Once upon a time....

AHMEDABAD: "Dimpled cheeks, chiselled bones, beautiful girl, is that you, Yes, Yes, Yes!"

The age-old nursery rhyme might as well have to be re-written as the youth gift themselves this beauty features.

Anjali, who will turn 20 on March 10, is mesmerised with the deep dimples of her favourite star Shah Rukh Khan.

She gave herself a unique birthday gift on Saturday when she went under the scalpel to stitch up dimples in her plain cheeks.

Anjali works as an accountant with the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange. Though she is quite beautiful, she has always wanted a dimple.

"I have always nursed this dream of my cheeks sinking into exquisite hollows as I smile, just like Shah Rukh Khan."

Finally, she decided to undergo the surgery so that she gets dimpled cheeks in time for her 20th birthday. On Saturday, Anjali came to the plastic surgeon’s clinic directly from her office.

"We put an incision in the cheeks and then simply tag the smile muscle with the dermis of the skin with a suture. It is as simple as that," said plastic surgeon Dr Vijay Bhatia. An hour later, Anjali checked herself in the mirror, smiling ear to ear, her cheeks showing prominent dimples!

Plastic surgeons concede that the dimples of Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta have captured the imagination of young girls who want to flaunt the much-celebrated beauty feature on their faces.

Leading plastic surgeon Dr Hemant Saraiya says many middle aged women too are offering their cheeks for doctors to carve those lovely depressions. For just Rs 10,000, the hole in the cheek does not really leave a hole in the pocket.

When people go out to eat, they usually look at the menu prices and decide what they would like. But they are very often surprised when the bill comes around - b/c it is substantially higher than what they had expected. I would lobby for restaurants putting up their tax inclusive prices on the menu, which would raise all prices by 11-14%. However, this is still not going to be the final price paid by the customers because they would need to pitch in an extra 10-15% for tips, which if added together comes out to be 25% of the meal price!! So in future, I better be ready to pay 25% more than what has been listed on the menu :(

I wonder if one of my TAs is a little partial towards me - I think I got more credit than I deserved on the exam. Getting good marks is good, but I failed miserably at explaining the problem on board when he called out my name! Need to go study more; made myself look like a fool in front of the whole class! :(


Another TA did not realize how late I had turned in the report, and he cut fewer points than I deserved. Yes, this is good news, but till when will I depend on my luck to save me from flunking? Answer: More studying. Only 4 more weeks to school. I can do this.

Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude.

-Ralph Marstan

Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life.

- Sandra Carey


“Success in any endeavor depends on the degree to which it is an expression of your true self.”

-Ralph Marstan

You disintegrate my differential,

You dislocate my focus.

My pulse goes up like an exponential

whenever you cross my locus.

Without you, sets are null and void --

so won't you be my cardioid?






You are the fairest of your sex,

Let me be your hero,

I love you as one over x,

As x approaches zero.

Not perfect, but I still like it!

I miss those carefree days. Days where you could wake up in the morning and not worry about the innumerable things that had to be done. when I could spend the whole day watching cartoons, playing games, hanging out with friends, eating out, laughing heartily, etc without feeling guilty. I don't like growing up. I don't like taking responsibilities that make life onerous. Give me one day where I and everyone else can take a chill pill. Just one day, and life will be sweet again!

Homeworks, presentations, reports and exams have been going well. I have been good at keeping in touch with the family. Social life has been sweet this quarter. I am taking part in a fashion show and organizing an Indian Open Mic Night and its after-party on campus. It's hectic, but fun nonetheless. Touch wood!

India is all over the news! Every business and financial news magazine or supplement will have some tidbit about India and it's progress. Five years back, foreigners only knew India as a poverty-stricken, highly populated, third world country, but fast-forward to the present and all of a sudden, the same South Asian subcontinent looks like an impending economic superpower. Today, a slight quirk in the share markets back home makes headlines in U.S. and Europe, and even an economic meltdown in the States seems impervious to the capital inflows in India.

Agape at this overnight transition of my motherland from the brain-drain reservoir to the call-center land and then to one of the fastest accelerating global economies, I had to search for reasons responsible for riveting the international spotlight on India. While on my quest, I came across this article which compares India to countries like China, Phillipines, Russia and Canada and vindicates why India is the most deserving of them all. http://www.kpoexperts.com/why-india/why-choose-india.htm Take a look if interested, and let me know of similar articles if you come across any!

yup, classes started today. I have some apprehensions and mixed feelings about this anticipated crazy quarter. I will keep you updated if I survive :D

Oh yea, and among the tales of my fatuousness, ever heard of the saying?:

Men pay $2 for a $1 thing that they need; women pay $0.50 for a $1 thing they do NOT need.

Here's how I vindicated this saying: This past weekend, I got a make-up box which was on 75% clearance, and now I am wondering if I will ever use even one of the gazillion shades before they expire. You know what they say: "think before you act ":P

I am stuck. It feels like I had a change of heart somewhere in between the months of September and December. After analyzing my career goals over and over again, I finally came to the conclusion that I would ideally like to be in a med school next year. I am stumped by this conclusion because I (and that is a BIG, BOLD "I") switched out of my major of pre-medicine two years back so that I could pursue engineering and avoid becoming a practicing doctor that my family had initially goaded me into. Don't get me wrong - I still do not want to become a practicing doctor; I just want to get my hands as close to operating and peeping into a human body as possible. I want to design medical devices whilst having a complete understanding of the physiology and having the degree to claim my astuteness in building one of these things. Aaah, now I am a little too late to apply to med schools for the next academic year along with being delinquent on a few of their pre-requisites. Wow, I never thought I would land myself in such deep quagmire! ...Unless... I find ways to land in my dream job without getting a degree, which might be difficult but not impossible... Boy, do I need some guidance or what?!

Jaw-dropping, isn't it?? Kids these days are so talented!!

I am officially on break and therefore living at home and absorbed in touching base with da family! Besides that, I have started reading the book "A Journey Into the Heart" (how cardiovascular treatments came into existence - quite amazing book actually) by David Monagan. Also need to finish my research paper before the end of break. Also on the cards is going to drop off my closest cousin at the airport as she leaves for her wedding in India. She will meet her fiance in personfor the first time and will get married 10 days later. I am a little nervous for her, and way tooo sad that I will not be able to attend her wedding. :'(

anyway, hope you all had a Merry Xmas and wish you a dazzling New Year!

I just accepted a job offer after intense contemplation over the weekend. Yes, the option of extending my college life went out of the window with my decision, but alas, I had to move on... I am thinking of getting an M.B.A. after working for a couple of years, although I am kinda annoyed by the fact that almost every person I talk to these days is getting or planning to get an M.B.A.. Why is it that this one degree in business has the power to catapult people's career higher (salary wise) than any other master's degree? I think it is unfair that the world operates this way :-|

Ever had to pick one option from three equally enticing choices knowing that you will have to stick with the one you chose for a long time while giving up all others? It is like being forced to choose only one husband or one wife out of several different, equally qualified people. On the outside, everybody seems eligible and desirable. But you can only find your true compatibility after being forced into a marriage contract and suffering through it.

Choosing your final job offer feels something like that. There will always be sufferings, but the trick is to pick one with the least problems and maximum benefits.

Consider me dead for the coming two weeks. I am not even going to bother to bore you with my protracted list of things to do. Just wanted to say that with 2 finals, 4 projects and 4 assignments to submit in the next two weeks, it might be unwise for me to update this space for a while.

On the same side-note though, it felt so awesome leading my group consisting of three other grad students onto coming up with a novel idea for our project! Yeah, I am silly and immodest, but only in front of you guys! :P