With our own mission to the moon Chandrayaan - I slated to take off in the very near future that day can't be far when we send our own Bharatwasi's to space. Technically Rakesh Sharma was the first Indian to go into space but he is labeled a Cosmonaut because of the fact he went onboard the Salyut an USSR built launch vehicle. That was 1984.

When we do send one of our compatriots into space, I wonder will we have a fancy name too to call them by or will we just tie ourselves in nauts ooops knots? May be we will end up calling them "Bharatnauts" and probably their space walk could be aptly called "Bharatnautyam"? ;)

Last night we clebrated the annual Onam night - YES a late Onam celebration to ensure maximum participation. It began with a display of Pancharimelam - something I had never seen before. I was more than impressed with what I saw.

Unfortunately I was not carrying my camera then. I have however located a YouTube piece similar to what I saw and would like to share it with my fellow Ilanders. Hope you enjoy it. I think its simply superb to have to drum and all that and synchronise the steps as well.

Have fun.

RR

Is it probably because there is no other choice of airlines in the Kochi-Goa sector or is it that I am really one of the Good Frequent Flyers that I found myself sitting in a Kingfisher ATR aircraft again? I really don't know. However, when a hour long journey is stretched to a three and a half hour long air taxi service, one find himself with nothing to do very soon. The papers have been read twice over and the in-flight magazine has been flipped through too. That's when I find it a better past time to look at the Kingfisher gals onboard than to stare out into the empty blue sky.

Only this time I had a thought - perhaps a realization - that I never did in all these months. Why is it that all the Kingfisher airhostesses are the fair skinned variety? I am yet to see a dusky / brown skinned airhostess. If a WHITE woman was what was required, certainly Vijay could afford to have a few "Asli Goris" instead of the fairer Indians. "It must surely be a company policy" I thought but was there a tone of colour discrimination in there?

On deplaning at Goa, I browsed the web and did a Google web search for images on dusky coloured airhostesses and NOT ONE turned up in the results. I know that is not factual because I have seen dusky airhostesses on board a few other airlines. It's a shame then so many dusky-skinned beauties of our country are not being given a fair chance - the Naomi Campbells and Tyra Banks of our own will remain unnoticed because of some stupid unwritten policy.

To tell the truth there are some really dusky beauties I have come across in my life. I should know it because I come from that part of the country where people are traditionally darker (The Dravidians as the History books would describe my kind). I am brown myself and if I had any misconceptions about it, it was all cleared by what my son told me the other day as we sat watching Olympics on the TV waiting for Usain Bolt and others to line up for the 200 meter finals.

Having won the Gold in the mens 100 meter dash at the annual sports meet conducted by the apartment association where I live for the last two consecutive years, anything mentioned by me on the subject of running is taken as the last word by my sons. Knowing this only too well I took it upon myself to educate my 10-year-old just a little bit. As the camera focussed on each runner on the 200m line up I said "Look son most of the best runners in the world are black". And just then the camera focussed on a fairer guy and my son said "Oh look there is a white man" and I corrected him "No he is not white he is just a fairer black" Ever heard of that term before - FAIRER BLACk :-)

And then there was Usain Bolt and few others and just before the gun was to go my son said something to me that left me speechless wondering how I should interpret it. He said "Acha, if you go for the Olympics....you too would win a medal !!"

Any way most dinners are the only time when we get to sit as a family and manage some chat time to ourselves. The older one is just learning about plant reproduction and all that and we have thus far not heard of any questions on how human beings reproduce. Though there are a lot of books that suggests parents to come out with the correct explanation I personally don't think its going to be easy for me to explain to the little brats how they ever set foot on this planet. Then again when the time comes I may just lift a few lines off that TV show where I once saw a fireman explain the Dos and Don'ts to the son of the fire chief who was planning on his first date.

He says to him "Look its as simple as pie..when the male species and the female species get so happy" and just the the boy grins. So he slaps him on his face and continues "No not happy enough to grin..they produce this zygote which then evolves in nature's greatest miracle" and just then the boy goes "The Grand Canyon right?"

But just a few days back as I was putting a spoon full of food into my mouth my young one says "wow today we heard a sound of a fusion of a dog and a cow..." and I couldn't help myself saying "What the hell..?"

