Walking Lakshmi through the Ghost House..
I should say I did not expect to have much fun when I thought about the prospect of visiting Universal Studios at Hollywood for a second time within a year.

But when I had to literally drag a screaming Lakshmi into a ride called "Mummy Returns" with all my strength, I kinda knew that I was in for a surprise!

The ride is nothing but a typical Haunted-House setting with all paraphernalia required for scaring the hell out of weak hearts. Skeleton heads bump on you, ghosts come and touch you, vague human-like figures move around you, little ghosts run towards you and all the other works. You are supposed to walk through all these settings. And you are bound to hear quite a few screams whenever you go for this ride at Universal.

This time too, it wasn't very different. Only that Lakshmi was screaming all the way through! :-)

Atleast twice during the start of the ride, she decided to walk back off. But once I made her cross a few hurdles, she dropped the idea of backing off. Probably she did not fancy the idea of going back through what she had crossed already!

So then, she is walking along with me, screaming at the top of her voice almost without interruption at all the fancy scare-work that they had put up (and I believe she had her eyes closed too..) when this 8-foot ghost-figure comes and touches her shoulder. She screamed - I screamed - and then I did not hear much of her. I turn around after a few steps to find that Lakshmi is no longer with me but is running backwards and tripping on a few people - and scaring the hell out of them in turn - for they dont know which one is the ghost now - and they are all screaming too! I slowly gather myself up amidst all this confusion and walk back to see whats happening. It was all dark and there were atleast two people trying to help Lakshmi get up.

As I was walking across, an old lady (herself scared to death during all this) told me in a dry voice "You better take care of her!"

We did manage to complete the ride without any serious ado after that(well, it really couldn't get seriouser than that).

And we were outside on the roads of Universal Theme Park when I noticed that a few less-than-five-year-olds were crying outside after the ride.

Lakshmi was crying too.. Well, almost.. :-)

A Tip..
The trick to save the self from the evil traps set by flattery is to construct the person that we think we are, make a conscious effort to always remember him and not blur his personality with others' descriptions.

Women..

Comment from an American Woman Colleague of mine..

"The natural inclination of women all over the world is to control everything"

:-)

Hail India..
Celebrate India's 56th Independence day with words from Arun Shourie!

Am eagerly waiting the second part of the article..

:-)

Two Eggs..
So I was given two eggs when I visited this 100 floor building.. And the one who hand-delivered the eggs to me had time to explain to me that both the eggs were identical.. And they will break when dropped from a particular floor in the building and all the floors above.. When dropped from any floor below that particular floor, the eggs wont break when dropped..

My job was to find out from what floor will the eggs start breaking.. And I had to do that in a minimum number of attempts.. By 'attempt' I mean a drop of one egg..

I was given the freedom to break both eggs in the process.. Provided I give him the answer.. In the minimum number of steps..

I seem to have a method.. But want to check out if someone has a better one..

Coke, Pepsi and Pesticides..
Here is a report that talks about a survey conducted recently on the pesticide content in popular drinks sold in India. Most popular drinks have tested with content levels far higher than what is considered "safe" in western countries. The side effects listed does make it look scary.

Interestingly, Times of India reports that the reason for this could just be that the water used by these industries are not regulated by any clear norms by the Indian Government. The bottled water industry supposedly has stricter regulatory requirements as compared to these soft drinks.

Important to note that the levels of toxic pesticides in these same soft drinks sold in USA and Europe are well within the safety limits. Now does this mean that Coke and Pepsi have standards tests in these countries(as part of their production process?) to check for pesticide levels but dont have them in India - just because the govt. does not have a regulation and these tests might mean extra cost to the company?

This point leads me to this article wherein Swaminathan points out to a retailer(Carrefour) who has successfully adopted western standards in Indonesia and which inturn has helped improving the overall standard of food produce sold in that country. But the scenario we have now with Coke and Pepsi in India probably just shows that MNCs don't always do that. They are ready to bend their standards according to the regulatory rules in the country they operate if that makes business sense!

0 + 1 = 0..
Okay, so what is the problem with the comment counts at my blog (and a few others).

Can someone throw light?

To History's Refuge..
I guess Tony Blair doesn't want to be smart..

Why else would he really say History will forgive?

Pressure does these things to you, maybe..

Before you forget..
Just a reminder..

A war did happen couple of months back..
A few reasons were given for that by the people who waged..
A regime was indeed overthrown..

And a few people do talk about it even now..

Do you all remember? Do you have something to say on this still? Or is it old wine? Is it out of fashion to talk about it anymore?

Or are we going to stand by the modern paradigm - "Victory changes everything"?

Let me know..

I guess I need all the luck you could wish me! :-)