A National Mobilization March on Wall Street in New York City took place this past Saturday and I was there taking pictures (just for fun :)). You can see the pictures at the link below:

http://www.celestialaspirations.com/?p=1062

I have finally gotten my own blog/website set up. Later, when my wrist that I injured while typing in a bad position stops hurting, I will post more information here about my aspirations for my blog. For right now, however, typing with one hand, I just want to say I'll be posting a link on my TIG blog sometimes when I post a new blog entry on my site.

I think most of what I write about on my site is relevant subject matter to many TIG members. My ultimate intentions definitely are (but will describe those when my wrist is better).

One post from my site about the use of truth:
http://www.celestialaspirations.com/?p=33

For all New Yorkers or those living near New York, there will be a vigil/march for Gaza on Monday, Martin Luther King Day at 4 p.m. at Union Square (be there or be square :).

All of the details can be found at this website:

http://www.bsg-ny.org/

I stayed up until 6 in the morning this morning putting together these pictures from the election coverage in Times Square, New York City, and a very short account of my personal experience of the election. They say it was an historic election, so I had to be in Times Square :).

http://www.newsflavor.com/Politics/US-Politics/Election-Night-2008-at-Times-Square-in-Pictures.330673

I've had another article published at this link:
http://www.newsflavor.com/Opinions/America-Teacher-and-Student-of-War.314349

It came to me to write this when I learned how American soldiers were returning from Iraq with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from serving in the war in Iraq. The question had also occured to me prior to that as well, as we hear things about how American war veterans are haunted for the rest of their lives from their war experiences, why is there this understanding and compassion for the psychological effects of war on the soldiers, the soldiers of the aggressing country, no less, but there is no compassion or understanding for the actual people living in the country that the soldiers invade and bomb?

This was upsetting to me and seemed like a very unfair and Ameri-centric attitude, so I wrote about it.

I recently just found a more official forum for posting my articles. My first article was recently published on the website at the link below. Unless you are an American following the presidential election, you will probably not know what it is about.

http://www.newsflavor.com/Politics/US-Politics/What-Do-Joe-the-Plumber-and-Santa-Claus-Have-in-Common.305461

In my opinion, it was the beginning of the end of John McCain's campaign the moment he chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. I can't even begin to recap all of the certifiable insanity that they have indulged in since then and time is short, so I have to fast-forward to today.

This week John McCain, after failing miserably in the second debate with Obama, decided it was time to abandon all wisdom and substance and start inciting hatred and fear in his supporters against Obama by making links between Obama and terrorists. At John McCain's rallies this week, McCain supporters began shouting out things about Obama such as "Kill him!" and "Terrorist!"

This is a most unsettling development, especially after Hillary Clinton, who ran against Obama in the primaries, implied that she would not concede defeat because Obama might get assassinated, as Robert F. Kennedy did.

Today, John McCain was forced to correct his deluded, rabid supporters concerning Obama. He explained to a man, who sincerely seemed to fear that Obama would appoint terrorists to positions of power in the government, that he had nothing to fear of an America led by Obama. He then corrected the ignorance of an elderly woman, who couldn't seem to muster any words other than "He's Arab..." McCain shook his head saying "He is not an Arab." [As if it's a sin and a crime to be an Arab; don't worry, ignorant lady, he's not an Arab].

So, first John McCain incites and invites fear and hatred against Obama in his supporters, now he has to quel it. Regardless of how he succeeds, I fear that when Obama becomes president, an assassination attempt will be made on his life.

[The source of my information is MSNBC.]

When I was a little girl, maybe 6 years old, I would often look at myself in the mirror and wonder about who I saw. As I would stand staring at my face, I used to think to myself “Is that what other people see when they look at me? Do I have red hair in their eyes? Is my skin this pale white? Or do I have brown hair when they look at me? They might see me as a black person. If they see me as a black person, does that mean I am black, even though when I look in the mirror I see that I have red hair and pale white skin? If I don’t see what they see, does that mean I’m wrong?"

