Why Pandas Have Black And White Fur

Long long ago, in the middle of China in bamboo forest, lived a panda named Oreo. This panda had beautiful glossy white fur. One day Oreo woke up and he was really hungry! Oreo was so hungry his stomach was growling! “Rumble rumble” Oreo was not selfish and greedy for food though, so he did not steal any food from his friends. 

“I am so hungry! I am going to find some food.” Said Oreo. 

He set off to try and find some food. Oreo gazed and he didn't see any bamboo! Oreo was getting really confused.

“Where is all of the bamboo?” asked Oreo. 

Oreo looked for hours and hours, but he still could not find any bamboo! Oreo was getting furious. 

“Where is my food!” screamed Oreo.

  Then,when the sun started to set, Oreo found some really black bamboo. Without even checking if it was safe, Oreo ate it all up. 

“Yummy! That bamboo was so good!” 

Then Oreo’s best friend, Flappy the bird came to visit Oreo. Oreo could tell how hard she was flapping. Flappy was probably very tired from flying around. Flap flap went Flappy’s red wings.”Huff...puff….” “hey Oreo.”

“Woah! Look at your fur! It looks so cool!” Exclaimed Flappy. 

Then, Oreo got puzzled. “What? What happened to my fur?” 

Flappy said “It’s now white and black!” 

Oreo looked at himself and he saw white and black fur!

 “Go get Bob!” Oreo said joyfully. “He will love this so much, he will be on cloud nine!!” 

Flappy went to go get Bob the farmer. And when she showed Bob Oreo’s fur he was amazed. 

“Wow! Cool fur!” Exclaimed Bob 

“Thanks!”  said Oreo. 

Then they all played until they all fell asleep. Oreo learned something that day, Never ever give up! Not until you find what you are looking for! 

Hazel White and the Halloween Howler mystery

The night before halloween, Hazel got everything ready for Halloween. She picked out her costume that she was going to wear, she put up all of the halloween decorations and she got her trick or treat bag. Hazel checked everything off of her to - do list and went to bed. The next day Hazel got up really early. “Yes! It is Halloween today! I can’t wait to go trick or treating!”. Hazel sprung out of her bed. “Ok. Lets see if I have everything here. Costumes? They are here. Halloween decorations? They are also here. Candy?

Che- Wait a second. It's not here! Oh no!” Hazel got ready and ran to the store. She went into the candy aisle but...The candy was not there! Hazel was worried, really worried. Hazel asked the shopkeeper if there was any candy here. The shopkeeper said “ Sorry dear, we just ran out. Come again next time!” Hazel was sad. She thanked the shopkeeper and left. She came home with a frown on her face. That never happens on holidays, especially on Halloween. When it was time to go trick or treating, Hazel was bursting with tears. “ We need candy! Please mom! Please get more candy for the children! Please!” But Hazel’s mom would not budge. When Hazel went to the first house they said “ Oops! So sorry but we have no candy! Come again next time dear!” Hazel was getting mad.

She went to the next house and the same thing happened again. Same for the next house and the next and the next and the next. Hazel knew that something was fishy and it was not a fish. Shortly Hazel’s school bully named Thomas showed up. 

Thomas said to Hazel “Hey.. What are you wearing? Are you being Cinderella?”. He laughed so hard that tears came out of his eyes. He left. Hazel was really mad. She noticed something. All the candy was missing. She went back home and started to wonder who would have stolen the candy. She came up with four suspects. Mrs. Green - she has eight kids and all of those kids LOVE candy. She might have stolen the candy for her kids ; Stanley - he loved candy and he would give his ipad for just a piece of candy ; William and Louis - kids who liked candy, but they did not love it, but they would trade candy for money. Hazel interviewed each one of them, but none stole the candy. Then she gathered up all her courage and went to Thomas’s house. She knocked on the door. Thomas opened the door. 

She said “You stole the candy. I know it”. He said “Yes, I am sorry. It was for my little brother.” “Last year he ate too much candy before halloween and got really sick. So, this year I decided to give him all of the candy because now he is better and he really LOVES candy. Thomas learnt a lesson that day. 

DO NOT BE SELFISH. SHARING IS CARING!! DO NOT STEAL, JUST ASK!!

THE END!

THE TIME TRAVEL MYSTERY

 One day a girl called Hazel White playing in her backyard. A UFO
landed in her  backyard. Aliens came with lots and lots of tools.
Suddenly Hazel saw the aliens building a portal. She squinted super
hard and she saw that there was a note in the alien’s hand. The alien
put the note in front of the portal and it waved goodbye and took off
to the alien planet in the UFO.

Hazel picked up the note. The note said “Hello Hazel. This is your
great grandmother. I have a very important job for you. When I was
young, around 6 or 7, the same thing happened to me. I went into the
portal and I had to do some tasks. But I couldn’t finish them all. I
need you to complete the rest of the tasks for me. You will get a
reward if you complete the tasks. Love, Great Grammy”.

