Best TV on Television

Reality shows still pervade the networks, it really isn't the dying fad that I predicted it would be back when Survivor was new hotness and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy made gay the new black. Little did I know that those would someday be classics. Now the reality shows are Top Nobodies. Top Model, Top Chef, Top Apprentice, Top Fatties, Top Skinnies, Top Nannies, Top Trannies, you name it. There's a best and a worst of all categories, competiting for their small slice of 15 minutes.

As a non-conformist fan of television, one who abhors the shameless wanna-be's and fights the addiction to watch them each week, there are a few reality gems that have come across the boob tube worth mentioning. Before even going down that road however, note that my favorite shows are few but I take a hubristic pride in faithfully Tivoing their entire seasons. But back momentarily to the best of reality TV.

Top 10 Reality Shows of all times:

#10 - The Flava Flav Show: Who knew that a crispy washed up rapper could lull American into a hypnotic drool each week, and come back for more, just dying to see the antics of the one and only King of Mouth-Bling. All Hail Flava Flav!

#9 - The Office UK - Ok, not reeeally a reality show, but the best darn faux-show ever to cross the airwaves. Yes, the U.S one is funny, but once you have seen the original, the new one kinda loses its zing.

#8 - America's Top Model - Remember the season when Tyra lost it on that model and started rubber neckin'? Reality TV at its finest

#7 - Taxi Cab Confessions - Ah, cable reality TV. This is where people really start acting up and you get to see the unedited nitty gritty. I mean, where else do you get to see toothless strippers make out with midgets in the backseat of a car?

#6 - The remaining aren't reality shows, but its because honestly the rest are all knockoffs or poppycock. Here are the Top 5 original programs on TV right now.

#5 - Extras - This show is so fantastically hysterically, it shouldn't be British. I mean, pee pee your pants funny. If you don't have HBO, this show is worth the extra $18.95 on your bill so that you can watch it. Another faux-reality show. Brilliant!

#4 - Heroes - Save the Cheerleader, Save the World. This is part of the new genre of television shows that is the modern day soap opera. Lengthy charcter storylines and convoluted plots that end every episode with a cliff-hanger and leave no questions answered. An absolutely genius strategy for prime-time. I'm so hooked, it should be illegal.

#3 - The Shield - I have never seen this show, but I hear its pretty darn good.

#2 - Lost - There is tobacco, there is heroin, and then there is Lost. Addictively insane. I have a feeling that by watching this show, I have been suckered into the most cleverly designed prime time soap opera since Gilligans Island.

#1 - 30 Rock - Have you seen it yet? OMG, its heeeeelarious! Some of the best one-liners have been borne from this show and Tina Fey and Tracy Jordan are outstanding. Alec Baldwin is a comedic prodigy and 30 Rock knocked Scrubs from its throne as the funniest sitcom currently on prime-time TV. Bravo, Tina, Bravo!!

Honorable mentions: CSI, Law and Order, House, Nip Tuck, and repeats of Freddy Kreugers New Nightmares on that new random horror channel (just had to throw that in to be an uber geek).

Preparing for the Journey

Namaskar! (Thats Hindi for "hello") So I'm quickly discovering that there are several key preparations neccesary for a trip to India. Most of them unexpected and quite costly. I would recommend saving about $3,000 for the entire trip. And that includes EVERYTHING.

First, I had to get my passport renewed. Although it will not expire until June of 2007, in order to travel to India one must have a valid passport for up to 6 months AFTER the dates of travel. Realizing this a bit too late in the game, I had to rush my passport. Now, I realized this a month prior to departing, BUT, don't forget, there is the visa that is needed for India as well. The passport process normally takes about 2 weeks, if they aren't backlogged. An Indian visa takes about 5 full days, also if they aren't backlogged. I wanted to play it safe so I rushed both the passport and the visa applications. Already, I was at about $200.

Even to my own shame, I don't own a digital camera which has been the third largest expense next to the airplane tickets and the clothing. I like to buy top of the line electronics because it will most likely be another decade before I upgrade. So I purchased the new 10 megapixel Sony Cybershot DSCN-R2 with the touchscreen. It is supposed to arrive tomorrow, I may have to include a separate blog all about it with a review. That set me back $444 including shipping, taxes, extended battery, quick charger and all accessories.

