Surprising Facts

I was surprised to know -

Daily Planet is a licensed brothel in Melbourne, Australia. It entered the news in 2003 when it became one of the first brothels listed on a stock exchange. The brothel has won the Australian Adult Industry Award for "Best Brothel Overall" in the years 2004, 2005 and 2006.[1]
Prostitution has been observed in nonhuman animal species, notably in Adelie penguins and in hangingflies.” Penguins are turning to prostitution. But instead of doing it for money, Antarctic dolly-birds are turning tricks to get rocks off their menfolk.” Reports BBC.

Marijuana is an Indian contribution to the world – “Cannabis sativa indica.” J
I am reproducing a piece from http://www.thc-ministry.net/untoldstory/hemp_5.html that may shed some light on why/how marijuana was banned in the US?
“For the first 162 years of America's existence, marijuana was totally legal and hemp was a common crop. But during the 1930s, the U.S. government and the media began spreading outrageous lies about marijuana, which led to its prohibition. Some headlines made about marijuana in the 1930s were: "Marijuana: The assassin of youth." "Marijuana: The devil's weed with roots in hell." "Marijuana makes fiends of boys in 30 days." "If the hideous monster Frankenstein came face to face with the monster marijuana, he would drop dead of fright." In 1936, the liquor industry funded the infamous movie titled Reefer Madness. This movie depicts a man going insane from smoking marijuana, and then killing his entire family with an ax. This campaign of lies, as well as other evidence, have led many to believe there may have been a hidden agenda behind Marijuana Prohibition.
Shortly before marijuana was banned by The Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, new technologies were developed that made hemp a potential competitor with the newly-founded synthetic fiber and plastics industries. Hemp's potential for producing paper also posed a threat to the timber industry (see New Billion-Dollar Crop). Evidence suggests that commercial interests having much to lose from hemp competition helped propagate reefer madness hysteria, and used their influence to lobby for Marijuana Prohibition. It is not known for certain if special interests conspired to destroy the hemp industry via Marijuana Prohibition, but enough evidence exists to raise the possibility.
After Alcohol Prohibition ended in 1933, funding for the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (now the Drug Enforcement Administration) was reduced. The FBN's own director, Harry J. Anslinger, then became a leading advocate of Marijuana Prohibition. In 1937 Anslinger testified before Congress in favor of Marijuana Prohibition by saying: "Marijuana is the most violence causing drug in the history of mankind." "Most marijuana smokers are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes." Marijuana Prohibition is founded on lies and rooted in racism, prejudice, and ignorance. Just as politicians believed Harry J. Anslinger to be a marijuana expert in 1937, many people still believe law enforcement officials are marijuana experts. In reality, law enforcement officials have no expert knowledge of marijuana's medical or health effects, but they do represent an industry that receives billions of tax dollars to enforce Marijuana Prohibition.
Before the government began promoting reefer madness hysteria during the 1930s, the word marijuana was a Mexican word that was totally absent from the American vocabulary. In the 1930s, Americans knew that hemp was a common, useful, and harmless crop. It is extremely unlikely anyone would have believed hemp was dangerous, or would have believed stories of hemp madness. Thus, the words marijuana and reefer were substituted for the word hemp in order to frighten the public into supporting Hemp Prohibition. Very few people realized that marijuana and hemp came from the same plant species; thus, virtually nobody knew that Marijuana Prohibition would destroy the hemp industry.”

Imagination of a crazy mind

What if in the year 2009, there is another military coup in Pakistan?

What if it’s guided by the Islamic faction within the armed forces of Pakistan?

What if Pakistan becomes the new Taliban? And impose the sharia law and ban women education and ban people from using cars for private purposes and prevent modernization?
What if they legally bomb all the non Islamic institutions and archeological sites?

What if the media is banned and religious institutions inside Pakistan started calling US, India and Israel as the evil empires of the world?

What if India provides evidence of WMD and nuclear materials going to the hands of the jihadies?

What if India Invades Pakistan with US support?

What if US support India because they become their only friend in the South Asia?

What if the Indian government uses the war to rekindle the nationalism amongst Indians?

What if Indians make a convincing win in the war?

What if Indians get over with their slave mentality?

For all the above to happen, the Pakistan economy should collapse badly because of the US war with Afghanistan. Then it would be a great opportunity for Pakistan’s military leaders who have religious sentiments to blame the west for all the evil and take over.

No wonder Barack Obama talks about economic help to Pakistan and Afghanistan?

But why would BO seek peace when war is good for the US economy. I would safely assume it’s the timing and the commitment of the troops to another war but if India is willing to provide foot soldiers US would be more than happy to sell fighter jets and bombers to India.

Well Indians would eat shit for a while but at least will regain some self esteem. The war with Pakistan would help us shed our slave mentality, the disease that we have been suffering for over 1000 years because of repeated foreign rule.

India fighting Pakistan, Isn’t that brother’s fighting each other? I am just reminded of another Kurukshetram but this time is it going to be Rawalpindi? Time will tell us.

Greed?

The militant attacks in Bombay blatantly show yet again how vulnerable the world has become to the terrorists. The blame game has already begun. Some blame the Pakistanis and some blame the Muslim fundamentalists and some blame the entire Muslim community. Looking at all these things couple of questions arise in my mind. Can we stop these kinds of crazy acts of violence? Is it just to blame people of only one faith for all the maladies in the society?