Suddenly Hazel saw her mother looking out the window. Her mother came
outside running and screaming. “Hazel be careful! Do not jump into the
portal. It’s dangerous.” Hazel said “Mom, this is great grammy’s wish.
I have to do it for her”. Before her mother could stop her, Hazel was
gone!! She jumped into the portal.

Hazel slowly opened her eyes. She saw that she was in CANDYLAND. This
flying peppermint came on a floating cloud and said “Hello!! My name
is Peppy the peppermint. What’s your name?”. “Hazel” she said. This is
the task that your great grandmother could not finish. “You have to
get across CandyLand. Be careful. There are hidden traps and monsters
that you need to fight.” Peppy gave Hazel a licorice sword and
lollipop armor.

Hazel first saw a giant pit of melted chocolate lava. She had to find
someway to cross it. She figured out that if she can cool down the
melted chocolate, it will become solid and she can walk across. She
saw ice creams hanging in the nearby trees. She dumps all the
icrcreams in and the chocolate becomes solid. She walks across.
SUCCESS!!

Hazel keeps on walking and walking until she finds a marshmallow
tiger. He comes charging at her, hazel quickly ran behind a tree and
found a “makes you jump high” potion. She drank the potion and jumped
on top of a tree before the tiger could reach her. This tree was full
of smarties. She plucked some smarties and threw at the tiger. The
tiger fell to the ground. Hazel jumped down from the tree and went
home hopping like a bunny to the end of candy-land.

Suddenly she saw a bunny in the distance. The bunny came to her and
said “hello, my name is bunny corn, what’s your name?” Hazel told her
name and then bunny corn handed her a basket and a magnifying glass.
Then bunny corn said “this magnifying glass is special. It will help
you find blurple berries. Go ahead and find some blurple berries”.
Hazel went to the bushes and she decided to save her magnifying glass
and find 3 blurple berries. Then she went to the next bush. She
couldn’t see any, so she used her magnifying glass and found 12
blurple berries. Only 16 more blurple berries to go.

She saw one blurple berry bush moving. She went close to it and opened
it and inside was a cute little puppy. It had a sign that said “adopt
me, my name is twilight”. so she picked up the little puppy and said
hello twilight. Then she found a leash behind the bushes. She now had
a new sidekick - twilight the dog.


After she found Twilight, she to find some more blurple berries. She
found 12 more to go. She went all around the blurple berry bushes but
she could not find any more. Then Twilight suddenly said”I can help
you find more berries but then you have to take care of me, make sure
I don’t get lost”. Hazel said okay and Twilight led her to the last 3
blurple berries from under the bushes.

Then Bunny Corn came to Hazel and said “Hazel, you have completed all
your tasks, so I am going to give you something that your Great
Grandmother wanted to give you.” Bunny Corn handed Hazel a necklace
that had a rainbow gem that matched Twilight’s leash and collar. Hazel
rubbed the gem and it brought her back to her backyard with Twilight
and the necklace. She knocked on her door and her mother answered the
door “Hazel!!!! I missed you so much. COme inside, you must be hungry
and thirsty”.

Hazel had her dinner and it was time for bed. She got ready for bed
and her mom tucked her in. As she was tucking her in, Hazel’s mom
said, “wherever you go, i will never forget you”.

THE END!!!!!

Buckle your seatbelts, here we go!!!!

Hello there!!!! I am the new co - pilot now flying with my Dad....

I am so excited to share this adventure with all of you! 

I can't believe I am finally doing this! It feels like a dream come true!

I am now a co - pilot, for plane Words Tell The Story!!!!!

Hi co-pilot, step into the cabin!!!!

So, here I am back flying after a long time - 8 years, 7 months and 2 days to be precise... and why am I back flying? Because, I have a co-pilot with me... 

D, my little girl, who is also exactly 8 years, 7 months and 1 day old, is now going to be flying on this journey with me... She will be my co-blogger from here on... 

Soon, you will start seeing her blogs on this space... So, fasten your seat belts folks, here we go!!!!!!

New direction... to my life...

A dad thinks...


Its right here, the day we were all waiting for... For the past year or so, there were so many things we wanted to happen, so many things we wanted to not happen, so many tests we wanted to come out positive and so many tests we wanted to come out negative... The stars lined up perfectly and everything turned out ALMOST as we planned it... 


Tomorrow is the day when the babies will be delivered... S did an exceptional job of nesting the babies - so much that they dont want to come out at all... So, even if the delivery does not happen naturally, the babies will be delivered by a ceasarean operation... so, both S and i feel bad that we are pulling the babies out even though they dont want to come out... This thought makes my heart bleed...


To make S go through a surgery, where they will cut her belly and pull the babies out - the whole idea makes me feel like crying.


