The Southern States

After spending 2 weekends away from Houston in Austin and Chicago, I was hoping to spend the last weekend in town relaxing. Thursday evening, I got a call from a friend asking me if I would like to join him on a road-trip from Florida to Houston, and I immediately jumped at the idea. 24 hrs later, courtesy one of our co-travelers, who works for an airline company, we were flying standby to Orlando. I was disappointed at not being able to rake up miles for this trip, but then again, its not too often that you book tickets 24 hrs in advance and pay only $100 for them. The plan for the trip was to pick up my friends car in Gainseville, FL and drive back 854 miles to Houston within a weekend.

Having never visited Florida, I was excited to land in Orlando. However, it was night time, and the only thing I noticed on my 2 hr ride back to Gainseville was the annoying number of toll booths in Orlando. We spent the better part of the next morning negotiating a car deal with my friend's friend. As we had no other option than buying the car and driving back, we had the bottom hand in the negotiations and were unable to reduce the price down to our satisfaction. However, this dissatisfaction was quickly downed by a feast cooked by our host and his fellow friends which included pepper chicken, egg masala, fried rice, aloo mattar and even a brownie for desert.

Its never a good idea to set out on a long drive after a sumptuous desi meal. After gulping some coffee, we handed the reins to our novice driver who also happened to be the owner of the car. The western part of Florida is lush green and the cattle filled pastures made the drive scenic. Although the terrain was devoid of any hills there were gentle slopes in the roads. More importantly thanks to big trees, unlike Texas, one's visibility did not extend forever. I had thought of Florida as a small state, but it took us almost 5 hours to reach from the centre of the state to its western corner. Key West to Pensacola, Florida actually runs 830 miles - same as driving Texas east to west on I-10!

After Florida, we finally reached the much awaited state of Alabama. The probability of 3 brown men driving through Alabama and Mississippi is pretty rare and I joked with my friends that I am glad we have tinted glasses, lest the KKK spot us. But jokes apart, I was little disappointed that we whizzed through AL and MS in dark and hence didn't get much chance to see both states. Courtesy, Corporate America, the interstate in AL seemed no different than most other states and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Mobile, AL was relatively big and the downtown even had the interstate going through a tunnel. Mississippi had some extremely long bridges over the bay and I wish to go back some day and drive the scenic byway US 90 which goes along the ocean for a long time.

The night was spent in the outskirts of New Orleans (Slidell, LA) where we got a well earned hard night's sleep. After gorging the complimentary breakfast, we braved the cold gusts and made our way to New Orleans. Just before entering the city of New Orleans, we got a chance to ride the Pontchartrain Causeway, which is definitely an engineering marvel. The cold weather caught us unawares and my friends were forced to go shopping for sweat-shirts in the French Quarters. After some good gumbo, cafe au lait, beignets and an entertaining street show, we were ready to head out of New Orleans. Louisiana is know as America's wet land, and this is very evident when you drive on interstate 10 which has multiple 10-15 mile long bridges on these swamps.

Once past Lafayette, LA, the landscape turned to the typical flat TX terrain. At this point, we were tired and just hoping to reach Houston in reasonable time for dinner. After reaching Houston, a few dosas later, I returned to my friend's garage only to find that my car had a flat tire. Luckily, this was only a slow leak and after getting a quick fix at a gas station, I was home by 10 pm on Sunday. 900 miles later, I was definitely exhausted and a quick shower later, I slept like a baby!

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

Food & Energy

I am going to pick up where I left off in the last post and throw some more food for thought from Michael Pollan's book. I have always maintained that Conserving Energy requires a more holistic approach as it is more than just the mpg of your vehicle. However, I never imagined the strong link between food industry and energy. Here are two ways by which you can conserve fossil fuels and do your bit to prevent Global Warming.

Try Vegetarianism

Every step in food chain involves inefficiency and the higher you eat on the food chain more inefficient is the process. For example, in today's industrialized world it takes a cow about 7-8 pounds of corn fat to produce 1 pound of fat. The meat industry's energy efficiency is further degraded by elaborate but essential processes like packing, freezing and transportation. Here is a detailed analysis of food energy by my friend - Transmogrifier. So am I suggesting everyone to become vegetarian? No. We probably don't have enough arable land to sustain a world full of Vegetarians. Besides, I am sure many cannot even think of a vegetarian gastronomic feast comparable to a medium rare centre cut filet mignon or southern style barbecued pork ribs.

