Do We Know Everything??

"Stewardesses"  is the longest word typed with only the  left hand ...                     
 And  "lollipop"    is the longest word typed with your  right hand.   (Bet you  tried this out mentally, didn't  you?)  

    

No word in the  English language rhymes with month,orange, silver, or  purple!   

"Dreamt" is the  only English word that ends in the letters "mt"!

                                            
  

       Our  eyes    are always the same  size  from birth,  but our nose and ears  never stop  growing!

                                 

The sentence:  "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the  alphabet!

                                            
  
    

 There are only  four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous,  horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous!

There are two words in the English language that  have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious"!   (Yes, admit  it, youare going to say, a e i o  u)

TYPEWRITER    is the longest word that can be made using  the letters only on one row of the keyboard.  (All  you typists are going to test this  out)

A cat has 32  muscles in each ear!

     

A  goldfish has  a memory span of three seconds!

A "jiffy" is an  actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second!

A  shark is the  only fish that can blink with both  eyes!

A  snail    can sleep for three  years!  

Almonds are a  member of the peach    family!

An ostrich's  eye is bigger than its  brain!

Babies are born without kneecaps.  They don't  appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of  age!

February 1865 is  the only month in recorded history not to have a full  moon.   

 

In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been  domesticated!

                                                    

If the  population of China  walked past you, abreast, the line would never end because of the rate of  reproduction!

Leonardo  Da   Vinci  invented   the scissors!

Peanuts     are one of the ingredients of  dynamite!

Rubber  bandslast longer when  refrigerated!

The average  person's left hand does 56% of the typing!

The cruise  liner, QE 2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel  that it burns!

The  microwave    was invented after a researcher  walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his  pocket!

The winter of  1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls   froze completely  solid!

There are more chickens than people in the  world!

 

Women  blink nearly twice as much as  men!

Now  you definitely know more than you  did before!!!

  

Meatless Day!

I just remembered that today is International Meatless Day!! It is Sadhu Vaswani's birthday today. I studied in Sadhu Vaswani School till class8 and I have very fond memories of it. I remember we took out rallys on road to create awareness among the mass about this day. We got pledge forms from school, on which we took signatures from individuals and making them pledge that they will not eat non-vegetarian food at least on 25th November. Four state governments in India - Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh - have issued instructions for the closure of slaughter-houses as well as butchers' shops on 25th November every year, in their respective states.

For more details, please visit : http://www.meatlessday.com/

And Go Meatless (at least) today!

My Wish List

At, 24 there are 2400 things which I want to do!! Then there are some things which I just cannot do but wish I could do them too.

So without wasting time, I will list those things (not in any particular order) which I have always wanted to do, but haven’t managed to do.. not yet!!

***WHISTLING

Not a very lady thing to do, I admit. But I still want to learn to whistle so that someday I can whistle on SRK's entry in a movie hall  Can anybody help me learn please?

***LEARNING TO PLAY FOOTBALL/RUGBY

Not that I am a sports freak. But there is something about a dozen mad men fighting. Still better if its raining and you splash mud and deliver some great shots. (Reminds me of SRK in DDLJ  I am a big SRK fan I tell you)

***GUITAR

I feel that guitar is the most romantic musical instrument. Had even started the classes but due to some unavoidable circumstances (Read : My date of joining for my first company), had to leave them in between Hope to restart them soon!

***KARATE/JUDO/MARTIAL ARTS/TAEKWONDO

As of now, they are the same for me (Go on, laugh), but some day I will make out the difference between them. I have been thinking to learn them since childhood, but I am only gaining weight and age and losing my flexibility 

***VISITING A DISCO

No, I have never visited a disco, and don’t be so shocked.  I don’t dance and I don’t drink but I want to see what do people get after spending such huge cash, getting drunk and dancing the whole night and tiring themselves out. Personally, I feel there are better things to do like eating from a refrigerator, reading a novel, listing to music, chatting with your loved ones or just snoring!