Evolution follows a simple path of survival of the fittest. It holds good for anything or everything because it is just stating the obvious. In the evolution of human species from animals we took some of the instincts that are inherent in an animal. However we rationalize things that we do unlike animals. We carry the DNA to resist changes in the environment to survive. This basic instinct that is carried in our genes through our evolution from animals to humans is the very source of many problems in the world.

When humans were primitive hunters they fought for their food locally. When the availability of food became scarce because of some natural causes they started traveling and encountered other people. If the new place had abundant food for the new people the society embraced them if not fighting erupted eventually making it the first territorial wars. Even at this stage it was primarily for food.

Humans evolved further and they started exploiting the land not just for food but for other things too. They became greedy and wanted more. This made them to form gangs and groups and then armies in later days. The more they exploited the land, the natural resources, the more they became violent. This is where culture comes into picture. Some people understood the reason behind this and formed strict rules to avoid over exploitation of the natural resources. My speculation is even castes in the Indian society formed because of this reasons.

I would call caste system as the first sociological experiment of the humans. Only one set of people can till the soil for food. Ancient people understood the balance in the ecosystem. People had high regards for the nature, respected it and preserved it. Many rich people intentionally took to poverty after certain age. People praised minimalism. In someway or the other the difference between the rich and the poor was smaller. This brought peace and stability. Territorial wars were fought when people were either unhappy with the over exploiting ruler or severe drought. Sometimes just to keep the army engaged and well trained. In most cases rulers spared civilians as the common people simply don’t care as long as their daily needs are met.

Over a period of time, population growth couldn’t be controlled and availability of limited land made kings to come up with new ideologies to tackle the growing anger amongst people. In my opinion, Buddha who was a king tried the next sociological experiment, “What if everyone becomes a minimalist.” Well his intention was really high. He taught nothing new but dusted off some of the old books with some clarifications and summarizing few detailed rules. Did it succeed? Well at least initially, the experiment proved great in infighting in the country. What it failed to see is the foreign invasion.

The local ideology and social balance started shaking when foreigners couldn’t adapt to the local ideologies and found it tough to understand. The foreigners felt comfortable ruling people whom they understood. So they started the third sociological experiment,” Conversion”. Did they succeed? Like Buddha at least for a short stint in time they definitely had takers.

The new age sociological experiments like Communism, Atheism, etc are also classic examples of how human kind has defined and redefined itself to avoid distorting the balance in nature. Every time some great leader with great intentions comes to make a difference in the society, it goes off balance.

The very reason for this imbalance is the very unpredictable nature of this universe. We, humans are just part of it and we just behave in the same unpredictable manner like this universe. People follow religion or any ideology for that matter that is comfortable to them, mainly to rationalize their incompetence or their losses and sometimes just to kill boredom.

Whenever the nature gets exploited more the very creation of nature, the humans, form the destructive source to bring it back to equilibrium. Today’s world is a classic example of greed. With greed comes utmost poverty and destruction.

In conclusion, to answer my question, we cannot blame one religion or the other for all these deadly attacks but to blame the instability in the society in general. I am confident it cannot be totally prevented but the intensity can be diluted by another sociological experiment to control greed. We need a strong body to fight an infection. What our country needs is a medicine first to improve our resistance to foreign forces.

You look Familiar

Off late I have started using five sentences more frequently.

1) Let me think about it

2) Give me sometime to think about it

3) I think I am not interested.

4) Take it easy

Or the clichéd 5) let me get back to you.

All the above statements technically have only one meaning when it comes to marketing – Just F*** Off. To me Just F*** off is as good as the other three.

I like people marketing their products and ideas. I sincerely think that marketing is important and it is a win-win situation in life. The benefit that I get out of someone marketing a product/service is the knowledge of the same. What I don’t like is people cheating or exaggerating more than what they are in the pretext of selling an idea or a product.

Honesty is all I expect from any one when trying to sell something to me. If he is honest in what he says and if I feel that he believes in what he says I would definitely give it a try. I get turned off if people try to doubt my intelligence and treat me like joke.

Couple of years back when I was eating in one Indian restaurant in Stamford, I befriended the owner. I like that guy because of his brutal honesty. He never asked for my suggestion about his food. One day I casually asked him if he ever ate in his restaurant implying the degrading quality of the foodJ. He apologized to me and told me that he himself is in fact planning to change the chef. He said, he wants to serve quality food for the price we pay and he is trying to bring good cooks from India. He requested me to continue to come and give him my honest feedback in private. I really liked his honesty. I kept going to the same place until I was there in that town.

As I moved out of that town couple of months back, last weekend I went to this new Indian restaurant. If I am going with my friends I normally leave it to their choice and just eat and get out without commenting about the quality of the food. I try my best to avoid giving criticism unless asked. This time I went all by myself. I read reviews praising this place as one of the best in the country. My expectation was already very high for this place before stepping in. It’s a north Indian restaurant and menu featured the typical Indian restaurant in America menu. Not one item differed from the standard list. I had absolutely no surprises on that front. I ordered an appetizer, a soup and an entry. It sucked. I was very angry already because I couldn’t complete even one dish that they brought. I didn’t show my anger or pass any comment as the server was a polite guy and he asked me if I want any desert. I rarely eat desert with my meal, so I turned it down. I don’t know if the server was ashamed of the food himself or he had something else to do he didn’t bring my check but the owner brought it to my table. The food was flagrantly highly priced even by the Indian restaurant standards. I kept quiet and simply paid it by cash. When he brought back my change he asked for my suggestion. I smiled and in a joking way told him that I am hungry that I have to find another good restaurant now to eat. Man you should see his face. It turned red. He started defending his restaurant saying that it is the best and so on. I absolutely had no patience to listen to him; I simply told him to “Take it easy” and got out of that place. Only I knew what I actually meant.