However, would it be too much to ask to give up 1 meat meal a week? I have decided that from now on (call it my 2009 resolution), atleast once a week whenever I go out to eat, I'll choose a vegetarian option over meat. Its not a drastic change to my lifestyle, but even if everyone were to implement such a small change it would save thousands of barrels of oil annually and reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly. For those of you who think this small change is unacceptable, I would say its OK, but can you atleast make an effort to minimize the amount of meat you waste. Remember every ounce of meat wasted is like wasting 8 ounces of equivalent grain or cereal!

Eat Seasonal

When I was a kid, I remember my family would gather in the living room after dinner and my father would cut a certain fruit and serve each of us. In the summer, he would give us mangoes, in autumn grapes, in winter apples. Life was simple, you ate whatever was available in that season. I never craved for mangoes in winter nor did I crave for apples in summer. I contrast this to my present day situation where irrespective of which season I walk into the supermarket I can still get my favorite fruit. In some ways its a triumph of globalization that even in winter you can find asparagus (grown in Argentina where its summer) or Pineapples from Hawaii available in the supermarket. But as you would imagine, all these unseasonal non-local items leave behind a huge trail of fossil fuel consumption. Using the same argument as in the previous section, If we can all educate ourselves a little and try to reduce consumption of non-seasonal items by only 10% it can have a great impact on our carbon footprint.

If we can live with and accept snow in winter, fall colors in fall, and rain in monsoon would it kill us to shun asparagus on one winter meal or red meat on one hot summer day. I believe that more often than not people waste energy out of ignorance and not out of necessity. A little energy education will allow us all to continue with our lifestyles without making drastic compromises in the future.

I don't want to sound preachy, but if you liked this rant please forward it to your friends. In return, the Lord shall bestow you with some carbon credits :)

Non-Fiction

I am not a big reader. Most of my reading occurs during my travel or vacation on an aeroplane. Lately, exhaustion induced sleep and work has robbed me of the precious airtime reading. Reading has never come easy to me. I am neither a fast reader, nor do I comprehend things quickly. As reading a book represents a major effort, I expect some value addition in return. Hence over the last few years, I have been reading only non-fiction as I believe there is much more information in them than in an investigative murder thriller or a fictitious political scandal. 3 weeks of vacation in India presented me an opportunity to read these 3 (long overdue) wonderful books.

The World is Flat - Thomas Friedman

This book is an eye-opening account of how technology, globalization and certain political events have leveled the playing field for the entire world. If you are an American or West European, be afraid, be very afraid because the Indian and Chinese are going to mother you unless you start innovating and creating more value added special jobs. The book dwells on important questions like why the largest exporter to US is China, situated 8000 miles away from US, and not Mexico which is across the border and pays no taxes courtesy NAFTA and has abundant cheap labor like the Chinese. It would have been better if the 600 pages of the book had been condensed into 300, but nevertheless the book packs mountains of information.

Wise and Otherwise - Sudha Murthy

This book is a compilation of about 50 simple experiences in the author's life which teach us great lessons in various human virtues. Most importantly it shows how certain attributes are not privy to a particular class or caste of people. This humbling tale is written in a language that even a fifth grader can understand. But the same simple language packs a very powerful tale. It made me realize that once doesn't need special vocabulary and sophisticated language to make an impactful story. Being a CEO's wife, Sudha Murthy could have chosen a life of leisure involving shopping, day spas and high society partying, but she chose to dedicate her life to something more noble. I have always had great respect for her social endeavors and more importantly her vocal support for woman's liberation. Now, I respect her as a writer too. May her tribe increase!

Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan

If you live in America, and if you eat, you must read this book. I am not sure how I picked up this book, probably the title seemed interesting, but this book is definitely one of the best I have read in a long time. It dwells into the fact that how increasingly what we have for lunch and dinner is not necessarily our choice, but something which is forced upon us by profit hungry greedy corporations and government regulations. More importantly, I realized that food is no longer simple and natural, everything is chemically processed and in America , everything is CORN!! Most shocking is the fact that how we have manipulated nature and changed nature forever. If you are vegetarian this refers to the chemicals in form of fertilizers and pesticides that goes into your produce. If you are a meat eater, it only gets worse, cause courtesy corporate farming, animals today are raised on stuff which goes beyond evolution and reason. And before anyone screams organic, it might make sense to investigate the company and see how they define organic.


PS: If you read this blog and know of a good non-fiction title, I would appreciate if you could put it down in the comments section.

Indian unReal Estate

This weekend, I visited a friend of mine in Colaba in South Mumbai. This commercial part of Mumbai is infamous for its exorbitant real estate prices. I remember about 10 years ago, the commercial space in Marine drive costed Rs 22,000 sq /ft!! I am sure that things have only gotten worse since then. In Mumbai, the further south you live, the richer you are.

My friends house was about 2 blocks away from Nariman house - the sight of the infamous siege on the Jewish community on 26/11. For a 600 sq ft 1 bedroom hall kitchen, my friend and his room mates were coughing up Rs 45,000 /- a month. My friend corrected me that the real rent is actually Rs 50,000 / month but he is getting a discount because of some renovation going on in the building. Judging by the fortune he paid for the apartment, you would imagine it to be an ocean facing villa with modern amenities like swimming pool, gym and manicured garderns. Horror behold! His apartment was actually in a very busy market area, in a dilapidated building which was probably more than 40 years old and might come down any minute. Once inside his compact apartment, I immediately started comparing this with my $700/ month (Rs 34,000 month), 800 sq ft 1 BHK in Houston in a very wealthy neighborhood. If Senior Bush could live a mile away from my apartment, I am sure my neighborhood must be really good! So even if I earn in rupees, it is much easier for me to afford a place in Houston than in Mumbai!!

Throughout my trip to India, real estate had been a hot topic of discussion for me. As my trip unfolded, I first got a taste of prices in Pune, then in Madras, then in Chembur (suburbs of Mumbai) and finally the shocker in South Mumbai. The prices kept going up in the same order too. Consider this analysis - Lets assume two individuals one in Indian and one in US, both with a post graduate degree and working in the IT industry. Someone who makes Rs 10 lakhs per annum in India can be compared to someone who makes about $80,000 a year in the US. In US for 4 times his annual salary ($320,000) he can afford a nice house in suburbs of most cities with a backyard and garage. But 4 times annual salary of the person in India (Rs 40 lakhs), wont even buy you a 1 BHK in most cities. This person would have to probably invest 8-9 times his annual salary to get a decent 2-3 BHK apartment.

With no significant property to my name in India, all of a sudden I felt like a really poor man in India. I cannot imagine how I can ever start from ground zero and establish myself in a city like Mumbai. On the same lines, I wonder how first time property buyers without significant savings can afford a property? For people who did not buy property 3-4 years ago, the prices now are so steep that they will invariably have to make a comprise on the area and neighborhood. Many say that a correction is already happening, but I haven't seen any signs of it in the market.

I think this real estate price should be a top consideration for NRIs planning to return to India in near future. With 7% inflation rate things have become expensive in a hurry. The only way I could come to terms with most prices was by converting them into dollars. For the first time in 5 years, I felt that I cannot return to India yet, as I cannot afford to return!

2008

The 2008 new year was wrung in with an unshaven beard and a severe hangover from my best vacation ever - my trip to Costa Rica. However, like most of my new years, this one too was a very low key affair. In the first month of 2008, I got an interesting fortune cookie at a regular Thai lunch haunt.

