Adding Glamour to your ride!

It has been couple of days since I posted any blogs. I was busy looking at some spanking new products that would enhance my ride. I had been thinking of going to the car dealership to upgrade some features of my car, but the exorbitant prices they charge discouraged me. Recently I found an online store where one can buy OEM Car Parts for the right price and get it installed at a local garage or if one is handy it can be self accomplished.

Well, naturally I was thrilled by the fact that Auto Parts were so affordable here while at the dealership they cost so much more. For example I wanted to replace the A/c compressor in my Saturn L series vehicle. The dealership had quoted $1,500 including labor for the job. When I questioned the rationale they had said there was a parts cost of $1200 and $300 was for labor. Here on OEM Auto Parts the cost of a brand new OEM compressor is only $495. This is indeed a significant savings.

I now understand how car dealerships make so much money, they simply overprice everything, just because they are bigger corporations. I believe that we can accomplish the same upgrades to our cars at a much lower price if we buy parts here and install it ourselves or get it done at a local mechanic.

Walking/ Hiking Trail

The woods beckon me to walk and explore, and enjoy the bounty of nature. I turn around to see the world around me and realize that there are miles to drive before I can stop the car and get into the trail. For now it is going to be walking along the Wilson Creek Park trail in McKinney, Texas.

Highways in Texas

This is the picture of the Central Expressway in Texas, US. I took this picture while walking under the bridge in one of the rarely seen foot paths. I guess this trail exists because it is part of a walking/ bicycling trail system in McKinney Texas, my new home city. It is interesting to notice the amount of space that is left open in this country. If there was this much space in India I am pretty sure there would be either a few families living here or couple of small stores operating a thriving business selling pan, cigarettes and odds and ends.

Happy Ugadi - Happy New Year!

Wish you all a Happy New Year!.

This new year festival is relevant to me, as I am a Hindu. Moreover this festival has been celebrated as New Year day since the past several thousand years. This day is indeed auspicious and relevant. Back in India we would receive neem flowers and jaggery (brown sugar) from our parents and family symbolizing that the forth coming year will bring both bitter and sweet things for our life and we will accept both equally.

Being in America all these days, festivals and traditions have almost become forgotten and irrelevant. I wonder if all Hindus in America feel the same way????

India Wins the Cricket World Cup 2011

After several years of anticipation, and heart breaks the Indian cricket team has finally put in a great performance and won the ultimate trophy.

I am not a cricket aficionado, but most people from and in India are cricket fans... no cricket lovers... no cricket devotees. These people would skip work, school, or other important events in life to watch a game on the idiot box (TV). The fact that our team was perpetually disappointing its fans, particularly the Indian people who give them so much love, adoration and respect is what I never liked.

Finally the day has arrived when Indian team has made the Indian people happy... jubilant... overjoyed. I hope their winning spree continues for another series.

Wilson Creek Trail & Park, McKinney

A sole tree stands as silent witness to the changing weather in McKinney, Texas. Children play, adolescents come here to court their romantic partners, adults and seniors throng to get some exercise. The needs of different sections of the population are different but the park and its components including this tree fulfill all the diverse needs successfully. Some lessons we as a society need to learn, to live cooperatively, rather than competitively. Lot more can be achieved this way than the present way.

TV Stand Enhances Home Aesthetics...

A TV without a stand is like a building without foundation. The necessity of a stand for your TV is as important as a building needing a foundation. I have seen in several of my friends homes the TVs are inconveniently placed on a table or precariously perched on a bench or stool or something like that.

The most common argument that I have heard against tv stands is that they are too bulky and occupy too much space. Well I don't buy that, not all TV stands are bulky, there are those that are sleek and consume very little space. For example corner tv stands take so little space and conveniently fit into any corner of your living, dining, entertainment room. There will be no space lost after installing the TV stand in the corner because the corner was anyway not used.

TV stands apart from being a utilitarian products that help showcase your TV and store CD, DVD and VHS conveniently and also enhance the beauty of your home. After much persuasion my friend bought one of the black tv stands online and boy now his living room seems to have a charm of its own. The stand shows off his TV in much better light and it is looking simply awesome. The same home, same TV and same furniture, it all looks a lot more elegant now thanks to the black TV stand.

TV stands are available in pretty much every conceivable material and style that one would want. Aluminum, wood, glass, steel, hard plastic, etc. All you need to do is to check out what suits your taste, style and budget and order it.

