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Showing posts from August, 2015

Mendocino county - A Day Trip

Saturday brought an early morning fog typical of late summer in Northern California and we decided to hit the road to take in sights in our neighborhood - that being something in a couple hundred mile radius.  Oh the joys of driving the American highways and byways.  After traveling for 10 km an hour on average for the last month in a cramped vehicle in the disaster that is India, I was itching to let the six cylinders of our mini SUV open up and take me for a ride. So we settled on several spots in Mendocino County (200 miles due north of us) to check out a few items not previously visited after hearing about it from some friends who recently did. Heading around 70 miles north out of San Francisco on the 101, you drive into the town of Ukiah.  Considered one of the most livable cities in America it is a town built on lumber - industry that is. We broke journey here to visit a Buddhist monastery called 'city of ten thousand Buddhas'.  A Mahayana school of Buddhi

Ding Dong

What that tells is the story of the world's currencies.  In that they are being devalued.  Vietnam included.  Their currency is called the Dong. And it was dinged this week when their central bank decided to devalue it in order to remain cost competitive what with so many of their today's exports are priced in USD. Better to Ding the Dong early than suffer the consequence of the call centers being moved out of Hanoi to Harare or large MNC not producing their electronics in the country because their dong does not ring true anymore. China started the ball rolling when they realized that the housing bubble was about to burst and the equity assets class was not going anywhere.  So they devalued the Yuan. Which took the Rupee with it. You know what happened then. One by one other countries decide to do the same either through rate cuts or simply printing more currency.  So net net Ding Dong Bell and the Pussy is still in the well. No basket (of currencies) is going to

Dhakkan (Lid)

It was an oft heard phrase on Hindi soaps or movies to signify a person with questionable mental faculty.  It perhaps was a metaphor to signify that someone had an IQ of a lid.  Hence the moniker. Recent news events and happenings in the US have led me to assign that title to the masses.  At least a majority of them who might either subscribe to observed phenomenon or behaviors. 1.  Subway pitchman is a pedophile - A global sandwich chain used a guy on the street as their spokesperson - a guy who once overweight, claimed to lose weight (shrank a foot at the waist eating footlongs) by consuming said sandwich daily.  Turns out after the weight loss and the profit gain (for the company) that he was in fact a pedophile.  Oops.  Now the media is gaga about how they feel cheated and kids demoralized and on and on.  This similar to an incident a few years ago where a golf player of certain skill level was deemed to commit adultery and thence committed to a psycho rehab or some such.

Worsen Worsen

Two things ran through my fertile mind today.  Hence the title.  I will attempt to explain. Our recent visit to SW Germany and the town of Baden Baden in the Black Forest area.  This town's claim to fame (or such) is that it offers a unique mélange of tranquility and warm water baths (hence the name) that operate on the principle that the minerals and Salts therein are beneficial for human well being.  None of us in the family are particularly bathing people so we stayed away and took wonderful showers in the hotel bathrooms but that is beside the pool (I mean point). So they cranked out a whole new industry that goes back centuries, had a few royals visit and dip and voila.  It makes money for the Wuttermbergians (state in which this town is located).  Good sca(u)m for such a Bad sounding name. Drought in Northern California is the other thought or theme I was mulling over.  We seem to not figure out where we would get our next 100 gallons to keep our grass looking green an

Devgn Drishyam (A view)

Devgn is an actor and plays the protagonist in the Hindi movie titled 'Drishyam'.  It is a remake of a remake which might make it a remakery of what is perhaps an original rendering in Malayalam. It is a mudder mystery - sort of a thriller without too much high speed action, in fact on the contrary it has two lethargic young girls and their (apparently) slow witted parents as the focus of the movie. On some levels I found this movie stupid but scintillating at the same time.  It has been a long time since I actually watched an entire Hindi movie.  Some things in its favor - No songs - although there is a lame attempt to signify the pathos felt by the cast somewhere in the middle of it. Not too many fake chase sequences and clichéd commentary about how upparwala (lord) is going to watch over this family et al although there was ample opp to give upparwala an upper hand. Cast is definitely watchable - although the protagonist tends to have a stone cold face even when h

Alternate Prompts

The hyper-connected world we live in is turning into a bunch of pre-recorded voices instructing, cajoling, pleading or demanding the caller to perform certain set of tasks, in order to achieve telephone nirvana.  India as an emerging market has also adopted its variants. I have suggestions for the businesses that record these lousy messages to amp up their game and get in your face - Indian telecom providers - Today's message in Marathi speaking regions for callers to a busy telco line  - Apan kelela number vyasta ahee - krupaya punha try kara (line busy please call back) Rephrased version - Tumhi Jackass ahat.  Kaa pan Kaa call karat ahat?  (you are an idiot for calling, btw why are you calling?) Indian banking entities or local operations of MNC businesses - Fake British Indian accent - to indicate options to callers to access their account info - today it goes - If you are a Citibank customer press 1;  and so on... Rephrased - in the voice of Deena Pathak or Nir

