Office Deewali Party 2006
It all started in the spur of a moment within Marconi conference room on Wednesday evening, and we all were seen engrossed brainstorming deepawali entertainment ideas for Friday. We tried to contact few restaurants but were unable to get a good deal, and then Sai chipped in to help us and we booked Abhiruchi – Indian restaurant on Rt 27 in Franklin Park. After reaching consensus especially on the dessert, we gave a go ahead to Sai to confirm the restaurant…
Saturday was drizzling all day…but the trees were in full bloom…looks like this week is the peak fall weekend here in enchanting Jersey. After the delicious sumptuous food, we had a round of antakshari. Did I mention Nimish’s homemade pista ice-cream. That was superb. The appetizers were tempting and the proof is that Dharmesh was seen eating only appetizers for lunch!
Well the ladies team had to decide for some time on the antakshari ground rules before the designated umpire (Shyamala) took over, and flapped the checkered flag by asking the men’s team to start with ‘Ma’…the leads in the men’s team were Ranjan, Anjan, Vinod, Dharmesh, Satish and Dev. The fairer sex had some very good song selections, especially from Madhavi, Soma, Aparna, Rikta, and Sudha…and after some arduous competition, the ladies team was declared the winner…but who cares when we all hard so much fun!
When will the world understand India's pain from cross border sponsored terrorism?
The murky waters of Pakistani soil are the proponents of extremism in Kashmir and Afghan border. The Indians have raised their voice against the militants operating from within the Pakistani soil time and again. But the general public in the Western world and Europe have never heard them. Even their governments often turned a blind eye towards India. Looks like time has come again for India to shout at the top of its voice to convince the world and the Pakistani establishment that the LeT is allegedly operating freely from its soil. The timesofindia reports that the Mumbai police and some high ranking intelligence sources from the govt of India made a presentation to the US officials in New Delhi as a result of the investigation of the 7/11 attack in Mumbai this year. Not new if you think when India had to show proof of the Pakistani soldiers dead during the Kargil conflict. Recently Musharraf acknowledged that some soldiers from the Pakistani soldiers were indeed supporting the terrorists.
Just last week, there was a report in the news which said that the Commanders from five Nato countries whose troops have just fought the bloodiest battle with the Taliban in five years, are demanding their governments get tough with Pakistan over the support and sanctuary its security services provide to the Taliban.Nato's report on Operation Medusa, an intense battle that lasted from September 4-17 in the Panjwai district, demonstrates the extent of the Taliban's military capability and states clearly that Pakistan's Interservices Intelligence (ISI) is involved in supplying it.
We can just watch and watch if the US State Departments policy changes towards its long term ally, and if they rebuke the general, or will they pay him more tax payer’s dollars so that he can sustain himself. Ironically a good percentage of taxes are paid by the Indians who toil hard in the United States, and contribute to the society there.
