Check Mark

My instructor showed me his altimeter. It read a little over 14,000 ft. He signaled that it was time to walk towards the door. I was walking towards the open door of an aeroplane for the first time in my life; my instructor for the the 5,026th time! I glanced at the ground far below. I had dreaded this moment for a few days and expected it to be the scariest part of the jump. But today things were happening in a hurry and after seeing two of my colleagues jump in front of me without a whimper, I seemed composed. The instructor did a quick countdown and thrusted me into the open skies. Thank God, I didn't have to make a decision!

Barelling down at 120 miles per hour, the one thing I remember the most is the wind trying to fill my mouth and tear my cheeks apart. It was a very weird feeling. We were dropping approximately 1,000 ft every 6 seconds, and we were supposed to drop for about 7,000 ft. My instructor did a great job of showing me his altimeter every few seconds to tell me our exact distance to the ground. At some point during the 50 second free fall, the wind made it into my plastic goggles and knocked out one of my lenses. Thankfully, I was still able to witness the fall with the lens in my right eye. The weightlessness was definitely a very unique experience.

After a short but memorable free fall, the instructor signalled to me to prepare for the opening of the parachute. I was anticipating a severe pull on my shoulders, but the open parachute signaled a welcome relief. Slowed down, I could now soak in the beauty of this flat terrain. It being a very clear day, I could distinctly see the green fields, the oak trees and the automobiles on various roads. At some point my instructor encouraged me to yank the cords and do some spins. A few spins later, I was dizzy and ready to just fly gently and appreciate the beauty beneath. The landing was well rehearsed and definitely much softer than what I imagined. Overall the experience of skydiving was very memorable, and not even close to terrifying. If it were cheaper, I would do it over and over again, but for now it remains in my memory as 1 more Check Mark.

Everyone goes through their life with a bucket list - a series of Check Marks. These wish lists come in different forms. For some, they pertain to adventure, pushing the body to physical limit. For others it might be as simple as visiting an oft coveted place. Sometimes I wonder why people have such a list? Is it to prove to oneself that we can be successful in achieving our dreams? Or is it just another way to prove others of one's mettle? At the end of the day, if these Check Marks make you a better person and give you a better perspective in life, then it probably couldn't have been bad.

On a personal note, this year has been a series of some thick Check Marks for me - Half Marathon, Skydiving and in 3 weeks time, I plan to do another big Check Mark - hiking up Mt. Whitney over a 22 mile trek. I am not as concerned about the strenuous hike as I am of the altitude sickness and camping at 12,300 ft. The relentlessly flat landscape of Houston offers no opportunity for high altitude acclimatization. The closest preparation for this trip has been climbing 60 floors on the StairMaster at the local 24 Hour fitness. While not tiring myself to death, I would also have to watch out for black bears who might kill me for a granola bar.

But the biggest and most challenging Check Mark of the life will begin in a few months time, the Fall of 2009.

Good Bye Dear Friend

Last week, I bid adieu to my best friend for the last 4 years. A friend I would never see again. A friend who fell to the perils of a 'drink and drive' accident. Navigating through flooded waters, my Mustang's engine decided to drink in the high waters and ride, only to end with a broken crankshaft and a severely damaged engine. As I stood at the Body shop examining the undercarriage of my car I stood in disbelief. I had just returned from a great week long trip to India and this ending was definitely shocking and totally unscripted.

I remember the first time I laid my eyes on the Mustang. I liked him instantly, but he was definitely out of my price range. Although he packed a regular V6, the dual gas exhausts and the modified air intake gave him the growl of a V8. The hard clutch and the noisy gear-box gave it a feel of a true muscle car. Some hard nosed bargaining later, I was able to strike a deal with the dealership. However, our friendship started on a very sour note. Still a novice stick shift driver, I jumped a red light on the very first day I owned this car. Despite my strong plea, the ruthless cop handed me a stiff ticket and ruined this memorable day. In the next few months the car did attract a lot of attention in the poor graduate student community. Most guys wanted to ride it and I would reluctantly agree to them toying with my clutch. However, I was more interested in offering girls a nice long ride, atleast the ones who seemed to be impressed by the bling factor!

Three months later, me and my mustang had the trip of our life as we drove 3,000 miles from Pennsylvania to Los Angeles. However, the best laid plans of men and mice often go awry. While enjoying the breathtaking scenery of the rockies at 12,000+ ft altitude, my friend skid on ice on Interstate 70, only to be bruised badly. It took 7 days worth of labor in a small bodyshop in Boulder, CO to get my Mustang back on the road. With his health restored, the mustang was ready to hit the multi-laned highways of LA. The mountains surrounding Pasadena only gave further opportunity to put all the torque to test.

