frustrated...

I have always wondered why Africa along with poverty, famine, civil war, dictatorship was the front runner in the AIDS epidemic too. Want to know the popular belief? I don’t think there is one. Apart from the philanthropist and charity organizations, I don’t think any of us think about Africa and its problems. It is a forgotten continent and most of us don’t want to think about their problems least of all deal with them. I just finished reading “The invisible cure” by Helen Epstein. I am not sure if experts of Africa would be impressed but I liked the book. It was written by someone who was out on the streets and villages of Africa and not by someone who spends 10 hours a day studying blood samples and plants in a clean room. Even I could tell the difference after reading blogs and articles online.

There are many things I learned about Africa and AIDS from this book.

I started writing this blog wanting to spit out the facts I read in this book, but my thoughts are wandering and I realize I cannot gather my thoughts and write about them! How many times in your life do you read a book and feel you have to do something about it? Well, I do many times but what have I done so far. Nothing. Apart from displaying my amateurish writing skills online, nothing! Am I frustrated? Yes, I am. Would I think about it next week? Probably not. I am not sure how others cope with this feeling. Should I rephrase? So I read a book, feel bad about the plight of others, think I should do something for them, and then just keep thinking. Move on to my next book and it is over. Am I just reading all these books to feel good about the facts that I can recall from them? Shame on me! I would rather not know about them than know about them and do nothing. This is pretty much free thought. I have written the last few times with absolutely no stops and pause and see what it produced? Frustration! Frustration that I don’t tell out, frustration I am ashamed of.

But there are people who are doing something about it - http://t8web.lanl.gov/people/rajan/AIDS-india/.

What am I going to do? I don’t know…If you have comments or suggestions please feel free.

Who gives a rat's ass?

The elevators at our office have these small screens in them which keep flashing news items, stock quotes, commercials etc. So I was in the elevator yesterday and read this headline on the small screen – “India court orders the arrest of Richard Gere for kissing bollywood actress on cheek”. Of course I have read and seen the video last week but to read this headline….ugh! I think this is lame. Public obscenity? You walk thro the streets in India and you will notice the movie posters of soft porn movies with semi-nude women in suggestive poses. So that’s fine? Bollywood movies are full of “masala items” and it is not like they are R rated. I don’t give a damn about Richard Gere but I do hate the perception the world would have about India after reading such a news item. It is so hardliner-ish…argh! It is something you can expect to hear from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Pakistan… We got real problems people!! Richard Gere kissing Shilpa Shetty…WTF! The court was so fast to move on this like their life depended on it…what a load of crap.

Shiva Sena activists chase away couples on valentines day…real mature! They are worried about public obscenity? Give me a freaking break. Ever ride the buses and trains? Women are sexually harassed/molested every minute. Ask a girl/woman in India about it and they will all have their horrid experiences to share. The same activists will ride the train back and molest school girls. No, you cannot handpick places you want to show respect to women. You show it to them in all places. Richard Gere is a stupid idiot to think this will not cause a problem but to make it such a big issue only shows we are a bunch of hypocrites.

but really...who gives a rat's ass about this anyway?

How bored are we?

There is this radio morning show my wife listens to. Eric and Kathy morning show on WTMX 101.9 Chicago. So I have to listen to it in the 8-10 minute ride to/from the train station. They mostly ask questions and people call in to give their ideas/experience/suggestions. It is amusing sometimes but mostly it is very lame. So for the past two they talked about a “social experiment” they were doing. Two strangers and a wedding. They match-make two strangers let them talk over the phone (monitored) for couple weeks and then do the whole wedding thing and in the end they have the option of saying “I don’t” at the altar. Is love blind? – That was the question they were trying to answer. And apparently they don’t even know what the other person looks like. Of course being an Indian I listened to this and went “ok so what is the experiment? We do this all the time in India”. They filled 2 weeks of radio waves with this load of crap and I had to listen 10 minutes of it every weekday! Well, finally it ended yesterday when both the bride and groom showed up and said NO, we don’t want to get married. Thanks for all the free parties, Hawaii vacation, free tux, limo service though. They realized that marriage is too important to be decided in 2 weeks. Really? And you didn’t know that before you got into this becaussssssee? And this is amusing to us? Are we really that bored?

