this is about 12 hrs after the symptoms started showing. he barely looked down my troat (with flashlight 2 ft away), and checked for rashes.

no more discussion – and then came the prescription.

after a long resistance from my rational side, i finally succumbed. i got one finally, a loving gift from my wife, actually. a Casio Edifice EF-509L-1AV bought at [...]]]> with a clock everywhere these days, you decidedly don’t need yet another clumsy/bulky appendage to your body – or so i thought for years (36 years to be precise).

after a long resistance from my rational side, i finally succumbed. i got one finally, a loving gift from my wife, actually. a Casio Edifice EF-509L-1AV bought at the new Helio store in Koramangala 80ft Road.

here’s my rationale: i have a blackberry, which also tells time (duh!). but whenever i reach for it to look up time, i inevitably end up getting sucked into the mail, and then into the calendar and then into the RSS reader (i use Viigo) – to finally realize that i took 20 min’s to look up time.

so i am going to try to roll my wrist instead from now on. i hope there was a machine that told time, and simply showed my calendar (at the least, alerted me about my next mtg) in one wearable instrument (for the days i spend in the office).

i already keep an old-fashioned pen-and paper notebook at work. and now this – i guess i am tending to a middle-aged man status one appendage at a time.

returned from the US last night. a year or so after relocating to the US, i got a new perspective on the country i lived in for the last 14 years. here’s what i wish i [...]]]> apologies for the long gap in posting. was in powerpoint-land for a few weeks. that’s over now, it’s back to execution.

returned from the US last night. a year or so after relocating to the US, i got a new perspective on the country i lived in for the last 14 years. here’s what i wish i had in bangalore – in a true product-manager fashion, organized into a bulleted list.

• lungful of fresh air
• quiet when you need it
• warm bagel with butter spread, starbucks to go with it
• shopping without the attendant stalking you
• gliding through the road in my ford expedition
• latest gadgets and tech – hot off the press, as it happens. why don’t damn netflix allow me to access their download service from india?

most of all, i miss the horizontal visibility – in bay area, you get to see a good 50-60 yards distance from anywhere. office, road, home, you name it. you actually get to see the sunset over the horizon on your drive home. you see a good mile down the road. you see the other end of the park. here in bangalore, you see gazillion people, buildings, an impending accident, an ugly pile of junk, a big hoarding.

quick – think of a time when you actually noticed something beyond about 50 ft?

a few days ago, some newly acquired habit of buying gold was also dutifully discharged by the three ladies of the house. must’ve been heaven, shopping for gold with a [...]]]> it’s almost 11 on diwali night (deepavali for us telugu people). we had finished two nights of bursting crackers in row, what a blast it was.. literally.

a few days ago, some newly acquired habit of buying gold was also dutifully discharged by the three ladies of the house. must’ve been heaven, shopping for gold with a free hand to splurge. whatever my exercise/diet regimen was, it was out the window. ’tis the time to indulge, and indulge i did.

our apartment block manager organized a nice cocktail/dinner/fireworks event in the courtyard, which was a cool way to mingle with neighbors while setting those crackers off. brother, sis-in-law, mom, dad, grandmom, and of course our family of 4. after the a small ‘lakshmi pooja’ in brand-spanking new clothes, we were off to the party.

that was yesterday. tonight we went to my brother’s place, and blew up some more rockets, crackers and such for another hour. boyz were delirious at setting off the flower pots and ‘blastoff’ rockets., each time pointing to everyone at whatever they lit up. quite an accomplishment for them, this time, as opposed to closing their ears at every blast last year. i had a minor nick on my left eyebrow from some random cracker, but other than that’s it’s all safe.

the constant chatter of remnant crackers still continuous outside through the dark ‘amavasya’ night. reflecting quietly, me thinks this festival in all it’s commercial-ness, is about mass-celebration at it’s core. comparing to the fourth-of-july, i see how the sheer joy of enjoying some crackers first-hand can make such a huge difference to the festive spirit. or may be.. it’s an annual purgatory for the common man to take out all the destructive instincts.

i have come across quite a few folks that have the telltale f.o.b signs. the following [...]]]> f.o.b stands for ‘fresh off boat’, mostly used by a.b.c.d (american born confused desi’s) to describe desi travelers/students that make their first trips to the u.s. it’s considered a derogatory term, but it doesn’t bother me. i was a f.o.b once.

i have come across quite a few folks that have the telltale f.o.b signs. the following dressing tips not only ensure you don’t look like one, but they are in general good practices in professional appearance.

one of my bosses in the u.s. gave me these tips, so let me pass them on.

• wear a belt, especially when you tuck your shirt in. if possible, match the color of you belt with that of your shoes. get a brown belt and a black belt, you’d be fine. make sure that buckle is not that oversize cowboy stuff.
• don’t pair trousers with tennis shoes. it’s doing both injustice., nothing tells you are a geek than this pairing.
• wear black or brown shoes. and keep them polished! the shoes tend to get dirty on indian roads/offices, but the level of shine that is normal in the u.s. is much higher than your daily typical dust-off that is considered ‘chalta‘ in india.
• don’t wear white sox with leather shoes.. and try to match the sox color with either the shoe color or the pants color.
• if you are going to wear a jacket, don’t go for the over-the-top jacket styling. like a double-breasted suits. keep your suit very plain, very uneventful. and make sure it fits. if it’s too loose or too tight better not even wear one.
• getting a colorful tie is always risky. you might end up looking like a door-to-door salesman.
• and please, lose those ‘clubby‘ shirts with tons of styling like large collars, big cuffs, shiny zing bang, etc. and stay away from those bright summer/autumn colors., at least in formal office settings, nobody is interested in the style statements.
• finally, don’t wear ‘outerwear’ jackets at work. if it’s cold, get a tee-shirt below your dress shirt, and if still required, get a sweater. don’t for heaven’s sake wear those rain jackets while working in your cubicle.