No respect for animals!

I have lived in the US during the past 4 years and one thing I have noticed is that being a vegetarian is quite a challenge in this country. When I was in India it was common saying "there is no value for human life in India", here it is the opposite, "there is absolute disregard for anything that is not human." This became evident during a conversation I had with someone I met. We were talking about the depleting Tiger population and he commented that the Sunderbans in India would be a good place to hunt. I replied saying that the tigers are a highly protected species in India and that there are only about 1,500 left in the wild. Pat came the reply: "There is only one me!". What I infer from this statement is that an individual is more important than everything else in this country.

Another pet peeve I have about this country is the way they price food products. A lb (454 gm) of tomatoes is around $1.99-3.99 while the cost of a lb of beef is about $1.41-2.51. Isn't that amazing? A living animal is valued far less than a plant, it would probably take many lbs of tomato plants to feed one meal to a cow. While a gallon of water is more than enough to feed several tomato plants. Hence whichever restaurant one visits, it is very difficult to get a decent vegetarian meal.

Bedroom Set - Important Facet of Your Home

After moving to the United States I am getting exposed to stylish living. Here everyone wants to have everything and as such the economy is doing so well. I have decided to join the rat race and among my first acquisitions will be bedroom sets for all the rooms at home. These sets make the room look spacious, elegant and luxurious and most importantly they make life easy.

Summer is almost here...

If there is something I particularly don't like about Texas, it is the 100 degree summer days. The days are getting warmer and more sunny showing a clear sign of oncoming summer. It's going to be 90 on Saturday and I am definitely not pleased. I'd rather have an ice day with sub zero temperature than a 100 degree sultry afternoon. There is precious little anyone can do about these super hot days but complain, fret and live on. That is precisely what I am going to do also. Just go on with life... the only difference being I'd be going around in thinner clothes and will be visiting the park more often to bicycle, walk and run hopefully.

Whining and Complaining is pretty bad!

I heard a famous radio anchor say this on air and was pretty struck by this message. I had thought about it before but coming from this personality it sank into my psyche deep and firm. The quote below is a modified version of what I heard, this is more suited to my situation in life.

I will not complain about things going wrong in my life because 80% of the people don't care, 5% really care but can't do anything about it and the remaining 10% are actually happy that I am having these problems

.

Holi The Festival of Colors

Holi the Hindu festival of colors is just round the corner. This year it is going to be celebrated on March 20, 2011. One of the unique features of this festival is the concept of smearing our family and friends with colors. Earlier the coloring was a predominantly North Indian concept but now it is a national festival celebrated the same way. This festival depicts the dawn of spring when new leaves spring up in plants, and there is a riot of color in the outdoors.

There are numerous legend associations to Holi but personally for me it signifies the vibrancy of Hindu heritage and culture that is unique and quite superior. A religious tradition that accepts diverse schools of thoughts and has an answer to pretty much every spiritual and philosophical question.

McKinney Town Lake

I revisited McKinney Town Lake again today and took a walk along the meandering trail that follows the lake shores. The numerous birds in the lake are highly used to people and await for feeders to come and give them goodies. Some of the birds are so used to people capturing pictures of them they even pose like the one in the picture here. Overall it is a great place to visit and wander around both for recreation and exercise.

Meditation Center amidst woods in McKinney

Experiencing Nature in McKinney, Texas

I had not had the opportunity to explore the community, and its attractions since moving to McKinney couple of months ago. Today after a stressful day at school I decided to take a break and go out in the evening to spend some time outdoors. I went to the Town Lake recreation area located right beside the Central Expressway. There is a short nature trail through a wooded patch that stretches along the gurgling Wilson Creek and a fairly wide paved bike, walk trail that meanders around the lake.

I went to walk the Nature Trail first through the trees treading on the soft soil. The only differences this trail has with trails in India that I miss so much is its flat terrain and the wooden decks/ bridges when we cross creeks. This trail passes through a wooded patch with tall trees. The trees must be at least several decades old because each one of them are at least 50 ft tall.

Nature has always had a soothing effect on me and when I am amidst nature I feel so humbled. We human beings have created so many things out of the raw material that nature provides to us. Plain water, mud, and sunlight is all it takes to enable plants to provide fantastically tasty food for our consumption. Today as I walked through the tall trees bathed in the soft evening sunlight I felt very minuscule. Whatever ego I had melted away and for the next few minutes that I was traversing the trail I felt as if all my worries and problems were nothing compared to what obstacles the trees, plants, birds and other beings had to endure just to live.