I don’t want to start saying things about Amway; I know I am not the only one to run if I see anyone anywhere associated with that. J. Have you seen them introducing themselves to an absolute stranger? ‘Hey, you look familiar’, ‘Are you related to the guy from Bangalore’, ‘did you go the university in that town or the near by town?’, ‘you work in the company that he works’, ‘I want to share a business plan with you’ or the regular ‘you look familiar’ lines. These days there are clones to it. ‘Hey me and my friends are starting a networking site’, ‘Are you into orkut or face book?’ One day I surprised a guy in Wal-Mart. A desi guy out of blue came smiling towards me and said ‘You must be from Chennai’, I smiled and replied ‘and you must be from Amway’. He was embarrassed and surprised at the same time. I told him my theory on how to spot an Amway guy, he just couldn’t stop laughing or pretending to laugh. We had a cup of coffee after that in the near by shop. After 15 minutes he invited me to his diwali get together with his friends. I told him that I would like to but his Amway buddies there would bore me to death. He couldn’t hide his disappointment and threw in the traditional sales pitch. Guess what did I say?’ Give me sometime to think about it’. I gave the wrong phone number as usualJ. Praise the lord for giving those lines. Amen J

View on Marriage?

My friend asked me a question today, “What’s your view on Marriage”. He warned me not to bull shit and write what I really think. This is one of the topics that hit me more often these days than it used to be in the past. It is probably because all my friends are married or getting married now. All marriages fall into one of the following categories below.

1) Boredom – Guy lives longer outside their family and eventually after getting bored living all by themselves find a girl to bore all their life.
2) Watch Dogs – Guy needs someone to take care of their family, parents, etc.
3) So-called Love marriage – Guy meets a girl when he was in school or college or office(S). He had been flirting with her for a while and now he wants to marry her to have sex. If he had already screwed her, then he marries her out of compulsion from her.
4) Calling-bell syndrome – Even we don’t answer calling bells in our home sometime but there are guys whose pants don’t stand on their hip when they reach a certain age. This is purely dependent on the caste, community, and place and of course family. The reason given for this syndrome is always the same “ We won’t find a girl in our community after certain age” or “They might think you have a health problem”
5) Nagging – Some parents nag their kids so much that they are forced to marry. The reason given by parents, ‘You should be responsible’, ‘I should see a grandchild’, ‘I should see your marriage before I die’, ‘You are not coming home properly/eating properly, etc’. To me all this is bullshit. The real reason behind this is just social pressure.
6) Rhetoric style – Some people start their married life in a rhetoric fashion. They justify their marriage by asking ‘What did I do without marrying?’ or ‘I don’t see a reason why not to marry’, etc

To me the Billy Crystal style(“When Harry met Sally”) – “When I know you are the one whom I want to spend the whole life with, I want it to start right away’, ‘I like your eyes twitch when you look at me like I am an idiot’ and all those lines are just movie ending monologues.

We live in a society full of dogmas and social pressures. People have so many stigmas and tend to stick to it even more when they grow older. The traditional word of conservatism is sometime used in appropriately and equated to grouse parochialism. People find one or more of the above reasons mentioned to rationalize the things they do. To me it’s like finding a cure for all diseases with one pill. Marriage is a pain reliever that can just alleviate the pain for a while and cannot cure it. Marriage to me is a social dogma. It’s a license to have sex and procreate. We do everything like animals. We eat, shit, sleep and think (animals think too). Animals live as pack or herds. We call it society. Animals like humans defend their territory too. Humans are just animals who fail to realize they are one of those animals and form complex relationships unlike animals. I agree that we should have emotions (again an animal instinct) but to show emotions (any kind of emotion for that matter. Sex is definitely one of them) only to a married individual seems so ridiculous to me. I therefore don’t believe in the modern institution of marriage and living with only one individual all my life. If I have to be contend with just one I may as well be contended with none. If not, why should I put a limit to myself by marrying just once?

To me Marriage is one of the best hypocrisy human species has created. Can I escape from it? Well I have to answer that rhetorically by asking if I have escaped any of the other hypocrisies.

Silence is Golden

“We can meet at 9 am”, I can over hear Gene telling his customer in my adjacent cubicle. Gene worked on his real estate business at office hours. He is a trained Civil Engineer who worked on his engineering career when he came from Soviet Union in the early eighties to the US. He worked on that career until he got his green card when he finally switched to computer programming at the height of the computer boom. Gene speaks English with a thick east European accent. Having lived in the US for almost 20 years hasn’t changed his accent or his ways of thinking.

Although I knew him only for a short period of time then (this is almost 6 years back) he inspired me with his outlook on life. For everything under the sun he has an alternate theory. We synched very well as I have my own take on everything that happens from war to poverty to mundane activities of life. It was him who practically proved me that beliefs are hard to change. Although I am a skeptic in general I usually hurt people in arguments and discussions when it comes to disagreement. It could be because of my age too (I was 24). I was childish in many aspects. He pointed out without hurting me or advising me. It’s hard to explain that but easy when we start taking even the sweetest thing with a pinch of salt, he said. He taught me to laugh at myself and brush aside the human ironies. He really made me see everyone as equal.