Parking Lot

America's fascination with shopping is evident in their large malls or warehouse clubs that can double up as bomb shelters in case there is an all out war with another nation or a nuclear fallout.  There is tons of dried food, fresh food, gluten free food, beverages and toilet paper to take care of a small country. But another comparative data point when looking at how this engine works vis a vis another country where people go to the Souk, Bazaar, Mandai et al is the amount of real estate devoted to parking their automobiles - a short walk away from the center of all things bling or smart or XXL. These parking lots are large open to sky, paved tracts of real estate in sometimes the most expensive of neighborhoods - if all else fails they rise towards the sky competing with other structures which include the shopping space, air conditioned for plastic swipe excess. Thusly the lots have well marked zones for storing your chariots - at times resembling machines that could go t

Tree

Apple just announced a major restructuring.  Tim Cook himself along with rants from Ahrends and a Cue from Eddie cooked up this idea over the last six months that Apple stock took a beating and broke the news in a classic midnight event hosted at their new Star Wars campus in Cupertino. The new organization will be called Tree.  This tree will bear many new fruit along with other existing fruits, Apple being the biggest.  Smaller fruits will include berries like the recent acquisition bombshell of making Blackberry one of the fruit on the Tree. This drove the Apple stock price skyhigh that the Tree started looking more like a Redwood rather than a fruiting variety.  To ensure alignment with this newfound image Cook than roasted Oracle's goose and acquired all of Redwood Shores where Oracle is housed (along with Redwood City with plans to also eventually acquire Palo Alto and surrounding real estate).  Larry's Lanai acquisition merely looks like a condo in comparison to the

Bahubali, Afternoon Delight and the 5th Mission Impossible

Two distinct genres.  Two distinct periods.  Three films.  One a childish fantasy with R rated activity, the other a MA (mature audiences) film with a cheesy ending and the third a completely action packed adrenalin rush with impossible superman like sequences. We watched (or tried to) these three films this weekend.  I could not go through the torturous 'Bahubali' (strong armed) - I tried but just could not.  I had heard it was somewhat of an epic production and seen a lot of press for this mythical adventure (part 1 of 2) on desi television.  I did not have any pre conceived idea or data points on the director but later found that the film was one of the top grossing items produced by Indian cinema.   Rajmouli has some critical acclaim as director but I could not keep up with the Victoria's secret like setting along with Harry Potter like flying coupled with Mahabharata type of deep base yelling only to be further confused late in the narrative as to who is who anymo

Putting things back

As a young child growing up I remember many a parent admonish their offsprings on the value of cleaning up after yourselves.   Also to put things back where they belong. I take that to heart and so does our little one.  But it does not always apply to stuff you see on youtube videos.    Case in point - taking apart a DISHWASHER (not to be confused with the spouse and I who also  fill in that role on occasion) that does not work - easy as it goes.  Then putting it back - NOT for DUMMIES. The trick is not to get excited about what you see on these videos because often they are created by businesses who want to sell their professional services to you.  So I had to wonder what the catch was.  How was it that a plumber was showing me how to root cause my dishwasher making those weird sounds by showing me how to reveal its innards?  Simple - he never told me how to put it all back.  That is when the rubber meets the road or in this case the suds meet the dirt or whatever metaphor o

Do you want shaving foam with your dosa?

A particular incident in Trivandrum highlighted the nature of customer service available today to middle class Indians. I was on a budget as I traveled the south of India and had decided to spend in the $35 to $40 per night range for air conditioned accommodations in any of the medium size cities I was visiting.  Due to undue tourist interest in certain locales some properties commanded premiums but for the most part either through smart negotiating and help of some of the unknown contacts that had pre arranged my lodging at a discount I was able to hit my target range.  Now comes the service part.  My last stop on the way back to Pune involved a night in Trivandrum.  When I showed up for check in there were two demure gals in traditional Indian sarees to welcome me to the hotel.  They began by mumbling a whole bunch of something that I could not follow. Now I know my hearing is probably going - forties and all but I swear they were below 20 decibels across the desk with some ot

While we're young - movie review

I did not know who Noah Baumbach was till I saw this film that he directed.  Starring Ben Stiller (honestly I give him cred because of his dad Jerry Stiller in Seinfeld whom I loved) and Naomi Watts (whom I quite like as an actor) play the role of 40 something NY couple that is longing for a change in their childless existence.  The movie is similar to some others I have seen in the serious comedy /satire genre with what Hollywood or movie watching public might consider B or C grade acting talent (take Albert Brooks or Paul Rudd in 'This is 40'). The plot revolves around the 40ish couple crossing paths with a 20ish hippy pair who live a very energetic and ad hoc life.  From the stereotype of making their own food (and ice cream) even in NY, to their whole Bohemian chic lifestyle, the older couple gets enamored to the point that they emulate them in their own life.  From taking hip hop lessons to taking wild hikes in the middle of the night wearing attire unfit for an aging

Narratives from Indian Passengers

I ran into several folks with stories to tell during my epic 11,000 kms of travel criss crossing the sub continent this summer. Bravado in face of terror - The first was a steel company executive who happened to be caught up in the 1980s era hijack incident involving an Indian commercial flight by folks who wanted a separate Khalistan.  He narrated this story as we were put on an indefinite hold by Air India in New Delhi waiting for a replacement aircraft on our way to Ranchi. Breathing on the ground as much time as in the AIR - all Air India He along with his fellow occupants of the plane were instrumental in foiling the plans of the attacker and punching his lights out while commandos stormed the plane.  He along with the fellow passengers got a minister level welcome home.  He was grateful to be alive and seemed to be enjoying life to the fullest.  Included boasting about his son in law who had just purchased the latest German sedan in his home in New Jersey.  Okay then.

