Astrovelo

Kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray.
via kiruba

A draconian move by the Indian government. Usually, I don’t like any bans or laws that ban something. If people are stupid enough to do it, they deserve to die. But, this law, I like. It sure would help to deglamourize smoking among illiterates of India. The literates, who continue to smoke even after knowing the hazard, get no sympathy from me. They deserve to suffer and die. It is called “natural selection”.

Last few days, I have been busy building Ashwini’s playset. It arrived in about 90-100 wooden pieces and other parts. There were hundreds of nuts, bolts, screws and other hardware. After about 8 hours of work it looks like this…

Ashwini was eager to test out all the swings. The “Tire swing” is her most favorite as you can see from her smile while sitting on it.

She tested out the slide while the construction was ongoing.

Here is a little movie (2MB), showing various stages during the construction.

Saw this on a roadside sign yesterday:

Man's way leads to hopeless end God's way leads to endless hope

Make your choice. But, think about it… what good is just hope if it doesn’t realize into something real???

Check this out. Learn your alphabets if you have forgotten them.

These clouds appeared in the sky just as the Sun was setting.

Went to get a haircut yesterday. This old man hacks my hair as if he is a butcher, but, he tells interesting stories. This is what he entertained me with yesterday…

We were talking about kids (this is what I talk about everywhere I go these days). He is 73 years old. Has 5 kids and 13 gradkids. About 3-4 years ago, he found out that he had fathered another son 50 years ago. He met a woman that he used to date 50 years ago at a reunion and she told him about this secret. She was pregnant when they broke up but didn’t tell him about it. She went ahead to deliver a son. Her parents adopted her son. The funniest part was that this son grew up with what he thought as his older sister. When he was 25 years old, he was told that his older sister was actually his mother.

Don’t know if this is a true story or not, but was quite enetertaining the way he told it.

Ashwini is very happy with the new playset that we built for her. It is still not complete, but, will be tomorrow. More pictures and details to follow soon…

Got my own copy of Winged Migration. Ashwini and I watched it for a few minutes (giver her short 10-15 minute attention span) yesterday. She was totally fascinated by all the birds. There was a scene where a baby seagull takes a plunge from a high cliff and flies for the first time. She made me rewind that scene and watched it over and over.

• silly and stupid. was expecting better from Gurinder.

• aishwarya spoke in a weird accent that was very annoying.

• the songs were awful. just like the broadway musicals.

• story was trashy. couldn’t imagine those parents that were almost hawking their daughters to any man they could find. they were acting more like pimps than parents.

Today Ashwini is 2years, 2months, 2weeks and 2days old.

Thanks for pointing it out, Sujit.

Roasted red pepper and tomato soup from Pacific Foods is most excellent. It is organic with all natural ingredients. So easy to make: pour, heat and eat. :) It is one of the best soups one can buy at a grocery store. I buy it at Whole Foods, but, it should be avaialble at other places too. Other soups from Pacific Foods are also good, but, ‘roasted red pepper and tomato’ is the best. I highly recommend it. I add a dash of crushed red pepper to give it a zing.

Ashwini is getting good with long words these days. Yesterday, she was looking at a book and saying the names of the animals out loud.

cow… horse… elephant… zebra…

HIPPOPOTAMUS

she said every syllable, very clearly. No garbling at all. I think it is beacause of a book that she reads (and gets read) at home as well as at her daycare.

I think on9thheaven asked me to do this sometime last week…

1. Total number of films I own on DVD/video:

VHS = 10-15 (haven’t touched them in years)

DVD = about 25 DVDs and 5 (Marathi) VCDs. (Many are still unopened)

2. The last film I bought:

Winged Migration (It is still in the mail).

3. The last film I watched:

• In the theatre: Veer-Zaara (at RajMandir in Jaipur. Went there to see the theater)

• On TV: Zameen (a nice pak-bashing violent flick), yesterday on Masala weekend on AZN-TV.

• On video/DVD: Flavors

4. Five films that I watch a lot or that mean a lot to me:

• Pulp Fiction (the best movie ever made)
• Dr. No (first and the best bond movie) and any bond movie
• Chalti kaa naam gaadi (best hindi movie ever. They should have closed down bollywood after this one.)
• All Indiana Jones movies
• All Austin Powers movies

I can watch all these movies over and over again. But, I don’t think there is any movie that means anything to me.

5). Pick five people and have them put this in their journal:

Everyone on my friends list has done this already.

After the tulips and daffodils, the crabapples are in bloom now. These trees are making more and more flower every year. Three years ago, during our first spring, we hardly noticed any flowers on these trees.

Nikon D70, 50mm, f/1.8 Aperture priority. Shot on a cloudy late evening in natural light.

With the arrival of spring, the woods behind our house have turned into the ‘Shire’ again. Compare it with how it looked a couple of months ago.

Ashwini is learning the ‘my’ concept. Last week, she was standing in the window looking outside at the flowers, trees, road, etc. Suddenly, she started to cry.

P: Ashwini, what happened? A: Birdie hopping in MY garden.