Niagara Falls

The Niagara..sideways and behind
Canadian Horse Shoe falls, sideways.

Canadian Horse Shoe falls, sideways.

Canadian Horse Shoe falls, from behind.

Niagara Falls, straddling the US-Canadian border, is so ferocious and powerful, it is eating into itself. Apparently the falls have been retreating through the years, and are currently located at a point that is five miles or so upstream from the spot of the original falls. Staring at it sideways, the noise of the wall of water is deafening, the spray is, well, wet, and relentless.
For the behind the scenes look at the falls, you get to go through a man-made tunnel and peek at the wall of water at two spots. One word. INCREDIBLE.

Nothing is provably certain

A philosophic statement. A self-fulfilling prophecy. Indeed. I mean, how can I ever really prove that "nothing is provably certain"?

In our lives, we are asked to make decisions on the basis of information, which, at best is probabilistic. Starting from our birth. No one can really prove that the child will enjoy a long life. No one can claim with any degree of certainity that the child in question will not be a blot on society. No one can state with any authority on anything thats coming in the childs future. About the only thing that is certain regarding that child is its information, in the here and now. Its physical characteristics, and its present meta-physical, physical and psychological behaviors. But, even this was not provably certain at the time of the conception of the child.

What I am trying to drive at here, with so much of beating around the bush as my father eloquently puts it, is that life is so unpredictable. Life is so in the "here-and-now", that its almost useless (nah, totally useless) to actually get hung up on what could be or should be. Time and again, we hear about people putting something off to tomorrow, in the hope that tomorrow is a better day to do it. What they sometimes tend to forget is tomorrow's another day, with its own set of challenges. I mean, how many of us can honestly say we've never experienced the moving-deadlines curse, just because we were so certain we would finish the task on hand the following day.

Without splitting hairs, one thing that we need to realize is that "tomorrow is another day" and there is no certainity that, tomorrow, you will be what you are today. Chances are pretty good that you will remain what you are today, or be better off or worse off. But, its not certain. Given this situation, isn't it then worthwhile for us to realize the here-and-now and act on things, NOW?

We tend to postpone relaxing and having fun and balance in life to tomorrow, because today we are so pre-occupied with making our life better for tomorrow. But, as the recent spate of advertising by Universal Orlando reminds us, people in general are taking less vacations and are working themselves to death. Ouch. What those folks probably forgot was that they were working to live, and not living to work. I guess they were driven by their faith in a better tomorrow.

Which brings us to the root of the whole "nothing is certain" thing. The belief system. It is the belief in the promise of a better tomorrow that keeps us going. It is the belief in the better future that helps us plod through today. It is the optimism of happy days ahead that helps light the path toward those days. This belief is at the root of all things that make us what we are: human.

But lets not take it for more than what it is. A promise. A belief. Lets not hallucinate ourselves into it so much that we forget to enjoy the today. Life is a sensible balance of living the present and planning the future. Lets live and not exist.

Earworms

No. Its not a parasitic worm in the biological sense. But it can get quite as annoying sometimes.

Presenting...the earworms.

+ Literal translation of German Ohrwurm
+ English usage intro'ed by James Kellaris, Assoc. Prof of Marketing, University of Cincinnati
+ Music that features repetition, simplicity, and incongruity are typical culprits.
+ Music that creates a "Cognitive Itch" kinda sorta like an itchy back.
+ A selected list of the top earworms
+ Affects women, musicians, music lovers and neurotic people more than others! (don't the last two categories just about cover everyone on the planet! ;) )

The Way I See It - 5

Seen on the flip side of this Starbucks coffee cup. "The Zen master would say, if you want to change the government, you've to aim at changing the corporations, and if you want to change corporations, you first have to change consumers. Whoa! Wait a minute! The consumer? Thats me drinking this cup of coffee." - Yvon Chouinard (Climber, surfer, environmentalist, and founder of Patagonia) Image source: Crowne Plaza La Concha, Key West, Fla. Edited on Picasa 2.

Dance with Shadows

Dance With Shadows: A views on news site, with a little difference.

Unlike Rediff, its not (yet) littered with adverts, and flash movies that pop-up and litter your screen. It does not drive you hopping mad with its inane pop-ups. And unlike Rediff, it does not yet seem to want to peddle opinion as news. Because it says it to be opinion. A free-flowing narrative based on the first-person is so refreshing, especially considering the third-person narrative style of the venerated The Hindu, which can get annoying at times.

Best of all, if you like your writings, and want to contribute, you can. Here.