Konkan - paradise lost?

Our final frontier before wrapping up the India trip was to visit the western coastline of Mahrashtra along the Arabian Sea known as Konkan. Traditionally a laid back seaside agrarian community from where most Marathi speaking folks could trace their genealogy to, it gained popularity among the Desi yuppies and boomers based in Mumbai and Pune, like Caucasian Jews in NY felt about going to Florida. While Florida disappointed me on many levels Konkan (20% of the coastal real estate we witnessed) definitely put a damper on the mood and provided stark contrast to beachfronts we have seen in other parts of the planet. First take the act of getting to Konkan from a place like Pune which technically is mere 100 miles north east of the shoreline. There are no roads in Konkan.   What qualified as road was lack of wild vegetation on strip of land thereby allowing a vehicle to progress without hardware that resembles a Martian rover. There is not a single decent (air conditioning and

Watch don't Fit

While Silicon Valley implodes with their gadget mania its believers will consume all that we produce.  So it is with some friends and neighbors who as smart as they are do fall prey to the lure of the tech. One of them, a mom, has decided that she will wear a Fitbit on one wrist and an Apple Smartwatch on  the other.  When asked why - she said the Fitbit tracks her movements better.  'Fitbit' to the uninformed is a physical motion sensor based wrist band/strap that will convert your steps into a digital readout. Now most smart phones already have this feature built into them (at no added cost) but that is not relevant since she believes that this gadget is the best representation of her limbic activity. Also the Apple contraption literally and figuratively is competing for the same activity based messaging with its own branded interface. So for someone like me who is happy to simply get a chance to walk and is least interested in tech for the sake of tech this i

11,000 km in 30 days

This summer I exhausted myself pushing the travel bug to its limits.  Probably slept a mere 100 hours aided by amazing filter coffee and Chai. Trains, planes, boats, ropeways, cars, auto rickshaws and buses helped make the journey happen.  So did a number of kind souls playing a key role behind the scenes to coordinate and book connections (people I had never met before and likely might not) or recommend hotel accommodations in foreign lands.  To them I am grateful. The first half of my travels was with my wife and daughter.  That took us north and east from Mumbai.  We ventured into Jharkhand to visit places my wife grew up schooling and playing.  It was dramatic, hot and humid with a serious downpour to keep things interesting and interspersed with tons of milk based mithais that region is famous for. Rosgolla with a dense center Chenna Pulao Cashews in sugar mixed with other dried nuts Last minute shelter, Bistupur, Jamshedpur I rather prefer UGGs - let&

Hyderabad - 30 years later

Fading memories of a railway station situated amidst large spherical boulders (near Begumpet just outside of Hyderabad) to visit an aunt that resided in town that was 700 km SE of Mumbai and spend some holiday time chilling with their family which included Dobermans is what I recollect from three decades past. Now with my own family in tow we wanted to visit the historic landmarks of a once famous Mughal stronghold and also the modern hub of what is now Destination Central for the global IT industry. So after digging into the Marriott by Lower Tank Bund Road (named for what had been the only source of drinking water for centuries - the tank or Hussein Sagar visible from the window) we ventured out a few days to take in the majesty and the chaos of modern Hyderabad. We were their during the holy period of Ramzan and therefore it added another dimension (mostly of additional crowding in the evening when the Muslim devout break their fast) to the visit. Here are some vistas and h

Mumbai on my mind

It was a real quick taxi run through some familiar haunts in the northern fringe of Mumbai Municipal limits in Mulund to the south Mumbai landmarks before heading to the hotel for a stay close to the airport in central Mumbai. Using newly built flyovers that connect the northern burbs to the Mazgaon Shipbuilding dock area on the shores of the Arabian Sea we did a fast crossing of 17 minutes to reach the Gateway of India.  The Mughal style gate was built to honor the arrival of the then Emperor of India and completed in 1924. Ship yards, Mazgaon Docks Tourists gaping at the sights of Mumbai - Gateway of India on the Arabian Sea  After feeling enough claustrophobia amidst the thousands of local and visiting crowds at the Gateway and Taj Mahal hotel area we continued west toward Marine Drive past the beach front known as Girgaon Chowpatty, Sea View apartments - prized real estate, Marine Drive Nearing Sunset - Marine Drive, Mumbai Queen's necklace so named d