That was cold!

A few weeks back while I was in Minneapolis, the taxi guy taking me from the airport to the hotel started a typical "taxi driver" conversation

Driver: "Where are you from?"

Me: "From Dallas. How about you?"

Driver: "If you are from Dallas, I am from Minneapolis. If you are from India, then I am from Somalia."

Ouch! The weather was not the only thing that was cold at that moment

Fed raises interest level

Over the two weeks around Labor Day in the US, everyone was keenly following the Fed's moves. For several years, Fed was dictating terms and had managed to maintain a great interest level. In recent times, Fed had to deal with increasing pressure from superpowers in Britain, EU and the old Russia and very recently was unseated from its top position. As contradictory as it might sound, this deflation was the reason for the increased interest levels over the two weeks. It required Fed to play hard ball again to bounce back. Everyone seemed to ask, can the Fed live up to the challenge? Is the US really open to a new legacy? Can Fed recover from the slump? We got our answers on 8th September, didn't we? It may not have made the headlines of Wall Street Journal, but we saw the supreme Fed back to life. It may have been aided by a chanceless British rescue operation, but nevertheless, the King is back. Roger Federer is back to his best. I loved every moment of the final. The US Open is not yet ready for a new legacy.

Doctor Who?

Last week, our friends had to take their toddler to the hospital and the doctor on duty happened to be a Dr. Band. I thought this was a funny name for a doctor. If this doctor were to give first-aid, its only fair to call it a band-aid :)

Acting on an Impulse

A passing glance at an ordinary advert within a London Underground tube station, and for reasons unknown, a decision was taken instantaneously "I want to run". So, I am running for the Royal Parks Half Marathon on Oct 12th at 10AM. I have been training for this event for the last 2 weeks or so and have managed to cover 5 miles twice in the last 7 days.
54 days to go, 8 more miles to train for, should be lot of fun.

The true Twenty20

In the movie Dumb & Dumber, Jim Carrey asks the character Mary "What are the chances that a beautiful girl like you would go out with a guy like me?" to which Mary replies slowly and uncertainly "1 in a million?". Jim is ecstatic to hear that its a non-zer0 chance and says "Yesss! So, you are saying there is a chance!!". Now, thats called hope.
At a time when Twenty20 is the in-thing and Indian test cricket team badly needs a cataract operation, nothing could have been more contrasting to the Colombo Test than the gold medal won by Abhinav Bindra in the Beijing Olympics. If Jim Carrey was ecstatic, Bindra must have been ecstatic times 1000. He is truly 1 in a billion. The nature of the sport he won his medal means that he has perfect vision. Isin't he the true 20/20 champion? Congrats, Bindra - India is proud of you.

Thanks, Norton

Silka restaurant in London was in our short-list of restaurants to dine last week because they supposedly server low-fat India food. So, the usual procedure of the google search, and then the website to get location details happened when Norton Internet Security captured and deleted a Downloaded Virus and from our short-list too. A virus in their website, wonder what would be in their food? Now, that would be useful information to collect anonymously and publish

Another Barack in the Wall

An extract from Obama's speech at Berlin - a metaphor taken too far

Speaking less than a mile from where President John F Kennedy enraptured Berliners in 1963, he warned of the danger of allowing "new walls to divide us from one another".

"The walls between old allies on either side of the Atlantic cannot stand," he said, emphasising his lines with clipped, precise movements of his hands as his words echoed through the huge crowds.

"The walls between the countries with the most and those with the least cannot stand," he continued, as applause began to ripple amongst his listeners.

"The walls between races and tribes; natives and immigrants; Christian and Muslim and Jew cannot stand," he said.

"These now are the walls we must tear down," he concluded to screams of approval.

Silly question: Was the Berlin wall Made in China?