Media Manipulation

Time was, newly independent and democratic nations in Asia and Africa would be accused of propagandizing news to their people. Turns out, the adage - people who live in glass houses should not throw stones at their neighbors - is so true.

This feature on Global Issues website sheds light on something that has to concern every person who considers themselves knowledgeable.

+ Apparently, the misinformation bug is not a developing nation's disease alone.

Vincent Van Gogh

Scenes from India: Kalthuruthi Bridge

Copyright: PVS Praveen, IRFCA. The original of this photo can be seen here
Effect-enhanced image of the Kalthuruthi Bridge on the Tirunelveli Quilon sector of Indian Railways' Southern Railway.

Frodo's coming back...singing...

>>Frodo Baggins is revisiting Middle Earth..in full musical pomp <<
>>Toronto is slated to be Middle Earth...and not London <<
>>Producer Kevin Wallace promises story dependent on actors and musicians, not technology << >>Apna A.R.Rahman and the Finnish group Varttina are writing the music <<
>>A Spring 2006 visit to Toronto sounds just about right...<<

Spare us the pity party, Barry

All I can say is Yay! Barry (Bhari a.ka Heavy in Hindi) Bonds wants us to feel sorry for him. Nice try.

Cannot stop rubbing my hands in glee. As a Diamondbacks fan, this is possibly the best thing that could happen to me this season! Pitiful.

"I am what I ate, and I am frightened"

I am what I ate, and I am frightened, and other digressions from the doctor of comedy, is the title of a funny monologue-in-the-form-of-a-book, by none other than the Coz..Bill Cosby.

Confession: I have been reading this book for the past two days at the local Borders, because I've been feeling too miserly to spend thirteen bucks on a book that I can finish reading in three 90-minute sit-ins at the Borders lounge!

Confession 2: Having said that though, I think I am going to pony up the dough to some online retailer and buy this book afterall. But, I digress...

Reading this book, is almost akin to sitting in on a stand-up comedy routine by Cosby. It is so narrative, it is almost as though the book is talking to ya. Typical of his satire, he rips into things that affect us in everyday life, starting with the Government and the Social Security Administration.

He satirizes on how the Government (the SSA) wants him to prove he was born, by making him fetch a proof of birth from the Government (the Birth/Death Registry).

He calls himself a walking time-bomb with a blocked carotid artery from all the years of eating lard, and grease and cheese, and more cheese, and then some butter. He regales us with the diet restrictions imposed by his doctor ("pizza, ice-cream sundaes once in a while, the doctor says"), and how the stupid taste-buds of his would not listen to instructions from his mind about taste-control, and of how he'd have to sneak food to satiate his taste buds. He mocks at the concept of taking pills to control this and pills to control that, and of how people with high blood pressure, take extra-dosage of the pills just before taking foods loaded with salt!

But, surely, you are not going to trust my words alone....
Simple recommendation: this is as must read as a book can be.

Bawarchi

Update: My father informs me that this movie is actually based on the Lloyd C. Douglas book "White Banners". A cursory check of IMDB also reveals a movie of the same name, based on the same book

Courtesy Netflix, I got to view this Hrishikesh Mukherjee offering on an excellent quality DVD.

Arguably cheesy and very amateurish, yet this 1972 classic is a family film in the most literal and symbolic sense. And its message is an inescapable fact of the ways of life of families in general.

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, we tend to often forget, overlook or take for granted, the very thing that made us the family of loving sharing people. Oftentimes, it takes an outsider, the bawarchi in this case, to show them up and remind them of what it does mean to be a family.

Our protagonist is a all-in-one jack-and-master-of-all-trades. From cooking to singing to dancing to teaching to philosophizing and everything in between, he manages to stir the dysfunctional Sharma family residing at Shanti Niwas, from their self-imposed slumber, and makes them realize the gem they have at hand in terms of a joint, well-understanding family.

Admittedly, this is utopian and idealist, but hey, it never does hurt to wish or dream does it?

For all its splendorous message to the family, and to the individual (there is this point of emphasis on laughter, and about how essential it is, to the health and well-being of the person and the family), there is this odious background score that accompanies the protagonist when he is in the vicinity of the family treasure, or an equally odious sound mouthed by him when he makes a point.

Overall, a movie worth a watch for the overall story, and if you are particularly interested, in Jaya Bhaduri's impressive turn as Krishna.

Of Equinoxes and Solstices

March 20, 2005 happened to be the Vernal Equinox, the official beginning of Spring in the northern hemisphere, and of Fall in the southern hemisphere.

