My Birthday

So it's here again..yes I am referring to my Birthday :) So what did I do on my birthday? I was working today. At work, I treated my colleagues to freshly cooked samosas with mint chutney and sweet sauce. Thanks to Lakshmi. The ideal treat would have been a cake but as Lakshmi rightly suggested we have too much of cakes.

A Samosa on the other hand would be something nice and spicy to tickle the taste buds. She was right. The samosas were over in a jiffy with some people taking even 2 to 3 servings.

My happiest moment was when I returned a home and found a box delivered at my door. I began to scratch my head wondering who was this person. From the carton I realized, it was freshly cut flowers. I had a hunch that it was someone known to me but not sure who it was.

I opened the box and there was a greeting. My instincts were right. It was my sweet little adorable sis who sent me the beautiful flowers. That made my day :)

Tsunami in Japan

Despite man's advancement in science and technology there's nothing one can do against the force of nature. The earthquake and then the tsunami in Japan is a testimony to that. Compounding the misery is the real threat of a nuclear meltdown.

This is a grim and sober moment for the people of Japan and those who have lost their near and dear ones. Amid the large scale devastation and havoc what is commendable is that the people have remained calm. Atleast this is what the article in The Hindu had mentioned. There was no screaming and panic.

Also despite the wall of water which swept across the coastal villages and cities, some of the houses withstood the destruction. A tribute to the architecture which was built keeping the previous quake experiences in mind.

Japan being in highly active seismic zone has done the best it could. The earthquake drills in schools, a highly efficient Tsunami warning system, earthquake resilient building structures. Yet a 9.0 magnitude earthquake which rips apart the earth's crust building a wall of water 30 feet high can overwhelm anyone however prepared they maybe.

There are lessons to be learnt here. If the toll in Japan is in thousand(s), then one can imagine the consequences in ill prepared and densely populated countries like India and China. Even developed countries are not immune. Recent example(s) being Christchurch, New Zealand. Here in California, where I had already experienced mild tremors twice in a span of 1 year the tsunami ripples has effected atleast 2 major ports.

Coming back to the quake in Japan, rebuilding won't be easy but we can only hope and pray that people whose lives have been turned upside down will gather the strength and courage to put this tragedy behind them.

(References: http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article1529889.ece)
(Image courtesy: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/picturethis/2014489938_pt_before_after.html)