A few days back my father had to be rushed to the hospital to be operated upon for a twisted intesting. At his age (80) doctors had said the first 48 hours were very critical. Dinner topic that evening was kicked off with my wife explaining to my sons that their grandfather was seriously ill in the ICU and that things may take a turn for the worse. Almost immediately after he had heard everything his mother had to say my elder son asked me matter of factly "So Acha will your father die?" One question was followed by another on the same topic. Death was the TOPIC OF THE DAY for sure until their mother had to tell them not to sound so insensitive.

More recently numerous bombs were going BOOM BOOM in various parts of the country Banglore and now Ahmedabad too. Infact just today I had made my son read the newspaper about the toll in the recent Ahmedabad blast and it was so fresh in his memory which as it is, is so vivid with imagination. Kochi, quite unusually, had a bomb scare too yesterday. I was to leave for work this morning and my wife was trying to talk me out of it. My neighbours also called my wife to ask her if I had planned on pressing on with my plans and I said "Yes no doubts about it"

Having gotten disgusted of her helpless state she stopped watching the TV warnings and we all sat down for yet another dinner session. My older one says "So acha we are safe right living in our flat? Because if a bomb were to explode we may escape unhurt right cos we are so high above?" and I told him on the contrary I felt it would have been safer on the lower levels considering the possibility of a building being razed by a huge explosion. Just then my wife butted in and said "If there is a explosion the luckiest thing to happen is for all four of us to go in one GO" to which my elder son said "No I am too young to die"

My wife was again trying to talk me out of the trip and I finally told her that if I had to go (up in a big blast) I would go. I also added that she should make sure I got driven to the crematorium in the Vehicle of my dreams that I had not had time to buy yet a Black Mercedes Benz. And to that she said "Log Kya kahenge..ki mein pagal hoon?"

Just then I notice the little guy beginning to weep and cling on to his mothers shoulders as if his life depended on it and I saw him whispering something. The next thing I knew my wife was laughing her heart out. Apparently the little guy had told her.."If Achan goes away and a bomb blasts he will escape and we will all die". Then I heard him say "Only Achan will live" sounding so disappointed at the thought of Achan cheating death.

The whole modeling industry would rather have anorexic but curvy models to promote their Brands. This is true even now despite a ban on super skinny model. IPod and other Gizmo makers, reputed watch makers, and makers of Lingerie, Sports wear and Lenses all prefer to have the fairer sex to promote their brands.

Is possible then that men are more attracted to skinnier curvy women? There are web blogs that state that "Scientific studies have consistently demonstrated that men through the ages have found women with hourglass figures more attractive."

Could guys wanting to buy a new bike go for a peculiar model because the advertisement portrays a good looking babe and most people expect "aise bike lene se woh bandi bhi pat jayegi"

Most Bollywood movie songs today, are just filled with Item numbers who willingly show of most of their bare curvy skin and flesh and guess what? The magic does sell. Though the songs themselves may not have much content to it as did the songs of the good old sixties and seventies, the new songs keep the money pouring in at the box office.

While an obese woman would make poor poster model for Victoria's Secret, there are some brands like Dove that now promote the idea of ordinary women modeling for them with a view to promoting their products through beautiful ordinary women. Dove for now may just be an exception.

Some studies even suggest that skinny curvaceous women are more intelligent and produce more intelligent kids too. Ironic isn't it then that many such oomph women shed weight on their hips and butts only to add on through implants on their breast.

And truly this is one area where More does not necessarily mean Merrier. Or does it GUYS ??

It was after 6 long years that I went back to Thailand on a holiday. Sitting inside the Kochi airport, I could already recollect the smell of Kao Pat Kai and Tom Yam Kung that I had so long ago. It even got my mouth watering. This time I had planned not to spend my time just in Bangkok alone but also to go to some part of Thailand that I had never seen and also if possible try and catch up with some old classmates of mine.

Suwarnabhumi the new airport where I landed - is truly an engineering marvel and it is supposed to be a very energy efficient design. Getting out of the four level airport and meeting up with my father indeed took some time. Once outside I could almost immediately tell that Bangkok had changed so much in the last six years - elevated expressways and multilevel roadways and really wide roads. What ever happened to the traffic congestions that this place was so notorious for ? - I wondered

Over the next ten days I went about doing bits of shopping but mostly going around places I was once familiar with which looked so transformed now. The MRT system had made commuting locally so much easier. However the only problem with the MRT system was that it was limited to Bangkok city. Within the first few days I had decided the place I was going to visit would be the Northern Province of Chiang Mai - the old capital of the Lanna Dynasty which is also famous for its elephant farm and rich cultural centres.