The 3,000 miles roadtrip only represented the start of a wanderlust life. Barring the expensive gasoline, the magnificient scenery of California fuelled my Mustang to various long roadtrips. In some ways, my car lived a very satisfying life as it visited some of the best scenery in the country. The 48,000 miles I lapped on the car was dominated by a lot of mountain and ocean views and best of all great weather of Southern California. In the absence of a claustrophobic garage, my car led most of its life breathing the fresh air and delivering great performance, However, despite the straight line horsepower and amazing torque to climb hills, the mustang did exhibit some shortcomings when it came to handling. On slippery roads and sharp curves, the rear wheel would not always cooperate. However, like we do with most of our friends, I learnt to live with this friend's shortcomings.

For a while, I was hoping the insurance company would resurrect him and give him a new lease of life on the road. However, economics normally rule emotions, and in the end they might have made the best decision for me. But I wonder where my friend is today. The last time I saw him, he seemed tranquil; parked under a tree at a nearby mechanic.'s shop. This week, I went back to the mechanic to have one last look, but I was too late. He was gone, towed away by my insurance company to a land unknown. I guess he is probably at a nearby scrapyard. At this juncture, I only pray that his parts Rust In Peace!

Austin Half-Marathon

This Sunday (Feb 15th), I plan to run Austin Half-Marathon to raise funds for Association for India's Development (AID) - Houston.

If you would like to shower your generosity on AID Houston and support my run, please donate at the following site

http://www.runforindia.org/runners/aroon

Mumbai Blast - Searching for Answers!

(This post has been written by my good friend Ramya)

Finally sitting down to deliver on my long overdue promise to write something on Pointy’s blog. And I waited this long partly because like everyone else I lead an action packed life which involves waking up in the morning, rushing to work, grabbing dinner, calling it a night and topping up the weekends with a few extra hours of sleep, catching some latest movie releases and complaining to friends about where life and everything else is headed in general. Does this sound familiar to the action packed life that any of you lead? If you reconnect with my second line now- the other partly is because all those inspirational speeches that evolve in my head as I read the papers during my daily commute, at best get reduced to a smattering of words pulled out from the GRE word list when I finally try to put them on written medium. (No prizes for guessing!!! I am no Jhumpa Lahiri). But I thought if events like the Mumbai Siege don’t get me to ask a few questions and (hopefully) get some answers nothing ever will.

My friend and junior from KGP, Khushboo Jha lost her fiancé (who was also my junior although I didn’t know him personally) in the attack at Leopold's cafe - so if things weren't bad enough already, now I have a face to put to it all.

Echoing the need for a political revamp in the country and touching upon the need for young, dynamic, honest, intelligent and upright leaders (as reflected in Aamir Khan’s blog) I want to say I know lots of people who may be ready to face up to the challenge. At the risk of sounding cliché, our circle of friends is supposed to contain the intelligentsia and the future entrepreneurs of India. This infers we have had a plethora of opportunity and resources at our disposal. It also infers we have survived in a rather competitive professional and perhaps personal environment till now. We are probably the best placed of all the common men and women that can rise to the occasion. Let’s just say there are enough amongst us who should not be afraid to at least make an attempt. But where do such highly motivated individuals go? How do you take the first step? Who do you talk to? If you are a professional jumping careers how do you convince people to take you seriously? And I mean not going from being an actor who has had the advantage of his face plastered on the walls and billboards in every village and town to a politician but someone like a banker or a scientist wanting to move into politics? Common sense dictates strong participation and involvement in the community and a good network are good places to begin. I can think of many of us who already do this then what are we missing? Would we be missing less if we were all human rights lawyers in which case we’d be mixing professional and personal interests and therefore have more visible community-based brownie points? As for the network, I shudder at the thought of that spiralling back to our same doddering, sick old politicians. Who is going to give me the confidence that not being from an illustrious political family will not be seen as a serious set back? I know politics is a dirty game, but if I am able and willing to work hard, will the system work with me? My scepticism sounds naïve I know. But isn’t this what’s stopping a lot of us from walking out the door of Mckinsey and walking into the Lok Sabha? Of course, the nosedive in income notwithstanding!!!!!

On a different note and because of its relevance in today’s world, combating terrorism, like everything else in this world has to come with the buzz word ‘sustainability’. And here’s how- Having specialized in Energy and doing what I do, I have decided Energy Independence and Energy Security should be made a priority for the government and a household term in India just like it is in the US or UK. Of the few things our government does correctly I see the nuclear deal as a step in the right direction. If all those EIA projections are right, we are going to be paying one hell of a price in the next 15-20 years for our own destruction. Meaning, the fraction of the oil money to the Middle East that can trickle down to the wrong hands! Where I had kept an open mind on the matter earlier, in the light of the Mumbai incidents I am wary of our gas deal with Iran because right now my mindset is ‘guilty until proven innocent’ rather than the other way round. Looking into the future, as I seek out professional opportunities if I work to meet the challenge that Vilas Muttemwar outlined, then this time I will have mixed work with pleasure!!!

