Miniature Golf

One day my cousin, who is the same age as I am, tells me he is taking golf lessons. I say I am appalled. Why do you want to play a game for 'buddhas'? Don't you have anything better to do. He tries to explain to me that it certainly is not a game for 'oldies' and that its pretty fun. Moreover, it helped him tremendously in his business, coz a lot of deals are 'dealt' with in these beautifully landscaped pastures. And I just kept laughing. I really believed its a total waste of beautiful land. Acres of plush green carpet to be trampled by the dimpled ball ....and the little golf carts. And to think of it, this oh-so-boring game came with its own gear, complete with its own line of clothing. I thought it was overrated. Politicians, celebrities, the 'corporates' and the like in their fancy golfing attire made a really good 'personable' picture in the Times magazine. And thats as far as it goes. As Mark Twain puts it, 'I consider golf to be an expensive way of playing marbles.' Little did I realize that one day, I would really enjoy this game.

A couple of weeks back, we went to Adventure Park USA. Anushka

s ticket included a game of mini golf. I had seen a lot of mini golf courses but I never bothered to venture out in any of these, thanks to my stupid preconceived notions. But as Anushka got bored with a couple of holes, it was left to me and Jignesh to finish the rest of the 18-hole round. And as I starting 'putting' up and managed to get the ball in the hole, I began to really enjoy. One time, I did hole it in just two strokes. Yippie!!! I was so excited. I can't wait to get back to mini golf, and this time, going through it with a score card.

Speaking of miniature golf, whoever thought about it. I googled up a bit and found that coz it was tough for the women to carry the bulky golf clubs, let alone giving it a hard swing, and traipsing around this huge field would be hard on the heels, they came up with this miniature golf idea. And how brilliant was it!!! Women, as well as the men, were able to get their hands around these loaded golf sticks and golf didn't remain an acronym for 'Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden'. And I also found that the 'dimpled' ball is 'dimpled' coz the 382 (wowww) 'dimples' help it to travel higher and farther.

Anyways, details aside, it is a fun game. And if you haven't tried it, GO. GO GOLF.

My dream last night

Since this blog has kinda become like my diary, I want to put my dream down in here so that I don't forget about it. It was just such a funny and an interesting one, wonder how my brain is super efficient in concocting some serious fiction. :)

So I have this neighbor, Petra. She is always doing something with her front and back yards. So I dream that she has this really windy creeper growing in her garden that sports tomatoes. Yes, tomatoes are hanging from these vines. The vines grow so long that they somehow make their way inside my kitchen, with the juicy reds just hanging from my ceiling. So when I want to cook, I just pluck one out right from my ceiling. (This is so hilarious). Anyways, I am talking to Petra about her tomatoes and she suddenly excuses herself, runs into her house, and then comes out all out of breath. She tells me this super super exciting news in a rather serious tone. She says, all the houses in our community are soon gonna be worth 1 and 1/2 million dollars. I obviously ask how come. She says someone is going to come visit us and explain why. Let me tell everyone in the neighborhood. Everyone gathers just outside my house. I notice a few desis that I never knew stayed in my community. We all are just abuzz with the million dollars, oops, million and a half dollars just twinkling in our eyes.

Just then, a fat chinku woman comes up. (I have never seen a fat chinku woman in my life). She takes on the stage. She explains: "A new Harry Potter movie is about to be released in a couple of months. This movie shows that the entire world is going to collapse. Or atleast America. All the buildings are going to fall, all structures will crush. The only community to escape this tragic phenomenon will be the Woodlake community. Which is our community. So the minute the promos start running through the TV, the home prices are going to rise and rise and rise. We estimate, atleast till a million and a half dollars. So guys, finish your upgrades, do up your houses, coz your homes are going to be the most expensive in this entire country." We gasp under our breath. The first thing I do is call Jignesh and let him know. The dream ends here.

Let me break my dream down and just try to analyse the circumstancial evidence for such an occurence....in my brain. :0

1. First, the tomatoes. I have to admit that I have longed for my very own vegetable garden. I'd rather plant veggies than flowers. Apart from the fact that I am a total 'duh' with gardening, I am unable to use my little backyard coz have rented out my basement. Front yard is for flowers obviously. But I shadow my laziness with my perfectly honest excuse of not knowing a thing about planting. But one day, I'll get my hands around the 'Gardening for dummies' book and I'll have the garden I desire.

2. We want to move to a bigger house. But with the home prices down, can't really talk about selling. So I do hope that the prices will come up a bit in a couple of years. Though a million bucks would definitely be a jackpot. That was an exaggerated dream I must admit.

3. I love Harry Potter. The book, the movie, the characters, everything about it.

4. I did catch the trailor for the movie 2012. So that explains the 'end of the world' part.

Well, goodnight, Bon Nuit, and long for continuity of life.

Connected globally!

Calling India was never...ever...so easy as it is now. What more could we expect? Unlimited free calling worldwide, especially to India, was a dream and its come true. Thank you Vonage. Thank you for connecting us globally and shrinking the 'virtual' distance even more.

Last week, when I heard about the Vonage World plan, I was pretty sure there is a catch. I call up the customer service and repeatedly ask the same question. Is there any hidden charge? She ended up laughing at me and assured me there was none. Then I make my first call. As soon as I finish with it, I go online, log in to my account to see if there was any charge. And there was none. Yippieeee!!! I am screaming. I call Jignesh and let him know. Liberation! Liberation! Liberation from those torturous calling cards and access numbers and pin numbers and lets not forget the pressure of the 'n' cents/minute. I have been enjoying this thoroughly as I pick one cousin or a friend every day and eat their brains.

Technology has come a longggggggg way. From letter-carrying pigeons to writing letters to making 'trunk' calls (I wonder why they were called trunk calls. Does anyone know why?) to making ISD calls to calling cards to VOIP phones offering unlimited calling at a very very reasonable charge/month. How does VOIP work, I have no clue. Jignesh has tried to explain it to me, but it goes right above my head. I can be plain dumb sometimes. And moreover, I really don't even want to break my head trying to decipher the server and internet highway lingo. As far as I am concerned, I am free now. I can call anywhere.....ok, almost anywhere in the world and that too unlimited. Technology rocks!!! and with it, so do I. By which I mean I am doing my happy dance. :) Helllllllloooooooooo India.