'Travelling will bring new perspectives to your life this year'

A big proponent of the above theory, I could not agree with it more. I liked this fortune so much, I saved it in my wallet for a whole year. 2008 was a good mix of both personal and business travel. Earlier this year, I got a chance to travel to Portland and get a flair for the northwestern hippie culture. The biggest learning experience this year was my trip to Korea where I finally got a chance to see the Far East. Apart from work, I did a fair bit of leisure travel too. I finally got a chance to visit my dreamland - Alaska, but looking back, it still feels surreal that I was actually there. I hope to revisit it multiple times to learn more about this elusive land. Then, there was an eye opening trip through the great plains of South Dakota. However, my favorite trips were the 5 times that I got to visit Los Angeles on business. But flight was not the only travel mode. There were numerous road trips around Houston, most of them to my current second favorite city in the US - Austin.

Sometimes traveling was hectic, but most times it was fun and I have always come back learning something new. I think every trip teaches you not only about the new place and people but also teaches you about yourself. While work trips enhanced my professional experience and taught me about different work practices, my leisure trips helped me bond better with my close friends. For what its worth, all the travel finally got me Gold Elite status from Continental. This gives me more ammunition to act smug amidst my less traveled friends :)

I typed the above two paragraphs while in transit at Frankfurt airport, which by the way is definitely one of the worst airports I have seen. On my second leg of the journey from Frankfurt to Mumbai, my co-traveller was a lady from Lisbon on a 2 month trip to Goa and Southern India. As we shared similar passion for travel, we immediately hit up a lenghty conversation on various travel destinations and experiences. But travel discussions often lead to further cultural and political conversations. For instance our discussions ranged from corruption in Nigeria to the Pakistani troops build up at our border. We also pondered on interesting issues like how Mexico City can sustain a population of 20 million despite being situated at 5,800 ft above seal level. More often than not, travel always provides me the best ice-breaker and a good topic of conversation. These discussions normally make all the involved parties wiser and more aware of the world around us. I always revere well traveled people for their experience and knowledge.

But 2009 is set to begin in a much more anxious note. Amidst an uncertain future, and probably some rough times ahead, rescue comes in the form of another apt fortune cookie prophesy which I found in my dinner couple of weeks ago.

'You will be transforming a situation in your life now with a positive attitude'

This fortune has replaced the 2008 traveling prediction and probably will accompany me for the rest of the year. I guess traveling can wait a bit, I need to muster up positive attitude to handle the situations I envision coming my way shortly.

unCommon Cold

For those of you who have gotten to know me only in the last 2 years, let me tell you that I don't have a permanent nasal tone to my speech. I have been suffering from a cold for last 2 years. I am not kidding...this is true!. Some might contest that I always had a nasal tone and it has only been amplified in the last 2 years. I tend to ignore them and so should you.

I am still not sure when this cold originated. Researchers are still trying to experiment on me and my blood, urine, spit,and semen to find the exact birth date of this strain of uncommon cold. Some sources, mostly me, date it back to Nov 2006. Back then, like any other normal cold, I chose to ignore it, but it only got worse. Sometime in Dec 2006, I had to miss 2 days of work and stay home. My cold was characterized by really loud sneezing and running nose. A few preventive, over the counter, medicines cured this symptomatically. I celebrated this quick fix by driving to the Cold Sierra Nevada mountains during X-Mas and drinking crazy in Arizona over the New Year. Both these activities ensured a cold reception of 2007.

Blaming my cheap Plan B medical coverage at work, I chose not to go to a doctor. But this cold persisted well into Feb 2007. By this time I had tried at least 4 out of the 1000 different cold remedies made is US. When I finally visited India in Feb 2007, I decided to visit a doctor as it costed me only $1 to visit her and 50 cents to get prescription medicine. Screw you Plan B!!. The doctor told me that I might have a deviated septum and I should start doing Pranayanama. Convinced that this doctor was some kind of a charlatan, I chose to ignore her yogic suggestion.

However, the cold persisted and so did the sneezing. I learnt to live with about 25 sneezes a day. On days when this number would shoot up, I would get worried. But the cold had its highs and lows, and after missing another day of work in summer of 2007, I decided to terminate my friendship with this cold and visit a doctor in US. I got an expensive prescription drug and some nasal sprays. Despite burning a big hole in my wallet, the cure seemed symptomatic. A few days later the cold was back. Since then, I have tried the remaining 996 cold remedies in the country, but to no avail. Every time I break up with cold, a few days later we make up. And we make up with even louder sneezes. Sometimes, I fear sneezing in confined spaces with glass windows, lest I break them all. On a daily basis, I use the word 'excuse me' more than 'hello' and I hear the word 'bless you' more than 'hi'. Hey, I might be sick, but at least I am blessed!