Ever read rediff.com articles? In plain simple words – they suck big time! But I read rediff all the time. It is for the comments. So funny! There is so much built-up anger inside people and they let it lose on strangers on the discussion board. I think rediff has realized this is more amusing that articles that they are trying to put as many sucky articles as they can. Oh and they have this new section called Spotted – where you post pictures you took with some celebrity. Spotted – Sania Mirza in dubai. So in the picture Sania Mirza has just lost a 3 setter, is terribly pissed, upset, exhausted, fatigued and waiting to get the hell out there; standing in the middle of these two desi dudes with such huge smiles. Hilarious!

Can we be more desperate for news?

Read comments on this article and you will know what I am talking about - http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/apr/12sikh.htm

I just realized that most of the funny comments have been removed from the page. Ah sucks! Well, I am sure there are plenty more there and a lot more to come.

Can we be more indian?

So last weekend we went to an Indian restaurant in the very-merry-indian street Devon Ave, Chicago along with another couple. It wasn’t very busy inside but the tables were put so close to each other than you are literally a hand’s length from the next table (if you are really hungry it would be hard to resist the samosa sitting right next to you in the other table). Sitting side-by-side, back-to-back will make you feel you are riding Mumbai commuter trains. So anyway, we enter and are seated in this very cramped table. People on both sides and so close they are already uncomfortable we are going to sit there. So we ask to be seated in the totally open section where nobody is sitting. The guy says the section is closed. Oh well, that is fine, we will just sit with our back against some stranger who is the middle of what looked like a delicious meal. So we sit and in couple minutes a white couple gets up from the seat next to us and asks if they can be seated in the open section. And what do you know – the section just became available. For obvious reasons my friend and I looked at each other and he goes “you still want to eat here?” Well, I was thinking about it. But we stayed and finish our meal which was served with breaks and intermissions. Such awful service. Anywayz…

The reason I didn’t want to leave the restaurant was that I was not surprised by the double standards we Indians show in everything. I am sure every Indian has noticed how service is different to a non-indian (has to be non-Indian looking too) in an Indian restaurant. I have seen so many restaurants do that. I have worked in an Indian restaurant and have witnessed first hand how waiters don’t care if an Indian doesn’t get good service. What I was told when I started was “take it easy with the desis, they don’t tip well anyway”. Which is true, we don’t. You can treat them like the queen of England but when it comes to tipping, Indians will round it off to the nearest multiple of 5.

Anywayz…

This double standard is not limited to Indian restaurants, grocery stores and gas stations. Ever flown Air India? Well? Yeah, it doesn’t get worse than that. Absolutely bad service. I have flown Air India on 3 occasions mostly because it is cheaper than Emirates which is the only other option to get to my city without checking out baggage in Mumbai or Chennai. So anyway, people ask me why I fly Air India. Well, I do because it is cheaper than emirates and it is like spending an extra day in India. I have seen lot of bad service in Air India but in the last trip something just ticked me off. My wife and I were sitting two rows from the door. People are still getting into the plane so the hostess is at the door “welcoming” everyone with the traditional Namaste. Ah, how nice! We feel so close to home already! Yeah right! The thing is she was giving a full fledged Namaste to any non-indian (again, has to be non-indian looking too) and to Indians it was more like a “get-ur-brown-ass-in” welcome. Why do we do that? I have seen eastern Europeans flock together and take great pride in it. Italians of course would have dinner with entire Italy if given a chance. Chinese and Japanese look very comfortable with each other but I don’t know for sure. It can’t be worse than Indians. We don’t smile at each other in malls, grocery stores, trains, buses, streets. Oh and if you do find an Indian stranger all smiling and happy to meet you, odds are he/she is with quickstar, amway or whatever marketing-pyramid-cult that is going on now. Because of our attitude, somebody who genuinely wants to be with nice with other Indians will be misunderstood as a cult member, uh er I mean, marketing executive.

