Sing Again of Michigan

I was wrong about Michigan. I was disappointed during my last visit to this state by the crumbling city of Detroit, the ghost downtown of Pontiac, and a slew of road construction in preparation for the 2006 Superbowl. The dullness of winter further added to the glum.

This visit has changed my views about the state. My co-worker took me to Planet Rock in Pontiac and it was the biggest rock climbing gym I have ever been to (Not much...considering I have been to only two more - Planet Granite in the bay area and the rock climbing wall in Phoenix).



The suburbs of Troy, Rochester Hills and West Bloomfield were very picturesque. I cant imagine ever finding such houses in the bay area for the prices they were at. I wonder when the real estate market will rebound here again.

The Workout Hotel Room

My Hotel is so cheap...that they put me in the exercise room (j/k!)


Actually, these are the new Workout Rooms from Westin, which will help you "work up a sweat without leaving the room".

Oh Yeah? Try that with a room with no vents in it...the smoke alarm in my room got triggered after a 30 minute treadmill session.

Shooting to Thrill

We had our annual team building exercises at the Scottsdale Gun Club :)

I learned today that I should stay far away from my team mates when they took aim at the target...and never to shoot like in the movies.

For a man from the country of Gandhi, this was a nerve-racking experience. I was terrified about holding a gun and causing any damage.

I started anxiously with the humble revolver, trembling as I pulled the trigger. After a few nervous shots I was shooting with glee...working my way up to a glock, a semi-automatic and finally finishing with a long barreled Wes and Smithson, with a discharge so loud and a muzzle flash so bright that everyone there stopped their shooting and took notice.

Ramayan 3392 AD

Virgin's latest comic book series - Ramayan 3392 A.D. appears to be doing very well. Late last year, they roped in Spiritual Guru Deepak Chopra, filmaker Shekar Kapur, illustrator Abhishek Singh and writer Shamik Dasgupta to create this futuristic science fiction based on the Indian epic. According to the TOI, the comics are flying off the shelves not only in India but also in the US.

The re-packaged classic is a nice offering alongside the classic Amar Chitra Katha comics, which I still relish. The art work is fabulous and the new story refreshing. You can download the comics in PDF and read them using Adobe Acrobat to find out for yourself!

If George Lucas could be inspired by the Mahabharata to create the lucrative Star Wars series, I dont see why the original epic can not find international fame on its own.

According to Virgin Comic's CEO Sharad Devarajan:

"Similar to the phenomenon we have seen with Japanese Anime and Manga, which has influenced virtually every aspect of popular media in the West today, our mission is to reinvent contemporary Indian popular art and permeate this new style and vision throughout the globe.

In the same way Indian children have embraced Batman, Spider-Man, Scooby-Doo and Britney Spears, today's Western world has an increasing global appetite for the most engaging content, regardless of its cultural affiliation. If you told parents ten years ago in America that their children would know characters named Yu Gi Oh! and Pokemon as well as they would Spider-Man, those parents would have thought you were crazy – yet in America today an estimated 30% of major children's animated programming is now Japanese animation."