Recently when I complained about this cold to a friend of mine, she asked me to visit an acupunturist. She even suggested a good doctor in Wisconsin, but I live 1500 miles away from Madison, and I am afraid of needles, so that idea never saw the daylight. One of my relatives suggested I try Ayurvedic medicine. I hope to implement this suggestion when I visit India in a few days time.

My friends tell me that I must be allergic. Since most of my affliction with cold has coincided with my stay at Houston, I boldly declare that I am allergic to the City of Houston, and allergic in more than one ways! But the malaise probably runs deeper. I am guessing this is some rare strain which is yet to be discovered by Scientists. And if that is so, I soon imagine scientists all over the world clamoring for a drop of my precious blood sample to conduct their research. I hope to happily sneeze away to riches by charging them exorbitantly for my blood sample. I can already envision using dollar bills to wipe my running nose instead of Kleenex. Hachooooo......excuse me!

Detroit Airport Fountain

There is a very interesting water fountain in concourse A of Detroit Airport. Its hard to describe it, but I will continue to do it anyways. There is a huge circular flat-top granite structure, with tiny holes at different locations through which shoot jets of water. These water jets float in the air before they find their landing spot. Their are random patterns generated, but the water jets fly like birds with different trajectories without hitting each other .The entire surface is extremely flat and yet not a drop of water spills out to the area surrounding the fountain. Capillary action takes the water stream around the contour of the structure and channel them back. Here is a link to a youtube video of the same




As I sit there sipping my latte and typing this post, I see numerous amazed passengers stop by and take pictures. I hear a small kid say, 'This is science. Science is cool'. But its not just kids, there are grown ups who stop to admire this fountain as well. I see an old guy going in circles taking a video of the fountain. I see a teenager who tries to mess with the fountain by blocking one of the holes and stifling the jet, only to find that the lower half of his jeans is now completely wet. I mutter to myself 'Serves you right...you brat!'

This is not the first time I am seeing this fountain. I vividly remember that eventful day in August 2003 when I first landed in US. As if my arrival wasn't eventful enough, the entire North East suffered a power-grid failure the same evening causing a blackout that canceled all flights from Detroit. On that day, anxiety got the better of me, and I never spent enough time to admire this fountain. After being stranded for 6 hours at DTW, our flight finally took off to State College. As I sit here at Detroit Airport on this Thursday morning, it brings back a lot of memories from that young nervous evening. Since then, whenever I fly through Detroit, I pay homage to this fountain.

So if you ever happen to fly through Detroit Airport, take a hike to concourse A and see this fountain. While at that, walk through the funky musical tunnel connecting Concourse A to Concourse B & C. Off all the domestic airports I have been to in US, I would definitely rank Detroit Wayne Airport as the best!

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.

Bottled Thoughts

'IKE'
'Letter to I-Phone Users'
'Human Nature II'
'Short Story'
'Texas Rediscovered'
'Airport'

.....Blogging will resume in November

Country Count

In many ways, traveling to Canada felt like traveling to the 51st state of America. Reality didn't hit me tell I had a rather unpleasant exchange with the guy behind the Foreign Exchange counter at baggage claim at the Toronto airport.

In a very nonchalant fashion, I asked him, " So they accept American Dollars here right?"
Piqued at my arrogance, he reprimanded, "You are in a different country sir. We have Canadian Dollars here. Look at the exchange rate. American Dollar is weak".
With humility restored, I slipped 5 greens to him and asked him to give me some colorful Canadian in return.

The concept of "Count" lives in a very small friend circle of mine. I don't even know how this got started in the first place. I guess one of us counted the states visited in US and that that set the tone for rivalry. Given my usual bragging ways, I am willing to bet that it was probably me! The early leaders in this Count game were me and my friend Shiva, and we decided to draw the framework for what constituted a State Count - You can successfully add a state to your Count, if you have driven through some part of it and set foot on it. To avoid confusing interpretations, we mandated that a gas station halt is a must for State Count. Airports were diligently kept away from State Counts.

