thought about her at all during that time). I come back upstairs and mention to Dwiti that her friend Jui is coming to the colony that evening and since I haven’t seen her for so long, I’d like to meet her. (Real Life:  Jui & I never really talked much –  I don’t think we ever had a conversation longer than 5 minutes). Dwiti was a little confused as Jui hadn’t told her about her visit, but I was pretty insistent that I’d like to see her, so Dwiti suggested that she call Jui’s brother to get the latest news. Apparantly Jui’s brother, Siddharth, still stayed in the same colony with his wife. (Real Life: Siddharth is married with probably 2 kids, and we were at best, nodding acquaintances and I have no clue where they live currently) Continued…

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By Deepa – April 15, 2010

I can’t write fiction

When I was around 10 years old, I decided to write a story.  I have no idea what prompted the story idea. I expect I was inspired after reading Children’s world, Target and other such magazines that catered to kids. The story was about a lonely little girl whose best friend moves away and how she gets another friend. I painstakingly wrote this on two pages that I had torn out of a note-book and even illustrated it , just as it appeared in all my favourite magazines. I don’t think I showed the story to anybody. Even at 10, I knew a bad story when I read (or wrote) one and (very rightly) wanted to keep it a secret.  I was probably quite traumatized with my writing output that I didn’t think about writing anything else for a long time.

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Continued…

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By Deepa – April 10, 2010

Bear Watching

PHOTOS: ALASKA BEAR WATCHING

One of the best decisions we made in selecting day trips in Alaska was choosing the folks from Emerald Air  from Homer to guide us on a unique Bear Watching trip.  Chris & Ken, a husband and wife pair who serve as guide and pilot respectively took us along with seven other   tourists to Hallo Bay to get a close look at the brown bears or grizzly bears in Alaska. It was an once in a lifetime experience and it will be the bar against which we will measure any future animal watching trips.

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Continued…

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By Deepa – February 16, 2010

Wildlife in Alaska

PHOTOS: ALASKA

The “Big Five” in Alaska probably are: the bears (brown bears and  black bears), moose, caribou (also known as reindeer)  wolves and Dall Sheep.  My goal at the beginning of this trip was to make sure that we saw all of these  animals in their natural habitat.  We started off very well; within half an hour of landing in Anchorage, we spotted the Dall sheep.  We were driving down the TurnAgain arm, a spectacular drive that hugs the coast through the Chugach National Forest, and we had just stopped for our very first photo op.  Seejo, with his 20/20 vision noticed some animals on top of the mountain. I immediately dug out my binoculars and saw that these were indeed a herd of Dall sheep climbing up the steep mountain cliffs.  They were quite recognizable due to their snowy white coats and characteristic curved horns—appearing like a cross between a sheep and a goat.  A solitary sheep had wandered down the cliffs almost as if to  pose for us while we clicked away furiously.

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Continued…

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By Deepa – February 16, 2010

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