“We have huge resources of renewable energy in the country. To begin with we have a potential of five trillion megawatts of solar energy, 70,000 megawatts of wind energy and more than two lakh [200,000] megawatts of hydrogen energy. We are now tapping this potential to meet our requirements." Asked by BBC Hindi why resources of renewable energy were not gaining popularity in the country, the Minister replied: "There is a widespread impression that usage of renewable resources of energy is less cost effective in comparison to the conventional resources”. Rest of this at http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/02_february/13/bbchindi.shtml.

With this thought lingering around my head from time to time, I am not very proud of the fact that it took a tragic event like this for me to make up my resolve. Spreading awareness on Energy Security will be top on my agenda.

I am a firm believer in women’s empowerment (not surprising considering I am a woman) All those with me on the issue of women’s liberty, we need to go full bore to help Muslim women find their voice. There are some interesting cases in the U.K where a mother was able to revert back a boy who had joined a terror training camp to normalcy. Boys will be boys, and coming from IIT I know how twisted their brains can get between the ages of 18 and 21. Little wonder why these boys are caught at this age and fed the wrong sentiments. A strong mother figure can influence them to stay on the right track. The doctrines I preach are not easy or will not happen anytime soon. But sustainability was never synonymous to quick-fix. There maybe many of you out there, who disagree, please do- that’s the only way we can be sure we haven’t left any stone unturned.

As for getting politically astute, time will tell. Although I am one for lofty ambitions, I need to make sure I can sustain this feeling of desperate need for a political overhaul long after the over-sensationalized media coverage of the Mumbai attacks have stopped. But I feel if enough of us keep an open mind about politics at least a handful of us are bound to stride into it. The stuff I am saying is not exactly ‘light bulb flash in the head’ material. It is stuff that even an average person calls ‘all too obvious’. But then which of these obvious things have we done right before? If enough graduates from Harvard and MIT hadn’t gone into politics as did into Google and Goldman Sachs, U.S politics wouldn’t have been as exhilarating as it is today. Hell, how on earth are we to become the world’s next super-power 10 years after China (according to popular belief) if our private sector keeps drifting away from our public sector labelling them a comedy of errors? On the contrary I would say considering how the private sector has led practically all the development in our country, maybe we should encourage a new form of venture capitalism that focuses on ‘able leaders’. The return on their investment will be a strong government. Follow the Obamas of the world.

For now, campaigns like ‘Jaago Re’ www.jaagore.com which is encouraging our country's Gen X to get out there and vote - is a promising start.We are the generation that’s seen snail mail go to email, arrange marriages turn to love marriages, paanwalas carry mobile phones and lardy, muffin-top trotting Bollywood actresses turn steaming sizzlers- nothing is impossible for us!!!!!!!

I’ll stop for now or else Pointy won’t let me hog more of his blog space next time.

Lost in Translation

After paying the entry fees to the Volcan Tenorio National Park, in Costa Rica, we were left with zero cash. It was noon time, we hadn't had any breakfast, and barring a dingy restaurant (below) closeby there was no place to eat for miles around.


After 15 minutes of searching every cavity and crevice of our rented vehicle and ransacking all the backpack pockets, we finally came up with 6000 colones (12 dollars), most of it in 100 colones coins! On an average a Costa Rican meal costed $5 / person, but we had no option but to survive on our find today. From the beginning of the trip, I was repenting on my inability to have learnt spanish, and as fate would have it, the restaurant was run by a single elderly lady who spoke no English at all.

Gathering my broken spanish, I said "Yo tengo solemente sies mil colones. Yo quiero comida" (I have only 6000 colones, I want to eat). She said she can only provide 3 plates. I mentioned "Uno vegetariano, dos chuleta....cerdo". (1 vegeterian, 2 chuletas..but pork). She finally understood that and started cooking alone in the open kitchen next to the patio.

I then urged my kind friends to lend her a helping hand in the kitchen.


There was intense feelings on both sides, but language stood a big barrier, and we stayed incommunicado and gestured through actions and a spanish dictionary. The lady was however kind enough to understand our predicament and actually distribute the food into 5 good plates. I greeted her, " Mi mucho gusto" (I like very much).

Finally, we had to pay her for her services, and it was funny as I counted atleast 50 different coins of various denominations to make up 6000 colones. We also managed to get an extra $2 to tip her.