After umpteen days where the babies would move inside S and I would feel their movements with my palm, tomorrow, i will actually hold them in my arms. I dont know what I will feel then, but it will be the best feeling ever for sure.


Cant wait!!!

I know what you mean, and better...

Coming back after a really long time on the blogosphere... Blame it on work or stuff going on in personal life or the eternal time hog (a.k.a. cricket) or sheer lethargy, here I am back after just 14 posts in the year and none in the past 5 months or so... 


Strangely, one of my favorite blogger Prem is back after a long hiatus as well... He posted again after a long time yesterday... So, a good coincidence there... 


And what a topic to return after a sabbatical... To attend the book launch of Abhinav Bindra's semi-autobiography, one of the very rare gold-medal winners Olympians from India, and that too when it was launched by another giant in his own might - Rahul Dravid - is special.


To have a great feat written about is great, but to have it launched by an equally great and yet humble athlete is even better. For me, RD is the epitome of selflessness and discipline. He might have not got his due and has often been overshadowed by his more famous compatriots, but he is still has had a better fling at publicity than AB. So, the comparisons of their outlook is very refreshing, although unsurprising.

• If a choice of another sport was give, AB would choose IPL (glamor, publicity) but RD would choose golf (privacy).
• For AB, success comes once in 4 years and he looks forward to it. He is not even afraid to share his secrets. For RD, it is intimidating.
• Both agree that hard work is the key to ultimate perfection which has its own criteria of determination. So, the journey is the same, the destination is different, and its undefinable.

One more unsurprising attribute among all great athletes is the mutual respect. Rafa-Fedex, Sachin-Warne, Anand-Kasparov and countless others share this mutual respect towards fellow athletes where they look to each other as rivals and not as enemies. Though AB and RD are not related that way, but I am really heartened by their mutual admiration.


Another point I noted above is that this is a semi-autobiography. It is not entirely written by AB. He was assisted by one of the best sports writer in India - Rohit Brijnath. I feel ghost writing is one of the most difficult and thankless jobs to do. The key to ghost writing is to be essentially transparent between the author and the reader. The substance of the topic has to flow through without getting polluted by the style of the medium of writing. If you are successful at doing that, then the ghost writer will be invisible and there will be no mention of the good work and the real author takes all the plaudits. If you are fail at curbing your style, then the ghost writer will be criticized at masking the topic. I have not read this book, but reading this review, and especially this section, I have no doubts that RB has done a great job at it.

When reading a particularly fine passage in a co-authored autobiography, the almost inevitable question in the mind is, how much of this is the voice of the subject, and how much the voice and skill of his amanuensis. I was at the time a little less than halfway through a book studded with passages of stunning eloquence, and already that question had occurred to me multiple times.

Now, after an evening of listening to the ace shooter speak, at ease extempore, I know: the skill, the craft, is Rohit’s, but the voice is indisputably Abhinav’s.

What an occasion to miss. At least I look forward to reading the book.

Anna - the idea and the execution

We Indians are doing our very best to emulate the freedom fighters from Middle East and trying to grab our share of freedom from our government. The government - which operates under the definition of "by the people, of the people and for the people" - is returning the favor by doing their very best to not succumb to the demands of the very people that they represent.


I did not expect the government to lay down at the first poke and accede to every single demand of the people - that would be akin to a kid agreeing to not eat candy just because the parents are asking not to. But I am more surprised that there are lot of people who are hand-in-glove with the government and are opposing this movement tooth and nail. A very good example of this resistance is this interview by Karan Thapar





From my extensive experience of "Devil's Advocate" series, I have come to know Karan Thapar as someone who mistreats his guests with a barrage of allegations without giving them a chance to respond. If someone is smart enough to give it back, he is prompt to leap to the next allegation and drop the previous topic as a hot potato. Here Karan Thapar plays the quintessential Karan Thapar to the hilt, doing just what he does every single time, and runs out of time when the guests have their answers ready. What is unclear from the confrontation though, is why Karan is being so pro-government and anti-reform.


And Karan is not the only one. I know at least 5 other friends / acquaintances who do not like / support the movement. Some of them do not like the idea, few other do not believe that the idea will work and the others like the idea but not the execution. I have heard counter-arguments like -- 
1 - This is a unconstitutional way of demonstrating and registering your protest
2 - What is the guarantee that vesting more powers, powerful enough to override the government in a council, will not create a Frankenstein monster, bigger than one that we are dealing with one right now?
3 - Why such haste and adamancy in a particular format of the bill?


There have been some ridiculous counter arguments as well like -- 
1 - From Dalit groups -- This protest stinks of pro-bramhinism. This will stop reservations for us.
2 - From Muslim groups -- This protest stinks of pro-hinduism. This will stop reservations for us.


Probably, a very good indicator of the insecurities in their minds and how crippled these groups are going to be without these crutches.