***VISITING THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD

There is something with these wonders. Every time I see them on TV or lappy, mere rongte khade ho jate hai!  I wanted (and still want) to visit the Eiffel Tower since eternity! J* are you listening? 

***SKY DIVING

I am an adventure loving and fearless person, so I do not fall into the stereotypical girlish category. Fearless in the sense, I am not afraid of heights, mountains, water, etc. I have already done snorkeling and scuba diving and enjoyed it thoroughly. There is a thrill in sky diving. I wanted to do it ever since it was on the cover page of Navneet notebooks when I was in class 5! 

***SWIMMING

J* (who is a very good swimmer) taught me to swim in the pool of our apartments when we were in Bangkok for a while. So I can swim to an extent but because of lack of time and practice, could not become a pro at it. Have to complete my swimming lessons as well.

***REMEMBERING THE ROADS

I am geographically challenged I just cannot remember the routes. It takes me going by that route at least a hundred times to remember it. My father gets very irritated by this and has to draw a map for me each time I go into an unknown (to me ) destination. I want to spare him all this hard work some day!

I want a job which pays a little more than the norm and makes me work a little less than the norm while currently, mine is just the opposite 

Till this date I have not done anything in my life for which I am proud of (apart from being a part of “Teach India” campaign by Times of India) or for which I am passionate about, however after 40, I would like to do something financially for the underprivileged. In this matter, I should not be saying things which I have not done yet, but this is something which I seriously want to do!

There are a million other things I can think of now like – parasailing, paragliding, bungee jumping, river rafting, skiing, starting my own restaurant and the list is endless.

Maybe I will start with learning to whistle in a tapori style  What say ?

Fun Facts About INDIA

Ø  The mobile users of India grows every month with about 2.5 million people!

Ø  There are over 1500 software companies in Bangalore India! 

Ø  The number of births that occur in India each year is higher than the entire population of Australia!

Ø  About 50% of the residents in India are under 25 years old making India the “youngest” country in the world!

Ø  The highest cricket ground in the world is Chail in Himachal Pradesh, India!

Ø  Indian Railways transport about five billion passengers annually!

Ø  The longest station name on the Indian Railways is Venkatanarasimharajuvariapeta!

Ø  Indian Railways is the largest employer in the world, about 1.6 million people!

Ø  The only country in the world that has a Bill of Rights for Cows is India!

Ø  India is the world’s largest mango producer!

Ø  India has more post offices than any other country!

Ø  The Taj Mahal was in the 1830′s scheduled to be torn down!

Ø  In India nearly 1200 species of birds can be found!

Ø  India produces more movies than any other country in the world and Bollywood is the largest film industry in the world!

Ø  Indians go out to the cinema about 3 billion times a year!

Ø  India has about 800 dialects and 15 major Languages!

Ø  India is the largest tea producer in the world!

Ø  The biggest ant in India is about an inch!

Ø  India used sugar before any other country!

Ø  India buys more gold than any other country!

Ø  Before 1896 India was the only diamonds producing country in the world!

Ø  India is home to about 200 million cows!

Ø  India is the world’s number one producer of vegetarian cheese!

Ø  Shampoo is derived word from Hindi!

Ø  The first bathrooms is said to have been built in India about 4500 years ago!

Ø  The first reservoir and dam for irrigation was built in Saurashtra India!

Ø  The value of pi was first calculated by Budhayana in 800 BC, India!

Ø  Algebra, Calculus, and Trigonometry comes from India!

Ø  In Takshashila, 700BC, the first university was established!

Ø  4 major religions has India as birthplace Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism! 

Phew! A long list already. I will keep the rest for next time.

Proud to be an Indian!!! 

Hidden Meaning of My Name :P

You are the total package - suave, smart, and strong. You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know. You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out. Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia. Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality.

It feels great to read good things about yourself!! 

