Tickets to India from USA

Couldn't believe the price we got this time for our tickets to India. Even 4 months before our date of flying, the tickets were exorbitantly priced. Most travel agents said that there was no availability and we tried all the routes we could and all the travel agents we could!! Out of so many airlines flying to India, we finally got British Airways and that too when we are flying on dates no one prefers to...lol. Even then, we paid almost twice the price of tickets we could have got had we been flexible on our dates. We could have got them for less had it been some better dates. Dec 2nd week to Jan 1st week is fully packed for travel. So - take care when you travel in those days. Either book it 6-7 months in advance or be flex on dates.

I have some travel agents to recommend - few of them recommended by a friends:
0. GLOBAL TRAVEL AGENCY: Naren: 510-441-7479 (Ref: Saurabh Batra)- I will take this one back. He said twice he is working on my quotes but did not get back.
1. World Wide Travels: Surender - 800 343 0038 ext 111, 202 659 6430 ext 111 (East Coast) - helped us very well this time
2. Angad Travels: (800)-430-0396 - DC - Gets you a good price for tickets but you have to run after this guy. This time he had no availability for us though.
3. East West Travel, Inc: 202-833-6068
4. International Travel Center: 877 766 7786, 562 860 2559 - They were nice and polite to talk to and gave us some good quotes (when most of the others said that there was no availability for our dates).
5. Trip Explorer: 1 866 trip exp (874 7397) - Not bad
6. Legend Travels: 510-797-9010 - Got us good tickets last time but this time they had nothing available. We had to call them a lot but still it was worth it - last year.
7. Alex (Travel agent in Chicago) – 773-465-1619 - Recommended by Kalpana's friends.
8. Omega Travels in Dallas - 972-518-1268 - Recommended by Kalpana's friends.
9. http://www.alanitatravel.com/ - 617.923.4810 - Recommended by Kalpana's friends.
9. Universal Travel (Sacramento) - 4400 47th Ave, Sacramento, CA 95824 - (916) 429-2711 (Bobby at Universal was quick and gave me rates that were much lower than what I found on Expedia or Bing. Easy to work with)

I tried calling like 50+ travel agents and these were the only ones who atleast bothered to give quotes. Others would not even answer back even if we called them like 10 times!

Hell and Heaven!

Been a while since I posted the last blog. Reason: my school. Shavi and I hardly find any leisure time in weekdays - My MBA and Shavi's office responsibility after his promotion to CTO/VP of the company, along with our Gym has made our lives hectic but nevertheless we are enjoying this phase of life:)

I still try to find some time to read books/novels. The other day I was reading this book: 'Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia' by 'Elizabeth Gilbert', gifted by a friend of mine. Thanks to her - It's a nice read which teaches you the importance of meditation and love for a peaceful life, through the true life-story of the author.

In this story, one of the Guru's of the author in Indonesia talks about Hell and Heaven. I liked his funda - the way he talks about it touches your heart. I will not be able to put it here as amazingly as in the book but here it is in my words:

He says that Hell and Heaven both are good places - where there is all fun and laughter and good, happy things. But then why do we say that Hell is a bad place - for bad people? That is because the path leading to it is bad. The final destinations are both good. So, it is upto you if you want to make the path good or bad - path means ur present life which is in your hands. Finally everyone has to die but how you die - the impact you leave behind makes the people behind you decide if you went to heaven or to hell.
In other words, probably the Guru meant that worry about doing good and living a happy and peaceful current life rather than worrying about the final destination which you dont even know what it is going to be!:)

Woman leader - who leads US or India?

Is that what we get to hear often - Women in India is not treated with that respect as in US?
Then howcome, US never had a woman President till date and India had a woman Prime Minister long back (Indira Gandhi) and the current President is a woman (Pratibha Patil). And now when there is a woman who is getting to stand for the vice-Presidentship in US (by whatever reason), then she is being stereo-typed as 'Hockey Mom' etc? Is that what it is?
Somethings you can never understand. For sure, countries like India do not have much security/freedom for a girl and the western society has much more, but then who will answer this question that why till date when a woman is trying to be a leader in USA - she is already being stereotyped without people judging her. And when Hiliary was standing for the elections - she was stereotyped as a special case - 'Wife of a x-President'. Not that I am taking their side - I do not even know what they actually are (due to my lack of interest), but just got this thought in my mind - where is the woman leading today - in a country like India or in a western/modernized/developed country like USA?