I know I have been away from TIG for a very long time, but even given that fact, I don't think that my Blog page should have a different appearance every time I click to it. Every time I go back to my blog page, it looks totally different, the appearance settings have changed, and every time, I change them back to my own personal settings, over, and over, and over again. My blog page has multiple personality disorder. Why? Was it so bereaved by my absence that it disassociated from itselves?

Well, as I mentioned in my previous post, I am trying to make a website. I have been thinking about it for over a year and I had imagined it was underway back in May already, but, I was wrong. Since I don't know the first thing about web design, I had managed to find one...and after him a second person, who volunteered to build my site for me. Now, five months later, all I have is a handful of empty promises and a very messed up (because it was all left to me) WordPress site which is not going to be any part of my site.

I realized yesterday that I have to learn how to make my own website, or I will never have one. I began trying to figure out how to make a page with Dreamweaver last night and all day today. Progress is slow and I am told I am trying to do difficult things (dynamic pages). Any help from anyone who knows how to use Dreamweaver and can give me instruction on how to do certain things within a page would be very appreciated :).

I have been away from TIG for some years now, as life required my attention. Maybe I will resume my visits to this site now, but I am working on getting up my own website, complete with blog and some of my poetry, photographs and other types of my writings, much of which will essentially revolve around encouraging the individual to improve him or herself as a person. This is why I have removed some of my posts from TIG, because I will put them on my own website once it's made.

I have not had the time t post something for a really long time... but i had to write something so that I would feel better... I had an accident yesterday while i was drving back from a job interview... it was very scary it was not my fault a stuipd pic up truck dude saw me coming but never waited to let me go.... i had the right of way and he thought he coould take a turn and go but i was to fast to stop and so i ram right into him headlog... and the BASTERD ran away after the accident!!!!!

I cried, called 911, tried to fig out if i was hurt, i was glad to be alive, i was not hurt,... so many people saw the accident, no one stopped, i as just misrible .... i parked my car on a service road, waited for 911 who finally came.... it felt like an eternity for them to come.... my car i have no idea if it will be ok....

I am just glad to be alive!

I HATE BIG FAT GUYS WITH PICKUP TRUCKS!

Its been very hard to find time to write this semester, as its my last in concord. I am So excited to graduate but at the same time very scsred of whats going to happen after december as I have no clue where i am going or what I am doing.

This semester has been quite exciting in many ways, it started of with one of my good friends coming down and from South Carolina to go whitewater rafting. Yes I went whitewater rafting in WV on the new river. It was a lot of fun. We were on 3 - 5 class rappids. Lot of fun... but very very scary... I got thrown out of the raft once and my guide caught me. I did hurt my knee a bit with the adventure and was limping the rest of the two weeks... BUT it was worth it. I am so proud of myself to have done something adventerous! Will i do it again... maybe not... but I am glad i have done it once in my life....

The other interesting things - I am preparing for my senior exhihibition in full swing... I will have my juries end of October and will figure out if i can pull off a solo show which has never been dont in concord before. I hope i can. I am excited about it.

Every weekend a bunch of my friends get together and we have formed this club where we cook diferent cusins and watch different movies. Its been such a lot of fun :)

I am nervous about my graduate school application and finding a job.

On wednesday we are having Mendhi/Henna tatoo fundraiser for the Art society so i am really excited about that. I hope it goes off well.

ok there was something else that was exciting which i wanted to write by i have completely blancked out and have been staring at my mac like an idiot (girns) trying to fig out what it was... so when it dawns to me i shall write it... until then good bye!

Oh yes... I cut my hair almost half of what I had... if anyone knows me who is reading this update they would remember I had really really long hair.... well its gone... and frankly I love my short hair :) makes my head feel a lot lighter :).... no this was not what i was going to write I still dont remmeber the exciting news... i will write it later.... when i do remmeber...

See ya!

(Yep this update is really long... but worth reading...!)


After the most horrifying B'day last weekend my cousin - Avni and her best friend Suresh decided to cheer me up by inviting me to spend a weekend in Mumbai to celebrate it again. I wanted to go out partying, dancing and basically have a good night life in Mumbai.