~You watch/have watched/will watch a sun-rise at one or other point in your life.
~Ever stop to think or note that the sun never seems to rise from the same spot every day of the year?
~If you are blessed with a window not shaded from the sunlight, have you ever noted the rays of light falling inside creeps south as summer approaches, and creeps back north as winter arrives? Imagine a see-saw, the Sun on one side, the spot of light on your floor/wall on the other side, and your window sill as the pivot. The gentle swinging of this see-saw makes up the swing of the sun in the skies.
~An outcome of the earths rotary-axial tilt, it helps sustain the seasons on earth.

Image from Answers.com shows a representation of the earth and suns relative movements. Red line is earth's equator, yellow, the elliptic traces points on earth, where, on one day of the year, Sun is right overhead. The max northward swing of the sun reaches to the 23.27' N Parallel latitude, and happens during late June. Not so coincidentally, it is named the Tropic of Cancer. Similarly the southern swing is to the 23.27' S parallel, the Tropic of Capricorn. In this tropical zone you are lucky enough to have the sun beat down on your head on one or two days of the year and be able to observe the smallest footprint of your shadow.

Trivia Note: The Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn derive their names from the constellation of the Zodiac axis that shares its celestial position with the Sun during that time in the Celestial Sphere

The four book-end points on the image above, represent in turn, the Vernal Equinox, the Summer Solstice, the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice. Respectively, the beginning of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Ofcourse, it just flips for the Southern hemisphere. Usually occuring in turn, on March 20/21, June 20/21/22, September 22/23, and December 21/22.

In terms of the see-saw, the lowest swing of the Sun is the Winter Solstice, the leveling of the swing on the way up is Vernal Equinox, the highest swing is the Summer solstice, and the leveling on the way down is Autumnal Equinox.

English Vocab

Sequel to earlier post in this blog

English has become such a commonly used language world-wide that it is impossible to tell where it begins and where it fades into another language or dialect or what-have-you's like Hinglish, Tanglish, Spanglish...

/*...Creates an interesting question...*/
How many words are there in English?
Oxford, of Oxford English Dictionary, the OED fame answers it here

Also, an updated answer to the question of the Alphabet Soup

Short answer to long question of reforming English: Ve're so yoused to this karrent vershun, there is just too much inershia to change. Now, isn't this familiar?

Pain in the Gas(oline)

The cost of 87-grade gas (a.ka petrol) at a QuikTrip in Tempe AZ yesterday: 2.099 a gallon
Come to think of it: its a weird pricing thingie..what is the origin of this? What does that extra digit signify? Why not just round it up to the next higher even value?

>>Rounding up?:"Bata pricing"*** a.ka psychological cajoling of a harried/hurried customer.
>>Tax?: Maybe, though I didn't find one reliable source to ratify that fact. Alternatively..a message board discussion on Snopes.com the urban legend reference point.
>>Interesting note on gasoline volume expansion in summer. Relevant to places prone to temps over 90 F in the coming months.

***Indian slang. Same theory of pricing a $20 product at $19.99 or $19.95

India-Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline

An interesting note on the proposed gas pipeline from Iran to India through Pakistan, and how "the pipeline of peace" has created a diplomatic dilemma for the US and Prez Bush.

Lovely reading, but the important question is...does the Indian Government have the spine to stand up to what it believes in, or will it cave in to the tactics of the corporate west?

".......In other words, the US message to India is this: "You don't need to buy gas from Iran -- or look for oil in Syria for that matter -- if only you would let someone like Exxon Mobil Corp. have a go at your own oilfields."

Just as long as we are not asked to bear through another Enron-Dhabol fiasco....

A good ol' rant

If you believed your favorite sports source worth its salt, there is no better sports story out there than the on-going feud between America's biggest and fattest child Shaq Look-at-me-I-have-three-rings-and-a-thousand-nicknames O'Neal and America's biggest diva-ish whining-egomaniacal-pretentious-supremely-talented-immeasurably-idiotic Kobe Bryant. And the coverage is so sickening, I am gonna puke.

The next time someone talks of how the Detroit Pistons, by winning the NBA championship in 2004, brought back team-concept into style, I only have to say..go look at the 2003 NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs or even the 2002 Los Angeles Fakers..oops Lakers. Detroit did it against the so-called NBA Dream Team of the LA Fakers, and voila, they are the media darlings. Egads..I am gonna be sick.