I remember one incident when “big P” our senior VP got snubbed by him on a cold winter night. We were standing in the cold night jumpstarting the car when big P came and spoke to us about some project details. He simply snubbed him by making fun of his untimely conversation and laughing at him. Big P couldn’t hide his embarrassment to me, he simply smiled and without another word bid good night to us and left the spot. I was literally shocked and couldn’t control my laughter. I laughed out my stomach when Big P left the spot. I didn’t want to be rude you know. :-)

I asked Gene how he could do that to him. Did he feel very difficult to say that to him because he is high up in the food chain? He answered with a simple NO. I was still not convinced at his reaction as I was not used to this. I am known to sucking people who are older to me even though they might say stupidest of things and bore me to death.

He told me that humans like animals have to be approached in an appropriate way. ‘You don’t attack a horse on its back do you?’ he said

The incident made me think. The introspection gave me more clarity in handling things. I slightly changed my approach to all the challenges that I came across. I started putting my ideas in a more practical and politically clear tone. I asked people’s ideas even before going to the meeting. I postponed meetings if my hand in the table is slightly less and worked with individual team members to come to a common ground. I tried not to invite people who don’t get along with each other to the same meeting. I liberally gave credit to everyone. I stood back and let others lead when people didn’t like my idea or if my ideas didn’t work. I followed them without any grudge.

Guess what, a year later people told me that I am more matured now and prepared to take up more responsibilities. The fact is the year before I worked my ass out and didn’t see one promotion but that year I saw 2 promotions in the same year. It’s all about consensus building and proceeding towards the goal.

I see that people who are successful and happy are people who can build consensus not who are just brilliant. I believe there should be enough brilliance to understand and enough humility to hear what others say. I face challenges in my work and life everyday. Some gives me good stress and some really really bad. Although I don’t know the outcome of everything that I do but I do know one thing, I will always approach everything with confidence and a sense of doing my karma, above all with a self deprecating humor. Like how Gene would say, good or bad take it with a pinch of salt.

These days I hardly talk like how I used to be. I simply write when I feel like and listen all other time.

Yesterday’s debate

Political debates have become more like sitcoms. They are well scripted and candidates just stick to their talking points. Obama sounded more like a constructive socialist or what I would call as free market socialist. McCain sounded like a capitalist with no common sense. He sounded like a typical villain of the communist movies. Even when everyone is getting hurt he doesn’t want to lower taxes for the working class people and worse he adds fuel by saying that he will cut on the capital gain taxes. I have no clue about what that lingo mean but from what the experts say only millionaires gain by that tax cut. I am no expert in economics, so I don’t want to ramble about it. The point is even to a dumb audience like me, the candidates’ ideological difference is clear. Obama has the bottom up approach and McCain has the top-down approach. McCain says government will cut taxes for the companies, there by helping the companies to generate more jobs. Obama on the other hand says people should be taxed according to their wealth. Rich should be taxed more and poor should be taxed less. He also says government should undertake public works in tough times to generate more jobs.
The print media is complaining that both candidates are not specific about their priorities and are not accepting realities. The intelligentsia is lashing out at both candidates for not explaining how they will fund their programs and balance their budget. The more I read about politics and economy in the western print media the more I detest the absence of press freedom in India. How many times have we heard about politicians discussing economy in India in an intelligent manner? Indian elections are fought more on cultural grounds as there is no distinguishing economic policy difference in whoever comes to power. All the cultural stereotypes that exist are primarily created by the politicians’ partisan ideas to divide the people and win elections. Religious and Caste politics are examples of senseless society that cares less for community. Power abuse, corruption, neglect and an iron curtain bureaucracy is all we have left in our country. We have abused our democracy so much that I simply detest democracy in a country like ours. If we don’t control the chaotic nature of our country by reforming ourselves, I strongly believe that we will cease to exist as a single nation.

Friendship?

Yoga is a “nityakarma”, writes my friend in his new blog. He boldly states the wisdom of the sages that it is a duty that one has to treat himself with, everyday.

Man, I know this guy all through my sane life. I have always remembered him as a principled guy. The guy not only just reads a book but really understands and follows the good portions of it. When we were in school he was sincere and a ritualistic guy. I saw subtle changes in him when he was in college, and, the years after that he turned more inwards I guess. The one fact about him remains the same over the years, he being a karma yogi. It gives him the strength and the courage to do anything under the sun. Often times I wonder where in the world he gets so much energy to do these things that he does.

My friend could draw a cartoon in few minutes when we were kids. I used to be so proud of him and tell my parents about it then. To this date whenever I mention his name my mom asks me if he is drawing cartoons these days. I tell my mom that he’s a painter and not into cartoons anymore.

I saw an advertisement for the ridiculous program by Paris Hilton called “BFF”- Best friends for ever. In this program contestants participate to become her best friends. She conducts various competitions and finally selects a person who she can hang out with. First of all the show is totally retarded not because of its idea but because the way it is taken. Secondly I find it strange that people do apply to these competitions to be friends with her.

My initial reaction to it was ‘Com’On, don’t insult my good friends’ but on a careful second thought I think friendship is tough to define and it doesn’t have a common definition across the board. Every one defines it in his/her own way. I have asked people about this and quite honestly I have heard some strange answers. Sometimes it is quite contradicting too. They range from people saying that money spoils friendship to some saying money is the only way to show true friendship, and, some saying one who drinks with them to one who prevents them from drinking and so on. Some guys really felt embarrassed when I asked them this question. J. Almost all the girls answered quiet honest for this question. They spoke right from their heart. Well at least I felt that way. Some people would want my opinion first. To those I would say that my definition is more of old school, “Uyir kudupaan thozhan” (Friend is one who is worth giving your life for). Whoever asked my response either made fun of my answer or said they were not like me.