We boast of great advances in everything. When we going to learn to be more courteous to another Indian?

Oh and I smiled to another Indian guy in the train earlier today. He looked the other way. Maybe he thought I was trying to get him into quickstar. C'est la vie!

30 mins or less can get you on CNN.com

http://money.cnn.com/2007/02/08/news/international/pluggedin_murphy_india.fortune/index.htm?cnn=yes

Argh! I m pissed…some cuz of anger towards the writer who has only covered one side of the tale…! He is like the TBS commercial which says "u can laugh but not so much"...be proud india but not this much....u are doing good but not that good...whatever!

And rest out of frustration…that we know so much, yet do so little…

So he is comparing adult literacy percentages between India, rwanda and sudan...nice...how about some math class?? u can't compare percentages between a 1.1 billion+ country and 10 million...r u kidding me??

"(Sources: UNDP, Unicef, World Food Program; Edward Luce). You get the idea."
Yeah, I get the idea. This article is something that can be written with 30 minutes research on wikipedia...and so CNN decided it is worth front page coverage because???...grabs attention...

"The problem with India's self-proclaimed (and wildly premature) declaration of superpower status is that..." - no self-proclaimation here pal...you got it the other way around...

And besides, in today's world superpower is a fast eroding idea...america no longer has the clout and credibility it used to have anyway...it is just a matter of time before they realize that it ain't their daddy's world...

I am not done yet. Let me write after my 30 minutes in wikipedia and google...that is my retort...

Go india!

BTW, how is that title for a attention grabber eh?...Geico...

Swadesi or Dreamer?

I am patriotic. Period. That is not open to discussion and I am not writing to confirm that. The purpose of this blog is something else. I have been posting pro-swadesi articles for a while now and felt very strongly about many issues that concern India and her future. But I have been told many times by many people that my “swadesi” feeling is just a romantic version of me being home sick and missing home. At first I felt they were challenging or undermining my patriotism. Anger…that was my emotion. But on further discussion I found out that my patriotism is so not challenged but it is my “swadesi” feeling that is being challenged. So what is the difference?

I would like to think we are all patriotic. We should be. Citizenship is not just another thing that ties you to a place. Citizenship is your identity. You should love your citizenship and hold it close to your heart. I know I do. Swadesi I feel goes a step further. You feel so close to your country. You sense its pulse. You take pride in her success. You feel rage at her defeats. You feel responsible for her shortcomings. (No, I am not going to quote JFK here. What a cliché). You feel you can make a difference and you will.

Now that I have established what I feel swadesi is let us move along.

So my swadesi feeling was challenged and today I answer my critics (yes, I do have critics). Here is my response.

• Yes, I have not felt so strongly about many things when I lived in India. I have few reasons for that. I was a kid. I have matured since then. I have seen more of this world now. I formed opinions about many things. Some right and some wrong but I know I am learning…aren’t we all?
• Yes, I know the other side is always greener. I know things are different from here. I know things you take for granted here are not in India. But I grew up in India. If I go to India and stand in line for an hour to pay my electricity bill I won’t be shocked. I won’t be surprised. I have been there. Now I do it in Chicago using easypay because I can. If I had to stand in the line during freezing Chicago winter I would. Wouldn’t you?
• Yes, I am home sick. I was not home sick for the first few months. But then things changed drastically. There were many reasons I changed. I have been through tough and challenging times. And I have felt lonely then. In the very low point of my life I have felt more home sick than ever. But things changed again…I know it is not easy to get over it but I have. I am still homesick and I miss my family. But would I have my whole family here and still feel homesick? Probably not.
• Yes, I know the work culture is different in India and people work long hours for less pay. Believe it or not I have worked long hours for less pay in the land of opportunities USA.