Granted, the modern-day sportsmen are entertainers in certain respects. But if another knucklehead (or Barry Bonds, if you must know) insists on letting by-gones be by-gones and to condone the rampant steroid problem in baseball, maybe its indeed time to start boycotting that dog-gone sport. If those turds cannot keep an honest-to-goodness face and work-ethic, they do not deserve even one cent of our hard-earned money.

And the next time anyone starts whining about how NFL football is better than NBA basketball or MLB baseball, I have only choice words of advise. Quit whining and start understanding the games better. Each sport is precious in its own way, be it the pulsating action on the hardwood floors of a basketball arena, the timeless and yet-strategy-driven game on a baseball diamond or the 11-guys pulling toward the common goal on the football gridiron. Just because the packaging of one sport is better does not automatically make it a better sport. Capische!

There...rant done...now I can relax...

The Truth..or something like it

A quote from "Am I a Hindu? - The Hinduism Primer" by Ed. Viswanathan.

Nobody knows what is right or what is wrong;
Nobody knows what is good or what is bad;
There is a deity residing within you;
Find it out and obey its commands;

The Conscience...The Inner Voice...The Holy Ghost...whatever it may be. Maybe we just need to start paying attention to it and to ourselves.

But in the clutter and noise of current living, is it easy to pay attention to something that could just get lost in the buzz?

This is Earth calling..

This wonderful radio signal was broadcast toward the star cluster M13 in 1974 during the dedication of the Arecibo Observatory, to date the largest radio telescope in the world. To obtain any possible radio response to this ceremonial message, we've to live another 50,000 years.

Courtesy Frank Drake, Astronomy/Astrophysics U.C.Santa Cruz, Arecibo Observatory, Cornell Astronomy and Nat'l Astronomy & Ionosphere Center via Astronomy Picture of the Day archives.

So what is this message?

Just a series of 1's & 0's representations of information about humanity. Included are the numbers from 1 through 10 (white dots/dashes, extreme left), common elements like Hydrogen and Carbon, few interesting molecules (think the green ones), DNA (the blue helix), a human with description (the red one) and the purple representation of the sending telescope.

Simply. W O W.

"I am not jealous but...."

Just when you thought that the Bollywood industry managed to nurture a music director who was not in too much over his head and was level-headed without being prone to whining, you get a slap in the face. You get put in your place with the firm reminder that the murkiness of the current Bollywood scenery, its only people like Anu Malik, Ismail Darbar, Nadeem Shravan, Jatin-Lalit, and their whining ilk that rule the roost.

Ismail Darbar, of Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas fame, recently whined to a Rediff tabloid writer about how, even though his music was uber-super and better than AR Rahman's compositions.

"But my work has always been better than his. Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam was better than Taal. Even Devdas was better than Saathiya.
But it is destiny that he got international fame. Angrezo ne uska haath pakad liya hai toh logo ko lagta hai ke yeh kuch zyada hi hai (Foreigners encouraged him so people think he is very good).I am not saying this because of jealousy. This is the bitter truth."

This diatribe is not because he whined that his music is better than Rahman's (Maybe the individual brilliance of a couple songs are better than Rahman's, but for sheer variety and impact, Darbar cannot hold a candle to Rahman, and with this whine of his, he probably never will, in my books atleast.

What probably irritates the living daylights out of me, and completely turned me off is the accusation that we are a nation of dull-heads who cannot decide for themselves whose music we love. Apparently we love Rahman just cuz Andrew Lloyd Webber introduced Rahman to London's West End and to Broadway. Apparently his self-serving memory forgets the fact that Rahman has been in the industry far longer than he has been, long before Sir Webber even heard his songs.

And contrast this with the whine in the Tamil industry from Karthik Raja and Vidyasagar, back in 1997, about how their music was superior to the "sound engineer" compositions. Last I checked, Karthik Raja has been eclipsed by his more talented and more humble brother, and Vidyasagar is on a roller coaster that seems to be headed finally for a big-time high in 2005. I wonder, what did Rahman do to the people in the industry that they are all out, with knives sharpened on a brimstone, to pull him down and tear him to pieces

Oh Baby!

Courtesy National Geographic, and in continuation from the previous post...
Amazing CG-enhanced scan images of foetuses and babies in womb. Click on thumbs to get to actual NGC webpages. For full sized images check links below thumb.

^ 1 ^ 2 ^ 3 ^ 4 ^ 5 ^ 6 ^

All From One...

Fantastic set of documentaries on the National Geographic Channel today...the human being from conception till birth...a three part documentary spread over six hours. (Got to see bits and pieces of all six hours, and now looking out for the documentary on DVD)

Two numbers to contemplate while we admire the evolution of life...