...so we parted ways, our hunger satisfied, and the lady with a nice story to re-tell her comrades. At most times language is a severe barrier and impediment...but this time, it was a source of pure entertainment.

NFL

Last sunday, I finally realised my 4 year long dream of visiting a NFL game. Over the last 2 years, I had the good fortune of seeing a MLB, NHL, NBA & MLS game, however it was always difficult to lay hands on tickets for a good NFL match. As I spent my student life in Pennsylvania, I would always yearn for a Philadelphia Eagles or Pittsburgh Steelers ticket. But both these teams have probably the craziest fan following in the country, and with season ticket wait for Steelers close to 12 years, it was difficult to get a cheap regular season game. Since Los Angeles didn't possess a professional football team, I was forced to support the San Diego Chargers. However during my stay in Southern California, the Chargers had 2 really good seasons which made getting tickets for the game quite difficult.

I finally got a chance when I moved to Houston, as the Texans are not a very popular team and chances of getting tickets are definitely much better. Also, now that I am in a different work environment, I was bound to get invited for a free game by a customer. Fortunately this happened last week, and I had a great experience. Although the Texans fans are not as fanatic as Packers or Steelers, there was still great energy in the stadium. The NFL is definitely the best showcased and most competitive league in the country. As there are only 16 games and play-offs, it makes each game very important, unlike the 162 games played in regular season MLB.

The game was very well orchestrated, with fireworks, different contests on and off field and over the PA system, & mascots and cheerleaders. Due to the compact construction of the Reliant dome, there was a good view to soak in from all angles. But just like most professional sports, things inside the stadium tend to remain ridiculously expensive, with some charging $9 for a watered down lukewarm glass of lite beer! At the end of the day, the Texans won and hence the crowd was in a good mood. However, as expected, traffic was nightmarish and it took more than 1/2 just to get back on to the freeway.

Diwali Musings

It was 11:30 pm on Thursday night, when I was at a popular Houston hangout Taco Milagro,
watching some salsa dancers show their talent, when a desi guy who was walking past me,
smiled, patted my back and said "Happy Diwali!". Managing to hide my surprise, I returned his thoughful greeting, and continued to smile reflecting at the possible inappropriateness of the whole situation. As we stood outside the crowded bar and talked about the cigar bar nextdoor, I suddenly felt a tinge of sadness at not being in India at this festive moment.

Growing up, Diwali was definitely the most celebrated and anticipated festival. Schools in Mumbai would typically shower us with a generous 15 day break to celebrate this colorful festival. As a kid, I remember building the famous killas (forts of mud and stone), and decking them with small idols of Shivaji and the Peshwas - only to be blow them on the day of Diwali with some powerful crackers. Bursting fire-crackers and other pyrotechnics asscociated with it were definitely the high point as a kid. Rockets would defitely be the most sought after fire-works, and I would take special pride on a successful trajectory launched from the terrace of our home. Despite reprimands from others, I also got to show my manliness by igniting a bomb in the hand and throwing it such that it would tear apart midway.

But the highlight of the festival was meeting up with all the relatives and the great feast of sweets that would ensue. Almost all Diwali, was spent in the company of grandparents, uncles and aunts. I remember getting up really early in the morning, taking bath, and touching the feet of my grandparents who would shower their blessings and hand over the new clothes. Most of the morning would be spent greeting all friends and relatives either in person or on the phone, and after a round of fireworks we would return to a really sumptuous breakfast. This would further be followed by visits to all relatives and a grand lunch and some more family time. Everyone that I would visit or pass by on the street would seem merry. It was just one of those happy times of the year, when every one is in a good mood.

.... just like most festivities in this country, Diwali was also celebrated on the weekend, albeit missing much of the fan-fare. Fortunately, some of my kind friends had invited me for lunch - a real delicious one, cooked by her parents. Thanks to a round of tennis, I was able to digest the late lunch and whet my appetite just in time for another round of drinks and food at my aunt's party. I ended up meeting a whole bunch of strangers in a social setting that day, but everybody was cheerful and real nice. An impromptu decision to do Desi buffet for lunch on thursday, was followed by another round of the same on Friday, thanks to my Boss' participation. Hell, to celebrate the festival of lights, my boss even jokingly gifted us flashlights with our company logo on it!!

When I was in India, I would be amazed to see that some people were actually working on the eve of the festival. Typically on my small errands I would notice that the milkman, bus-conductors, taxi-drivers and many other in service would continue to work just like any other day. At such moments, I would feel a deep sense of pity and would sympathise with their plight for their inability to stay home and enjoy it with their family and friends. As I sat at my desk on thursday morning, sorting out Win-Loss data for our product in the last 3 quarters, I felt the same wave of sympathy for myself......