To all these groups, I have just 1 question - do they acknowledge that corruption is the biggest termite infesting hollow the bark of this country? If they do not accept it, then it means that they are a part of the corrupt brigade and are worried abt their future when, and if, corruption is eradicated. And if they do acknowledge, then as long as the idea is good, the execution does not matter.



The current cause has been the most peaceful one, probably since the candle light march after 26/11, and a mighty testament to this was the march in Mumbai on Sunday. So much, that the cops did not even have a bandobast (vigil) for this march. They were so confident that stone-pelting and burning of property will not happen that the cops did not even think it was necessary to oversee this march.

Having said that, no revolution is devoid of blood, no revolution has ever been achieved purely by the might of the pen. There has been a sword or a dagger lurking beneath the cloak of the pen wielding writer. And every revolution has been tainted by the red of the blood as much as the blue of the ink.


And if this revolution taints a few cloaks with the blue of the ink and the red of the blood, the blue and the red will look very pretty on the background of the green, white, saffron tricolor.

Confused...

Back on the blogosphere after a long time -- 2 months to be precise... Its been a busy time... 


During my school days, a select group of students who had done well in studies were nominated for a advanced class called as "scholarship". This class taught the students Math, IQ and English  meant for senior classes. I did well enough to be a part of this esteemed group.


During my scholarship days, as a part of my verbal course, I often learnt a lot of sayings like -- 

Do not judge a book by its cover

Grass is always greener on the other side

All that glitters is not gold

At that time, the only use of learning was to score more marks in the exam. We never had a chance to understand the meaning of those sayings. May be we were not mature enough to learn from experiences of life then. May be the safety net of our parents then was good enough to shield us from the heat of those moments.


But now that we are long out of the safety net of parents and home, we will will feel the heat and burn our fingers from such flames.  Sadly, another saying comes to mind now

Experience is a comb that comes after you turn bald

Some experiences in life make you question your beliefs, ethics and everything that you stood for. It forces you to not spend time with someone whom you really want to spend time with. It is makes you postpone the things that you really want to do now. It does not let you sleep when you really cant stay awake any longer. It makes you do things on weekends when the only thing you want to do is to put your feet up and relax.


When the core principles, that you led your life on so far, are questioned, it is a confusing time. You do things that you would not allow yourself normally to do. You make decisions that you know you are going to regret in the future.


This may not be the best decision on some other day, but in today's circumstances, it is the best decision....


You take the decisions in best faith, and just hope that -- 

The book with a torn cover is an awesome read... 

The brown grass on the other side is soft and cool... 

The non-glittering metal is platinum... 

Empty the bucket list...

This post is dedicated to a bunch of people whom I have met over a period of last few years - friends, families, acquaintances etc. and my interaction with them... 


1 - Live, don't just exist -- I have heard this quote from umpteen forwarded emails over the years. Never had a chance to get a justification. Then one day, all of a sudden, one close relative was suddenly unwell. When we called to check on him, I mentioned that I was worried about him. He said - "I have enjoyed my life, I have lived my life and done almost everything that I wanted to do. If I die now, I will die happily with all my wishes fulfilled. My bucket list is almost empty". That one statement changed my perspective about this quote.


2 - Listen to your heart but obey your brain - or - think with your heart, decide with your brain -- Another quote passed on to me as a bit of wisdom from my old roommate. He was almost 5-6 years older than me and had been there, done that. A very wise statement that lets you choose the right options and then choose the wisest one amongst all. Even to date, I follow it to the core and have not regretted it.


3 - Empty the bucket list -- A very good friend of mine recently chose to quit a good job, drive all across the country, spend a month with entire family, another month with friends (a day or 2 with each good friend) throughout his journey to a well thought destination from the career point of view. He obviously took a big risk, which I would not dare to do today, but was probably banking on the fact that he has a very good reputation at work and he can always come back to this workplace in the worst case scenario. In any case, he would not have incurred anything other that some financial hollow. Turns out he has landed up a good job at a very prestigious company. Aal is well now.


4 - Empty the bucket list -- This topic has the same description as the previous one, intentionally. Another colleague quit his job after working for 12 years. He has saved enough money to last him for a couple of years and he wants to do everything that he ever wanted to do. This is much riskier than the 2 month break that the earlier friend has taken, but this friend's motto is - do it when you can do it. The risk is worth it.


5 - Its never too late to empty the bucket list -- And for the rest, who are not quite the risk takers, don't hesitate to start checking off the items now. Its never too late or too early to do it. And when you do what you always want to do, it is still equally exhilarating and satisfying.


So, last weekend, when S and I checked off one more off our list. It was supposed to be a surprise for S, the bubble burst just a few minutes before that though. It was still an amazing feeling to say "CHECK!!!"


Fully worth it... Just that the list is too long!!!