Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Tulsa Diary


It was a pleasant get away for me and my friend Akbar to go to Tulsa, OK over this last weekend. It is the spring-break at University of Missouri and almost all of my friends have gone to their families and relatives. We stayed here but got bored in no time and we cooked up this plan to go there in one hour as we both have friends there. It is about 350 miles away from Columbia, MO and we planned to drive. We were not expecting anything out of this trip however we did see some interesting things there.
On our way to Tulsa, we saw “World’s Largest McDonald’s” sort of arched over I-44. The fact is that it is only largest in terms of space area however there are two other McDonald’s, one in Beijing and other in Moscow which are bigger in terms of seating capacity. On our first day we ate in ‘Desi-Wok’, a cross-over kind of restaurant serving Indianized-Chinese food. The food was good and plenty for the price. In the evening, my friend arranged a get-to-gather of his office friends in the sport-complex of his housing colony. We played pool, saw the stupid movie ‘Rat Race’ and finally ate home-made food. It was over all fun. We got to meet many Indians there working in different companies. Akbar got to meet one Bhopali girl and was happy about it.


On the second day, Akbar’s friend Anuj came to see us. This is a crazy guy who drives car like he is flying a helicopter and used to turn the car at his will. Anyways, we went to a different Indian restaurant called ‘India Palace’ for the lunch. The food was ok, not as great as the other day as it was buffet with very limited dishes. Then we went to the ‘Riverfront’ on Arkansas River. It was an awesome day with warm temperature and cool breeze. There Akbar bought a native Indian pendent for his girl-friend. Also there was this good cafĂ© on the river and we enjoyed the music played by some local band while sipping our coffee. While driving back to home, we came across a local university called Oral Roberts University with its unique architecture of buildings. See the images. In the evening, my friend and I went to a coffee house just next to his house. We talked about our old days at Bajaj Auto and relished some of the interesting incidents. Later that night, we went to a local Italian restaurant and since we had a late lunch, I just ate a large green salad. Next morning we returned to Columbia. I think this trip at least recharged our batteries and most importantly I got to meet my friend after almost 6 years. I was happy.

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Madhuri Dixit at Filmfare

This is a video of Madhuri Dixit performing at 2006 Filmfare awards. Any Madhuri fan must watch it.

Friday, March 03, 2006

Newsweek Article on India



This week's Newsweek is a must buy/read for Indians. It is about the rise of India as a nation. Here is what I think about the article in brief. Fareed Zakaria did a wonderful job of covering the many complex facets of India as it marches to stardom and basks in its moment of glory. The article was balanced and provided facts and numbers that astonished even me-- an Indian. That America is finally seeing India as a huge success story and not a nation fraught with poverty and disease makes me proud and happy. However, I strongly object to putting Padma Lakshmi on the cover. Though easy on the eye, Ms Lakshmi is hardly deserving of such an honor given that her major (and dubious?) claim to fame is writer hubby Salman Rushdie. What’s more, she lives abroad and will not even be recognized by a majority of Indians. I would have chosen a more fitting Indian personality or key entrepreneurs whose brilliance and efforts have ushered in India’s Golden era. Finally, I believe that Indo-American partnership, be it in commerce, education or even the military, will greatly benefit both countries