And it was the most amazing 2 days ever. I had the best time of my life :) On saturday evening I met up with Avni after a day of shopping cloth with my mom for my show in december. I was so tired, and Avni had a bad day as her boss as usual had troubled Avni a lot the whole day... and so the three of us meet up after at 9 for dinner, at Swati which is completely packed with people that we famished hungry souls cannot wait so decide to walk a block to Kamat which is about to close... perfect timing! And its just 10 in the nite... we order a ton of food... Suresh has a huge appetite... and surprisingly Avni does too... we literally are kicked out of the restaurant at 10.30 reluctantly we move on to go to Chawpati beach for a stroll, coz its to late to go clubbing and neither of us have any energy left.

So we walk for an hour or so on the beach and talk, Suresh has this unique sense of humor, that I am constantly laughing and cannot stop. Finally my cheeks and head starts hurting laughing so hard. We get tired of walking so decide to go to Coffee Cafe De across the street and order lot of coffee and lounge around until 1 am, talking of all random things which dont necessarily make sense. We talking about how bad Karan Johars movies are :P and why I feel John Abraham is hot.. and why according to Suresh I need to get examined as he completely hates John Abraham... which is natural coz he is straight ;) (Suresh do not kick me j/k). And to top it all, Suresh says I remind him of some actress out of a Karan Johar movie, big eyes, and big earrings which apparently both he and Avni had brought for me as a B'day present which were really bigger then a bracelet))... We had the most random discussions, on the definition of classics, how art and science got along, why I was studying art and political science, that I looked like a hippie... (coz of Suresh's big earrings)... What string physics was, (which apparently I have still not figured out)... and that Suresh is studying black holes and string theory and at some point of time long long long way in the future.... the black hole thats in the center of the universe is going to gobble us all... so I have plenty of time to make the most of my life :P.... and all other odd conversations. The three of us part away at 1 am barely able to walk, and high on coffee and laughter.


I stay with Avni and both of us are chatting till almost sunrise and then we decide to sleep a little so that we have some energy for anther night of partying :)

Avni and I wake up at 10 and try to have breakfast, our search goes on for the tea which is hiding somewhere in Avnis kitchen, and warming up a few other snaks to eat before we go for shopping. Both of us are famished as usual when we leave for shopping so we go get some lunch first. And then walk down Colaba and start shopping, I have a ton of things I need to buy for my friends in US, and I wanted to buy a skirt and a really cool belt.. and some other odds and ends :) After bargaining heavily and walking for almost 4 hours we finish most of the shopping and reach Barista another coffee shop to take a break before we move on, and the fun begins, I realise I forgot my specks in the restaurant we had lunch which was and the other end of Collaba where we had started walking... so back we are after a coffee... walking down again to get my specks. I am so relieved when I find out they are still live and kicking :) Then we go to Fashion street, we are supposed to meet Suresh at 7 sharp ;) which is an overstatement considering we are girls :P... and we are busy shopping for skirts and earings and other goodies until 7 :P and obviously we dont expect Suresh to reach Pizza exp. by 7 so we go home change and are above to leave when Suresh calls... apparently he thought I would be a good influence on Avni and we would actually be on time... which we are not... finally we reach pizza exp at 8 have dinner till 9.30... he has this smug look on his face... which says something is cooking so Avni and I needle him to tell us what he has been up to...after a lot of cajoling he says... his guide/prof/boss wants him to come to work in the night... which completely ruins our partying plans... both of us are really disappointed but we continue eating and then dinner is almost over when we have to decide what to do. Anvi and I cajole him and convince him that the partying idea was something we had decided to do years ago. So he decides to come with us for a while partying... the smug look has still not left his face so he says... i have something else to tell u :P most of the Disco's are meant for couples entries and we are a odd lot... 2 girls and a guy :) so we are like OH... and he is like well lets go check it out and see what happens. So we decide to take a cab to one of the night clubs. And our adventure begins....after a lot of asking cab drivers to take us to our destination and a lot of them saying no.. finally there is a guy who says yes... so we jump in... he starts driving. And while driving starts talking of random things... and then says for 3 hrs i have been waiting for a ride and now i get one which is for 13 bucks... so i am going to go a bit round and take u. We are like ok... and then we realise he has taken us to a completely opposite direction.. and we are like we understand you want the money but we never told u to take us here... and he is like no u did... and we are like ok drop us here... we get odd and thats when it strikes me and Suresh that the driver was completely drunk.... what a nightmare! we could have got killed... it was so scary... so then we get into another cab. This dude.. has a white Gandhi cap and big mustache and the 3 of us are so hysterical and laughing with what happened previously that we are very high with excitement and talking so much... after it dies down a bit the taxi driver... looks at Suresh, and asks him in pure (shudha) hindi..."Till which grade have you learnt hindi"? Suresh looks at him and says 10th. And we all are wondering, is he also drunk? Or is those types which give lecture to young people and ask us to remember our culture and tradition and that we should be ashamed of our selves that we speak english when we can speak hindi... but then he moves on to saying ok I am going to tell you a poem, give me the meaning of it... by now both me and Avni have covered our mouths, Suresh who is sitting next to the driver has to answer him... and both of us are looking outside the windows trying not to laugh to hard... its so funny looking at Suresh trying to tackle the meaning of the poem. Suresh desp. needs help and looks back at us but all he can see is two giggling girls... :) We finally reach our destination and both of is jump out of the cab and leave Suresh to answer the driver... and burst out laughing coz we cannot take it anymore... its just to much for us to bare... and Suresh walks up to us after a few min. looking completely dazed... and is like... what were you thinking... i needed help and all u girls could do is giggle away! But Suresh, then says he got an explanation from the cab driver, apparently the driver was testing us to see how cultured we were... and as Suresh used his logic to deduct the meanings of the poem we passed his test. It seems this driver tests youngsters and he himself is well read and learnt a lot of hindi poems. He had a book by Kabir with him under his seat.