In jest, we would abuse this Count, by starting parallel ridiculous counts like,
City Count - the name says it all...
Honk Count - number of honks received while driving (reflection of poor driving skills)
Gentleman Count - An acknowledgment received from the driver in front when you yield, thus signifying your gentleman like driving skills.
...hell ya! On some drunken nights, I remember keeping tab on even Piss Counts!!

However, the State Count has weathered the test of time, and kind of stood testament to the healthy competition as well as personal desires. With my State Count at 28, probably 28 of the prettiest, it seems like a mere formality to increase it to 50. Some of my friends might have overtaken me(??) and some lag far behind. But I sincerely hope each one of them gets to see the beauty of all the 50 states. However, like most things in life, dreams need to grow and the State Count is soon to be supplanted by something bigger - Country Count. But this time its not a game of oneupmanship, its merely a personal goal of visiting 100 countries. With only 10% accomplished towards this mighty goal, it might seem preposterous to suggest such a huge number. But I feel it would be a big shame if I were not fortunate enough to fulfill this goal in my life-time.

Last Paragraph deleted due to popular demand.

Missed Connection

"Is this elevator going down"
" Yeah it.. it is" I stuttered, not because it was unusual to see such a pretty lady early in the morning, but because I was tensed about the test.

"Are you here to give a test", she quizzed.
"Yup GMAT"
"Oh...me too....I am so nervous".
She probably repeated that a couple of times, but she seemed far more relaxed than me.

Under normal circumstances, with the ice-broken, I would have continued into a meaningful discussion with this pretty lady. But today, I was tense, and was swallowing half the words I spoke and decided to limit my words to a diplomatic minimum. However, she seemed more interested in striking a conversation. As we settled in the hallaway waiting for the doors to open, she queried
"So where do you work?"
Blah...Blah..Blah..we went on for couple more minutes

Once inside the test room, she was ticket number 7 and I was number 8. So we waited our turn to be signed in and ushered into the test room, and I made myself comfortable in a seat next to her. After a few minutes of random conversation, I started staring at the passport she was holding in her hand.
"Are you wondering where I am from? I am from Ecuador"
I showed her mine, "I am from India".
I discovered more commonalities too. She had come to US in the same year as I did. 2003.

Our merry chatter was broken by the Test administrator, who yelled out "No. 7"
I patted her back and said, "Good luck"
She turned back, " Wish you the same. I think you would be gone before I finish the test"

Coincidentally we ended up sitting in adjacent cubicles. Through her fervent typing, I knew she was in the same section as I was in - Essays. Hour later, I opted for my first 10 minute break. As I turned the corner from the restroom, I see her smiling in front of me. Hmmm..our breaks had coincided.
"How were the essays?" she asked.
"Well..I used up 20 minutes to write them, and relaxed the next 10 minutes. I don't like typing on random topics. I heard you type a lot"
"Yeah...I tried"
..a few words later, she bid adieu and excused herself to the restroom.

I went back to write my Quant section, and as I was poring over my Question # 1, I could hear her tip toe behind me into her cubicle. 75 minutes later, after exercising my brain with algebra and geometry, I contently opted for my second 10 minute break. Again, I went to the restroom and hoped she would follow suit, as her timing should have been very close to mine...and as I turned the corner, it was no surprise that I saw her again. She was still smiling, so hope things were going well with her.This time, I was real nervous, because I was 75 minutes away from my score.
"Hey, looks like we are working on the same schedule." I remarked
She smiled and probed, "How did your Quant section go?"
"It went OK. But I am very worried about the verbal. I hope I do well"

We chatted for a couple more minutes, and once again she excused herself to the restroom and we wished each other well. 75 minutes later, I was satisfied to finish the test, but nervous to click NEXT and check my score. Thats when I heard her hurry behind me...this time she had finished the test few minutes earlier....strange I thought! Relieved with my effort, I took the printout of the scoresheet and tried to get to the parking lot as soon as possible. But she was nowhere to be found. As my empty eyes gazed at the few remaining cars on the rooftop, I noticed that she had gone - probably dejected by her score, cause I was very confident that she would have waited otherwise. But I hope she did well, she was a nice person, she definitely made my day better.