Honestly if I put the pedestal so high even I wouldn’t qualify to be anybody’s best friend. So the above line would be possible in movies but in my short life so far I have come to realize that people come and go but very few leave memories to cherish for your life. Some continue throughout your life and even by their simple mundane activity make you proud of them and happy about them. To me one such person is a true friend and I am sure at least I have one BFF who practices and writes about “Yoga”.

Lessons from Bharatham

I was reading about Dhritharashtra’s repentance about Duryodhana’s deeds in my daily pages of the Mahabharatham. Dhritharashtra goes to the public and tells them how much his son has sinned and asks for their forgiveness. One person is nominated by the public to speak for them. The common man praises Duryodhana, the king as a noble person who put people before himself. He goes on and on about his good deeds and finally says that he lost his Kingdom and himself not because he was unjust to the public but he was unjust to another King. The great sage Vyasa comes here and tells them that no one is to be blamed here and it’s only the time that has caused these miseries. No one is a winner in this war. The pandavas won this war at a huge cost. The war costed them almost everything including their sons. This draws a beautiful parallel with American war on Iraq. Is Sadaam the Duryodhana of the war who did good things for his people but caused great distress for America? Is bush the Arjuna in the war?
I know, I know the very thought of W being compared to Arjuna might make everyone laugh. In Mahabharatham, Duryodhana is considered as the nature of “Kali” (Destruction, Greed, Jealous, etc) and Yudhistra as the personification of Truth himself. In modern times everyone has qualities more like Duryodhana rather than any other characters in the Bharatham.
In conclusion, I think in this world the only truth will be destruction in some form or the other (W or S it doesn’t matter. I think both are politicians and people are the losers). I am not saying because of my pessimism but with a sense of rationalism that makes me see things as they are and not judge anyone by their actions as the intent behind every action has become questionable.

Sense of Humor

I recently read a blog in the washingtonpost.com about Sarah Palin and how she is viewed in Russia and other European countries. Man, it's damn funny. All liberal news channels make fun of her everyday. Now the phenomenon has crossed the ocean. For some reason, Indian news media lacks the sarcasm and the pun that is seen in the western newspapers, besides few weekly's like Thuglag in tamil and may be outlook in english. Most of the Indians in my view cannot laugh at themselves and news papers fear legal suits and vandalism from the politicians. When i was young my brother somehow gets all these foreign magazines and tells me all the fundoo trivia's all the time. He once told me that press freedom is India is far less compared to the western countries. I was astonished and i simply couldn't digest the aforesaid fact. I was a sincere "The Hindu" reader (which now i know is a fucking conservative paper as comparable to WSJ) and thought press freedom is great. I always asked my brother if its true and pressed for examples. My brother would give me simple examples to make me understand still i would never get convinced. But brother I think, now i understand what you meant. I totally accept that the Indian press freedom is fucked up and Indian liberal ideas have a long way to go.

Have you noticed that most of the Indians cannot take a joke on their community or language or caste or anything for that matter?
Someone told me Sardars can laugh at themselves. If someone tells me this anymore, i have no choice other than to laugh out my ass. I have seen some sardars who are more fanatic and conservative than the so-called south-indian-conservative.

I have come to a conclusion that if there needs to be progress in our country and if we can learn something from the west. It's their sense of humor.

[P.S - US is so big and i am considering only the liberal america. Some people in the heartland have more phobias than the dictionary could list. I call them Indians of America.]

U.S. Mint Unveils Four New Penny Designs - News Washington post

What a bad timing. When the market is going south all over the world because of wall street collapse, treasury is sticking in public face by launching the penny.

This is like "Hey see these pennies, you are going to have only this as your savings in future"

Fake Contest

Whatsup with these politicians and film stars visiting golden temple all of a sudden. Shahrukh khan and now Rahul Gandhi. Politicians use to visit the temples when there is an election in the hindu majority area, dargas in muslim populated area.I think now they have added Golden Temple to the list i guess.OK I understand these politicians. They are mean, manipulative and self-centered, ego maniacal bastards. Looks like this is not enough, now filmstars have to follow their neta's.There is national integration in only "who can fake the most contest". So who's next...

Money for marks?

There is an article in Washington post today about students getting paid for getting good grades.
My immediate thought was about our middle school math teacher Vijayalakshmi missJ. That’s how we called her. She would buy us a Diary Milk chocolate if we get centum in math and anyone getting above 90% would get an éclairs. I remember people would feel sorry if they didn’t get the coveted DM chocolate. At that time I think DM cost about 5 bucks. I know many kids in my class who hadn’t eaten one in their life. I had a good opportunity to get them almost in every test. I would eat the chocolate slowly when I am walking on my way home and would flaunt to my sister about it. She would ask me to get it for the next time. I rarely give her the entire bar not intentionally but the chocolate taste simply lures me to commit the sin of eating it. Things aside, I would say a simple candy motivated me when I was kid to study hard. So I would assume giving money is like a DM to kids like me. Chocolate was more symbolic for love and appreciation but I cannot say the same thing about money. It would mean something for older people but for kids there should be gifts and presents rather than monetary gains. I think it is a bad idea to teach them that they have to study hard to earn more money in the future. It may be the reality of life but is it what they wanted to teach kids?

Words of wisdom

"Infinity multiplied, divided, subtracted and added by infinity is infinity. Infinity is infinite, an endless thing, so the universe is also an endless thing in which we are nothing; we are not even an atom or an electron or proton." - Brihadaranyaka upanishad

Pre school classes on astrology

Well this is from a pre school level book that i am reading on astrology.

