Pakorakorner | A personal portal with a strong Asian Indian flavor on a whole range of topics.

Tired of kids' birthday parties at pumpitup, Indian restaurants, etc. Here is good alternative in the bay area (Hayward): Sulphur Creek Nature Center. Nice place to host kids birthday party. Kids will have fun. They bring in some animals/birds, talk about them, have a puppet show etc. You can see some snakes, birds, animals etc (in a zoo type setting) and the place is nice, cool and green.I had never seen a guinea pig before. Saw one ...

A friend of mine who was visiting from the south asked me the other day, "Man, with such high cost of living how does the non-tech crowd survive in this area?". He was referring to those not directly involved with the high tech community -- the barbers, the fast food workers and other min wage workers. Anyone know the answer?

If you are planning to go on vacation and put a hold on your mail at the Post Office here are a couple of tips.You can put the hold on the Internet via the USPS website. But this doesn't always work or if it does, it doesn't work well. We used this method to put mail on hold. It was on hold for 2 days instead of 7 days! The net effect being that our mailbox was stuffed with mail ...

Wish you (anyone who visits my blog:-) a Happy and Prosperous 2006!

There is parking close to the Oakland Airport that is cheaper than the regular airport parking. The website has coupons. Also, remember that they charge a hefty tax of 18.5%, but it is still cheaper than the airport parking.

While driving my two year old kid to day care, a typical conversation goes something like this...Kid: Papa, where we going?Dad: To school.Kid: Why?Dad: Because you can have lots of fun....Kid: Why Papa?Dad: You'll get bored at homeKid: Why?Dad: You won't have anyone to play with at home...Kid: Why?Dad: eh.. eh...Because your sister has gone to her schoolKid: Why?Dad: Because she wants to...Kid: Why? Why does she wannuDad: Because its lots of fun...Kid: Why?Dad: She gets to play ...

Check out the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield, CA if get a chance. If you are headed to Napa this can be a nice stop over for the kids. Unlike the regular robot infested factory floors, this one is so vibrant with all the colors of the jelly beans. Beware, they give you plenty of sample jelly beans that are bound to drive the kids completely hyper if you don't ration them out!

According to most (possibly all) Dentists in the US it is recommended to remove the wisdom tooth on both ends and their counter parts on the top row. That is a total of 4 teeth! The claim is that they are not used in the chewing process. I have never heard this from Dentists in India. In general, the attitude of Dentists in India is to try and save every tooth as far as possible. Dentists in the US on ...

Looking for a nice place to visit with your kids on a weekend? You live in the SF Bay area and don't necessarily want to drive a whole lot? Bonfante Gardens near Gilroy might be your answer. It is just south of San Jose after Morgan Hill. The park has plenty of rides, games, gardens, boat rides, train rides, etc. You can easily spend an entire day there and have lots of fun with the kids. The rides are not ...

Read over the weekend that come 2007 the toll on bay area bridges are going to be increased by a dollar. The toll will be $5 for the Golden Gate bridge! This toll increase is simply insane. Combined with the ever increasing gas prices, simply getting to work is slowly becoming such an expensive affair. No wonder jobs are going overseas!