Holi-Day !!

Come Celebrate a color-filled Holi with friends and relatives at UCLA on Mar 11th.

Shaking Hands with Jay Leno

Yesterday, I finally fulfilled my year long Los Angeles based ambition of seeing the live taping of Tonight Show by Jay Leno. It was only 2 years ago, when I was in Pennsylvania, and as a regular viewer of the Tonight Show, My eyes would lit up whenever they flashed the address of the NBC studio - 3000 W Alameda Ave, Burbank, CA, 91523.

However it turned out to be more exciting than just being part of the audience. Due to busy work schedule and odd filming timings, we were one of the last few to reach the studio. But by a great stroke of luck, we got to sit in the first 2 rows. This gave us an opportunity to go upfront to the stage and shake hands and greet Jay, when he arrived at the podium before his gig. Coincidentally it also happens to be the only part of the show where they televise the audience ! The first guest for the night was Dennis Miller, and I couldn't care less. He was funny, but he alienated me with his extremely conservative right wing talk.

But the second guest happened to be my favorite pro-football player - running back Ladanian Tomlinson from San Diego Chargers. Even off the field LT remained humble and shy, and had an inspiring story to tell. For someone who plays in NFL, he didn't seemed to be really big or burly, but was rather medium sized built. The live band for the night was KT Tunstall, who gave a solid rendition of their current hit, 'Suddenly I See'.

Having lived in LA for more than a year, I have seen a handful of shows. The sitcoms are always long and boring as they shoot take after take. The talk shows on the other hand are quick and taped live. Jimmy Kimmel (ABC) & Late Late Show with Craig Fergusson (CBS) both were good, but they tried to manage the audience with stage enhancers and comics. The enviroment seemed very formal and kind of stole the fun out of the show. On the other hand, the Tonight Show had a very informal touch, with Jay himself walking out before the show and mingling with the audience. Their were no comic acts before the show, and we were in and out of the studio in little less than 2 hours.

I had also had the opportunity to see Jay Leno's stand up act at Hermosa Beach Comedy magic club in a very informal setting. The tickets were cheap and the show was really entertaining, as opposed to the dissappointing show by Russel Peters at the Wilshire Wiltern recently.

Cricket for a Cause

Association for India's Development - Los Angeles
AID main website

Rang De Basanti (No Spoliers !)

Off late, all Amir Khan starring movies have got loads of publicity and have been hyped as a super hit even before the movies have premiered. Although I was seriously disappointed by Mangal Pandey, courtesy of some really uncomfortable seats in a packed Bay Area theatre, I decided to catch Amir's new offering-Rang De Basanti, before people around me start talking about it.

It's always difficult to co-ordinate an outing with 9 different people adhering to 9 different schedules. Although my work was cut out to driving 4 of them to Little India, thanks to the availability of free airtime and some 'number- punching' addicts, I ended up directing people to the destination half the time. Once on Pioneer Blvd, we decided to try out the new desi restaurants Tirupathi Bimas touted to serve authentic gult food. I realised how popular the restaurant was when I was handed a 20 minute wait time for the table. Even after we got the table, it took the woefully shortstaffed employees 15 minutes and two harsh calls before they got down to take the order. The food, however, was served quickly and was really spicy and delicious. But the customer service was really horrible and it left me thinking why do Indian restaurants and services have such poor service. When things are cheap back home, we dont expect great service. But if you end up paying 14$ for a meal, you surely deserve better. I guess we probably have a lot to learn from the west about customer satisfaction.

We arrived at the theatre only 5 minutes prior to the show, which meant that I sat perched in the 3rd row in front of screen, staring at the screen as if King Kong sat in front of me. For the intial half, I viewed the movie as if I saw a tennis game, moving my head from one corner of the screen to another. Alice Pattern (Sue), whose grandfather was involved during the British Raj and maintained a diary about the revolutionaries, comes to India to make a movie on his diary. Enter Amir Khan, Soha Ali and rest of the gang. I found Soha Ali Khan very unattractive (I couldn't stop seeing her as Saif Ali Khan dressed in Salwar). Her acting was woeful too. Alice Patten with her broken hindi did a much better job, and served as my sole eye candy.

The first half revolves around Sue convincing this happy-go-lucky-out-of-college- but- still-hanging-around-college kids to act in the movie. Although the kids finally get serious and act in the movie, they dont hold much hope for India's bright future and blame it on the system for all the inefficiencies. Things take a wild turn in the second half as Madhavan gets killed in a MIG crash, and Amir Khan & co try to take things in their own hands. I shall not spoil the movie for others here, but I really hated the wild turn the movie takes in the second half of the second half (Let's put it as 4th quarter).