The Zodiac or Rasi Chakra is defined as a belt of the celestial sphere extending 9 degrees of the ecliptic (the apparent orbit path of the sun around the earth in a geo-centric scheme).

The movement of the Sun through the Zodiac comprises the month (Masa) and the point of time of sun’s entry is known as Sankramana.

The most basic and universal unit of time is the day or Dina, which extends to 24 hours. Multiples of these give us weeks, months and years. A day can be further divided into hours which in Indian astrology is Hora, and is equivalent to an hour which are ruled by the planets in the following order: Arka, Shukra, Budha, Chandra, Manda, Jeevo, Dharasuta Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars rule each hora in a cyclic order, which repeats itself.

A day comprises three cycles of seven horas each, plus three hora of the next cycle. According to Hindu astrology, a day always start at sunrise. For example - Sunday begins with the cycle sun, Venus at sunrise and after completing three cycles, the three hours left would be Sun, Venus, and Mercury. The next day starts with the fourth hora of the cycle, which is ruled by Moon, and hence the day is called Monday. Thus each day of the week is named after the planet ruling the first hora of that day at sunrise. A week, consisting of seven days, named after the planets is called Varam.

Apart from the 12 solar months, there are 12 lunar months called Masas named after the Nakshatra (star) in which the full moon occurs in each successive month.

The year, known as Samvatsara, has two sections of six months each known as Ayanas. The Northern declination of the Sun, when it appears to move between the signs of Makara and Mithuna is called Uttarayana. The southern declination when the sun appears to move between Kataka and Dhanus is called Dakshinayana.

A year is further divided into six seasons known as Ritus. The Seasons Two months of the year form one season.

A solar day starts from sunrise till next sunrise. A lunar day, known as the Thithi is calculated from the longitudinal distance between the sun and moon. There are 30 Thithis in a lunar month distributed over 360 degrees, thus each Thithi has a span of 12 degrees. There are 14 Thithis in the Shukla Paksha and 14 Thithis in the darker half with Pournamy and Amavasya being the other 2 days of the month.

Most of the above are more like a trivia to me. I started studying the basics and just got lost without a teacher. May be someday i will find a guru to learn.

Panchangam

The Indian almanac is known as the Panchangam, which means ‘having five limbs.’

The pachangam gives information regarding the basic divisions of time according to ancient hindu traditions. These are the Thithi (phase of the moon), Vara (day of the week), Nakshatra (star or constellation through which the moon is passing), Yoga (a sensitive point in the zodiac derived by adding the longitudes of the Moon, the Sun and a constant which is 930 20’) and Karana (half a Thithi).

In addition, the Panchanga gives tables for the correction of the time of sunrise of longitudes, the time taken by the sun to traverse each Rasi (zodiac sign), the Navamsa (9th Division) chart, the Shadvarga (6 major division) chart, the Sayana (tropical) position of the planets based on Driganitha (astronomical data) and so on. The basic information is according to the Siddhantas (astronomical and mathematical treatises) with corrections made accounting for the Ayanamsa (precession) for the year.

The Hindu concept of time is divided into four eras (Yugas). Krita, Treta, Dwapara and Kali yugas. The Hindu astronomers assume the planets to be in a line of mean conjunction with the first point of Aries at the beginning of a Maha Yuga. The planets would come back to their initial relative positions the end of Revati (Zeta Piscium) and the beginning of Ashwini at the beginning of the next Maha Yuga, at a place on the equator 76 degrees East of Greenwich.

They calculated the period of a Maha Yuga as 4,320,000 years. Currently, we are in Kali Yuga into its 52nd century.

Maha Yuga is made up of 12,000 Deva Samvastara (years of devas) or 4,320,000 ordinary years. 71 Maha Yugas constitute one Manvantara (308,448,000 years). 14 Manvantaras or Manus make up one Kalpa or Brahma Dina. The end of each Manvantara is said to bring about changes in the earth’s gravity and other visible changes in the Universe.

We do the the Sankalpam mentioning that we are in the 7th Manvantara in which 27 Maha Yugas have passed. We are now in the last Yuga (Kali Yuga) of the 28th Maha Yuga. We are still in the beginning of Kali Yuga with 4,26,939 years yet to elapse before it ends.

The fact that the rishis (seers) could conceive of such vast stretches of time speak of their scientific brilliance. The Vedas are a storehouse of scientific and rational knowledge and also supra-scientific knowledge (Gnana).

16 Selvam

This newyear i got a message that i forgot to post here. My bro sent me this

1) Kalvi - Education
2) Arivu - Knowledge
3) Aayul - Longevity
4) Aatral - Dexterity
5) Ilamai - Youth
6) Thunivu - Valor
7) Perumai - Respect
8) Pon - Gold
9) Porul - Wealth
10) Pugal - Fame
11) Nilam - Land
12) Nanmakkal - Good progeny
13) Nalloolukam - Good surrounding
14) Noyinmai - Good health
15) Muyarchi - Perseverance
16) Vetri - Success

and ended it saying "you should get 16 more".

Girl, Plane and Spirituality

My visit to my friends place in Chicago brought me new perspectives to my approach of relationships.

This is not the best time for me to write about my Chicago trip as i just flunked an interview. I should have known well before the interview started that i wasn't qualified enough for that position. I am sure one would end up in embarrassment if he tries something out like this without any real stuff. Well neither getting embarrassed nor taking such shots are new to me, So i am moving on and am going to write about this trip.

