Only in the USA

1. Will I meet an airhead who will be impressed with the ancient Indian art of "threading", and will discuss it during networking. WTF???
2. Will people talk loudly and slowly with you just because you are not cookie-cutter thin, blonde and white.
3. Will people ask you when you learnt English.
4. Will women think emancipation is having a separate networking event only for women. OHMYGOD - NO. I dont want to be treated any differently and even though I crib about the old boys networks, I really dont want to be party to a cackle of hens.
5. Will I meet really well educated people who have no clue where Calcutta is, never mind that a person of similar educational background from say Chile, not only knows Calcutta but also has read Indian literature.
6. Will have airlines ignore your pre-booked seating and force you to sit in the centre just because they think they can get away with it, because the passenger is not american. Said airline being United and said airline breaking suitcases and the personnel being rude and irresponsible.
7. Will women bras of size a, b and c be padded. WTF? Don't american women with small boobs wear non-padded bras? What is this obssession with being Pamela Anderson Lee?

In The Garden

Living in a flat gets claustrophobic sometimes and I long for greenery. As always, I have ambitious plans and a month back, with hope springing eternal in my heart, with notions of verdant creepers and leaves springing from my tiny flat nooks, I employed a gardener. I had 3 pots then, to which I added a Ficus and an Aloe Vera plant. When the sum total of 5 pots was presented to the gardener, he smirked a little. I hoped he too would appreciate my thoughts. Turns out, my gardener works in a nearby mansion in Queens Park and has started adding to my collection by propagating the excesses into my humble pots. Everytime I return home on Tuesday, I find new plants greeting me saucily. Today's addition was the cactii - second from the right and left on the bottom row. Looking at my plants, I feel grounded and peaceful and at home, something that I have never felt before.

Earlier, my black thumb ensured that whatever plant I tried to grow, I killed either by over watering or forgetting to water it at all. Now, even my delicate Aloe vera plant has a new tendril - that is not visible in this photo since it was taken at 10 in the night. I wanted to grow orchids and have been a frequent orchid murderer. Now, however an orchid fest seems possible.