Vani’s Musings

It had been another usual hectic day at work.  I happened to finish early thanks to the help of my colleagues who couldn’t bear to hear me sniffling because of the cold I had caught.
 
As I got off the bus, I remembered the second hand book shop just behind the bus stop and so I [...]

My colleagues and I had to attend a wedding reception last evening, and the venue was opposite a famous park in Bangalore.
 
Since we were earlier than the wedding party itself, we decided to spend time in the park. We made use of the opportunity to explore the park and went inside hoping to get some [...]

“Aishwarya and Abhishek get engaged”
 This was the headline in most newspapers yesterday.
At the risk of sounding cynical, does our media not have anything else of importance to project as “headlines”?
 Why is it that these people are not treated like common janta of the country?
Maybe even in countries still ruled by monarchy, such issues do not make [...]

Was chatting with my friend BRU today, and we were discussing what we could do if we decided to retire today.
Few of the options that came up were:
- Open a Library
- Join a Gardening Course
- Grow our own vegetables
- Learn Tailoring (Can’t sew a button!)
- Learn Ikebana
- Learn a martial art like judo or karate
- Take a holiday in Egypt
- Visit the Sahara [...]

‘I come from Alabama
With my banjo on my knee
I’m going to Louisiana,
My true love for to see
It rained all night
The day I left
The weather it was dry
The sun so hot,
I froze to death
Susanna, don’t you cry
Oh, Susanna,
Oh don’t you cry for me
For I come from Alabama
With my banjo on my knee
I had a dream the [...]

If there is anything I have a really hateful feeling about, it is Soap Operas.
Sopa Operas were originally concieved in the west. They were melodramas, meant to entertain the homemakers of the 70s, and were sponsored by soap companies, and hence the name “Soaps”.
 The first Soaps I got to know were in the early 90’s, [...]

Guess people will have to think twice about sending their kids to school. According to a news item in the TOI Bangalore yesterday, School Fees is just one of the several expenditures that may be taxed from the next fiscal.
Or is it a ploy of the government to “encourage” people to send their children to [...]

I remember the time we went to school. It was such an uncomplicated affair.
Curriculum was most important, and the extra curricular activities were limited. There was impetus on games, each of us were on one team or the other.
We had regular tests and exams, but none of them ever, the life-threatening variety. We carried a [...]

WP is a colorless to yellow translucent wax-like substance with a pungent, garlic-like smell. The form used by the military is highly energetic (active) and ignites once it is exposed to oxygen. White phosphorus is a pyrophoric material, that is, it is spontaneously flammable).
 When exposed to air, it spontaneously ignites and is oxidized rapidly to [...]