Two books top my favorite of all time from my collection of non-fictions. Each one is a great read that is worthy of anyone's collection: The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins and Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. I learned a great deal from these books.

Two of the best Computer Books I ever read are,
The Design of the Unix Operating System by Maurice J. Bach (timeless classic)
C++ for Real Programmers by Jeff Alger (this is NOT your average language book)
Even if you don't need to learn Unix or C++, you can read these books for the sheer intellectual challenge and satisfaction. I got hold of the copy of the Unix book right out of college in 1991, I still treasure it. The C++ book, I incidentally got it from the UNC library for course work, I loved it so much, I bought a copy.

Other books I like from my collection:
The Code Book by Simon Singh
The Origins of Life by John Maynard Smith
Newton's Gift by David Berlinsky
To Infinity and Beyond by Eli Manor
The Story of √-1 by Paul J. Nahin
Zero by Paul Seif
First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung

I have this habit of voluntarily lending the books I like to our friends. Luckily most of them return it, even when I loose track. Nowadays, I keep a log :-)

Radish And Blackberry Jam

Never in a million years, I would have put Raddish, that too from the Sambar, and Blackberry Jam in the same senetence. But, that's excactly my son tried and liked! What can I say, other than we are another bewildered parents!

...ஙே... என்று விழித்தோம்!...

Jasmine (Mother) And Roja (Daughter) from 2001, few weeks after we adopted them.

My niece Tejas Veena. Isn't she cute? My first cousin Ramesh Babu's daughter. They live in Bangalore. She turned one year old a month ago. This picture was taken when she was eight months old.

என் தம்பி ரமேஷ்பாபுவின் மகள் தேஜஸ்வீணா. சென்ற மாதம் ஒரு வயது முடிந்தது; இந்த படம் எட்டு மாதத்தில் எடுத்தது. ரமேஷ்பாபு பெங்களூரில் வசிக்கிறான்.

What's up with sitting inside baskets?? This was 5/30...

...And this was 6/2...

...And this was 6/30...

...So we got him this wagon that weekend. In fact, Srinidhi got a wagon for his first birthday from our friend Sridhar, but we returned it (with their knowledge :-) since we didn't think he was ready to use it then. Now he loves it; he enjoys pulling it as much as riding it.
ஸ்ரீநிதி கூடை போல எதைப் பார்த்தாலும் அதில் உட்க்கார்ந்து கொள்ள ஆரம்பித்தான்; அதை வண்டி போல ஓட்டுவான் (மேலே பார்க்கவும்). எனவே இந்த இழுவண்டி வாங்கி கொடுத்தோம். இதில் உட்க்கார்ந்து விளையடுவது மட்டுமல்ல, எங்களை இழுக்க சொல்வது மட்டுமல்ல, தானே இழுத்து செல்வதும் மிகவும் பிடித்துவிட்டது (எவ்வளவு நாளுக்கென்று பார்ப்போம்).

My old unkempt hammock. I never removed it during winter; it weathered and rotted over time. So I added...

... a new hammock at a different corner of my backyard this spring.

Mt. Mitchell - Aug 2003

One of the places we visited during Amma's 2003 visit (during Srinidhi's delivery) was Mt. Mitchell. It's one of my favorite spots on the Smokey Mountains. At above 6600 feet, it is the highest point east of Mississippi. It is usually foggy and misty with low hanging clouds. It's amazing to look down and see the clouds move. When it is clear, the view is breathtaking. It is usually not a crowded place; I love the tranquility.

It was sunny with a clear view.

After few minutes, it turned misty with low hanging clouds.

Soon, it was sunny again, with a rainbow. See the rainbow? (Click on the picture; you can see it a little better on the larger picture.)

The Namesake - Review

Veena was much faster than me in reading this book. She thought the style and pace of the book would not interest me. Since she knows my taste better (than me), I never went past page 15.

This is Veena's review:

Name sake is a story of an Indian family coming to
America and trying to mingle into the new culture
while still holding onto our traditions and values. It
is an every Indian's story who try to settle in USA -
buying house, hosting big parties for other fellow
Indians, bringing up children with all the hope of
raising them with Indian values only to later on
comply with their American way of settling themselves.
It is more like the ABCD movie story, differences are
the experience of the Father (why he left India, how
he got married, how his life ends) and experience of
the Mother getting married to the guy from USA,
realization of known people back home are no longer
living, trying to name the baby, relationship with the
children etc. It was an OK reading, I skipped some of
the pages where it went into detail of their son's
relationships. I told Shan that he most probably won't
be interested in the book.