01. The number of cells that first create our own unique non-reproducible identity
46. The number of chromosomes that we get (half each from either parent) that helps formulate that identity.

Family Table

Nickelodeon has this amazing set of comedy sit-coms at the late evening prime time hour (typically the 9pm through midnight local time), which features many family friendly sitcoms as part of Nick at Nite.

Call me a throwback, call me ancient, call me out-of-fashion and out-of-touch, but much as I try, I cannot really laugh at the dysfunctional family issues of a Everybody Loves Raymond or the look-at-me-I-am-cool-and-I-can't-wait-to-kiss-and-go-to-bed-with-my-friend crankiness of Friends.

Give me Cosby Show or Full House or even the Will Smith career-launcher Fresh Prince. Give me a Roseanne or the new animated sitcom Fatherhood. Give me a dash of sentimentality juice in a bowl full of the salad of regular life and events. Give me a dash of exaggeration of the realities of contemporary life and a message for all life. Package that in a way that I do not have to cringe while I watch it with my parents. Package it in a way that it is not crass.

Am I asking for too much?

San Antonio at Phoenix NBA Wednesday March 09

Clash of the NBA titans San Antonio Spurs and the Phoenix Suns Wednesday (March 09, 2k5) night. Interesting tight game pulled out by the Suns...
Scenes from the game...

10:10

What is your favorite 10:10 theory? Or is it the 2.50 theory?

Chayote Squash

Chayote Squash (a.ka Chow Chow or Bangalore Kathirikkai to us Tamil folks)...a wonderful vegetable.

Benefits: High on folic acid, Vitamin C, zinc and fiber (...) Health: Folic acid helps reduce homocysteine which in turn helps reduce the risk of heart disease in men and women. Another use is for women expecting a baby and in early stages of conception. And if you are used to being a home doctor, you probably know Vitamin C is helpful in improving the human immune and cardiovascular system, amongst others. Zinc is helpful in improving appetite, taste and smell, immunity, and healing sores. And to the narcissus amongst us - it leads to underdeveloped male sex organs and retarded growth.

Now, for a wonderful dishes out of chayote squash, Tamil ishtyle!
* Peel three medium sized squashes. DO NOT throw away the peels, store them away for the time being. Dice the squashes into about half-inch cubes. Remember to core the squash and throw away the center seed core.
* In a saucepan, add 1 tbsp oil, some mustard, some jeera, four or five whole red chilies, four or five curry leaves and let it splatter. Once the smell of fried mustard is in the air, add the squash, and if you prefer, add 1/4 tbsp of turmeric and let it cook on medium-to-slow till the veggies are soft. If the veggies are ready before the lentils, turn off the heat to prevent over-cooking.
* In the meanwhile, pressure cook to three whistles, 1.5 to 2 cups of lentils (tuvar dal) with about 3.5 to 4 cups of water and a pinch of asafoetida and turmeric.
* After allowing the lentils to settle for about ten minutes, remove from cooker and mash to a thick gravy.
* As and when the vegetables are ready, add the lentil gravy, about 1.5 tbsp of ground coriander powder, or garam masala, or curry powder (per preference).
* Let stand for about half hour or until the ensemble becomes cooked and homogenous. Add salt to taste, garnish with coriander leaves and serve with rice or nan.

Here's the bonus dish:
Remember the peels of chayote squash you put away earlier?
* Now, cut up a small onion into small pieces (not too fine mind you, because they are going to be blended anyway).
* In addition, cut up about 1 inch cubes out of two tomatoes, and chop up a bulb of fresh garlic and a half-inch long piece of fresh ginger. (or you can replace with the commercially available ginger-garlic paste)
* Fry the onions in two tbsp of oil, along with about four red chilies, the chopped ginger and garlic (or the paste if you please).
* When the onions are translucent, add the tomatoes and let it cook for about five to seven mins.
* Then, add the peels to the mix, add salt to taste and let that cook for about ten or twelve minutes on medium to medium-high.
* Let mix cool and then blend to a paste with enough water for whipped-cream-like consistency
* Serve with rice or nan, or plain dosa.

Credit Worthiness

About time the people getting ripped off get access to the report that forms the basis for the rip off..
+ Free Annual Credit Report here. Courtesy.
+ Ofcourse, you have to live either in the West or the mid-West. Below.

Harbinger o' Spring

It is a week into March of 2005 and as of today, we are just 16 days away from the official beginning of spring.