For the days I spent in Bangkok, I wondered how much this small Kingdom had changed. The Thai Baht which fetched once Rs 10 in exchange for Baht 25 eighteen years ago today fetches Rs 30. At a time when the Indian Rupee is growing stronger that is saying a lot about the local currency. The Kingdom known better for its tourism (or was it sex tourism alone) has come a long way to become the world's biggest exporter of Rice and also a major exporter of finished electronic goods. On the cards are also plans to convert Bangkok into the Detroit of the east producing all the important cars. It is not surprising then that I even saw a TATA car advertisement in the local television.

There is not a day that I spent there that I didn't enjoy the wide variety of Thai food available to me be it in large department stores or by the street sides. Mmmmmmmm Thai food is really unmatched. One other thing I experienced while I was there in Bangkok after many many years was a haircut. My! the way these guys literally pick each strand of hair and cut it treating them with such care really can put one to sleep. And I kept thinking to myself if this is the Thai haircut what might the Thai massage be like ;) No wonder then that they say one night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble.

Chiang Mai was much quieter and nicer and we stayed at what was called the Night Bazaar inn very close to the Night Bazaar a year long attraction so typical of Chiang Mai. In the three days I had in Chiang Mai we (my dad and I) had not a minute to waste. If a visit to a Buddhist Temple and a visit to a local tribal village was what kept us busy on the first day, it was the day long visit to the Elephant park and Orchid farm that was on the cards on the second day.

Of the places I visited, without a doubt the elephant farm was the most enjoyable. Hailing from a state in India that parades its elephants for practically every temple function, I had grown up seeing elephants, I didn't think the Elephant farm will have very much to enthuse me. After all having witnessed the Thrissur Pooram festival where one gets to see over 20 elephants paraded in front of the Temple, I thought I had seen it all. I was so wrong. But on all those occasions, the elephants, I remember were chained and had a mahout poking and prodding with his sharp stick.

The elephant farm had over a 150 elephants and if the number did not surprise me, their best behaviour most certainly did. Not one of them unlike those elephants at the Pooram which are chained and constantly poked and prodded by the mahouts - had any chains on their legs and none of them needed any close supervision of their mahouts. If anything they were extremely naughty and playful. One even snatched a bunch of bananas from my hand from behind when I least expected it. To watch them play football and paint was such fun. Once the hour long programme got over I was treated to a 45 minute long elephant back ride through the thick jungles, crossing the river and up and down the hilly terrain and through the marshy land.

It was undoubtedly the high point of my trip to Chiang Mai. And what better way to end the trip than with a visit to the Cultural Centre to watch a traditional dance show while I sat on the floor being treated to some exquisite Thai cuisine. It is amazing how time flies when you are having a really good time.

Before I knew it, my stay in Chiang Mai was over and in a few more days I found myself packing to get back to India. But as I mentioned before, this was one holiday that was very different from all my previous trips to Thailand for this time I saw an interesting part of the Kingdom. I am already looking forward to yet another trip to the magical Kingdom which welcomes all its tourists with a pleasant Sawadeekap greeting an open arms.

A Japanese doctor said, 'Medicine in my country is so advanced that we can take a kidney out of one man, put it in another, and have him looking for work in six weeks.'

A German doctor said, 'That's nothing, we can take a lung out of one person, put it in another, and have him looking for work in four weeks.'

A British doctor said, 'In my country, medicine is so advanced that we can take half of a heart out of one person, put it in another, and have them both looking for work in two weeks.'

A Texas doctor, not to be outdone said, 'You guys are way behind. We took a man with no brains out of Texas , put him in the White House and now half the country is looking for work.

As I discussed further, my mind drifted back to an incident during my training days when an operation due to be performed on my batch mate kept getting delayed because a wound on his toe took a long time to heal. Finally he met someone who suggested urinating on it and sure enough he tried it and it healed in no time. Remembering that incident I wondered if this man in hospital had tried any of that. More recently in 2004 when I had been to Indonesia, I visited an old Chinese family friend of our (from the time we spent there in the early 80s). She looked much older and frail. If my mother were alive she would be her age touching late 60s. Whilst I sat there waiting for her to serve me some lung fung soup and Ayam Goren and other exotic dishes we caught up on news from the years gone by. It was then she hesitatingly let me in on a recent development She had taken to urine therapy. She said in the two years she had been practicing it, she seemed to have rid herself of her frequent colds, flu and even asthmatic conditions. I was really interested in finding out more.