If the movie wanted to convey any message about how the youth should react to the government bunglings, then it's intentions are totally misdirected. Infact, I am very surprised that the censorship was kind against such bad trend setting ends. Also, reference to hindu-muslim animosity was totally uncalled for. There are lot of loop holes in the movies too (figure it out for yourself!!). Rehman's score is great, Amir Khan as usual enacts someone 15 years younger to him with great poise. I found Bluffmaster a much better movie than this one..


ps: Russel Peter's stand up in NYC

pps: .....aah my neck still hurts...

Freeway Observations

When you spend a lot of time tailgating people on freeways, you end up observing some interesting stuff. Here are a few bumper-stickers I have recently observed

* Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere.

* Dont wash this car. Scientific dirt test is underway.

* Females wanted. Please Enquire within.

Driving on 405 North near Long Beach, I noticed a really big billboard of skimpily clad Pamela Anderson staring down at me. As I braked my car, to absorb the poster, my eyes glanced at the bottom of the billboard which read,

* This traffic jam has been brought to you by Pamela Anderson

Here are few interesting places and signs seen while driving cross-country

This was the name of a rest area in the scenic Glenwood Canyons Area in Colorado driving on I-70E

courtesy: www.okroads.com/dandm/i70co.html

This is actually the name of a road in Nevada on I-15.

While driving to the Pikes Peak summit, we came across this eerie sign

Celebrity Sighting

Its been a little more than 3 months since I moved to Los Angeles, and a celebrity sighting was surely overdue. On my numerous jaunts to Hollywood, Burbank, Malibu and Beverly Hills I have failed to catch a glimpse of anyone resembling a movie star. Although, I have spotted numerous silver screen characters when I went for the filming of Jimmy Kimmel Live & Hot Properties.

On an overcast Saturday afternoon, I was doing my usual tourist guide job and roaming around the area of Hollywood "Walk of Fame". As always, I made a trip to the Kodak Theatre, the auditorium where Oscar's are held. On my way down the 4 storied complex, I sensed a little commotion outside the Virgin records store. Suspecting that there might be someone really important, I ambled to the glass window of the music store, and I saw Ashlee Simpson standing on a podium 20 feet away. Now Ashlee Simpson is not even half as hot as her sister Jessica, probably even less after she turned brunnete, but even at that distance she looked stunning. But my ogling didnt last long, as the guard pushed everyone aside, except those having special armbands and allowed them to enter the store. As I left the building, I saw a mass of people rush in as the news of her arrival started spreading, but I left the place before there was a stampede.

I have seen bigger personalities at rock concert and various international sporting events, but you dont expect to spot them when you are doing shopping at a popular tourist spot. I have even seen Kamal Hasan and his wife Saarika upclose at Landmark Book stores in Chennai, and was probably 6 feet away from an autograph, when they were whisked away by their security.

I often wonder why we get excited over a celebrity sighting. Is it because we get to tell our friends about it and feel a little special that they were unable to do so. Or is it because it is a very rare occurence. Or is it just because they are more important, more popular and much more wealthier than us. I guess it's a combination of all of the above. Some people call all the friends on their phonebook to brag about their luck, while others write a blog about it !

Acts of Kindness

Scene 1: (Local grocery store, South Pasadena)

I am beaten to the checkout line by a 70 yr old woman. The woman has a cart full of groceries and starts unloading it at her own pace. I start thinking,

"Getting stuck behind old ladies at the grocery store is the most annoying thing. They take their own sweet time to bend down and load the stuff on the conveyor. When it's time to pay, they take out a newspaper full of 25c coupons and spend 10 minutes to save 1$. To top it all, it takes them 5 additional minutes to rifle through their purse and get hold of their chequebook.....and then their pen wont write.....urghhh"

But my train of thought is derailed as this lady looks back at me and the 3 items in my hand that I am waiting to check out, and asks me to move ahead of her. I refuse, but after some persuasion from the old lady, I relent. I am done with the check out even before the lady empties her cart completely and I leave the store thanking the lady profusely for her thoughtfulness.

Scene 2: (I-5 North near downtown Los Angeles)

Traffic moving at 10 mph, and I am driving by the side of some 18 wheelers and SUVs. I desperately need to change lanes, but there is no gap in sight. I give an indicator and decide to wait. But the minute I flash the indicator, a red minivan on the other lane stops dead and allows me to roll into his lane. I look at my rear view mirror and acknowledge his good deed by waving.