Why am I being so defensive about this? I should be. I am mature enough to understand the difference between patriotism and home sickness. I have been hurled that question too many times lately. Why is it so hard for someone to understand that I can WANT to be in India even though I have a good life here? Why does it have to be because the grass is greener on the other side? Why can’t my feelings be genuine? But please don’t get me wrong. I don’t show blind patriotism. As I have written in my previous blogs I do not say India is the best no matter what. Neither do I say everything is bad about India.

I know what I am talking about. I am not trying to re-enact the movie Border here but I will continue to voice my opinion. I will continue to show my patriotism. I will continue to say I miss being in my country. I will continue to show great joy when they launch satellites. I will continue to cheer for our cricket team and curse the losers who eat up a spot and do nothing. I will continue to curse the politicians who are corrupt. I will continue to applaud the efforts of many who are making a difference. I will continue to try and make a difference. And you know what…I am a swadesi and I will continue to be one…

GO INDIA!

Go India!

This is a proud moment for India...Go India!
PSLV Launch


"With this launch, India will become the fourth country after Russia, America and China to have mastered the hi-tech area." How about that huh?

India Today

One of my friends got me the special new year issue of India Today from India. A very good issue and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. So to that friend - thank you!

The issue is about how India's next 30 years will be. Each article written by guest writers respond to specific questions related to India's next 30 years. Some of the questions that are answered -
* Will India suffer from an energy crunch?
* Will gay marriages be allowed in India?
* Will our population be a boon or a bane? ...etc etc...

Some are well written. Some state the obvious. Some don't make sense whatsoever. :) The worst one is written by Benazir Bhutto, the former PM of Pakistan. So the question she is answering is this - Will India and Pakistan form a viable asian union? huh? And she is the best person to answer that questions (which is absurd anyway) because??? Yeah, beats me! But she talks like she is the greatest political reformer known to mankind. Apparently, she had done great things for Pakistan and her party "moved" the peace agenda with India. HA!

That article was a disgrace. It was her election manifesto and I have no idea why India Today would want to publish it. Now all her claims...that's not the worst part. What really sucks is she is comparing Pakistan with India. Hello?? India is competing with China here and she is trying to compare Pakistan's economic growth with ours? Phew! She talks about how democracy in Pakistan will remove all the problems that is hampering India and Pakistan's growth. I mean come on...Pakistan might be living in Stone Age but don't blame it on the dispute with India. Blame it on your incapability to maintain a stable democracy or for that matter stable dictatorship in the last 58 years. Blame it on your incapability to separate religion and state. Blame it on your lack of investment in education (other than terrorist training camps). Blame it on the doorknob leaders you had. I recently heard from someone that Karachi can be compared to Mumbai. Now waitttt aaaa minnnnute!! Mumbai is compared to NYC and Shangai.

This turned out to be a rant but I just can't stop myself when I read articles like this. They deserve my ranting and much more...

Nuts and Bolts - parte dos

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Nuts and Bolts - Parte una

After seeing me go through another year of waistline increase my wife decided it was time I do something about it. So I have been told I should be working out everyday and eating healthy. Those were among the other New Year resolutions she took for me. So we decided to buy a treadmill and fill up our already overflowing apartment. After very less consideration we decided the guest room had too much space anyway. The guests can hop over the treadmill and land on the bed which is btw so close to the wall that you can actually smell the paint at night. Well, we bought it last week and brought it home on our friend’s newly purchased SUV (he also helped me carry it, poor dude).

So it was lying there for a day and I figured there are only so many of guilt bombs a man can take. Guilt bombs, aka wife-giving-you-the-stare are what that get thrown at you when you were supposed to do something but you spent sitting on the couch watching football instead.

Ok, I took it out of the box and stared at it for a few minutes. The damn thing weighed over 100 pounds. Holy crap! I need to be healthy to put this thing together. Well, I have to do it anyway so I started…

So I opened the instructions and it says “DO NOT CUT STRAPS”. Straps? What the hell are straps? Well, there was a yellow rope-thingy that I had cut. Could that be the strap? Maybe…Fine. Moving on. My wife decided we should be facing the window while jogging on the treadmill. Great. I love the scenery too but now we have to turn it around. So we turn it around. Done. Lemonade please!