Naga and I thought of visiting my friend in chicago as it's been a while since we met. Naga dropped out because of some personal reasons. So i ended up spending three days all by myself with my friends family. We did nothing but eating and lazing in the couch chatting and watching movies. We went to the car show on saturday and as usual both of us got quickly bored looking at all the beautiful cars. Well then is that all i am going to write about?

I think i can come up with something... Here we go..

I met this girl near the pretzel shop in laguardia. I didn't speak to her but i was quietly ogling at her. She was eating the pretzel phili style with mustard on it. A normal New yorker would despise this blasphemous act of spoiling the culinary magic called 'pretzel'. Anyway i slowly moved towards her to have a friendly conversation which most of friends would call 'kadalai'.

I said hi to her and asked if she is from 'Phili'. I felt like a stupid when i asked that question to her as my only reason for asking such a lame question is because of the mustard that she added. She replied in negative. So i told her why i asked that question. She smiled and said that she is from Chicago. Honestly man all i know about chicago is the deep dish pizza and my friend lives there. Although i have read about the Mafia's in today's world in some of the books i figured out that it would be an uninteresting topic that you can bring up to a girl. So i said 'oh, the place of deep dish pizza'. She smiled and now she got the que that i am trying to indulge in a conversation. She asked if i am chef in a sarcastic way and gave a wry smile. My ego didn't let me take that so i said "well if you want to call me that i am fine with that even though my friends call me food lover". Both of us exchanged smile for that and she said the flight has been delayed because of the traffic today. I didn't waste a second to ask her if she cared for a drink. She said why not. So we walk to the Irish pub in the airport. She asked for a Guinness and i ordered a smith wick's. I kinda like the red ale i said. So she goes do they drink beer in India, she asked me as if i am the first Indian she ever met in her life. Had it been a guy i would have given a rude, snobbish answer with an attitude but i couldn't say no to her. I started explaining about different drinks that Indians like and so on trying to show her how smart ass i am. After a long answer for her short question, i asked her if she is Irish. Like all the Americans she said my mothers side is polish and east European and father's side is Irish, Scottish and so on. I cared for less but still pretended to be interested. I noticed that she had an amgen bag, so i asked if she is a doctor? For the first time my guess about her was partially correct as she told me that she is a clinical toxicologist. I had a great sigh or relief as i didn't want her to think that i am making up so many things just to keep the conversation going.

Now, i really got interested in what she did and i guess she understood my sincerity and started explaining me what she does and where she studied and one hour later somehow our topic came to number of times she has seen people dying on her. It was quite interesting when she brought up that topic because that's one of the topics that i discuss often with my brother. My brother and i are always fascinated at the impact of seeing one's death. It reminds us of the mortality of creatures and helps us to remain sane and rationalise many things that we otherwise would be very disappointed at. I asked her what she felt about it and how did her personality and outlook toward life changed. She thought to herself for a while and then she slowly continued, 'Many times, i see people almost in a dead state, we try to bring them back to life, sometime you get upset for few hours if you see small babies die, aside that, i take it more like another dead person that's all'. I asked her if she is able to apply the same logic to her near and dear too?. She was quite for a second, i quickly apologized for my stupid question and started to explain her why i asked that question. She stopped me with her answer, 'Yes, i think i do', ' I think i can take even my near and dears death in that way' she said. I was startled at her answer. I know the next question that i am going to ask her will show if she is really faking the answer or she is truly speaking her heart. If she gets furious then i thought i would conclude that she is faking or otherwise. I decided to go on anyway and asked her 'Why then marriage or any other stuff that you everyday is even necessary?'. She smiled and asked, 'why not?. I said, 'Well it doesn't add up, you are impartial even to death then why to do something to enjoy or suffer?'. She took a while to understand what i meant to ask and then she said, 'Well thinking philosophically i would agree but see it this way, its more of work that you do and everything is just an action. The outcome is unnecessary to explore'. Her answer surprised and shocked me pleasantly. The girl who is far west in her thoughts and beliefs yet speaks Vedanta. I asked her if she is familiar with eastern philosophies. She had no clue about it.

I figured that we already spoke enough heavy topics, so i thought i will get back to my kadalai. I went on to talk about her interests and she was explaining me about white sox and the cubs rivalry and how she went to watch a Bear's game on a snow day and so on. When we landed in midway. She asked me where i was going, i said to the downtown Chicago and i had no clue of where my friend lived. I spoke to my friend and got the train station where i had to get down and coincidental she was going to the downtown too. We both continued our conversation and she was showing the all the places from the train and explaining me like a tour guide. When time came to bid good bye, i said 'Have a nice life'. She smiled and wrote down her phone number for me. :).

TET - Holiday experience in Nam

Traveling as they say, is always an enriching experience. For the past 4 years during the Lunar new year holidays , we have been traveling only to the local beaches, or the river side resorts and spend our time eating and getting drunk. But this time when my Vietnamese friend invited me for visiting their family and friends during their most important festival " Tet", I decided to visit Vietnam . That's how it began.

The preparations were over before well over a week after obtaining the necessary travel documents etc.
Our journey began on Tuesday morning by bus from Phnom Penh at 7'o clock to Ho Chi Minh city erstwhile called Saigon. The journey was uneventful apart from the brief delay at the ferry crossing across the Mekong river called Neuk Loung and the immigration formalities at Bavet-Moc Bai border crossing.
We noticed a curious thing as the driver suddenly had dropped to 20 km/ph speed after he crossed the border from 110 km/hr average speed. Then we noticed on a roadside coffee shop a group of traffic policemen sitting with their speed checkers and the camera on.