Two simple acts by two strangers, left me in a better mood than normal. It didn't take much effort for the two strangers; probably they lost 25 seconds of their daily quota of 86,400s. Miniscule as these events may seem, they surely lifted the spirits of everyone involved in them. Only if all of us could spend a few seconds of our daily life to indulge in simple acts like these, then world will surely be a merrier place.......

When it rained in "Amchee Mumbai"

The landline connection to my home in Kalyan, 25 miles away from Mumbai, was finally restored on Sunday evening, and I could speak to my parents. Ever since torrential rainfalls and floods crippled Mumbai, I have been following it very keenly over the web. But today was the first time I could get a first hand account of the devastation caused by the downpour.

Though most part of our neighbourhood was safe, some of the tales from neighbouring regions were very depressing. In a particular low lying area, 2 stories of buildings were flooded. There was a whole section of railway line near Kalyan washed away and the guard cabin collapsed unto the rail tracks. I heard accouts of lot of our family friends who were displaced from their houses and seeking shelter in the nearest dry home. In the wake of numerous trees being uprooted, power lines have been disrupted and a lot of people are spending their nights in a moist, candle-lit environment. The school I studied till my high school, has been closed for 2 weeks, and is serving as a temporary asylum for the displaced families. I heard my dad narrate tales of people being rescued on boats and helicopters dropping food packets. There was no respite for people even after the waters receded, as they left huge amounts of mud and garbage in all the previously inundated places. I spent the past few days browsing the heartrending images on the web, but the picture that I got today after calling up home is something which I will take to my bed as I retire in a few minutes time.

In other places in Mumbai, one of my relative had to walk 15 miles from Juhu to Chembur, wading throug waist deep water at a lot of places. Another distant relative of mine walked close to 20 miles to get home. I shudder to think about the plight of all the people who had to walk back hours to get back to their families. I heard tales of people spending a night in the bus, cause the bus was submerged in amost 5 foot of water. There were lot of people who spent almost 2 days inside local trains, cause they had nowhere to go.

When the Tsunami struck the south it was tragic. But since I had never been to most of the places which were largely affected, and I didn't know of a single relative or friend who was harmed by it, my estimation of the tragedy was merely through the numbers run on different news channels....but this time around it surely has been different. But I have faith in the courage of Mumbaikars, and I am sure that with time things will move back to normalcy. Though it might take some time to recover from the destruction left in the aftermath of the deluge, I am sure Mumbai will be bustling sooner than people expect it to.

As I post this blog, it has been raining continuously for past 6 hours in Mumbai and I pray to the rain gods to relent and stop playing with his helpless peace loving creations.

ps: If you happen to read this blog, I would like to make a very passionate appeal to you to donate to this cause in whichever way its possible. One charity organisation that I have closely been involved with in the past and who are already in the process of the flood rehabilitation process is Association for India's Development.

The Midnight Crash

12:30 am 17th July

I am writing this blog on some random stuff, and suddenly I hear this deafening noise. Curious to find out what happened, I put on my sandals and run outside. As I am running down the corridor, I hear people screaming "Oh ! My God"...I increase my pace and as I storm through the front door of the apartment, I see a badly mangled car. I search around for the other car, and find it lying totally wrecked about 30 mts away on the other side of intersection.

I walked up to the scene of the accident, and even before I can ask the lady "What happened ?", she tells me "I called the police already. There is a Station pretty closeby". On enquiring whether anyone was hurt, she points me to a girl sitting on the other side of intersection. Since it was pretty dark I couldnt get a clear image of what was happening, but I found her clutching her head and feet and moaning. Before I could start my own little enquiry of the accident, I here sirens wailing, and within no time there were 3 cop cars, and 2 ambulances......and I stepped back from the scene of the accident, to get a first hand account from the lady who dialed the cop.

She wasn't sure, but she went "I guess someone must have jumped the light, and crashed into the other. This happens all the time at this intersection. Though, not as bad as this....but I have seen a lot of them". "This happens all the times"...I thought accidents happen only on freeways....LA is crazy ! After a brief round of introduction, the lady finally bid goodnight and went home, but I stayed there staring at those ambulances helping the girl, and the cops talking to the other victim of the accident.(As I am writing this blog now, I can hear tow trucks clearing out the debris and hauling away the cars, or the piece of scrap metal that it has become)

A sample of what I get to listen on FM stations everyday back from work,
"The traffic on northbound 405 is bad as a truck hit the guardrails and flipped over. On 710 a car crashed into a pickup, and 2 southbound left lanes are closed. Traffic has now started moving on Santa Monica Fwy, after the debris of the crash have been cleared and all lanes are open. Traffic is still slow on southbound 5....."
...thats enough music to ears.....As I turn off the FM, I look in all the different mirrors that my car has, to make sure that I dont get rearended next.

