I've been tagged by Lady Galadriel. I read the sentence where she says she is tagging only two people and that I am one of them... but before I could feel flattered, she said thats only because all her other friends have already done the tag. Women!

1. Name Three Most Valuable Assets?
- Fearlessness, Quick learning, Frankness

2. If you have the chance, what would you probably say to your beloved one?
- Nothing. I would just hold her hand.

3. If you were to be stranded on a deserted island, who are the 3 blog buddies you would take with you?

- Vc: Never a dull moment when he's around!
Sakshi: Objectivity is such a rare thing.
Myths: Somebody has to look good on that island!!

4. Where is the place that you want to go the most?
- Tough call between Lothlorien and Elvandar (all the places in the real world are so boring!)

5. If you can have 1 dream to come true, what would it be?
- I want to play Bridge for India at the Bermuda Bowl someday (and play well of course!). That way I help promote bridge, help people by promoting bridge (which is an intellectual game), help our country make a global statement, and feel happy in the process!

6. Till now, what is the moment that you regret the most?
- The moment I decided I didn't want to go alone to the ice rink. I am used to roller blading alone, but something about the US made me feel immensely lonely heading out to the rink by myself. Too bad. I really enjoy ice skating.

7. What are you afraid to lose the most?
- My health. Having fallen seriously ill last year (and more than once at that), I know how it feels to be in pain, in bed, totally helpless to do all the things you wanted to do with your life.

8. What would you do if you found a briefcase full of money?
- Turn it in if I thought it stood a chance of being returned to its rightful owner. Else, donate it to an education charity.

9. If you meet someone that you love, would you confess to him/her?
- No.

10. List out 3 good points of the person who tagged you…
- Galadriel. Don't know her too well yet, but I like that she's sensitive, compassionate and honest.

11. What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?
- No major expectations. A good level of education, awareness and ability to express oneself are enough.

12. Which type of person do you hate the most?
- OHHH those irritating movie / small screen directors who can't tell the actors how to pretend to play the guitar / violin when any idiot can see that the music doesn't match what they are doing with the darned instrument. For heaven's sake, can you at least not play on the bass string when the music is clearly in the higher octave? Huh? Huh? (I've been watching too many telugu movies)

13. What is your ambition?
- Many things. To write a book. To bring free, quality education to the masses. To help my Dad realize his dream of making our brand a big success. To play bridge at the international level. Many, many things.

14. What is the thing that will make you think someone is a bad person?
- Lewd behavior from men, for sure. Such people give all men a bad name.

15. What is the one thing you would change about yourself?
- I wish I could pick myself up from the downs in life quickly. I have a tendency to get bogged down when the fates are not on my side.

16. Are you a shopaholic or no?
- Hell, no. I am seriously shopaphobic.

17. What is your stress buster?
- Bridge, always. Writing poetry, if I can get into the mood.

18. Do you think God actually exists?
- I can't commit to either side, mostly because I seriously think it doesn't matter. You're not going to plan any aspect of your life around whether God exists or not. I like going to temples even if I don't believe in God. I like to pray for others and myself even if I don't quite believe they will be answered. Belief in God, one way or the other, probably won't change my life one bit.

19. If you could change one thing about this world what would it be?
- Make good quality education at all levels accessible to the common man at little or no cost. It will heal the world.

*replaced question*
20. If you can have either the ability to forgive all, or the gift of being forgiven by all, but not both, which would you choose?
- The former. I wish to feel accountable for my actions, and I want to be able to completely let go of some things about people I like or love that bother me. I'm getting there :). Slowly.

Rules: Remove 1 question from the tag and add your personal question. Make it a total of 20 questions, then tag people in your list, list them out at the end of this post. Notify them that he/she has been tagged.

In keeping with my blog tradition, I'm not tagging anyone. Cheers!

Prashanth.

Lucky numbers and Horrorscopes

Yesterday I overheard a rather strange conversation between my Mom and the cook. It went something like:

Mom: The registration number for the new car is a nine, I am so happy.
Cook: That's great! Nine is a wonderful number! I was lucky enough to get a bank account number that was a nine!

Now, I knew that the license plate for the new car read "7434" so I was wondering where the nine came from. And how a bank account number could be a single digit number for that matter. It took me a moment to figure out that they were talking numerology. Here's how it works:

7+4+3+4 = 18
1+8 = 9

Thus, our car is a "nine", which apparently is a good thing. Don't ask me why.

Most of time, my brother and I manage to steer clear of any conversations that have anything to do with such superstition. But my brother found himself outmaneuvered at the time of naming his son. Numerology applies to names as well... I wonder, do they count 'A' as '1' and 'Z' as '26' and add them up? Never mind. Essentially my brother was told to add an extra 'A' and an 'H' to his son's name. Fortunately, "Thaarak" is phonetically more or less correct so it won't look too ridiculous on his notebooks. That, of course, didn't prevent the rejoinder from my brother, "You didn't check the numerology when naming me or Prashanth, and see, we turned out alright!" Did I hear a "Not really" from my Dad under his breath? Must have imagined it ;)

The most important issue where such beliefs ought to to loggerheads of course is that of marriage. But most wisely, my brother and I know to keep our mouths shut on that. The word "Horoscope" normally makes you think of your daily zodiac horoscope, but for people of marriageable age it can only refer to what I've come to think of as the "Horrorscope", that one they match for the bride and the groom to check if they are "compatible". Never mind that I think it is ridiculous to believe that a guy with a particular "dosha" has very particular requirements of the bride's horrorscope else the girl's new mother-in-law will die (my cousin was unfortunate enough to have that dosha). And similar stuff. See, I have been assured that my horrorscope won't be pulled out for another year (due to astrological reasons) so why should I complain!

Cheers
Prashanth.

Of future neighbours

I'm told it started some months ago, when I was in the US. Workers swing sledgehammers, breaking down the house next door that's been there forever, the house into which I've hit the cricket ball a zillion times and got scolded for it, and had to negotiate the hay and the cows (don't ask me why they kept cows in their backyard) to find the ball. My parents had been living in months of dust and noise when I landed. After living in the relatively rustic and peaceful environs of a small university town, it was hard enough to not wince whenever someone nearby on the road honked the horn, or to avoid the feeling of disorientation with all the bright city lights.

So, I had to endure a few weeks of sledge-hammering in the daytime. This was followed by a particularly irritating phase when they used jackhammers, starting at dawn and going on virtually all day. It felt like somebody was inside our heads knocking holes in our skulls... then finally they relinquished. But oh no, we weren't getting off that easy. They needed to get some heavy trucks in to move all the rubble... and they were only allowed to do it at night. And after a few nights of THAT, they brought in the machinery to dig up the foundation.

If you walk into my house and find we are all tired, sleepy and irate, you know where to place the blame. The funny part about all this is that they are constructing luxury apartments, and a future tenant has already reserved one: Indra Nooyi, Pepsico India. Apparently she is shelling out cash to the tune of 6.5 crores. I know, this is all rumour, but it is fairly reliable. Anyway, it was my cousin who ended up having the last word: "I heard she has two daughters, and they are quite pretty... maybe I should start visiting you more often?"

Is he planning to hit the cricket ball though one of their bedroom windows? Naaaah. He's not that good a batsman :)

Cheers
Prashanth.