Anwyas... we are so freaked out with both the incidences that we keep laughing all the way to Redlight Pub whch was supposed to be our destination. And ask luck would have it, it was booked for a private party so we could not get in. The only choice we had was to go to Insomnia Taj, so we walk there not daring to take another taxi...and are relived when the butler does not stop us as we are not couples... so we walk in merrily and go into the disco... its loud and interesting.. coz as soon as we enter there is this random guy who is the only one dancing in the middle of the floor and the rest are so creped out that not one is dancing... we get a drink and wait thinking more people will join in and that we will join in when others do... but it gets more creepier and the guy seems to be desperate and definitely drunk! The music is horrible and we dont like it so then Avni comes up with a brainwave of going to a third place which is close by so we leave, and walk to the third place and realise that its closed on sunday and mondays!!!!! Our luck was going drastically wrong and suresh thought it was the big earrings i was wearing that had to do with the bad luck ;))

So we reluctantly go back to Insomia... (Insomania as we called it from then on) and decided we would have a good time no matter what! But the creepy thing was when we got back there were a lot more people dancing but it was so guy and lesbo... all guys with guys and all girls with girls... AHHH! so aggravating... and we were the only 3 people who seemed to be odd in the whole lot. But then we decided come what may we would have fun... so we did :)At 12 in the night I was supposed to meet two long lost cousins of mine so they finally arrived and so Suresh, me and Avni parted away and Avni and I went off with my other set of cousins to a pastry shop near by and had a delicious Baileys Chocolate mouse cakes.... yummy!!!! i had an ok time with these cousins as they seemed more interested in talking to their girl friends then meeting me... so i was a bit irritated.... coz the were supposed to have come to meet me... and they bumped into these two girls in the cake shop.

But apart from that slight hitch we all had a wonderful time... Avni, Suresh and me... lots of fun and adventurous experience which we will always remember :) So i finally had the party that I was looking for... just wish it was on my bday! Oh well.... better luck next time :) Oh what a weekend it was!

Israel bombs fruit farm, kills terrorist farmers wielding really hard apples. The Israeli army says it attacked structures on suspicion that fruits of mass destruction were being transported, but is investigating reports that fruits cannot effectively be used as weapons.

Real article at this link under section titled "Friday 4 August":
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5239142.stm