Courtesy : http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyournameshiddenmeaningquiz/ 

Big Girl - Danielle Steel

 

I don’t write reviews. Reason – I am very bad at it. I can only say “Very Good” or “Great”. This is my first review so read at your own risk.

On my train journey for home, I finished this novel (although had started it some time back).

This was my first Danielle Steel novel. I found it engrossing in the beginning, lost interest somewhere in the middle and again got hooked towards the end.

The author has touched issues like obesity, sisterhood, family and self-image. This book revolves around Victoria Dawson, a chubby little girl with ordinary looks. She has spent her whole life being second best to her perfect sister Gracie. However, she does not hate Gracie, they both love each other immensely. Victoria’s father called her their “tester cake” before the perfect recipe (Gracie) was born.  She was always told that she was a disappointment to her parents, while fighting an endless war against her weight, tolerating harsh and rude comments from her father, she knows that she has to move away from home as soon as possible and she did.

Victoria did her graduation in Chicago away from her home i.e. Los Angles and later moved to New York to get a job she loves - as a High School teacher, again to the disappointment to her father who discourages her plans and persuades her to look for something in the field of advertising which will pay her much more, but she makes her own life at New York which she enjoys, while her battle against her weight continues.  Her only link to her family was through Gracie.

When Gracie announces her engagement to a man who is just like their handsome, egotistic and self-centered father, Victoria cannot help but feel even more detested, and like a failure once again. Ahead is a challenge and a risk: to accept herself as she is, celebrate it, and win the victories she has fought so hard for and deserves.

Big girl or not, she is a gem of a person! 

My Rating – 3/5

D(iwali) Day!

I am just back from a fun filled trip home.  I had a very hectic last month, will spare you the details, probably, for another post. Although we went to J~’s native, I like it calling MY home (which is true in a way).  Since this was my 1^st Diwali after my marriage, everyone back home (and me too) was eagerly waiting for this. We reached home a week before Diwali and left the next day of Diwali, so had plenty of time to spend there. I relished on a lot of mouth-watering chaats there almost every day! (Justification being - we cannot get the same ones here in Bangalore ) I shopped a lot, gobbled homemade sweets made by my MIL, did a lot of masti with Didi-Jiju(J~’s elder sister and BIL) and their daughter little N(I am really fond of them. Both Didi & Jiju are really chilled out, so the equation we share is not like that of a typical household wherein you are not really free in front of your in-laws, while mine are superb. The best thing about them is the feeling of belongingness they make you feel. Ever since I got married I have never felt that these are the new relations of my life, I feel that I have known them for ages. Same goes for my MIL and FIL as well & I thank God from the bottom of my heart for getting me married into such a beautiful family).  I also visited my MIL’s native which is a small town, some 80 kms from home. There, I met a lot of relatives of mine and got pampered a lot there & and in the whole trip as well

Coming back to Diwali, I along with K (J~’s younger sister, who is again one chilled out lass) shopped for Diyas and Rangolis for Diwali. K made a beautiful & colourful rangoli of Swastika.

Since J~(& eventually me) belong to Arya Samaj, the basic rituals which are followed at my parents’ place & here were quite different.  Since Arya Samaj does not preach idol worship, this was my first Diwali which went without laxmi pujan, instead we did havan in the evening (which I loved and I plan to do it all by myself someday!)  I have attended havans before but a few extra things were done since this was my first marital year.

In the evening, everyone changed to their new clothes. I love to wear sari occasionally and I am always looking forward to wear one, so what better excuse to wear a sari than Diwali. So I wore a heavy green coloured sari (with the help of my MIL )  along with which I wore some of my wedding jewellery

Me and J~ started for our relatives’ place but ended up in a restaurant to gobble something. (Which we found after a lot of searching since the whole city was closed because of Diwali). After returning home, we started bursting crackers with little N. It was fun but I found it a little odd bursting crackers in a sari . Finally, we relished the mouth watering kheer made by MIL.

All in all, a wonderful Diwali celebration. 10 on 10 for my first Diwali after marriage