Deepavali(Festival Of Lights) Celebrations

Last weekend we had Deepavali (Festival Of Lights). It is one of the most awaited festivals for all the Indians. It is eagerly awaited by all, young or old or of any religion. Mostly because of all the crackers that you get to burst!

This was my first Deepavali here. I had assumed that it would be a lack luster affair since we were in a foreign land. I was in for a pleasant surprise. One day before the festival, I got a call from one of my friend’s to come to her house for Arishina and Kumkuma (It is a custom among South Indians to invite people to their houses during festivals and religious ceremonies and then give them beetle leaves, Kumkuma, Arishina (turmeric) to the ladies before they leave). It was a surprise for me since I had not expected this here.

On the 2nd day of Deepavali, we went to her apartment. This apartment complex has a lot of Indians. We see that all the houses have been decorated with serial lights and there were Diya’s (Clay Lamps) in the doorsteps of most of the houses. It really was a very festive atmosphere with all the children and adults dressed up in traditional Indian clothes and generally having a good time. They were also bursting crackers (non-bomb varieties like sparklers)! We also went to a few others friend’s houses.

On the Bali Padyami day, (Third Day) we had invited a few friends over to our house. We had a small get together, lit a few candles and generally had a good time with friends :).

This was a really different way of celebrating Deepavali for me. The grandeur of the festival back in India is a different plane of existence! We used to have so many varieties of food to eat, so many crackers to burst, and the new clothes that you would get to show off. How can I forget the constant reminders from elders to be careful while bursting the crackers!!

We missed all this fun and noise this time!! :((

My First baseball game

We had been to the Tiger’s (they are the local Detroit team) baseball game. We bought the tickets in black (I must admit that I was happy to know that such things happen here also :)).

Since we were in early, we looked around the stadium, got our pictures taken, watched the players practicing and chatted with people next to us.

Just before the game started, the electronic boards were advertising that we could get Pizzas that usually cost about 8 dollars for just 1 dollar if the Tigers scored 8 or more runs. That was really something to look forward to!

They served beers and cocktails inside the stadium. As the game progressed, people were sloshed and became wild and rowdy. The F and B words were being uttered every time the players botched things up!

The best part was, whenever things became a little quiet, the electronic boards would display things like CLAP CLAP or MAKE NOISE or ROAR ROAR or MAKE A MEXICAN WAVE and people would immediately start doing those things!!!

It was more interesting to watch the people and their antics than the actual baseball game (I didn't understand the game at all).

The tigers won the game but scored only 5 runs. We didn't get the 1 Dollar Pizza that I was wishing we could get :(.

Beep Beep Beep !

It’s turning out to be quite a week!

Yesterday, I was making BenDekaayi BaLaka . I was in the kitchen and hubby was in the hall. Suddenly, we heard loud beeps like that of an alarm clock, only louder.

I continued making my stuff thinking that hubby is tinkering with the clock. Suddenly, I saw hubby running at top speed towards our room. I got curious and went behind him. I saw that he was frantically pulling out something that was fixed on the ceiling and pulling at some wires.

I asked him what had got into him and why he was trying to bring the house down. Hubby told me that he was trying to disable the fire alarm! It had starting off because of the smoke from frying the BaLaka!!!

Till then, I used to think that stories of fire alarms going off due to cooking were only urban legends!

Atleast we now know that the fire alarm actually works in our apartment!

Its so easy to cheat !

Question : Can you be billed by anybody on your phone account without even you knowing about it?

If your answer is no,I must tell you that you are in for a big surprise!

All that any XYZ supposedly registered company needs, is an email ID and a phone number. They can simply say that they have provided some dumb service to your phone(It could be a personal voicemail service ,long distance call facility or something else). They can then send a bill to your parent phone company (i.e companies like AT&T or Verizon etc. with whom you have a contract) and include this extra cost along with their bill cost.So, when you get your next bill, you see some extra cost for something that you haven't even heard of !!

Those who are here might have understood what I'm trying to say . But others who are new or in a different part of the world might not understand what I'm trying to say!

Let me explain what happened to me.

I am looking online for colleges or universities which can provide online certification programs that are GOOD and REASONABLY PRICED.I used to give a random search and fill up forms where I had to give them my email ID and phone number so that they can follow up with my request.

My hubby had already warned me NOT to do anything that had to do with giving away credit card numbers or SSN or any private data.But phone numbers were apparently OK(atleast that's what I thought).

To be fair, I did get several calls from various universities about the various courses that they were offering.

However,we got our telephone bill yesterday and we saw an extra charge of nearly 50 dollars for some service we hadn't even subscribed for ! The description said that it was for something called as ILD services and had two 1-800 numbers.

I then called our Cingular customer service guys and asked them what this extra charge was for . They told me that some third party had billed this charge on the phone number and that I had to call them to find out why they had charged us this amount.

I called the 1-800 numbers . One person said that I had filled a form online to provide a personal voicemail box and that they were billing me for that service.
The second person said that they were charging us for long distance call facility!

Apparently, I had filled some online form with my email id and phone number and asked for this service.They also said that they had sent mails to the email ID provided about how much they would be charging for these services. Since the mail did not bounce nor did they get a reply asking for removal of the service, they simply went ahead and charged us for it.

Needless to say, that I was not even aware of this ! This was something really unthinkable for me.

I then asked them to reverse these charges since we did not really subscribe for them. Both the companies have promised me that they will reverse the bill in 1 or 2 billing cycles.

Cingular customer support guys have also been good enough to wait for the next 1 or 2 billing cycles for this third party charge to be reversed.

I sincerely hope that these two companies do what they have promised to do !