Love breads? Then this one is for you!

Ever tried sprouted grain breads? They are awesum health wise as well as taste wise...Here are more reasons for you to try them:

Sprouting breaks down the starch, protein and fat molecules found in the grain which means that you end up with a pre-digested food, a much healthier one.

Also, sprouting increases the nutritional value of the food, proteins, vitamin and enzyme content gets higher while at the same time this process lowers the carbohydrate content, and the calories of the same.

Basically, Sprouted grains are easier to digested and are rich in so many vitamins and minerals.

Sprouted grains are digested more slowly by your body and as you know foods that are digested that way help you to keep your blood sugar levels stable, which has a positive effect on your weight and energy levels.

If you eat bread, give this type a try and look for organic. I have a recommendation for this: Try the Eziekel Bread (spl the Raisin Bread) at Traders Joe. Yes, it's a bit more money but far more healthy from the normal breads plus this Eziekel bread does not contain corn syrup - one of the reasons why this bread goes bad in 5-6 days. It is organic and has no chemicals. Try it and love it!

Weight day again!

I now feel like pasting our Before-After pics here..lol. We completed almost 3 months of our healthy eating and exercise on this last weekend and the results were amazing. I lost 25 lbs and Shav lost almost 30 lbs! Anyone who sees him can easily figure that out:-) Our diet sheet which helps us count what we eat seems to be a real blessing for weight loss plus we do not feel energy-deficient 'coz we are eating everything healthy we should. Another amazing thing that exercises led to was a drop in my my cholestrol without my conscious efforts. My LDL dropped by almost 50 and so did my overall cholestrol. My cholestrol some months back was just near the border line and it significantly improved now. I assume this was due to my exercise and brisk-walk routine.

It is not that there havent been moments when we did not feel like working out or having something good (rather bad) to eat. In such cases, it was always the other one motivating the other for workout or we trying out better activities like hiking, playing tennis etc. Another thing to mention here is that we havent stopped going out to eat - eating pizza, pies, pancakes and everything we craved for - but only in control and mostly early dinners. The word: 'control' is the key here. You got it!:)

Types of Garden Herbs

Like all garden plants, herbs can be classified as annual, perennial or biennial. Annual herbs need to be re-planted each season because they bloom one season and then die. Examples of annual herbs include:
* Basil
* Chamomile
* Cilantro
* Cumin
* Dill

Perennial herbs come back every year surviving the winter to bloom each season once established. Examples of perennials include:
* Chives
* Mint
* Oregano
* Rosemary
* Sage
* Thyme

Biennial herbs just live for two seasons and bloom during the second season only. Biennial herb examples include:
* Caraway
* Parsley

- Herbs need six hours of full midday sun for the best flavor and the most growth.

- Most herbs need to be kept damp but not wet, so don't overwater. Water with small amounts only, and encourage proper drainage by watering your potted herbs early in the morning or late at night.

- The best time to harvest herbs is just before they flower, first thing in the morning. This is because the oils have settled into the leaves and flowers overnight and are at their highest level. Each time you harvest a sprig, pinch the stem back to a set of leaves to promote leaf production.

HAppY BIrtHDAY to my SweETheaRT!

Wish u a very, very Happy Burrrrrday Shav! :-) and today is also the 2nd anniversary of my driving license.lol! Remember how you just took me for the Driving test on your bday Saturday morning before we went to Tahoe! Was that my 1st bday gift to you - A driving license?:)
And then last year on your bday, we bought a bike for you - a happy 1st bday to our bike:)

So, now we'll wait to celebrate your bday over the long weekend in Big Sur/Monterey..:-) No 'Eating Right' there please!!!!:)

Wish you lotsss of good luck and happiness in life ahead..

Keeping yourself awake at work!

I have figured out a few ways which can help you keep yourself awake at work and actually make you feel quite active:

1. Do some workout in the morning - it makes you really active. The more strenuous the workout, the more it helps. I know waking up early is a big problem (atleast for late-sleepers like me) but the days I do not go to gym in the morning, I am usually sleepy at work- dont feel active at all.

