Free

First, this is a tongue-in-cheek post.

People say there is no such thing as a free lunch. Everything has a price to pay. I disagree with that. There are a few things I/we can get for free.

Free cold and cough.

Free x-ray from the airport security agents.

Free advice from a lot of people.

Free lice available at most schools. Hey, it’s a pet, right?

Free emails known as spam.

Free sunshine.

Free portrait when you get booked after an arrest (mug shot).

Free smiles.

Free divorce just for asking.

Free concussion trying to break a fight.

Free Headache.

Free room and board. Thanks mom and dad.

Free room and board in the jail. Thanks Government.

Do you know anything else that comes free?

Water Water Water

We love water. If we had our way, we want to be beach bums.  Was looking at the Picasa albums of our previous vacations.  Thought I would share a few pictures we took during our vacations.  More later.  These are at random and not in any particular order.

Hanauma Bay, Honolulu, Hawaii

Mazatlan Beach, Mexico

Muttom Beach, Tamil Nadu, India

San Francisco Bay

Venice, Italy

Cabo San Lucas Beach, Mexico

Fad

American Heritage Dictionary gives the following meaning for the word “fad”.

A fashion that is taken up with great enthusiasm for a brief period of time; a craze.

The blogging world also goes through some fad once in a while. It was “award” season. Every blogger was receiving an award and/or giving an award to some one else. Then came the “tagging” season. Every blogger was tagged and asked to answer so many questions. They in turn tagged some other bloggers.

Now the new fad is “contest”. Many companies feed for these contests to promote their products. Looks like several bloggers are entering these contests.

In addition, there is this online marathon of bloggers. They have a monthly theme. Looks many of the bloggers I follow are part of this marathon.

Following are a few recent contests/themes:

Del Monte Blogger Recipe

The Surf (SoakNoMore)

Melbourne

Snap a Deal

Love Marriage ya Arranged Marriage

Hair Problem

The Lakme Diva

The Untold Story

I have read at least 15 posts about how beautiful Melbourne is. About 20 posts on pros and cons of love marriage vs. arranged marriage.  About 8 to 10 posts on others. I am not complaining. No one compelled me to read them. I read them because I want to read what my blogging friends write.

Until yesterday, when I hear “Untold Story” I am always reminded of a book (by that title) written by Lt. Gen. Brij Mohan Kaul of the Indian Army. This book dealt with the Indian military’s setback against the Chinese attack in 1962.

I used to read wonderful posts on their travel, personal experience, the issues they care about, and what is happening around their surrounding. They all have taken a back seat to writing about products these companies want to advertise in the name of contest and monthly marathon themes. I know some friends do not write exclusively for contests/themes only.

After reading several posts on a given subject, now I feel how my English professors would have felt after reading so many papers on Philip Pirrip (Pip) in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, year after year.