Thursday, December 13, 2007

Running in the Rain

This is the second of my "small childhood frustrations" - i think i already wrote about the first one long long ago - none of my classmates believed the schoolbus was doing 60 km per hour when we were passing the milestones (kilometerstones rather) about one a minute :)

this is another - not just childhood, but right through every rainy day of my life in kerala :)

i always thought i got less wet if i walked through the rain, rather than ran through it....but NOBODY believed me - ever...it was always "get out of there"..."run to the house"....the usual... i played in the rain a lot..but when it was about getting from here to there, i was NOT playing around....i just knew i got less wet walking that running....(i do admit i liked the fact that i could spend more time out in the rain)....

well - caught a mythbusters episode the other day, and they were testing just that - do you get more wet walking, or running? and what do you have? u get almost 2wice as much wet running than walking....

i rest my case....and thank you mythbusters....you will appreciate how much this means to me if you ever spend some time in my hometown :)

Friday, December 7, 2007

Ideal Songs and Jessie's Girl

Rick Springfield is shouting "I wish I had Jessie's girl, where can i find a woman like that.." on vh1 classic
and the wife makes an interesting point - we only sing about the "ideal" (in our movies), these guys sing about what they actually feel.
true?
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after "much" thought, i think only our movie songs tend to the "ideal". the village folk songs were always "current events" - let me try translating one i've heard - think it was in dad's village..its gonna be a bad job - am not good at folksey english :P

bad times these my god
think they are stealing my fowl in the night
went out to check with a torchlight
and caught keshavan diggin up yukka (tapioca)

it goes on to the morning where our hero shouts at his wife if the breakfast is ready, and she shouts back to wait a bit etc.
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now that we've done very "country" kerala, lets also look at the very country side of US (read CMT)
here the songs go like this...(from "international harvester" by craig morgan

I’m the son of a 3rd generation farmer
I’ve been married 10 years to the farmer’s daughter
I’m a God fearin’ hard workin’ combine driver
Hoggin’ up the road on my p-p-p-p-plower
Chug a lug a luggin’ 5 miles an hour
On my International Harvester

Three miles of cars layin’ on their horns
Fallin’ on deaf ears of corn
Lined up behind me like a big parade
Of late to work road raged jerks
Shoutin’ obscene words flippin’ me the bird

Well you may be on a state paved road
But that blacktop runs through my payload
Excuse me for tryin’ to do my job
But this year ain’t been no bumper crop
If you don’t like the way I’m a drivin’
Get back on the interstate
Otherwise sit tight and be nice
And quit yer honkin’ at me that way