YPD

Went to watch "Yamala Pagala Deewana" at the mercado on monday evening. With Indian movies, lately I have set a rule for myself to keep my expectations really really low and I have noticed that in most cases I end up enjoying the movie. This happened in 3 Idiots, Robot, Golmaal etc. So, with YPD, when we went to watch it, I wasn't expecting much. My wife was reading out the review aloud from her IPhone but I tuned her out since I did not want to be biased by another reviewer's opinions.

In any case, the first shock was when we went into the theatre and upon inquiry we came to know that there would be no intermission. That is plain dumb. American theatre running desi movie - you gotta have intermission AND you have to sell Samosas. They were doing none of that. So, we ended up buying the usual super huge popcorns and coke drinks and settled down into the almost comfortable seats (kids and all).

The next 3 hours were a laugh riot and the movie was simply amazing. There were only a few people in the hall but there was no one who wasn't falling out of their seats laughing (including a sikh couple esp. given the controversy in India with this movie and the sikh community). Even my daughter who doesn't understand much hindi (atleast not enough to understand the whole movie) was jumping up and down in her seat. :) Overall, paisa vasool. Highly recommended movie if you want to have a good time. Go watch in the theatre and not on the DVD.

results are in

I have had high cholesterol for a number of years. I have tried to manage it through diet. Already being a vegetarian, I tried to further improve my diet such as fat free milk, reduce pizza, donuts and bagels, olive oil and so on so forth. Over the years, there was no increase or decrease in cholesterol levels - LDLs remaining high and HDL remaining low. Triglycerides were a bit on the higher side.
Anyways, last month I went to this South Asian Heart centre whether they do some advanced lipid panel tests (more than the normal LDL, HDL tests). Finally, the results came in today and they are quite scary. Looks like now there is no excuses to be made now. Effective immediately, I will need to

- start cholesterol reducing medicine
- start incorporating exercise in my daily schedule
- further improve my dietary habits (cut down on all the discretionary "indian sweets" and all).

There are too many risk factors with the way I am leading my life right now and I guess, if not to myself, I owe it to my family to keep myself healthy and be around till they grow tired of me. :)

sick

First cold for the year and barely 10 days into the new year. To be fair, someone or the other in the family has been sick for the past 2-3 weeks... my body could resist the germs only for so long. Even outside, you can see people coughing and sneezing. Fact of the matter is finally I am down and feeling terrible. :( Hopefully, will be better tomorrow. :)

School's has started. B. Strategy and EVI this time. Both instructors are good and both the courses are very interesting. Lots to learn. The schedule however is very tough this quarter. GAP coming up during the summer - let's see which foreign country I get to visit. :)

Missing my dad very much. Sometimes things are just not in your control and you can only watch helplessly but as he always tells me: "Even this will pass".

2011

A big hearty welcome to 2011. Right now I have mixed feelings. Kinda sad that all the holidays are over - just one more day left. :( On the other hand, we had a great New year eve party last night. We had invitations from a couple of friends to come celebrate with them at their house but we chose to go to BG. The place is family friendly and we had a good time. Reached home around 2:30 am.

In the morning made some calls to friends and family. Always good to catch up with them. Technically, it's just another day but somehow we attach so much significance to Jan 1st. People make New year resolutions but I don't. I believe any day is as good as New year's day for resolving to do (or don't do) something. I do have a wish to improve my health this year, concentrate on some projects that I have delayed far too long and so on. In many ways, this could be a defining year. I see a lot of challenges ahead both in personal and professional life but hope makes the world go around and hope I will come out on top when facing my challenges.

Wife and kids abandoned me today and spent the afternoon at a friend's place :(. So, I went to a book store, spent some time browsing books and had lunch by myself. Came home and put on "Break ke baad" movie on the tube but must say the movie is quite silly. This movie deserves to bomb at the box office and I hope it did. Ok, I am off to some bed time reading and putting the kids to bed.