Alaska I - The Mighty One!

It was about 10:00pm at night, but the Alaskan sun now hovered at an annoying location and blinded me as I drove towards our destination for the night - Talkeetna. As I squinted my eyes to look straight ahead, I saw an umbrage of something bigger than I had ever seen before. This giant shadow dwarfed the other tiny mountains in the front, and reached for the sky. Having never laid my eyes on something that enormous, my brain refused to believe that the outline was that of something rising from the ground. An hour later, with the help of a local map and an I-phone totting tech savvy friend, I convinced myself that this was not a figment of my imagination, but it was the tallest mountain in North America - Mt. McKinley!!

But my flabbergasted mind returned again, close to midnight, to convince itself of the inevitability. As I pulled over at the vista point, I knew I was looking at something extraordinary. Mt. McKinley rose about 4 miles from the ground, in a pyramid like fashion, almost touching the sky. Despite being 100 miles away, the size of the mountain was unmistakable! Now, the mountain was mocking me for getting excited earlier in the day at 5,000+ ft snow clad peaks. Alaska had always been a dream place for me, and for the first 2 days it seemed surreal that I was actually here. But the sight of Mighty One finally reminded me of the special land I was in, and would turn out to be defining point of the trip. The previous day I had seen grizzly bears cross road in front of me, I had seen moose and caribou gallop, porcupine scamper, and dall sheep graze on mountain tops. But no image would turn out to be as striking as the sight of the Mighty One. Mt. McKinley finally put things in perspective for me and definitely turned out to be the defining image of the trip.

Though they themselves undergo little change, Mountains actually have chartered the course of human history. They give rise to rivers, alter weather patterns and direct human migration. They establish the boundaries of cities and human civilization and constantly remind us of their importance. Visible for miles, they represent the final frontier for most human ambitions. The conquest to their summit, in many cases, is the ultimate test of human will power and achievement. Unperturbed by seasons, they stand guard and look down upon the world, fondly, and reflect upon their legacy.

Critics have called the Big Sur coast of central California as the greatest meeting of land and sea. I doubt if any of them have ever driven along the Seward Highway. Nestled between mountains and running parallel to the vast Alaskan water-body, this has to be the most scenic highway I have ever driven on. As one approaches the town of Seward, one is accompanied by the green mirror like waters of Kenai lake reflecting the snow off the towering mountains surrounding it. The town of Seward itself ensconces itself in the shadows of might snow clad peaks rising from the surface of the Resurrection Bay. Green chilly waters, and sheer jagged peaks make a match made in heaven, and Seward provides this feature galore.

Through my limited exposure to geography and television, I have always been fascinated by Fjords. Cruising along the Resurrection bay on that cold, rough Alaskan day I felt like my dream had finally come true. I hope someday I am fortunate enough to visit the Scandinavian Fjord lands of Norway, and the eight wonder of the world in New Zealand - Milford Sound. Most people were excited by the abundant wildlife in the sea; and I too, was bamboozled by humpback whales, defying gravity and dynamics, and leaping 10 ft above the ocean floor. But at the foot of these eternal mountains all the wildlife and the merry humans on the boat that day, represented only a minuscule passage of time. The Tall Ones had sheltered and entertained life for thousands of years, and will continue to do the same for many a millennia to come, but in a world replete with change, the constancy of their existence stood in stark contrast!!

Salmon Run, Here I Come!