Instructions are very well written – insert metal cast extension into metal cast on the left. Repeat on right. Sounds so easy. If the damn screw fits perfectly yes but this one took little bit of tweaking. Argh! Done. Right side done. I already hate this treadmill. Imagine working out during my precious ass-on-couch time. Oh well…there are bigger tragedies in life. I can’t think of anything right away but there are. J So done with 2 instructions and now the platform had two metal hands fitted on both sides to support the console (yes you have to picture a treadmill at this time if you haven’t done it already). My wife who decided it was a good time to review the instructions we have completed so far, found out we had screwed up. The damn bolt which we screwed in with great difficulty had to really go in the back and not the front. What? We have to loosen what I tightened like there is no tomorrow? Alright…you gotto do what you gotto do. Done. Phew!

Now the console…you might think that it should be easy but only if the freaking console would be properly aligned to the metal rods. They are but only once you screw all them half way in. They had so generously left that out of the instructions. So after much cursing and fist-thro-air(can’t do fist through wall) we got the console in. It was 11pm. Next instruction – screw the handle bars to the sides of the console. Wait a minute. Those bolts had to go in the back which means we have to remove the bolt that was already swapped once. Holy Canoli…is this a joke? Again?

Alright I call it a night. My wife agrees since she too had done considerable amount of work to get this freaking thing assembled. So there it stays staring at us with its wrongly fitted bolts and nuts. As I return to home today I am picturing myself going through some more nuts and bolts tonight. Maybe it would turn out better. Maybe not. All I hope is I will be done tonight and can start working out tomorrow. Yeah, that is what I am looking forward to. What has the world come to in this New Year!

To be continued…..

India 2006 continued

This is the latest response I got for my question - "The boom in the civilian-commercial aircraft sector in India also crossed my mind. The nuclear deal with US...and of course, Shashi Tharoor....Another thought (somewhat related) is that when I saw the huge number of Indians here now in US- most of them so professional and so well qualified, I wondered what India would be if all their expertise were put to use to benefit our country and what will it take to do that and why that is not the case!!!!"

I like the way this person thinks. Interesting question towards the end. Watched the movie swades? There are quite a few good quotes/observations. One among them is this - "apne aangan ka diya giving light to neighbour's house". Pretty self-explainatory.

Here are my thoughts about the last response - It doesn't cover every angle but it is something that has been on my mind for a while.
I think there are benefits from people going abroad and working hard and providing for their families. We want to be a country willing to learn and grasp everything good out there. People who study and work here learn to be more courteous, tolerant, result oriented and ambitious. We need to take those values back. I think people who wish to do good and bring changes in out country should do it. Waiting for a revolution will take ages. If you think you can make a difference, well you should make a difference. (I guess I am digressing a bit)

One of the other scenes I liked in the movie Swades was when the village heads tell that no matter what India is the best because we have sanskar and parampara. This scene really stays in my mind after my last visit to India. I was caught in a oldies discussion. At my wife's place. Her dad and his friends were talking about politics, home and abroad. Towards the end of a long discussion of how bad India's roads are, hospitals are etc etc, one of them said - "no matter what India is the best because we got great culture and values and we respect our parents. In America kids throw parents out of the house". This caught my attention. It was jtust like the movie. People want to stay in denial. Hold on to their false ego. Of course I am no shah rukh khan to rebel against those oldies and lecture them. (And besides I was at my in-laws place). But that has to be changed. We need to understand that we can improve. Don't say everything is bad but don't say no matter what we are the best either. I think the newer generation who are here are best equipped to change that attitude. We as a country should realize that we can improve before starting to do anything. Accepting that we have culture and values but lack in many others things is the first step. We have potential but need to accept that we have weaknesses and are willing to improve. That is what professional and well qualified people who live and work outside the country can do for India.