On a lighter note, I am driving down Sepulveda Blvd near Brentwood cause the southbound405 is crawling at 10 mph. The traffic is no better on Sepulveda, and as I peep into the car next to me, I see the driver reading a magazine placed on his steering wheel.....the traffic is bumper to bumper and is moving really slowly.....and I glance the guy after 2 minutes and having moved about 20 yards, I see him flipping the page, and enjoying the magazine article !

Final Word: (from the movie Crash)

"It's the sense of touch. Any real city,you walk. You know? You brush by people,they bump into you. In L.A. nobody touches you. Were always behind this metal and glass. It's the sense of touch. I think we miss that touch so much that we crash into each other just so we can feel something."

AID 2005 conference

This memorial day weekend, I drove down more than 1000 miles to attend the Association for India's Development (AID Inc) conference in the "land of 10,000 lakes", Minneapolis. During my 2 years as a graduate student I haven't attended a single technical conference, and hence I felt a little strange that my first conference attendance would be at a gathering of volunteers working for a non-profit organisation. AID USA is composed out of approximately 40 different university chapters in USA with the main activity being - raising funds in USA and supporting grassroots level developmental projects in villages in India, encompassing areas like education, healthcare, alternative livelihood, womens empowerment etc.

Unlike most people (153 in all), who came to the conference seeking answers to their
questions, I went there to have fun and to meet my brother and sister-in-law. While many returned home satisfied with the answers, I came back with a bag full of questions to guide my train of thought. Some of the sessions at the conference helped a long way in getting a good understanding of the philosophy and vision of the organisation. It seemed like 152 of the smartest people in the country had converged together to solve the problems affecting the poorest of the poor in India - alleviating their distress by helping them seek the solution rather than enforcing it upon them. I generally dont hold strong opinions about anything nor am I very passionate about a lot of things. But as I saw people voicing their views on some very relavent issues and critically putting forth arguements, I felt ashamed of my ignorance and my inability to think, both humanistically and analytically and I ended up contributing my ears but not voice to the heated discussions.

Inspite of having the easiest semester of my life, I have cribbed for paucity of time a lot of times - and here I was in company of people working for World bank, IBM research, Intel etc who were raising kids and still finding enough time to contribute significantly to the organisation. Though I have been an active member of the organisation for about an year, and contributed as much as I could to my local chapter, I was humbled by their commitment in terms of time, money and intellect. It inspired me to make more efficient use of time, and channelise my every activity constructively to reap rich rewards.

I am passing through a phase of life where loud music and fast cars make more sense to me than any other thing in life. I feel my egoistic pursuit for self-propogation and yearning for tangible objects in life has been detrimental to my own development and maturity. A lot of friends that I have possessed of late seem to be 2-3 yrs elder to me and though I dont notice a stark difference between our behaviour, I think its high time I add age and wisdom to back my years. I thought a good start would be to abandon my PJesque style of life and start devouring books...both seem impossible to me, but then whats wrong in wishful thinking ?

Indian Classical Music

Some of the music that I listen to nowadays are Metallica, Tool, Pantera, AIC & Maiden. Under this context I found it really weird travelling 130 miles to see an Indian Classical concert. The stalwarts of the Indian Music, Shiv Kumar Sharma & Zakir Hussein were performing, neverthless I could never fathom my reason to go to the concert. Sometimes when you have lotsa time on your hands, you do end up doing some really strange things.

Its not that I have never listened to classical. I have seen a performance by Hari Prasad Chaurasia in IIT, but he was accompanied by Shivamani & Louis Banks at that show. I still remember people getting fidgety when Charusia played some long solos, although Shivamani totally compensated for such dull periods.

Coming to the Pittsburgh concert, Santoor is one of those mellowing instruments which have a really soporofic effect on you. The first piece by Shiv Kumar Sharma totally put me to sleep. However my friends, Gayatri and Archana, who seemed to have received some kinda classical training at some part of their life were all praises for the opening performance. Hiding my ignorance and lack of appreciation for art, I agreed to their views and joined them in giving a rapturous applause. But the equation soon changed with the introduction of Zakir Hussein. This was something I could relate to the amps and drums that I have so gotten use to.

The performance lasted close to 2 1/2 hrs, and audience were totally bowled over by these two maestros. One thing that people found really annoying were those small uncomfortable seats. The organisers believed that the concept of keeping the audience at the "edge of seat" means making smaller seats so, that they are always falling out.

I could have written a little more on this blog, but its already 2:00 am and I have my MS defense tomorrow at 11:00 am - besides Naved- ul Hasan has just rattled the Indian top order.

So Good Nite !!

My new Mustang