And I noticed a harbinger of spring, right near my apartment.

A neighbor has a parrot and a cockatiel in a cage hung just outside their door. And with the unusually long, cold and wet winter affecting these parts this year, the birds had gone into a mode of silence, and many a times were even withdrawn from their perch outside the door to a warmer locale inside their house.

Today, just as I was removing mail from my letter box, I heard the familiar screech followed by cooing and cawing, and then more exquisite singing. As I rounded the corner toward my apartment, I noticed the birds in their familiar perch, merrily singing away, at the weather, at the skies, at me even...

And then I realized...ah..spring..is just around the corner!

Yeah right!

This evening, I was listening to KYOT (95.5 FM, Phoenix), the local smooth jazz station, owned by Clear Channel Communications.

During a commercial break, an announcement came on the air for some herbal remedy to kick nicotine and smoking addiction. Claimed the ad, SmokeRx will help smokers quit their addiction in as little as 7 days. It was being tooted as the natural nicotine-free remedy to kick the nicotine addiction (duh!)

And then came the kicker..."we are so confident in our product that we are offering you one months supply of SmokeRx.."

Are you kidding me? You just claimed your product works in just 7 days, and you are offering a 1-months supply?

Oops, they did it again!

The Indian Federal budget has been announced, and like with many things, it has become a hot-button topic with the general public far and wide. And typical of an Indian feast, the budget has piecemeal things that affect almost anyone with a decent income.

One of the biggest controversial issues has been the decision to levy a 0.1% tax on cash withdrawals of over Rs 10000. As the Indian English media called it, it is either the ten-buck-scheme or the ten-for-ten-thousand scheme.

It is one thing indeed to critique the terms set forth in the budget. It is indeed one thing else to try to crank out a comic situation out of the whole lot. And it is something else altogether, to try cracking a joke and falling flat on your face whilst trying to do it.

This latter feat has been coming rather easily to the English news media in the country lately, and the venerable Times of India fell victim to this virus in their editorial of March 01, 2005.

In that peerless editorial, ToI mocks the proceedings in the parliament as the budget was being presented, feels smug in telling people that they can hoodwink the hoodwinkers (a la pickpockets) out of Rs 10 when they try to steal your Rs 10000. And the winner-take-all line is the elevation of the middle class to the criminal class, or so it seems.

The mainstream English media seems to be relishing their cessation into oblivion by churning out such crap as editorials. It does seem like the Murdoch-ization of the Indian media is complete.

City of Light

Courtesy paris.org comes this sampling of the City of Light:Paris in snapshots.

"Can I speak to Rebecca please?"

And said a voice, as though from yonder - "Can I speak to Rebecca please?"
It must've been around 4.45 or 5 a.m. this morning, and I was very asleep like a contented cat, sprawled on my bed, my comforter shielding me from the chill permeating from the window above my head and the swirling air from the fan. And then it happened.

My cell phone started chiming its sweet little "sparkles" ringtone. Try as much as I did to ignore it as a bell chiming in a far-far-away dream, I was up in about a couple seconds, and reached for my phone in all sleepy glory and gawked at it. The dial did not register initially, and when it did, the caller ID said "Call" and not a number. In my daze I must've thought it could be a call from my folks in India and without further ado, and in a groggy voice..."Hello!"

And said a voice, as though from yonder - "Can I speak to Rebecca please?"

'Oh sure, you can speak to Rebecca..once she gets out of my dreams and into reality!'
Confused as I was, I heard myself say to the voice on the other side of the line - "you've got the wrong number..now let me sleep". Instinctively, I rang off the phone, and went back to sleep or so I thought. And then, it happened. Again. Only, time had forwarded to about 5.40 a.m.

That same voice, again as though from yonder - "Can I speak to Rebecca please?"
And this time around, at the sound of the call, I really wondered if I was living a vivid dream, with people out to nail Rebecca on me for a past friendship that I didn't even know about. Then, out of the blue came this jolt of realization..nice try mon cher, nice try. And with a heavy heart (indeed!), I barked at the voice on the other end of the line - "there is no Rebecca here. Why don't you look when you dial?" The caller rang off with a profusion of apologies, but god bless their soul, they'd spoilt my sleep.

And that for a darned Rebecca that I don't even know about.

Footnote: Later today, I realized a possible explanation for those calls. My phone number ends with 8755, and from my friends, I have heard stories of how they thought they'd dialed me, but landed up on a girls phone. Apparently they'd try 8775 instead, and hence the confusion.