Been AWOL from the blog!

I recently came across this word "awol" that interested me, because I'd have never guessed that this was a grammatically correct word. Yes, this is a proper English word which actually means 'Absent WithOut Leave'.

Through a quick research ably assisted by our very own Dr. Google, here is what I found out: This American word traces its origin back to the 1860s, during the times of the Civil War. The phrase 'absent without leave' was used to designate those who were gone for a relatively short time, as opposed to permanent deserters. In the Army of the Confederacy, such a soldier was punished by being draped with a sign bearing the initials "A.W.O.L." to signify his crime, that is, being absent without leave! Humorously contrived attributions of the letters in the subsequent World Wars included "A Wolf On the Loose" and "After Women Or Liquor"! (source: http://www.answers.com/).

Quite interesting, considering that a phrase was turned into an acronym, which eventually became an english word on its own. English, for sure is a funny & tolerant language!

Wii and me

Nintendo's Wii (pronounced like the English word 'we') gaming console is an absolutely revolutionary concept. Barely 2 years after its launch, it has already outdone its competitors Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation (PS) who were ruling the roost until then. Nintendo has a long history in the gaming space (who can forget Super Mario Bros.!), and it has rightly reclaimed its long lost position.

While Xbox and PS stand out with their high-defintion graphics as the USP, Wii scores with its wireless motion sensor that gives a surrealistic first-person playing experience. The design of the Wii wireless remote allows users to control the game using physical gestures as well as traditional button presses. A tennis serve using the Wii remote launches the tennis ball off in the right direction at the correct angle; or a forward jab of the arm delivers a punch in the face of the opponent in the Boxing game. The only trade-off here is the above-average quality of video & graphics. But one can rest assured that the fun of a first-person gaming experience more than makes up for this shortcoming.

I picked up this console during my trip to the US last year. My clear favorite is "Wii-Play Tennis"; I also liked the BWii - 'Battalion Wars 2', an action-RTS (Real Time Strategy) hybrid, which offers some amazing game play. I am yet to try out the newly released 'Wii-Fit' add-on, which is the latest rage in the Wii arena - a good balance of yoga, fitness and gaming fun. I would strongly recommend this gaming console for people of all age groups, with just a little interest in gaming; this also brings about a perfect family gaming experience in the multiplayer mode.

Though Wii is yet to be launched in India, I've come across stores that sell imported pieces, predominatly from the UAE (though at a hefty premium - Rs.20,000+ in India vs $250 in the US, for just the console). A word of caution - there is a region-compatibility issue between the console and the game CDs, i.e. if you buy a Wii Console made for the US market, it would only support the game CDs made for the same geography, so CDs made for UAE/Europe wouldn't be compatabile.