Trip Blueprint

Jun 27th - Friday
Arrive at midnight @ Anchorage
Crash at Travelodge

Jun 28th - Saturday
Pick Up Car
Shop at Local Grocery store
Drive to Denali Natl Park - Sightsee Enroute.
Camp @ Riley Creek

Jun 29th -Sunday
Wonder Lake Shuttle - All day
Camp @ Riley Creek

June 30th - Monday
Sightsee Denali Natl Park
One Short Hike
Crash @ Talkeetna International Hostel

July 1st - Tuesday
Drive towards Glenallen
See Matunuska Glacier
Sightseeing along Glen Hwy
Camp @ Lake Louise Rec Area or Wrangell-Elias Park

July 2nd - Wednesday
Drive to Kenai Fjords National Park
Sightsee along Seward Hwy
Check out the Bore Tide, if possible
Detour to Whittier
Drive to Exit Glacier
Find a Campground near Seward

July 3rd - Thursday
Major Marine 8 hour Cruise
Camp @ Seward (Same site as above)

July 4th - Friday
Kayak @ Kenai
Drive to Homer Spit - Towns on Sterling Highway
Detour through scenic Skilak Lake road
Stay @ Homer Spit Campground

July 5th - Saturday
Spend some time near Homer
Drive back to ANC
Chugach Mtns state Park, if possible
Crash @ 26th Street Hostel

July 6th - Sunday
Flattop Mtn Trail in the morning
Return Car - Rent bikes and do the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail
Ship Creek Viewing platform
Fly out of ANC

GOP - The Gas & Oil Party

President Bush has done it once again. Not satisfied with the havoc wrecked in 8 years of one of the most forgettable presidency in the history, he has decided to take one last salvo at pandering to an oil addict country by proposing to raise the ban on offshore drilling. Worse, he is also debating the ban on the Artic National Wildlife Refuge(ANWR). Only a few months before the election, the GOP is trying to fool the common man by giving a false illusion of falling gas prices and a future with copious oil flow. However, one only needs to look past the veneer of this preposterous idea to realize that this move only mirrors the current government's denial of the inevitable.

After a long time, the United States was finally taking positive toddler steps towards energy conservation, as they drove 1.4 bn fewer miles in April, while SUV and truck sales plunged 36%. Ford and GM closed their truck manufacturing plants, while hybrid sales hit new highs. The sudden surge in prices had also inspired countries like India to increase its gas prices by 10%, and China - the second biggest consumer in the world - to increase its prices by 20% to curtail demand. But it would take only one foolish legislation to negate this hardwork, and I am hoping that sanity makes comeback before this idea gets a strong backing by the beltway boys.

Even if the ban on offshore drilling were to be lifted, it would take 5-6 years, if not more, for the first drop of oil to hit the pumping station. It would do nothing to alleviate the current supply of crude oil. Free market Capitalists argue that this would bring down the futures price of crude oil and subsequently drive the gas prices further down. But in todays politically charged atmosphere, it just takes one Nigerian militant blowing up an oil pipeline or a crazed Iranian president's jingoistic speech to drive the prices back to their inflated levels. In short, a potential for increased supply is no guarantee that the crude prices will continue to stay down. The demand will continue to outstrip the supply, and the only solution is to pursue a dedicated approach to lower the demand. Everything else is a mere hogwash!

Depending on whom you listen to, the estimates of crude from ANWR and most of continental offshore will only suffice to meet 2-3 years of US domestic gasoline requirement. A major assumption here is that India and China will not continue to grow their local demand and eat away into this share. So once we are done with this 2-3 year regime (which by the way would happen 10 years from now), the problem would only revisit us. In fact some reports cite that when this additional oil will be available (say 10 years from now), it would only drop the gas prices by about 3-4 cents. It would do absolutely nothing to wean the world of oil addiction, and would only prolong the inevitable by a couple of years.

Instead of giving summer gas tax breaks, the government needs to start investing that money in alternative energy and giving subsidies to those progressive minded individuals who make conscious attempts to reduce their non-renewable energy resource consumption. Don't mistake me to be a far left liberal activist, I am not against digging in the ANWR. A few moose dying to reduce my gas prices doesn't alarm me. Besides technology has advanced to a state where we can safely drill and consume gas without harming the immediate surroundings in the process. The best example was the almost negligible spillage caused by the hurrican Katrina. But the decision to increase current oil supply while not investing enough resources to find an alternative is like subsiding the price of cocaine to a cocaine addict. Instead of making it harder for him to buy cocaine, and curing his addiction, the decision would only please him today by providing a quick fix, while conveniently ignoring the real malaise. The only solution to lower gas prices, is to raise it!