We laughed and the driver too laughed. Soon after he resumed his usual speed again after he received periodic hand wave signals!! from the drivers coming in the opposite direction.

We reached Ho chi Minh city, at 2 in the afternoon and I proceeded alone almost immediately after getting a phone card to my friend's place called Can Tho city which is 220 km south east of Ho chi Minh .

In spite of the holiday season the taxi driver charging me only the normal fare made me wonder. On the road side and atop houses and buildings we could see the yellow star in red, Vietnamese flags flying with yellow " Konrai" pookal in front of the houses, with " Chuc Mung Nam Moi" meaning wishing you a happy new year in gold letters welcoming the visitors.

The well carved roads snaked along busy cities and towns full of lush green coconut, mango, and atthi trees broken by vast paddy fields made the 3 hour taxi ride pleasant. Wherever one can see it was only green.

I arrived at the Can Tho city ferry terminal at half past five in the evening and while waiting for the taxi to board the ferry, were greeted by the smiling faces of street vendors selling pork sausages called Xuc xic and a slightly less sweeter form of Kozhukattai wrapped in bamboo leaves wearing their Nuoc la , the conical bamboo hats.
Arrived at the hotel where my friend awaited me in the lounge and after a steaming bath and a changeover to fresh clothes, felt fully refreshed.

After that, we went down and sat in the restaurant which had comfortable rattan chairs facing the river. The entire place was lit with bright serial lights and red lanterns marking the arrival of New Year and the place was abuzz with young men and women with their families and friends.

We started our dinner with the local Saigon beer, and it is quite shocking for people other than South East Asia to see them fill their beer glasses with ice and then pouring beer on top of that. It was a nice experience anyway.
We ordered tom yum soup cooked in Vietnamese style and the hot and sour soup was a heavenly start. Our main course consisted of a fish, Ca in Vietnamese steam cooked and sautéed in oyster sauce and spiced with shallots, ginger and lemon grass and white rice.

We had our fill as I had not had my lunch and after a few bottles of beer, and the cool gentle breeze made us sleepy and we retired to our rooms.

The next day started with a motor bike ride to my friend's house which was 20 minutes from the city. On our way my friend bought 2 cases of beer and sweets from the grocer nearby. It gave me a clear indication that I will not be returning to my room in the evening in a sober note.

Anyway, we proceeded to their house through labyrinthine motorway along a canal and we finally arrived at their house, where people were waiting in their doorsteps to greet us. My friend later told me that this was the first time a foreigner has come to their house.

All along the way, people were curiously looking at me because of my complexion and a stocky frame which differ from their lean and short frames. As soon as I entered their house they gave me a glass of ice cold water, which made me think of the similarities in our cultures. Then my friend took me to her mother's tomb which was nearby and we burnt incense over her tomb and laid down the sampangi flowers which we had bought.
Then we sat down in the main hall where people were arranging plates full of meat, rice, fish, sweets and nuts and glasses.

As soon as I entered there they shouted" Xin Chao" a friendly greeting means hello and gave a glass of beer called Bia in Vietnamese. I was overwhelmed by their show of friendliness and responded happily.
Each glass will be started with a Mot, Hai, Ba, Yoooo, cheer and well before noon got drunk.
Then, as I had been informed earlier all the children in the family lined up for the ceremonial greeting and to receive their good luck money for the New Year called "Li Se". The money is given in a red and gold cover to the children and younger people and will be kept as a good luck charm for the entire year.

Strict vegan travelers will find it extremely difficult as almost all the cuisine contains some form of meat or egg. Even the salad at times when not asked specifically will be served with minced meat in it.
I wanted to try and enjoy the local flavor as I thought it is only just and hence did not search for any of our Indian restaurants.

The next day being the actual New Year day, my friend took me to the famed red pagoda which is situated on the river side just opposite the imposing Ho Chi Minh statue and park. The entire street was filled with incense smoke and konrai flowers and sampangi flowers and we went and prayed there before the Buddha and the other Bodhisattvas.

Then we started on a boat cruise along the Mekong delta and boats are for hire for a three our ride. The speed boat which had only my friend and me as passengers took us to the famed Can Tho water market where the people from the villages along the innumerable canals of the Mekong come to display their produce.
The boats sell goods ranging from vegetables, flowers, fruits, meat, and all types of wares. Bigger boats had along side their flags, display their wares attached to a long pole so that even from the distance customers can come to their boats to buy their goods. After that the boat took us to an island in the river where the Cantho city authorities have developed a park which has various features like canoeing, wind surfing, water skis, and a number of restaurants and food courts . After spending some time there we retired to our rooms and returned back in the evening to the riverside for a stroll and spent our time in one of the numerous coffee houses in the area.

The next day gave me some anxious moment as the bus which had planned to depart on Saturday has been cancelled and there were no means of transport available as all were booked earlier because of the holiday season. Relieved finally when my friend could arrange a ticket in a speed boat which shuttles between a city called Chu doc which is on the upper reach of Mekong where the river enters Vietnam from Cambodia.
The boat from Cantho was cancelled due to the holidays and it was available only from Chu doc.

It was a thrilling experience to travel by speed boat along Mekong which one should experience it personally. I must have felt overjoyed if my brother would have accompanied us during this holiday.
The four hour journey to Phnom Penh brought an end to the pleasant lunar New Year holidays and the beginning of the year of the Rat, and as the locals believe brings a year full of pleasant memories and good fortune.

- Ashok