Then there are the vaccinations. Even with good insurance, expect to pay about $150 in medical bills for the vacccinations. You will need a Tetanus shot, Hepatitis A and B shots, and a Thyphoid fever shot. There are also antibiotic pills Dioxicycline pills that must be taken in order to avoid contracting malaria, and those pills run about $10 - WITH insurance. Be sure to check the Center for Disease Control for health precautions.

Realizing that I didn't have any clothes to wear that would keep me cool in 110 degree weather and still look fly, I took my lunch-hour to go clothes shopping at the Gap in Westwood. I discovered after several wrong turns that the Gap is no longer in Westwood. Oh well, I thought. I will have to go closer to the house to find the Gap. As I was walking back to the office, I caught a big sale sign in the window of Ann Taylor. Walking into Ann Taylor only for a pair of slacks for work, I instead stumbled upon a huge sale that had lightweight safari-style clothes on sale for about $24.99 a top. I mean - beautiful hand-crafted tunics at 60% off and airy cotton pants. Ch-ching! Another $400 spent on clothes, shoes and desert accessories.

However, there is a light at the end of this money wind tunnel. I hit up the 99cent store for all of the toiletries and knick knacks that I figure I will also need. I loaded up on 99cent store aspirin, laxatives, sleeping pills, lotion, toothpaste, Disney pens (as gifts for the village children), antibacterial hand-liquid, Kleenex, earplugs, and more. There are always more economic possibilities, it just takes a bit of mindful frugality.

Alas, I still need to load up on cotton undergarments, a converter (which will be loaned to me by my friend Lanaja), and a dress to wear to the wedding, which I will buy In India when Rajiv buys his wedding tux. That actually sounds kinda fun. And a heckova lot cheaper than the white dress I bought at Ann Taylor. Which, I was told by a friend who also married his wife in India that it is not always best for a young woman to wear white at an Indian wedding, but for different reasons. Unlike the traditional white usually worn by western brides, the Indian wedding dresses are often red because white is a color of mourning in many areas of the world. At least, that is what I was told. I am not sure if that stands true in a all areas of Delhi, but I figure it is best to play it safe and go shopping in India for a brightly-colored lehenga once we arrive in Delhi. Although, if I can get away with it, I think a saree is cuter.

Passage to India

"I want freedom for the full expression of my personality." - Mahatma Ghandi



It is two weeks before I will leave for a long anticipated trip to India, a destination that has been in my dreams for 10 years, almost to the day. When I was in college, as a senior at USC, I had applied for an abroad program in Bangalore, India. I didn't get the approval from USC to travel to India for my final semester because at the time, there were eh, complications with American students and USC felt that it was too much of a risk to sponsor my absence. So I went to Spain instead, which undoubtedly shaped the next 10 years to come. Yet I still longed to go to India and be overwhelmed by the grace and chaos of a mysterious and fascinating place. So when Rajiv, my well liked colleague from work, mentioned that he was to be married in Delhi, well, I might have invited myself to tag along. I can't really remember now if I did get a proper invitation, but it doesn't really matter now, my ticket is bought, the visa is en route from the Indian Embassy and I am recovering from two fierce Hepatitis shots that gave me a slight flu for 3 days.

I am very excited to go, nervous yes. Bold, you betcha. I feel as if I am to surmount a dream and dive like a swan into an unknown wind that could take me anywhere. What if I come back bald but with that hare krishna pony tail. What if I come back and want to quit my job? What if I am kidnapped and held for ransom in some abandoned ashram along the Pakistani border? Or maybe I might spend the entire two weeks in my hotel room pooping out curry fireballs. Whats awesome is that all of those seem appealing in some strange way or another. I realize that whatever possibility awaits, it will be yet another journey through life and parcel of my destiny. Oh yea, it rocks. Tripping out on the life fantastic, really really rocks. And to be in India is going to be nothing of what I expect, I know this. Just as Spain was an experience that was entirely different from what my expectations had drawn. Same for Mexico and living there for almost 2 years. One never knows what is truly before us, and the anticipation is all part of the high.

All of us have the vision of our selves, living our flow in some far away place. Perhaps it is part of the tendency to always be searching for something, even if but a strange experience or forbidden pleasure, a taboo relationship or the search for God. There's a bit of India in each of us, the draw towards something that will shape who we are just by being there. And that's what I'm hoping for. To be changed somehow, even if just for a moment. Even if it is just as the sun slips behind the Taj Mahal at sunset, I will be there to see it, and marvel at how God is everywhere.