Some more research online and I found that Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.) supposedly was the first in the Western world to record and teach the practice of uropoty (the drinking of urine). The theory of urine therapy states: In the excreted urine all the body's experiences -- physical and psychological -- are collected. Reintroducing the urine to the body forces the body's immune system to confront the same experiences a second time, which gives it a second incentive to deal with the problem.

Reading up a little more, I realised there was sense in the argument that urine worked in the same way on our immune system as a vaccination did helping to strengthen its functioning. While one will have to make an effort to get over the natural mental blocks one has regarding its odour, about it being a waste product, about it containing germs and virus etc.

Having a discussion with my well read father in law, he was quick to recite four lines in Sanskrit on the subject. That's when I decided to ask him to slow down a bit to let me take it down. I have reproduced what he told me (supposedly from writings about the Gandamarda Yogis) with a translation that follows.

Pitolbanatwad Vihitadhya Dharaam

Nisarya Varjida Madhya Dharaam

Nishevide Sheetala Madhya Dharaam

Kabaligo Gandamado Amaroli

As the first portion contains excess Bile discard it

The last portion has no vital ingredients therefore discard it too

The middle portion is the useful portion and can be consumed

This the Gandamarda Yogis used to call "Amaroli"

Well scientific proof suggests that the method works, my elderly Chineese lady family friend vouches by it and I am tempted to try it. However between temptations to tasting surely there may be many a slip twixt the cup and the lip I am sure.

"Its called Mid Life Crisis" I remember my lanky 6'2" cousin telling me some years ago - when I was much younger - when I asked him why he did not drive around the country side sightseeing and going places in his new car. I used to think I would have driven around a lot more and done things differently. Those were the days when I had barely touched the 30s and in my opinion I was a bundle of abundant energy and a real tough task master at work.

Nearly ten years have rolled by and although I hate to think I am old more so since my 81 year old father is still busy in the forests of Indonesia clearing the dense vegetation to set up a coal mine- I can no longer deny the sense of lethargy that has crept into me or for that matter the inch of fat that has accumulated over what once used to be my rock hard abs. (Yeh Shah Rukh you had to see it to believe it). My dad on the other hand has harder abs even at this stage and manages a head-stand regularly each morning. Though I still frequent the gym and take my sons swimming, the biological slowing down, I know, has started.

I tend to sleep longer into Sunday mornings and I am not so particular about all those things as I once used to be. In fact, my wife mocks me often repeating the words I used to say years ago "24 hours in a day is not enough...there is so much to do in a life time and so little time blah blah blah ". And if that is not bad enough, compared to the distance I clocked in the first three months with my new Santro 8 years ago, I have not managed to clock a third of it now despite having bought a new car recently. "Is it Mid Life Crisis?" I ask my self as those words echo so loudly in my head.

If there is more of one thing that I have been more tuned to in these last ten years than in the ten years preceding them, it is to news of deaths and sicknesses because I have seen a number of deaths in the family due to old age. I guess the news of a 43 year old relative who died after prolonged dialysis and the story of a friend's 14 year old son having been diagnosed with bone cancer have had an effect on my mind. Suddenly so unlike me I have found myself looking up the Internet to do a detailed comparative study on Medical Insurance Policies. Unfortunately there are not many web sites that give you enough reviews on the available Insurance Policies in India.

Mouthshut.com was one site that provided me with some info on Mediclaim and ICICI's own health insurance. But there is not a great deal of information on there. Any more inputs made available at this stage, I think, will be well worth it not just only for me but also for other bloggers who may be entering a similar phase in their lives as well.

Eagerly waiting for the comments / inputs on this blog J Meanwhile my wife has that smirk and I can hear her say "The hare just turned into a tortoise". Well all I can say to that is I will eventually win the race (I hope).

"Now the years are rolling by me ..they are rocking evenly

I am older than I once was and younger than I will be ..thats not unusual."

From a Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel Album