Later, I learnt that all a person needs is a valid email ID and a phone number to start charging that number for imaginary services!

Lessons from this spooky experience.

1. NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBERS.
2. NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR SSN NUMBER.
3. NEVER GIVE OUT YOUR PHONE NUMBER.
4. NEVER GIVE OUT ANY OTHER PERSONAL DETAILS.

If you absolutely need to give your personal details, make sure that they are to people who are authorised to see them. Even then, make sure that they donot write it down anywhere.

Even in restaurants, it is best to pay by cash or a prepaid hotel card instead of a credit card ! It seems that there have been several instances of identity theft that have happened in this way.

Its always better to be careful than sorry !

Latest and newest Family member !

I'm late by about 2 weeks for this announcement ! Better late than never right !
She is Jayashree Madhava(as her father calls her now). She entered this world on the 12th of September 2007.

Welcome into the family darling !!! I know that you will have a wonderful time with us !

What I like about here

The hands down winner is FOOOOOOOD !!!!!
I'm a foodie. There is no question about it ! I love to eat.The variety in food and tastes that we have back in India, is enormous . Every state(every district in fact) in India has such a variety in the food that they eat and the way that they prepare this food.

I didn't really explore the vast menu that we have out there. Didn't really think much about it too. Maybe a few of the so called North Indian dishes ,a bit of Andhra Food and other obvious favourites. But otherwise, I didn't really explore this aspect of our culture.

Here , I'm really getting a chance to correct that mistake . Here too there is a vast variety of foods that we can try. Probably more than what we have back in India.

People from different parts of the world have come in here and brought in different aspects of their culture along with them . Food is naturally the best part of it !!

There are restaurants which cater to all the different tastes of the world. Indian , Chinese, Mexican, Lebanese, Ethiopian , Italian , Japanese. You name the country and you get the food of that country :). The best part is that we get the vegetarian versions of them!!

We are having loads of fun trying out the different kinds of food and taste.
Guys, please make it a point to eat something new that you haven't eaten till now. It really is great fun !!

Anger / Possessiveness

I can think of a few instances in my life, when I have been hit by intense feelings of anger and possessiveness. I'll try and recount a few that I remember even now.

Instance 1
Sometime during my school days, one of my school friends (I don't even remember his name now) called my dad appa (father). I was so angry with him, that I started fighting with him for that! My dad consoled me saying that that was how some people spoke. It did not necessarily mean that he would become his dad :). That calmed me down a bit*.

Even now, when some of my friends call my parents appa or amma or my sister as their sister, I think, NO WAY DUDE! THEY ARE MY PARENTS! OR SHE IS MY SISTER NOT YOURS!!

Instance 2
This happens whenever I come to know that one of my cousins’ or very close friends say that they are getting married. The first emotion is, I’m really happy for them !! and then when I see their future fiancés, I feel this bout of intense anger !!! I get really really angry with them for stealing away my cousin or friend and that I have to share them now** !.

I used to think that this was really small of me . But I have come to know that that’s the way a lot of my friends feel too :).

I'm not the only odd one out here! So guys , tell me about instances when you have been hit with these emotions . It’ll make me feel so much better !

**********************************************************
* I'm sure that my father doesn't even remember this incident. It’s still crystal clear in my mind!

**PS for my Bhavas(3 of you) and Attiges(2 of you) and married friends : Don't worry , I get over it in about 5 - 10 minutes after meeting you people :). You guys are too good to be angry with for a long time :-).

PS for all those close to me who are yet to get married : Now you know what I'll be feeling when I see your soul mates for the first time now :).

Paris Hilton

I am totally new in this country, and want to know learn more about this country, its history, culture etc. What do you think is the best and the fastest medium to learn about these? It is of course the TV. That’s what I did too . I went and switched on the TV.

What did I see? A major disaster had struck! And what was that disaster? Paris Hilton had been charged for DUI (Driving Under Influence) and would be sent to prison!!!!

Every time I switched to ANY channel at ANY time of the day, I got to hear something about her.

On the news channels, I got to know things like what Paris ate, what was her hairstyle, what did she do, how did she spend her time, what did she wear, what did she say? Did she laugh? Did she cry? Were her nails chipped? Was the food healthy enough? Did she lose weight in the prison? How much are the prison authorities spending to ensure her safety in the prison? etc. etc etc.

That was only news that happened here as long as Paris was in the prison.

I don't want to listen the P word anymore. I switch onto some other channel, and I saw jokes being made about her.

Switch onto some OTHER channels and hours were spent debating if it was right that she was sent to the prison or not!

Apparently, Paris Hilton is more important and newsworthy than the president, more important than the war crisis with Iraq that the US is into right now, more important than even the presidential campaign that is currently underway.

So, in the first few weeks until she was released from her prison, if you had asked me what I know about the US during those weeks, I would have said PARIS HILTON ! Cos that was only what I got to see :).

If you guys out there don't know what I'm talking about and have become curious, Don't ask me!

ONE

About 8 months ago, if anybody had come to me and said that I will be in the US now, I would have laughed at their face and called them names .

A lot of my friends who were already here kept on trying to convince me to come here and try the country out. I, somehow had a very closed mind and always held this option as a closed one.

I remember back in the college days, when one of my very good friends who wanted to come here (at that time atleast) asked me also to apply along with her. I had admantly refused then.

I also remember another of my friends who took the trouble of calling me from the US to India and asked me to send her my resume atleast .
Now , I am here and sitting at home and thinking about how all these things happened to me .

All it took was about 30 minutes of time that I spent with a stranger then(now an integral part of my life!) one evening in MG Road 9 months ago !! :) .

So people do you believe in destiny ?