2. Have tea with breakfast, specially ginger tea - it helps. Atleast Tea is healthier than Coffee.

3. Bathe with COLD water. If you cannot - bathe with hot water and then once you are warm, get the cold water on. I am sure this helps - I read this tip somewhere and was making fun of it till I actually tried and made a few others try this. I still don't understand the 'garam-sard' (hot-cold - not getting/eating/drinking anything cold immediately after something hot) funda back in India but again whatever - it helps me!:)

4. The more you sleep, the more sleepy you are in the morning. Get the minimum sleep needed by your body to keep you active - 6-7 hrs is a good sleeping duration, they' say.

(All these have reasons behind why they keep you active - which I am being too lazy to write them down)

Anyone having anything more to share on this, would love to try:-)

Sacramento Heat

Fourteenth day of the eighth month of 2008 at around five after two in the after noon, my Firefox weather extension is showing 'Sunny, 94 degree F'.

I just came back from a 20 minute walk around a few blocks in downtown Sacramento, and it sure feels like 100+ degrees outside. Little bit outside my comfort level. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE sun and am big fan of sunny hikes in humid climate, but it sure is uncomfortable in office khaki's, tucked in shirt and leather shoes.

This year we have been saved by the wrath of Sacramento heat though. I don't remember any other day this summer being 'really really hot' (read: 110+); coz it does get really scorching. I remember a couple of days from last summer and the one before - my Mitsubishi's thermometer was showing 124 F on the freeway and both me and Ruchi were damned by the sight of it. Lucky for us, the AC of the V6 3.1L engined was chugging along pretty well.

Its amazing to see early morning also. Like today at 5.30 am it was much darker as it was almost 2 months ago; but it was also much warmer than 2 months ago. Days are getting shorter as we are well into later half of august, but the heat sure seems going the wrong way.

Fall semester for Ruchi starts last week of September - I sure am waiting for some 'fall' like weather and some rain FALL.

I loved the dilbert strip today :) [I know, I know totally off topic]
( http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2008-08-14/ )

Abhinav Bindra

“He has been shooting since the age of five. I spotted his talent when I saw him shooting balloons, kept on our maid’s head, with an air gun”, he recalled.

Chandigarh, August 11

Surprise and ecstasy marked the instant reaction of the city on the unique achievement of the local lad, Abhinav Bindra.. His “bulls eye” in the 10-metre air rifle shooting finals at the Beijing Olympic fulfilled the dreams of the nation of a billion but for Chandigarhians it was a special moment that they’ll never forget.

While people were expecting Abhinav to do well, no one had perhaps thought that he would strike a gold and create history. But when the news came in, the spontaneous reaction was of boundless joy coupled with the proud feeling of being an Indian.

“We are on the top of the world,” said Abhinav’s parents, Babli and Dr A S Bindra amidst beating of dhols and bhagra at their farmhouse on the Zirakpur-Patiala road. “My son has proved that Singh is Kinng,” said an elated Dr Bindra who credited Abhinav’s success to his sheer hard work and dedication.

“He has been shooting since the age of five. I spotted his talent when I saw him shooting balloons, kept on our maid’s head, with an air gun”, he recalled.

The Bindra farm was virtually taken over by media personnel this morning. OB vans stationed outside the house and photographers flashing cameras and ‘bite’ hungry correspondents vying with each other to get their ‘breaking quote” surrounded Dr Bindra and his wife. And obviously he had not complaints and he obliged everyone even if it meant giving a retake.

Perhaps the most touching appreciation came from none other than Olympian, Milkha Singh, who said, “my dream has been fulfilled”. In an emotional reaction he said, “I had always wished to see India winning a gold in an individual event before my death and Abhinav has done it”.

While celebrations - beating of dhols and bhangra- began at the Bindra farm as soon as the news came in, Abhinav’s school, St Stephens, in Sector 45 also witnessed an outburst of emotion as students came out of their classes. With the national flag in their hands, the students hailed Abhinav’s victory. School Principal, Harold Carver, said, “my prediction made 11 years ago at the school assembly has come true”. He said as a mark of honour to Abhinav the school will remain closed on Thursday.

The general reaction of the public was no different. Radhika a young girl in sector 17 said, “I am proud to be an Indian today. Abhinav has proved that this nation of billion is on the rise”. The ecstasy among the youngsters was also visible in Sector 10 where girls, with their faces painted in tri-colours, gathered with Abhinav’s photo. “It’s the youth power,” they said.

(Extracted from: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2008/20080812/main2.htm)