I came out of the nature trail rejuvenated and feeling fresh to take on the world today and tomorrow, when I go back to working from 7am to 7pm and driving an hour to work and back. Indeed nature has so many lessons to offer if only one were to pause and learn....

Smart, Business Savvy, But Unaware or Callous???

I continue to blog about the gross injustice the western world is inflicting on easterners... particularly people from India. First when people in the US or Europe say "Asian" or "Asia" they mean "China". This is a recent phenomenon since the west began to access cheap goods produced by slave labor in China.

What I am blogging today is about a greater and more historical injustice that continues to go unnoticed in the greater consciousness of the entire Western world and almost everyone in the Eastern world also. This is the identity mistake that has endured since the past 500 years and has not been corrected despite the arrival of the internet that has ushered in the information age and created knowledge explosion.

Yes I am talking about the identity label of "Indian" being hijacked by people of "Native American" tribes. Today I listened to a radio program titled "Smiling Indians" on NPR. Quite predictably this program spoke about the Native Americans or the original inhabitants of continental America, most of whom were massacred by the European settlers when they started colonizing this continent.

Well I understand that Christopher Columbus was totally mistaken when he landed here and discovered the new world for Europeans to exploit and conquer. But isn't it high time for the world to recognize that these people are not "Indians" but are whatever nations they profess to belong to.

I am amazed by the fact that these "Native Americans" are also not standing up to claim their true national/ tribal identity and are piggybacking on the "Indian" identity label. How much longer will they remain oblivious of their own roots and compromise their ethnic identity for the collective label often used in a derogatory sense: "Indian".

I am totally shocked that the fairly influential and large Indian diaspora living in the US since the past several decades have quietly accepted the title of "East Indians" and allowed their true identity to be pegged on to the Tribals of America. I wonder when these people: Indians and Native Americans will get educated and start labeling themselves correctly.

I hope this happens in my lifetime.... or is it too much to hope for???

Homelessness, a problem in America also...

I listened to this story on NPR this morning while driving to school. According to the reporter there are over 650,000 homeless people in the US. That is almost 0.2% of the total population. My first reaction was that of shock and surprise. How can there be homeless people in the world’s richest nation? What is going on with this country which controls the world's economy; dictates who has the right to have weapons and who doesn't; provides billions of $s of aid to poor nations across the world; hands out arms and weapons to militias in third world nations to create the likes of Taliban and Al-Qaeda?

Housing these people wouldn't take even a fraction of the money that is being spent on these programs. It is apparent that most of these homeless people are those who refuse to conform to the rules of the capitalist economy and materialistic society of America. I don't know whether these people are out there on the street abusing drugs, and other illicit substances out of their own will or have been forced out of their homes by unscrupulous mortgage and loan brokers.

Anyway bottom line, if America doesn't pull its act together and get these people off the streets there will be a big problem pretty soon in the future.

Hindu Pride.... Abysmally low....

Throughout my short life I have come across people of many religions. What makes everyone different from people of Hindu faith is the pride of followers or lack thereof. I have come across very few Hindus who are proud of their religious identity... more so if they are from India or those born in the United States. This is ironical because everything that has come from Hinduism is trendy, cool and sought after in the United States. Even in the so-called Bible belt of US Yoga is popular, meditation is trendy, Kirtan, chanting of Sanskrit mantras are popular.

When it comes to identifying oneself as a Hindu, there is a huge gap. People from India would rather identify themselves by their regional, linguistic, national, or caste identity rather than their larger religious identity. This is perhaps why even Europeans who have gotten attracted to Hinduism's philosophy are hesitant to say they are Hindus but say they like "Eastern Philosophies" better than "Western ideologies".

I wonder when Hindus will start taking pride in their religious identity?

A thin font created by me...

Font creation is a great way to play with your design sense. It is not about one letter but about the entire alphabet and related punctuation marks. It is not good enough to have a great sense of design to create a font, but one needs to have forethought, and a sense of organization to be able to conceive the entire alphabet and create the font.
I will continue to work on more fonts and share them right here on my blog.

Font Creations....

I tried a hand at font construction again and here is another examples of what I conceived to be complete fonts with 98 characters including numbers, punctuations and special ascii characters. If you wish to download the font and use it on your computer go ahead and enjoy... just make sure you give me your feedback...