'Mi'Lady Luck?

Be warned that this is a bit of a complaining post.

A friend of mine called me a few days back to heave a sigh of relief that life was sunshiney and 'luck had turned around again'.. she said she was happy to have broken up with her now ex and that he caused all the bad luck in the last couple of years in her life.

The American world seems to believe that starlet Jessica Simpson's presence at the divisional playoffs between NY Giants and Dallas Cowboys caused the latter to lose.

Several villainous grandmoms and some fathers in Hindi(and Tamil) movies(esp ref: Karuthamma) call the the daughter of the house, the harbinger of 'bad' luck.

Is it true? Can a person truly influence the 'luck' in another's life? What is luck after all? The planets conspiring to make things happen in a fashion that you desire, sometimes dream of. How is that caused by the presence of a person, many times a loved one in your life?

The reason am wondering about it is because I have been told several times(in the past) that some of the bad career decisions I made in life were not because of my (huge) judgemental errors but the presence of a certain person or other in my life.

Do you believe that a friend could cause things to go wrong in your life?

Am upset by this allegation.

I need to know.

This, that and Happy B'day!

First, this media hoopla on the racism slur. For the benefit of those who did not watch Times Now this morning, the entire piece of reporting on the Australia-India cricket tour was accompanied by moving images and Bollywood music... so first we started off with ‘Chak De India’ (winning the last test series in India) followed by a 'Chale Chalo' from Lagaan with the Aussies looking angry and aggressive (like they usually appreciably do and then the Hindi version of 'Tamizha Tamizha' (from 'Roja') with Harbhajan and Sachin looking mystified and upset! Let me not even talk about 'Mumbai Mirror' or Sun TV which have both gone bonkers over the tour progress.

My tuppence: Hey team, "you" are our nation's pride, we love you whether you win or lose. So 'Media Channels' STOP please! Am more upset at zero NFL coverage when the Divisional playoffs have started. Sigh!

I read this really lovely book called 'The Places In Between' by Rory Stewart. The author walked from Herat to Kabul in Afganistan in 2002 and this book is a lovely account of the walk. Not just because it combines my favourite elements of cultural insights and a mission impossible achieved, but also because it combines bits of history(Babur's walk through the same places) and has a human, nay, canine angle (the humane story of a dog. Very quietly, there is an objective presentation of political undertones and the wonderful work done by Aid agencies.

My Verdict: A must read, especially if you loved 'The Kite Runner' and Afganistan or books by Pico Iyer or 'A Long Way Gone' by Ishmael Beah.

The best for the last - "Happy Birthday Husband" Hope this year rocks for you in every way and I hope you like the surprise I have for you. (The surprise is private, but I also got him a 80 GB iPod so that he doesn't keep changing the playlists on mine! How romantic, right?!)


Happy New Year to all of you.. Hope you ushered it in safely and hope this year proves to be a wonderful memorable year for you!