Skip to main content

Kenya vs. Andhra

There is some organized running event about to happen in the SF bay area.  As organized sports go these days 'Marathons' have very low barriers to entry - to both organize and participate.  What with multitude of diseases against which humankind is losing a one way battle some yoyo comes up with a colored shirt and ribbons (that have hitherto not been claimed as proprietary by cancer survivors or aids walkers or liveweak organizations) and presto.

There is a new marathon event born every 2 miles.

So back to the title of this ramble.  I spotted natives of a southern province in India of which there are more than there are apps on Appstore and who reside in the California's Silcon Valley.  The region is known as Andhra Pradesh.

What I mean is not just spotted them but that they were actively running - without shoes.  Now when it comes to the tales of Have vs. Have Nots this one is a new flavor.  First you had people that had so much food to eat that they had to run after eating to get rid of the fat.  Compare to those that have to run to catch the food (in Kenya) or pursue tedium filled jobs (India) to fill their pouch.

Now we see a new entrant to this contrast.  That of the shoeless Indian.  So the theme of the story is about how the Indian diaspora in the bay area is competing head on with their Kenyan counterparts who are known to train without footwear for long runs.  The Greek messengers could never have thought that mail carrying business would turn into such a popular capitalist idea and that if they had known they would have run for it rather than invest in yoghurt.

So do not be surprised readers if at the next Olympiad the Gold goes to Kalluri Bhatiprollu Ranganathan instead of Wambosi Kenyata.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

But What If We're Wrong?

I attempted to read this book by author Chuck Klosterman backward to forward but it started hurting my brain so I decided to stop and do it like any other publication in the English language.  Start from page 1 and move to the right. Witty, caustic and thought provoking this is a book you want to read if you believe that the status quo might, just might be wrong. At times bordering on being contrarian about most things around us it tries to zero in on the notion of what makes anything believable and certain in our minds.  The fact that there is a fact itself is ironic.  Something analogous to the idea that you can never predict the future because there is no future. Many books and movies have tried to play on this concept - best that I recollect (I think I am) was 'The Truman Show'.  This book by Klosterman attempts to provoke the reader to at least contemplate that what they think they know may be wrong. He uses examples like concept of gravity, and how it ...

You are important to us

Followed by piano music.   Followed by 'we are experiencing heavier than usual call volume'.  Sounds macabre like bleeding during menstruation or after a ghastly attack with a weapon on a hemophiliac.  Sorry Mrs. Johnson but it appears little Gertrude here has been bleeding heavier than usual what with her night time activities competing with the woodchucks in your neighborhood. Some services even go as far as to pick a random day to say - 'if you were to call us during the Chinese lunar month when the moon is axiomatically hugging the polar star with Jupiter intravenous when call volume is light'.  Well I will be damned.  I thought  I had checked with my astrologer before I placed this well focused call but  I guess this is what you get for listening to a quack. Umph! I am not sure which marketing genius came up with this personal touch concept of informing the caller that you are really a jackass for actually calling the customer serv...

Of Jims and Johns

Here is another essay on the subject of first names. As in birth names. Or names provided to an offspring at birth. While the developed world tends to shy away from the exotic like Refrigerator or Coca Cola for their new production there is a plethora of Jims and Johns and Bobs or Robs. Speaking of which I do not think there is a categoric decision point at the time of birth if a child will be hereafter called as Bob. I mean have not yet met a toddler called Bob or Rob for that matter. At some point though the parental instinct to mouth out multiple syllables runs out and they switch from calling the crawler Robert to simply Robbie to Rob. Now speaking of - it is strange that the name sounds like something you would not want Rob to do - i.e. Rob anyone. Then why call someone that? After all Rob Peter to Pay Paul is not exactly a maxim to live a young life? Is it? Perhaps Peter or Paul might want to have a say in it? Then there is this matter of going to the John. Why degrad...